Welcome to Romania, where everything is almost perfect, minus all the poverty, pollution and weirdness.

So Gil officially brought my charger with him when he came to visit so I have computer power once again!!!

He arrived safe and sound, even though an Icelandic volcano threatened him and all the germans aboard his flight from taking off. Apparently the germans got angry about the hour delay….and the power of angry germans is stronger than any volcano.

Anyways, Gil arrived and in 5 minutes I showed him all around Ankara as we promptly planned our escape. A few days later we boarded a 4 and a half hour express train to Istanbul. 6 and a half hours later we made it. We made our way to taksim where we knew we would instantly befriend the Hotel Marble staff with their quirky attitudes and sarcastic humor. We spent the next few days exploring some of the sights, while continuously encountering the same asian man who kept motioning for us to photograph him by various statues, buildings, fountains and/or flower beds. In fact, I kind of miss him….

Finally the day came where we boarded a plane to our next destination…ROMANIA!

Random, I know, but you know how I have been all about the economically depressed countries this past year. Plus, Romania is super cheap, and Gil loves metal, so we figured a solid Transylvanian trip was in order. We landed in Bucharest and immediately got accosted by a horrendously annoying taxi driver who took us to our hotel and then tried to scam us out of tons of money. We got dinner, and noticed how Bucharest strongly resembled purgatory, so we swore we would wake up early to get the hell out of dodge in the morning.

If only it had been that easy…..

After traveling about an hour in the wrong direction, a young high school age romanian openly laughed at our misfortune and helped get us back on track. We finally made it to the train station and headed over to Brasov…probably the best city in the world.

No seriously, that’s their slogan.

Brasov is a famous Transylvanian town, evident by its gothic churches, towers, and Hollywood like sign that looks down upon the city from a mountain top…strange.

One of the hotel reception men had mentioned how he had traveled to boston last year….boom another hotel friend. We climbed to the top of the towers, went into the oh-so-creepy Black Church, and walked up and down the medieval streets eating some of the best (and cheapest) food I have had in a while. Shout out to the Bellagio restaurant, I miss you guys and thanks for the free shots!

One day we decided to travel slightly outside of Brasov to a town called Bran. There lies a eerie Castle, often called “Draculas castle” (even though the Real Vlad Tepes lived in the southern area of Wallachia). However the winding tunnels and creaky boards made me worried that a vampire would jump out at any time….and by vampire I mean tourist.

Naturally I forced Gil to wear the vampire teeth I had purchased for the majority of pictures we took. In fact the phrase “Put ya teeth in” is now synonymous with “Oh Gil, this scenery looks pleasant, perhaps we should capture this moment with a photograph”

We then made our way to quaint little sightsoara, the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler. Talk about medieval Transylvania, this town loved Dracula like Mackenzie loves greasy rattails. We climbed up to a citadel, walked around the town, and stayed in a hotel that was over 400 years old! If I had woken up in the middle of the night to a vampire sucking my blood, I wouldn’t even be mad.
After sightsoara we made our way to the underground, subterranean cavernous nightclubs of cluj. Cluj actually rocked pretty hard, it was a student city with tons of people our age….who (gasp) rode bikes and jogged on the street. This is something I had not witnessed since leaving the good ol US. We were walking around the botanical gardens (which looked like Jurassic park mind you- trust me, I spent the entire time imitating various prehistoric creatures) when all of a sudden it began to rain, we took hiding in a café and then decided to just walk around for a few hours until we needed to catch our train…at 11 at night.

As luck would have it, we stumbled across a reptile exhibit!! Seeing as how I miss my Vinnie so much, I begged Gil to go inside (actually he happily agreed, though I felt the term “begged” more accurately showed my excitement to enter the reptile exhibit). We walked into a sketchy underground room, where two 12 year old romanian girls appeared to be caring for over 30 reptiles, including multiple poisonous varieties. They seemed unphased as they started thrusting snakes into our open arms. There was a giant rattler, a few boas, a corn just like Vinnie, and a bunch of other cool creatures. Luckily, the responsible adults showed up and one girl spoke perfect English. Her and I instantly bonded over our weird serpent obsessions, and she led us into another room with a huge boa constrictor AND a 20 foot long Burmese python!!! She took out the python and let me hold it! It was awesome……later on gil and I would be sitting at a café watching fear factor and noting how the waitress cringed as contestants were forced into a box full of snakes….weird how life works sometimes.

we now sit waiting for our airplane in Bucharest, a city that makes Ankara look like Paradise. We enjoyed Transylvania and all its creepiness tho! Also all the crazy Romanian people and their fun little accents and love of WWF wrestling memorabilia. Certain things reminded me heavily of when the characters in the movie "Eurotrip" travel to Bratislava. The exchange rate is ridiculous, everything is unbelievably cheap (Gil and I felt like royalty). Also, certain things are still really behind. Scream masks are a popular souvenir here, and you often hear people saying "WAZZZZZZZZZZZZ UPPPPPPPPP" on the street...bizarre.

However it was nice to be able to cross the street without fearing that people will run you over (They actually stop at crosswalks!!) and knowing that there would be people that would at least speak a LITTLE english wherever we went! I actually used some of my french to get by too! All these languages are messing with my brain though, i swear i cant even speak english anymore!!!!

Well, i guess we should get out of this cafe now, seeing as how we have been here for over 2 hours...oops!!

Peace,
Annie G

Welcome to Ankara, sorry for the disapointment Gil.

TODAY IS THE DAY! I went to pick up Gil from the airport for a 3 week adventure to Istanbul, Romania, and maybe some other places in Turkey. Needless to say I'm pumped.

AND he brought me my computer charger so I can post stuff!!!

I think I might even have some posts stored up...let me dig around.

PEACE!
G

Welcome to Ankara, where everything is broken.

Dear loyal followers,

I apologize for the lack of posts, my computer has been broken. I will update again soon?

Love,
Me

Welcome to Ankara, where I can see political unrest from my house!

NOTE-OLD AND DELAYED ENTRY


So most times I write about the ridiculous antics I seem to get myself into. I know that many people are entertained by some of the stupid things I have been doing. Sometimes my individual actions seem to be acceptable. For example, singing karaoke in front of the entire student body that I teach might seem like a good idea. Lady Marmalade is a catchy and fun song. Singing Lady Marmalade in front of the entire student body that I teach…..well you see how I could mess this kind of thing up.

Regardless of my antics, there are some really serious things that go on here too. Probably only 3 people in the whole of the United States society have followed and or cared about the politics of Turkey. I know this, because despite being an International Relations Major, I was one of these people…that is until I had my own invasion of this country. Of course I knew the basics before arriving, United Nations country with a quest to enter the European Union but a pesky Armenian problem that has been holding them back. However, living in the capital city, and right down the street from the headquarters of AK Parti, the conservative party in power, has given me insight into politics of a country that many people could never experience.

I guess it all started about a month ago. I was sitting in my apartment on the 11th floor when all of a sudden I heard loud beeping and shouting outside. I went to the window only to see the lights of what appeared to be hundreds of cars piled up in the road, seemingly en route to AKP headquarters. The cars were at a standstill, blocking the road and causing commotion. There were police lights everywhere, and I thought to myself “this is odd.”

This was the same thing I thought while walking through a labor union hunger strike in Kizilay a few weeks before. Granted, they sure had a lot of barbacues going on for a hunger strike, but in the dead cold people gathered and camped out in the square, trying to make a statement to prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Soon enough the police would break that gathering up also.

The incident outside my window was because of something called “Operation Sledgehammer” a controversial and often denied coup d’etat attempt. When The Holy Ataturk took power and created the modern Republic of Turkey, the strongest tenant of his new nation was secularism. Even though the overwhelming population of Turkey is, like Ataturk himself, Muslim, the country thrives on secular beliefs. While it is obviously Islam influenced, most people pride themselves in their modern secularism, thus relating themselves politically closer to Europe (even though their traditions and societal beliefs are much more middle eastern). Because of this, the government must always be wary of becoming too Islamist.

Picture Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the George W. Bush of Turkey. Not only is he very conservative, he has a strong religious background and is widely disliked by most of the Turkish population. Because of this, there has been much speculation of a Military Overthrow of the government.

As badass as that sounds, and as much as I would love to be a part of a revolution, it is not quite that way. Military coups are not a new idea here in Turkey, and in fact, they have happened quite a few times before. Think of it as a more hostile form of checks and balances. If the military feels that the government in power is becoming too islamist, than they take over, kick the current leader out of power, rule for two years until everyone calms down, and then conduct a new vote. Usually it works, and everyone is happy…except for the deposed leader I guess.

However, in Sledgehammer, military officials deny any coup attempt, however Recep had them arrested anyways. In my opinion, this even further tarnishes his image, as many people are viewing him more along the lines as a dictator thirsty for power, than a conservative democratic leader.

Needless to say, it has been very interesting to follow, and I’m sure more will develop.



BY THE WAY- went to istanbul - BEST PLACE EVER!!!!!!!!

g-out

Welcome to Ankara, where it is imperative that you wish me a happy birthday.

Doğum günü!!!

The Big Day was finally here!! and the best way to tell you about it....is through a poem.

Twas the night before birthday and all through the town
everyone knew what was going to go down.
I had students sing me a Happy Birthday with care,
and give me advice on what to do and where.

I had heard their requests, and recommendations to drive,
To Tunali, to Park Street, Just not Kizilay!!
So I knew one place, where students I would not see,
and I decided the party would be at EskiYeni.

The event had been detailed, who, what, where and when.
The invite list made, and checked over again.
While students all asked "Can i go! can i go!"
To which i replied and overwhelming "Hell no"

The invitations were sent out to all my friends instead,
As visions of facebook invites danced in their head,
The RSVPs began to take flight,
This was going to be a great Saturday night.

Piotr the Pole had also planned to have fun,
for this was his last weekend being an Ankaran,
He had to return to Poland withing a few days,
So a combined birthday/farewell party was well on its way.

Then Saturday morning i jolted awake!
To see something better than any birthday cake!
My dear friend Katie came as a surprise,
And said "I will cook breakfast as you open your eyes!"

The omelettes were great, and the chatter was fun,
When from the door we heard a knock from someone.
Twas our stupid neighbor who came to complain.
"It's 10 in the morning, i must sleep for i'm vain!"

We closed the door on this ridiculous lass,
because after all, it was she, who was the pain in my ass,
so we gathered our selves and went to the mall,
to get cute outfits and shoes to make me look tall.

While leaving the mall, disaster had struck!!
I tripped on the pavement and shouted "OH ....no"
My ankle was sprained, but i was still walking,
No way would my ankle stop me from rocking! \m/

The night finally came, and all through the house,
everything was a mess, i thought i saw a mouse.
The Nargile lit, and smoke in the air
I would dress like a peacock, so you'd know i was there.

"IT IS TIME TO GO!" I yelled to the crowd!
for some reason vodka makes me talk very loud.
"On William, on Julia, Mackenzie and Zach!
Before we go, i must get a snack!"

"Now Kutay, Now Warren, Jamar and Katie!
WAIT lets take a shot before we all leave!
And to the nightclub, try not to fall!
Lets Dash away Dash away Dash away all!"

The air was bitter and filled with cold,
And men stared who were creepy and old,
but we went to the club and to our delight!
The music was bumpin all through the night!

We met with the poles, the dutch and the turks,
and avoided the people who i thought were jerks.
I spent all night dancing and ignoring the pain,
of my poor little ankle's inevitable sprain.

The techno was loud and the tables my stage,
I think 22 will be a very good age.
I'm sure my crazy dancing was quite a sight,
But happy birthday to me!! and to all a good night!


peace- G

Welcome to Antalya, where everything is just better.

I needed the sun.
Desperately.

A little while ago, after posting pictures on facebook, my dear friend Joe asked, "Annie, does the sun ever shine in Ankara?"

the answer, quite simply, is no, no it does not.

So the poles came up to us on thursday asking if we wanted to accompany them to antalya for the weekend. Mackenzie was off in Istanbul, Jamar in London, and Will and Zach busy stealing the friends that I made for them!! (DAMN YOU EMRE!) So Julia Warren and I thought that going on a random Antalya trip would be much better than spending another dreary weekend in Ankara, so at 11:00 pm, we boarded a bus filled with crying babies, sketchy fat men, and generally irritated Turks for a 7 hour jaunt down to paradise. Turns out that alcohol is not allowed on the bus rides. We learned this from the bus man, after we popped open a bottle of red wine.....

Piotr (pronounced peter) has been here since September, and is also the best person to ever travel with. he will bargain down EVERYTHING!! im talking like, he will bargain someone down from a 5 lira bus fare to 3 lira. Its awesome. So we made our way to some hotel which we bargained down to 15 lira a night per person, and left our stuff to embark upon our adventure.

Antalya was everything Ankara was not. Beautiful, sunny, warm, friendly, touristy, and all around fantastic. we walked along the harbor, up into the roads, inthe middle of some political march, it was wonderful! it was then that Piotr suggested we go to Termessos, and we made our way back to the bus station.



After a brief meal and bargaining with the cafe owner, we struck a deal for his taksidriving brother to take us around to Termessos and Perge. The taksi ride was ridiculous, stuffed of course. I sat in the trunk. We asked him to play music. Mariah Carey's greatest hits came on. Life was good.




We got to Termessos and I then realized that it was an ancient city built on a mountain (my research for this spontaneous trip was lacking). It was easily the coolest place I have ever been. We hiked up this mountain, walking across fallen columns and past an entire ancient city that dated back to before christ. I think the best part was when we reached the ampitheater, a giant ancient stadium structure positioned on the top of the mountain looking over onto the world. the coolest part was that, because it was the off season, we were the only ones in the ampitheater. Just as we all stood at the top looking down into the untouched, untouristified structure with our jaws hanging down, we heard thunder booming in the distance. Totally awesome.

We finally got down from the mountain and made our way to another ancient city, Perge, which was equally as cool but slightly more tourist-trap like. The next day we explored Side and Alanya (easily my new favorite place on the planet). Side was another ancient city, that had an abnormal amount of german tourists.

Alanya's beach was gorgeous, nice fine sand, and hanging above the turquoise mediterranean was a huge cliff that dropped into the sea with an ancient castle perched on top. Inside the mountain, stalagmite filled caves winded their way through the rocks. Needless to say I will want to make my way back there really soon!!

Unfortunatley, the time came to board a bus back to Stankara, and we kissed paradise goodbye. The bus was equally as smelly and baby-filled as the one down there, however this time the bus man appeared to be wholly annoyed with us. This was our assumption until he decided to give Julia and I 2 fruitcakes each instead of one, and then attempt to cuddle with us as we slept, to which we skillfully deflected. We liked it better when he hated us.

All in all- its difficult to express how awesome these places were... but here's some extra pictures that might help!!!










Love, Peace, Canadian Geese
Annie G.

Welcome to Ankara, where everybody knows your name...they just can't pronounce it!

Life in Ankara is crazy, complicated, cold, caring and cardiac-arrest-causing, but there’s always something to talk about! The city itself is one of the more boring in the country, so we often go off and seek out fun, or just make our own. With the strange mix of people that we encounter, it is almost a constant guarantee that craziness can ensue at any moment. Luckily, it is extremely easy to make friends in this country, a friendly “merhaba, nasilsin” can almost always get you an invite to dinner. UNFORTUNATELY, it is also fairly easy to burn bridges, as you may have noticed from my constant rotation of friend circles mentioned in this blog.

Anyways, I have decided to try and simplify life in Ankara. If I think hard enough about it, most things here can be broken down into an easy 3-step process…



MEETING NEW FRIENDS!

Step one- go out dressed like an obvious American (or any other foreigner for that matter)

LOOK AT MY POOF! Such was the case one Friday night, where Mackenzie had made other plans and Julia and I decided we needed to go out and refresh our supply of Turkish friends. We decided to go out under the pretense that I was a French girl named Annie (but pronounced Ah-nee) and she was a Spaniard (hu-lee-a). Our story first fell apart when we were stopped by the police on our way to the metro and offered a ride in their van “Oh , we are americans, we like walking!”---nervous giggle---. Our story broke again after a few drinks at the pub…we met some students sitting next to us…which leads me to….

Step two- exhaust all English and Turkish communication vocabulary.

Strangely enough, after one Efes, my Turkish language skills seem to drastically improve. Many people know the smallest bit of English (what is your name, how old are you, and their favorite “where are you from?”) and that combined with my minute knowledge of Turkish is enough fuel for about a 30 minute conversation-complete with useless charades gestures. Usually this provides just enough bonding to make an instant long lasting friendship, but when the conversation is over and there is just awkward silence…you must move on to the final step.

Step three- dance on tables.

Easily the most important of the steps- such a gesture demonstrates the foreigners need for spontaneity and allow for some odd situation that everyone can giggle about later. In our case, we were fortunate to have a group of 40-somethings, drunk at the table next to us, provide the basis for the melee that was about to ensue. As a live band played ,everyone began to get up and dance. At first, the dancing was confined to the floor, but this was obviously not enough space, so naturally the tables and chairs were then utilized.

Easy as that- throw in a couple “find me on face books” and you already have plans for the following weekend!




STARTING A PARTY!

Step one- Establish a presence

So on Saturday night, the Poles had told us there was an 80s party in Kizilay, so we invited them over to get ready (aka raid my closet and wear my ridiculous day-to-day costume like garb) and pregame with raika and 80s music. We obviously were dressed to kill- representing all aspects of the 80s, including the aerobics style 80s, rocker 80s, 80s classic, business casual, and me ….Madonna….duh! We were all excited for our grand entrance- being sure that we would fit in well with our awesome styles. We finally arrive at the bar, walk in with our heads held high, only to realize we were the ONLY ones dressed up (well, there was a Canadian and a swede who were also rocking the side ponytails). To some people, this may deter them from enjoying the festivities, as they are embarrassed and out of place-seen as an outcast. But not to us, in fact, we decided that since we looked the part, we might as well own the party…..

Step two- Get on stage!
One disgusting tequila shot later- it seemed only natural to storm the stage and take over for the DJ, who obviously needed more 80s music. Luckily, he had me there to bumrush the stage, and make requests over his shoulder. When he finally got some Michael Jackson on, it was only natural that we lead the charge with our sweet moves as everyone else watched and cheered. However, the DJ’s equipment soon started to malfunction, causing pauses between songs…where the only natural thing is lead the entire club in singing “I’ve got a feeling” by the black eyed peas---but why stop there….

Step three- Break it down.

It seemed only necessary to establish myself as an important figure in the club, after all, I was Madonna for the night. So after some failed DJ tunes, I decided to just take things into my own hands….literally! Also, it is important to quickly establish a friendship with the entire bar-staff- so you can get away with these type of things.






BRIDGING CULTURAL GAPS!

Step one- Create a micro-United Nations in your group of friends.

Obviously it has been easy to meet Turkish people here, but within the first week- we also got in with a lot of the other Yabanciler (foreigners!) ::See-Erasmus party madness:: We obviously spend a lot of time with the Poles (Nazdrovia!) and with our varying sets of Turks (Sharifeh!). We also rather enjoy spending time with our Dutch friends, the Hollanders (Cheers! Or whatever cheers is in dutch.). All of these groups have distinct cultural food backgrounds, that are often very delicious. In turn, we wished to share some of our culture with these groups of people.

Step two- The cooking process

In true American style- cooking American food has to involve large trips to the grocery store, forgetting ingredients, playing music, loud talking, everyone in the kitchen, alcohol, and just a general all around mess. No vegetables are necessary, and the more trans-fats the better! Because some foods are not available here in Turkey (tell marshmallow fluff and jiffy peanut butter that I miss them) sometimes you need to improvise. Budweiser for Efes, boxed wine for bottles, bacon for mystery mean, crushed crackers for breadcrumbs…you get the idea.

Step three- Fried chicken and Baked Macaroni and cheese until you can’t move.

After making a grotesquely fattening and delicious meal, we instructed everyone to eat until they literally feel sick, and then taught them how to unbutton their pants and sit around the table, digesting and talking about how full they are. We explained how Fried chicken and macaroni and cheese held a special place in the heart of many americans in the tv-dinner age, and how we were happy to share a piece of our home with them ::BURRRRRPPP!!:::: ahhh……

So there you have it, three important concepts broken down into an easy-to-follow and foolproof method. I dare you all to try some of these back in the states, let me know how it goes :)

You stay classy San Diego,

Madonna-er-Annie