We left the cafe and began to drive around Ankara, dropping each student off with his/her host family. It was a long drive, but I was able to see quite a bit of the city while bonding with some of the other kids in the program. I was the last to be picked up. My host mother, Huyla, came to get me along with my host sister Tuğba (21 yrs old) and one of her friends. I met Huyla's mother and her other daughter Büşra (13 yrs old) when we got to their apartment. They live pretty close to the center of Ankara, in a cute walk-up with nice views of the surrounding area. I can see the minarets of the Kocatepe mosque (the largest in the city) outside of my window. The evening was pretty short, as I desperately needed a shower and some sleep, but they managed to feed me large amounts of food, exhaust my limited knowlegdge of Turkish, and give me a cake. It was delicious. Here's a picture of me with Huyla, her mother, and Tuğba in their living room, with the cake:
This morning, I woke up pretty late and had breakfast with my host sisters. After that, we walked to the center of the city, met up with my host mother, and trekked out to Batıkent, a suburb of Ankara, for the day. I met a large portion of the extended family (including my host father) at Huyla's brother's house, where we spent most of the afternoon. We sat on the ground behind the house, eating food, drinking tea, and playing games to avoid the heat. Everyone was extremely welcoming, and we all worked together (with the help of a Turkish-English dictionary) so that I could maintain some level of conversation. One aunt gave me a new set of bright turquoise pyjamas (which I'm wearing now, much to the delight of my host family) and even my host mother's 5 year old niece started giving me bouquets of wild flowers as we had dinner on the way home this evening.
Before dinner, we went to one of the local malls to go bowling with the whole family. It was the first time in years that I had been bowling without making references to The Big Lebowski, and the employee somehow spelled my name Steapine on our score screen. I'm guessing that the ph must have thrown him off somehow. Next time I'll be sure to enunciate in Turkish - Step-hah-niye-. We'll see how that goes. I had a great time, though, and even won the second game we played. By the end of the day, I felt more comfortable with the whole family than I would have expected. I even think my Turkish improved. Here's a picture with most of the family, taken while we were eating:
On our way home, my host family and I stopped at a grocery store to buy some Efes beers for the evening. At first, my host mother took me to the beer section (which was very small - no surprise there) and asked what kind I would like. She pointed to the Miller Lite, asking, Would you like American beer? I didn't know how to say that it wasn't the best example of American beer, and that I'd rather try the local stuff, so I just shrugged my shoulders for a while until she understood. We got home, where I changed into the pyjamas. At first, I only put on the top part, pairing it with my old sweatpants, but I somehow confused my host mother with that act and she asked me what was wrong until I put on the matching pants. I was a bit skeptical of the outfit at first, but I've grown quite fond of it in the last few hours. I spent the evening hanging out with my host mother and Tuğba on the balcony, drinking beer and eating some of the leftover cake. Büşra was busy in the living room tagging me in all of the pictures she took today, so be sure to check those out on facebook before I de-tag too many. They complimented me on my Turkish (which came as a surprise, considering how off and awkward I've felt while speaking) and I managed to get out my first complex sentence of the day. (Amy if you're reading this, be proud! it was about you! ... my friend, the one who speaks turkish, .....)
For some reason, half the time that I've tried to speak Turkish today, Spanish has popped into my head. Suddenly I'm realizing how much more of that language is hidden in my brain than I had previously thought, but also how little I know either of the two. It's ironic, too, because my host family seems to think I actually speak Spanish as I didn't know the words for "just a little bit" when I first told them about it. I have a lot of progress to make this summer, but I'm excited.
No comments:
Post a Comment