|
Resting
I slept in again today, because I am on vacation. After a while, I realized that it is Saturday and I wanted to mail something before noon. I also figured I should check out at a decent time, though this place isn't exactly a hotel. I bid farewell to my roommate Ali. We got along really well considering the language barrier between us. I wanted to take a photograph with him to remember my Ogretment Evi experience by, but he was not up to it by the time I left. I arranged to leave my bag at the front desk for the day. Went out into the heat.
Walking Tour
Unlike Rome or other famous places, there is no big tour to do in Adana. I took a walk through the old downtown yesterday. Nothing really out of the ordinary. I found another shopping center that is also sadly uninhabited. Bought some bread on the street and generally took in the atmosphere. I have not taken a single picture in Adana. This is not because their is nothing to share with people back home. Mostly I just don't feel like being a tourist here. The minute you whip out a camera, you get a bunch of people looking and calling out "tourist" which doesn't seem to be a really good word here. So, I just went to the post office and passed by the train station and some mosques. Mostly uninspiring architecture.
The Movies
I didn't see anything good playing at the couple other theaters around town, so I ended up back at the Galleria mall for Marvin's Room. I hadn't really heard anything about this movie. I just knew that the other films- Armageddon, 6days and 7nights, The Fifth Element, etc- all got bad reviews. It turned out that I was the only one around for the 11:45am showing. They fired up the projector and I gave thanks for the original version movies subtitled in Turkish. This movie reminded me of my own grandfather who is sick in bed at home. The main point was that everyone has problems in life but your family is always there. They are all that are important. I often forget this when I escape to some faraway place.
Turkish Food
Though I have been here for almost two weeks, I have not eaten a lot of Turkish food. It is not an easy place to eat on a vegetarian diet. When I studied here before, I found a few good things to keep me nourished. One is the baked potato known as a kumpir. It is popular fast food that one can buy just about anywhere. The filling comes in a variety of flavors, usually smothered in ketchup and cream aplenty. I prefer the Russian salad fixings which I am sure they don't eat in Russia. There is not a lot of foreign food here. It would be very hard to find Chinese even in big cities. Most of the stuff is Middle Eastern, like the kebaps and other stuff that you can get in Greece and other places. Turks are also proud of their baklava and yogurt, which they say is originally Turkish.
E-Cafe
I checked my email yet again. It is nice to go to the same shop more than once. People always remember a foreigner and they are more comfortable with you the second time around. I had a good time at the Flintstones Pizza Home yesterday too. After that I returned to the dorm to wait for a call from Merih. We were supposed to go out for the third day in a row. I got lots of reading and writing in as I waited. I tried to call her once, but no luck. I guess I must have worn her out the last couple days, because she never showed. Around eight, I started walking to the bus station.
Metro Buses
Back to my favorite bus line. I even got the special student price this time, which evened out the extra I think I paid from
Ankara. Took the free shuttle out to the Otogar where I met an English speaker. Mustafa Kenan was also headed to Istanbul. He recognized my ODTU shirt, and asked me if I study there. He is hoping to enter their international relations department next year. We talked the night away as the bus sped on through the hills. It was nice to have a companion for yet another sleepless night.
|