Casper

Hi again everybody.

Since I have a minute (or a lot of minutes, I'm at school you know) I thought I would write again.

The holiday weekend was a good one, it passed too quickly. I took an interesting daytrip on Satuday with my host family to a city called Ödemiş, we had lunch there and continued on to the historical town of Birgi, which is one of the best preserved villages in this area of Turkey. It has a lot of old houses, the most interesting we visited was the Çakırağa Mansion, built in the 18th century in a different architechtural style than I've seen. The house's rooms are all open-air save for the bedrooms, and there are also very elaborate paintings covering all the interior walls. Next we visited an old mosque in this city, and from there we continued to Gölçük, a little lake up in the mountains/hills where we took a walk and hung out.

(The Mansion)

After school today we exchange students have our first (brace yourself) folk-dancing class to learn the dance we'll be preforming for our district conference. We are actually pretty excited for this. İt's not a Rotary conference if there's not some sort of group dance/ song. And speaking of the conference, it won't the 16th-19th as I previously wrote, it will be the 14th-16th May.

So that's all! I'll write again. Take care.

Lydia

Floating On

Hey everybody, here's the plan for the next few weeks!
Today is the last day of school before tomorrow's holiday, 23 Nisan, National Children's and Sovereignty Day. As I write to you I hear the sounds of our school march playing while the elementary kids disembark to go on a parade. I look forward to the upcoming three day weekend of sleeping in and enjoying the nice weather with my host family, and my host family's family who are visiting from İstanbul.
Next week is unfortunately a full week of school, but I intend to make the most of the afternoons... I am looking forward to Tuesday in particular, some of the other exchangers and I are going to try to go to the clothing bazaar which is supposed to have tons of good stuff for really cheap!
The week after next we leave for our Black Sea trip on Wednesday! The nine of us going are veryyy excited. Exchangers, hotels, airplanes, some fresh air... İt should be great!
The following week we will be having our district conference in Kuşadası, May 16th through the 19th, Sunday-Wednesday, which will be great because again it will mean exchangers, hotels, and missing school! As I understand the 19th and 20th of May are also public holidays here, and since the 21st is a Friday no one will go to school that day, meaning I can have that whole week off. İf you can't tell... I'm about done with school here! İt's really boring, and so long, and the weather is so nice... I just want to be outside all the time!
So that's what's coming up on my agenda, I'm awfully excited for everything. Everybody was right, the last part of your exchange is the best and passes the fastest!
İ'd better run now, but I will keep you posted! I wish you well. :)
Lydia

İlkbahar (Spring)

--A Summary of the Past Few Weeks--

Bursa trip: Was so great! We got there Friday evening, met our host families (Turkish people are really great hosts; every exchange student always gets such a welcoming family when we go away for the weekend), slept, got up and took a city tour Saturday (Bursa has a lot of history), and then, the highlight of the trip for everybody, went to Uludağ! The skiing was so fantastic! We were all so sad when dusk came and they closed the lift, we all could've continued for a few more hours I think. The weather was perfect for both touring the city and skiing-- not too hot, not to cold. Monday we had a brunch with the Rotarians and returned to İzmir.

Denizli trip: Also amazing! We left Saturday morning, arrived in Denizli 3.5 hours later, took a tour of a rug factory (handmade rugs; it's quite impressive to watch the women who weave them) and then went to a village for a bit, and had dinner. The next day we drove the 25km. or so to Pamukkale where we saw the "cotton falls" and ancient city. We saw a 3,000 year old ampitheater and swam in this really neat pool-- the water was crystal clear, warm, and bubbly (like club soda, really!) and oh, it had ancient ruins submerged in it. After swimming we hiked down the white terraces. The weather was again perfect for this trip-- I even got a little sunburned!
This trip was also good because my friend Savannah, who lives in Bursa, got to spend the night at my house Friday and Sunday night. I also recently found out we will be on the same flight from İstanbul to Chicago returning home (we plan to dry each other's tears, and eat our first American meals together, haha.) Really though, it will be nice to have someone to pass the time with on the 11 hour flight back to the USA.

Easter: As you may have guessed, is not widely celebrated in Turkey. On Saturday I dyed eggs with my host sisters, and on Sunday we went to a family brunch where the mothers hid the eggs for us "kids" to find. My host mom said, "Okay Lydia, you can explain the tradition, why people color the eggs and hide them."
"Well actually... I have no idea." I decided it was better to not even bring the Easter bunny into this. Honestly, how do you explain such a thing? So I had a good Easter, probably better than a lot I've had in American, considering I haven't dyed eggs in about 5 years!

School: İs becoming more and more impossible as the weather gets nicer. I officially don't need a coat in the daytime.

Karadeniz: I am quite excited for the last "big" Rotary trip to the Black Sea, May 5th--9th. We are flying to Trabzon on the Northeastern-ish coast. I think it wii be a great trip.

Other: Time is just passing really fast. So fast. I go to school, hang out with my host sisters and host family, see the other exchange students, try to be outside whenever I can-- things are really good here. But there is something about, again, the weather here, that makes me think of home a lot. Yesterday sitting outside at the brunch I closed my eyes and with the sun on my face and the quietness in the "countryside" it felt just like home, home in Wisconsin. I am so used to being away now. I don't miss it. But I do miss it. Going home is going to be really bizarre. I look forward to it and I dread it; it's like the reverse of what I felt when I came here.
Well, I'm not overly concerned with it yet. I've still got months left here.
I will try to write soon and put up a photo or too!
Until then, take care!
Lydia