yağmur.
We’ve been going birthday crazy lately.
Yasemin’s was on January 6th. She woke up to breakfast in bed and had her favorite food for dinner: lasagna. Yumm.
On Friday night, we celebrated Laura’s birthday. A bunch of friends in Taksim at a karaoke club. It was really fun. Lots of funny stories and more… haha. Ya good times.
Saturday, we went to a family friend’s house and hung out a little. Eventually, Yasemin and I just ended up falling asleep and we were woken up when it was time to go. I like going there though cause it’s cool chatting with Seben. And Dila is really sweet, too. My adjectives are not too descriptive today, so I apologize.
Tuesday the 11th was my 19th birthday. When I woke up in the morning, my host mom had prepared a bagels and cream cheese breakfast for me. A favorite for sure. :) And it’s been a while since I’ve had an actual bagel. My host mom said there’s only one bagel shop in Istanbul.
The bus arrived while we were still eating breakfast so Yasemin told him in Turkish to wait while I finish my birthday breakfast. Haha. He was not happy, but he can get over it. It was my birthday. :) My host mom stood by the door as I got on my bus and we drove away to school. It was such a wonderful surprise to have friends at school say happy birthday or doğum günün kutlu olsun. Some classes even sang to me. The school day was quiet. I went to the dance room, turned on some music, danced around, and wrote in my journal. A really sweet text from my host mom always makes it a good day. When I got to the house after school, Erim was already home. I had been home for no more than 10 minutes and Yasemin and my host dad walked in the door. It was unusual since I’m normally home alone for about 2 hours after school. It was nice to have the family around! We met my host mom at Intiba (a near by meat restaurant) for my birthday dinner. Delicious. And a birthday cake shaped like a lady bug for good long and a long life.
I took that cake to school with me the next day to share with my friends. We had a nice conversation as well. The week just got better and better.
I really enjoyed my birthday. I can’t say I didn’t miss having my friends around, but I can say that I’m so thankful to have these people in my life. Oh, and I love my new black Uggs. :)
The next day, Laura and I decided to go out for breakfast so I could hear all about her new life with her new host family. It had only been a few days, but I could see how happy she still was. And it’s not just that her new family is awesome, she is also happy because she still feels loved and missed by her old family. She now has two wonderful families that care about her. And I could tell how happy this was making her feel. I’m so happy for her. Having a real family here really does add something incredible to the exchange. It’s hard to put in to words, but it’s a beautiful thing to watch people who don’t even really know each other that well love each other and accept each other as family. Our conversation was just the beginning of a great day in this amazing city.
We went to Taksim and looked around at the little shops. Later, we sat in a cafe terrace and drank some coffee and hot chocolate with a view of Galata Tower. The good conversations continued. Just about how happy we are to be here. And how much we’re going to miss this place. And how awesome we are for doing this. Haha. Wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
We were the only ones on the terrace and two of the waiters asked us a few questions, complimented Laura’s Turkish (ultimate confidence booster), and “told my fortune” from my kahve. He was actually just repeating what we had told him about ourselves. Age, how long we’ve been here, where we’re from, the normal stuff. Haha, they were nice and we’ll probably go back there sometime.
We continued walking around the old city. Looking at shops, finding little cafes we wanted to try next time, practicing our turkish with shop owners, and just talking. Lots of walking.
A great and much needed day in the city.
Friday night, I got to my host mom’s school and chilled with Yasemin and Erim while she finished a meeting with a parent. Then, we ordered some lahmacun, bought a movie, and headed home. We ate dinner in front of the tv, sprawled out on the couch, and all fell asleep during the movie. :) That is what I call a good Friday night.
Saturday was lovely as well. Woke up kind of late and my host mom and Yasemin were already gone. I hung around the house while Erim studied and my host dad cleaned some. We left around 3 to the European side and my host dad dropped me off at the Levent metro. I took the metro to Şişhane and met Conor at a cafe to have some coffeeeee. I’m slightly addicted to coffee at the moment. Then, we went to Nişantaşı to meet Laura and her host sister. Unfortunately, it took us way too long to get to where they were, so it was just a quick hi, nice to meet ya, bye, and I had to go back to Levent to meet my host mom and Yasemin. They didn’t show up for a while so Conor and I went to have more coffee at Mado. Why I had a double shot espresso… I just don’t know. But as one would imagine, I was wide awake or for lack of a better word, hyper. When my host mom and Yasemin arrived, I hopped in the car and we left for the grocery store, then headed to Seben’s house. There, we had some dinner and watch some tv, talked about life, then, as usual, we fell asleep on the couch. I wasn’t feeling very well for some reason, so I didn’t stay asleep for long. The parents were playing cards while we chilled in the living. We left the house around 2 am I think. At the house, my host mom gave me some alka seltzer, and I went to sleep.
And today has been a chill day as well. Probably more chill than the others. I woke up around 8:30, we said good bye to Erim and my host dad as they left for Erim’s basketball, and my host mom, Yasemin, and I had a nice breakfast at the coffee table. After breakfast, Yasemin and I took Bal for a walk in the rain. I always love that because we get a chance to talk. The rest of the day was just a lot of cleaning, writing, reading, chatting, organizing, and chilling. It’s been raining all day long.
Things feel so normal.
It’s weird to reflect.
I’m in Istanbul and I’m very happy to be with this family. The end.
