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