The day has been one of traveling. Starting in Istanbul, we took a plane to a small village and wasted around two hours figuring out their city bus system :) it was a beautiful city though. On one of the rides, a mother heard my brother and I speaking English together and turned around and encouraged her small, beautiful daughter to listen for practice. In all the Turkish schools, English is required. French used to be the required language until twenty years ago or so.
Anyway, I was stared at quite heavily for my clothig choices because my ankles are showing. I cannot wait to be in the country where showing your ankles is not a taboo thing! A part of traveling is wanting to experience/fit into the culture. I know for sure that I am not fitting in, makes me feel like the loser who sits by herself at lunch in the cafeteria...
Even if I were to have the same outerwear as my Middle Eastwrn cOunterparts, I would still not fit in. My face doesn't necessarily distinguish me as an American. But I am most ibviously a foreigner and understand only 5 words, besides DVD and toilete, in Turkish...
We traveled an hour by bus to another town-Nevishir I believe. It was surprisingly modern and beautiful! We met a man at the bus stop who had a bag full of fresh fruits! He said he was in tourism for ten years and became an instant friend to my brother. My brother told him where we were going and he offered to get on the bus with us and help us determine where to get off. He later decided we should get off with him and he would drive us around to elp us find a cheap hotel. After a few stops and some sight seeing escapades (such as the fairy chimneys) we decided on a hotel that is dug out of stone. We argued for an extremely low price and received an extra bed. The man then took us to a nice meal where we insisted on buying him dinner but he refused because he needed to get home to his 51 day ol baby girl and his wife. We enjoyed the nicest meal on a roof top woth a lightening storm in the background over the mountain. As it started to rain, we moved our meal inside and enjoyed some delicious Turkish tea!
Finally we left. As I am sitting in my cave that was dug before Islamic times, I am lucky to be in the company of the two greatest men on eaRth. I am very proud of how fluent my brother ia in Turkish! He has been a lifesaver!
This is awesome....how is dad doing in the uncertainty of itinerary?
ReplyDeleteBet it's an adventure. So is Brett pretty savvy?