Soooo another good weekend. On Friday, Derya's grandparents and aunt arrived from Konya in the morning. I hung around and had breakfast and lunch with them and was lazy for much of the day. I finally made myself go into the AIESEC office because I had to double check about the time I am to teach English on Monday in the AIESEC office. I met up with some trainees after a brief office stay and went to a goodbye party for a trainee that has been in Bursa for 10 months (and I thought 2 months was a long time)! I headed home early because I was soooo sleepy.
Saturday I met Elysia, the other American trainee, to show her around the city. Because I have had a lot of free time, I know the city relatively well and can show other people the main sights without getting lost. We wandered around and saw Ulu Camii, Yesil Camii, the Silk Bazaar, and stopped for tea and baclava at a cafe. We then headed out on the Metro to where a trainee from Poland is living to go swimming. Alas, girls need swimming caps to get in the pool so we just enjoyed soaking up the sun poolside and talking to the other trainees. Afterward, I went with Elysia back to her host family's house. They were so nice and funny and I really enjoyed talking with them. And her host mother made us a really good dinner. After eating, around 9:00, we headed off to Mudanya to walk around by the Sea of Marmara in the evening hours. It was crowded in the restaurants that are clustered in the seaside town. We stopped to have our fortunes told by a man with several bunnies on a box. The rabbit would pick a piece of colored paper off a board with its mouth, and that would be the fortune you would receive. Elysia's host mother translated our fortunes for us, and we were both kind of surprised at how dead-on they were. Verrrrry interesting! We met her host family's friends and children and had tea by the sea. It was a good night and I got to experience how other Turkish families live.
Today, Sunday, was another busy day. I met the trainees for lunch at noon and we set off to walk around the city. You would expect me to to be sick of seeing the same places multiple times, but the sights are so different for me, I really enjoy being able to return to the places that I have seen before. There are so many narrow winding streets and alleys to explore. We went to Topane and Kultur Park and saw all the people out enjoying such a nice day. Walking around the city is very enjoyable, and it is even better with new friends. I went back to the trainee apartment and several of us sat down for dinner together. After I returned to Erikli, the neighborhood in which my host family lives, I went with Derya to a park just up the street where her family was out talking and having barbecue. It really was a nice night outside and they obviously enjoyed the company. As we walked home, Derya explained that the music I heard drifting down from up the street was from the celebration of a Kurdish wedding. The sights and sounds here never fail to amaze me.
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