The last few days have been pretty busy. As I mentioned before, on Thursday, our program took us around Ankara to see Ataturk's mausoleum, get some lunch, and visit the museum of Anatolian civilizations. The entire complex surrounding the mausoleum is gigantic, and our bus was even scanned for bombs as we drove in. Underneath the structure housing the symbolic tomb is the Ataturk museum and a museum of the Turkish War of Independence. To sum up what we learned, Ataturk was a badass with crazy-piercing eyes, and every Turk in the region rallied around him to fight off the Greeks and establish the Republic, under which they could govern themselves. The museum had a certain air of propaganda to it, but seemed pretty harmless. Although I particularly enjoyed some of the Ataturk quotes displayed in every section, such as "Writing the history is as important as making it. If the writer does not comply with the maker, the truth can aquire aspects that will confuse humanity." I think it was more than just the bad translation that got to me.

Yesterday, we were in class for most of the morning and early afternoon, and I spent the evening hanging out in the same neighborhood with other kids from the program. The TAA (Turkish American Association) hosted a barbeque on the 6th-floor garden rooftop, and we watched the sun set over Ankara while eating dinner. I spent most of today hanging around with my host family, catching up on emails, etc. I'm posting some more pictures on facebook, so check those out for a better idea of what I've been up to.

I'm starting to be able to have more complex interactions with my host family, but for some reason I still find the adults harder to understand than my host sisters. And I'm starting to appreciate the combination of Turkish class and the homestay a lot more. Although sitting in the classroom for five hours during the day is not ideal, it seems to be helping. I'm happy that I decided to learn Turkish, and I think I'm finally ok with not having a "legitimate" reason to have done so. I wanted to be able to speak the language, so I'm learning it. I don't know much more than that.