Tuesday (May 19)

Sorry, it took me so long to write my first post. Let me start with yesterday. Yesterday Nate and I went to the North side of the city--up the hill. On the way we stumbled across a large crowd celebrating Ataturk Day (which was today, Tuesday). After 15 minutes of watching, 3 girls asked us where we were from. When we told them we were from America, they instantly gathered 15-30 of their friends around us. They were asking us questions and practicing their English. They also taught us a few words in Turkish. After 5 minutes of questions they wanted our autographs, so for the next 15 minutes we gave them our autographs. Then they started giving us their autographs (see the pictures attached). Several of the kids gave us flowers and some of the girls kept saying that they loved us (better watch it Chelsea and Rachel they are trying to give you both competition). When we left the festival several of the kids followed us up the hill where we saw one of the most amazing sights this trip, the actual size of the city; it is huge.

 

Today was Ataturk Day. As a group we went into town to see if there were any festivals; we, however, could not find any. Then we were told that the celebrations were being held at the stadium, so we had lunch and then went over to the stadium to join the festivities. As good college students (especially guys), we found the food very quickly. We tried several amazing tasting foods which have names that I either do not know how to spell or did not know the name of. After walking around the park most of us sat back and watched some local boys play a game of keep away soccer. After a few minutes Rusty and then Nate joined the game as the rest of us watched and laughed with the local boys as Rusty and Nate played (they actually did very well). We ended the day with a good meal of chicken and a time of fellowship as a group.

 

By Jonathan