Rotary Day!

Hey everyone! 

So this past Sunday was "Rotary Day" here in Istanbul. As usual, all the inbounds living in Asia met at the ferry station from Kadiköy to Besiktas around 7:45/8am. We arrived in Besiktas in European side and we ended up taking a taxi to Bebek Park, where the festivities were being held. Also, the PRESIDENT OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL WAS THERE! Here are some pictures of us taking pictures with him: 

Americans/Rebounds from USA

And, of course, I took a selfie with him. I mean, why not? 

After that, the Festival had many free activities for everyone to enjoy, I couldn't decide what to do first! So we started out with all the fitness ones. They ranged from workout equipment rotations to Zumba sessions. So fun! The Zumba was such a good workout, but I didn't even notice because I was having such a good time. We attended two Zumba sessions. One was with US pop music, such as "Toxic" by Brittney Spears. And the other was Latin music with a lot of hip shaking. Let's just say it was hilarious and embarrassing all at the same time, but I had so much fun laughing at myself! 

Charlène, me, Daffne, Egenaz, and Hana

Luis, Egenaz, and Hana

After working out, a few of us walked around to see all the booths they had set up. It was such a good decision because we got a ton of free stuff, such as toothpaste, mouth wash, lotion, superglue, laundry detergent, a Harry Potter book in Turkish, Icecream, Döner (type of food), soda, popcorn, and even play dough! Also, there was even a "portable planetarium" set up! It was like a black dome that was made of the same material as bouncy houses so all we had to do was just open the curtain and walk right in! They played a video for each session/group about these ants that are in a spaceship discovering the universe. Even though it was geared towards little kids, I still liked it. 

And what would be a rotary event without group selfies? Haha here are a few of them from the day:  

After all the selfies were taken, I was walking around with my friend from Germany and he was telling me how much he misses riding a bike. There were plenty of people at the event that were riding bikes, and I ended up seeing a guy riding a tandem bike by himself. So I flagged him down and asked if Luis could ride with him. The guy was more than happy to fill his extra seat. Haha but what a funny situation that was! I also took a picture of them riding as they passed by me. This picture actually made me cry I was laughing so hard. *sorry Luis 

And before we were all about to leave, we had the opportunity to write messages for world peace on these doves:

Here is Luis writing on the "exchange student dove" while the Rebound from Germany is laughing at what he wrote. His meaasge is below.

I'm told it says something like "I don't know what to write here so I hope you all can't understand me. Rotary."

I'll just finish off this post with another picture of the USA, Rebounds, and Rotary President. :) 

Thanks for reading!

Maggie

Bazı çok meşgul gün

(Translated to: Some very busy days) 

Hey everyone! So lately, my language has been so mixed up I can't decide what to say to who and in what language. Some embarrassing examples would be: when my host mom asked me (in Turkish) if I had slept well, and I responded "Je suis fatigué" which means "I am tired" in French. Another time would be when I was talking to my friend Daffne, who is from Mexico, and she asked me if I was hungry and I responded with "Evet(Turkish), tango(Spanish) hungry(English)" which is, I guess a weird way to say "Yes, I am hungry". Also, I've been responding to messages in Turkish without even thinking about who the message is going to (when I snapchat or Whatsapp message my school friends, we speak English/Turkish, at least using the words I know, but when I message people who don't know Turkish, I just forget to switch to full English). I like that my mind is slowly switching over to a foreign language, but I guess it can't decide which one! Haha

So let me tell you about this busy weekend I just had. On Friday after school, I went with Daffne to her house and we went from there to meet some other inbounds at Optimum Mall. Our group was made up of Daffne, Gabi, Jhonathan, Hana, and I. We shopped around and then got food for dinner. Hana and I got food from this Turkish resturant, called Hosta, and the other three got food at Carl's Jr., Daffne's favorite resturant. 

Daffne kissing her shake from Carl's Jr.

After the mall, Hana and I took the metro back to Kadiköy and from there I took a bus home. But the next morning, Saturday, I had to be back at Kadiköy around 8:30am to meet the Inbounds again because we were meeting up with the exchangers who are living in Izmir! We took the metro that went underwater to the European side, since it was much quicker than the ferry. Once we arrived in Europe, we wandered around near the Blue Mosque for a while, then headed to the Grand Bazaar to meet the Izmir kids. 

Me, Daffne, Gabi, and Laura

At the Grand Bazaar

I was pretty excited to see the Izmir kids because I met a girl from back home, Maya, who would be in Izmir and I couldn't wait to see her again! All the inbounds are so nice. But I had a really great time hanging out with Maya again since I last saw her at the Calvin College orientation camp in July. After we said goodbye to all the Izmir Inbounds and all of our European side exchangers, the Asian side people started to head over to Kadiköy. Once we got to Kadiköy, we all were so hungry, so we when out to eat at a place Jhonathan knew. We all got these wraps that were 70 cm. long. I couldn't even finish mine and I hadn't eaten all day. 

Daffne with the food! Doesn't it look delicious? And the best part was that it was only 5 Liras (about $2 USD). 

Then on Sunday, our Rotex scheduled a Breakfast for all of us in Besiktas. (Side note, our Rotex are very involved with our exchange. So much so, that we have Rotex Councilors and we meet with them regularly to talk and hangout. The best part is, the Rotex are a lot closer to our age so it's easier for them to understand what we are going through since they all have been on exchange themselves within the last 10 years). After the breakfast, we all went exploring in Ortikoy and we discovered these delicious waffles. They take a warm waffle, spread two sauces, Nutella and Dark chocolate in my case, add one fruit, I chose strawberries, and two toppings, I picked sprinkles and peanuts, and then they roll the whole thing up for you to eat on the go! I ended up sharing mine with three other people and even with that, I couldn't finish it because the chocolate was so rich. 

Here is a picture of my waffle with the guys that made it for me. Çok güzel!

Then after that I took the ferry home because I was so tired from the weekend, and I just wanted to sleep. But I didn't end up sleeping that much after all because I Skyped my USA family for the first time since I've been here! (Minus one brother since he was at work)

We talked for over two hours. I can't believe how much I've done this last month, I couldn't even tell them everything! Plus, my mom cried so I knew I had definately waited too long to Skype them. Don't worry mom, I'm doing great here! 

Until next time, 

Maggie

Büyükada Island

İyi Bayramlar! ((Happy Bayram!))

Yesterday, a group of us inbounds went to explore Büyükada Island! It's the largest island of the group with many tourist attractions and beautiful landscapes. We met at Starbucks in Kadiköy and then went on our way to the ferry. {{ Side story, the night before we went to Büyükada Hana, the inbound from Nebraska, slept over at my house because she didn't want to get lost in the morning trying to find the ferry since she had never been to Kadiköy before. So we arrived to Kadiköy around 8am to explore before we had to meet up with everyone. We got breakfast, stumbled upon a secret street of beautiful antique shops, and practiced our Turkish with random locals. Here are some pictures: }}

Just sayin' but if I had a Horcrux (Harry Potter reference), here is where I'd hide it. 

Hana

Breakfast at a cafe, then back to the antique shops! 

By this time, it was getting close to when we had to meet the others, so we got a small Turkish pizza, called Pida, to go and started for Starbucks. We went to the ferry with our group of 6 (we were meeting the 2 boys at the island) and started the hour and 10 minute ride to the island. Here are some pictures from the boat ride: 

Daffne, Julia, Hana, and Gabi

Look, another boat! 

One of the smaller islands we passed on the way

Me, Hana, Gabi, Camila, and Julia

We made it to Büyükada, Yay!

"Jumping for Joy" that we made it to the island! 

Group picture (minus the boys) 

So we waited around for maybe 30 minutes, then the boys' ferry arrived. Let the adventure begin! 

How picturesque is this place? Every Photographer's dream! 

Also, there are no cars allowed on the island. Bikes and horse carriages only! 

Okay, I might be a little obsessed with these purple flowers...

Some horses

More horses

Beautiful display of fruits/vegetables 

Daffne & Gabi with the owner of the resturant we are lunch at

Island map

Gorgeous view 

Town picture

Walking 

Harbor

One of the many boats we saw at the harbor

So much Baklava, I can hardly resist buying some! 

After we explored the town for a while, we heard about a really old Greek monestary on the other side of the island that was worth seeing. So we all rented bikes. And started towards the monestary! Here are pictures of the biking adventure: 

So many awkward candids of me... Thanks Luis. (( Here is his blog if you want to look at it. He has the most pictures from the adventure. mexicaninturkey.blogspot.com ))

Julia, Luis, and I

Julia

Sebastian (my host cousin who also is an inbound) and Gabi 

Camila

A few of the bikes 

Okay, the bike ride to the top of this mountain was excruciatingly exhausting. We biked 8 kilometers uphill on a rough, steep stone path. Once we got to the top, everyone was basically dead until we saw the gorgeous view.

Look at this view! 

So worth the bike ride

The actual monestary we came to see

Panorama 

Our group

Once we were finished seeing everything at the top, we realized that the ride down would be even more dangerous, since the path was so steep. I held my brakes the entire time, and even with that, I was flying down the hill. The breeze made me feel like I was flying. Only one person fell, so I consider that a success! 

Me, Luis, and Hana representing Turkey at the bottom of the mountain. 

Afterwards, we returned the bikes and took the ferry home. Such a fun day with all the Inbounds! Can't wait to go back soon with all of those who couldn't be there :) 

Xoxo, Maggie