This weekend I came to Samsun, the city where I spent my gap year and truly learned Turkish. I came to visit my host family and friends who I truly missed. I'm writing about this weekend in 2 parts because it will be long and I wanted to update everyone about my life.
I didn't go to work Friday because although my flight left in the evening, it is a trek trying to get out to the airport, and even more so with all of the protests going on, so I had to leave around lunch time. In Istanbul there are two airports, one in the European side (Atatürk Airport) and one on the Asian side (Sabiha Gökçen Airport). Most of the domestic flights fly out of Sabiha Gökçen and therefore they are usually cheaper - good for a college student budget. Therefore, I took the ferry across to the Asian side and got on a bus to the airport. I am glad I left when I did although I arrived at the airport 2 hours before my flight departed; better early than later when traveling. I was pretty bored while waiting, especially with no wifi, but that changed when I got to my gate.
After scanning my boarding pass I got on a bus to go to the airplane with the rest of the passengers. We pulled up to an airplane that had a really interesting green design on the side that said Istanbul and Sun Express, another airline. First people didn't get off of the bus and once people started exiting everyone just huddled around the bus because they thought it was the wrong plane. After a few men came over assuring the passengers that it was the Anadolu Jet plane to Samsun they proceeded on board. I just smiled to myself because no one was getting on the plane, and although I agree that it was weird not having an Anadolu Jet airplane I just assumed that the driver took us to the correct plane. Once onboard, I was reminded how the concept of personal space doesn't really exist in Turkey. Instead of waiting for people to sit down people try to walk on by which doesn't make anything better. The best part is when someone has to get into a window seat in an aisle where people are already sitting down because the passengers waiting to get by are already so close that no one can get out and no one can move. This happened several times around me and I just kept smiling to myself.
In order to understand what I am going to write I need to explain some things first. While I was in Samsun, the host family I stayed with consisted of my host mom and my two host sisters who are younger than me, although I refer to them as the older one and the younger one. After I left my host mom got engaged to a man, who met last summer while I was visiting. I also met several of his family members last summer. They got married in February. My older host sister is studying her freshman year in college in Erzurum, a city in Eastern Turkey, and my younger host sister is a sophomore in high school. Unfortunately my older host sister will be there studying for the summer so I am not going to get to see her.
Okay, back to the story. The plane ride itself was uneventful and I got really excited when the pilot announced we were landing soon. My new host father's older brother has a car so he, his daughter, and my younger host sister picked me up at the airport. When they dropped my host sister and me off at our apartment my host mom was standing on the balcony waiting for me. It was so great seeing them. My host grandmother, who lives directly below them I might add, had come up too. Although we never had much to communicate about I missed her too and it was great to see her. My new host dad didn't come home until several hours later because he was working, which gave me time to get in some girl talk with my host sister who had lots of stories about boys to explain. Another thing you should understand is that I am only 5 foot 4 and I tower over everyone here. My host family is pretty short and I am super tall here - it makes me think about how this is what it must be like talking and hugging me haha.
Anyway, my host mom had dinner ready with everything set on the table and we all sat down and ate soup, salad, rice, and chicken. Of course my host mom gave me generous helpings of everything even though she said it looked as if I lost weight. I joked that I was going to gain it all back this weekend while I was here, and she laughed while piling more food on my plate.
Side-note: every time I have been to Turkey on an exchange I have lived with a host family and have gained weight because Turkish mothers force feed their children and guests; when the food is so good and you don't want to be rude it is hard to say no. This summer, since I am not living with a host family and I am cooking for myself I am all set because I understand portion size :).
We talked all throughout dinner and after. We made tea, chatted, and watched one of the soap operas my host mom watches, while waiting for my new host dad to come home. When he arrived, us girls are ice cream while he at his dinner. We talked about life and what happened this past year, and it was great. I was feeling a little down this weekend and this was exactly what I needed. We laughed so hard talking about memories and differences in our life styles and it was really great practice for me. We sat up for hours and finally went to bed a little before two.
I wanted to give you all an update so I'm posting this now, but I will write more about my weekend in a few days.
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