for dad

I LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy. I wish I had a recent picture of us to post, but would one of me with a large Turkish man suffice? I jest... I jest...

But for real-- Dad, I love you, and I'm letting the whole internet world know... well, those who read my blog... so I guess I'm telling you and Bart and Mom... but hey-- that's something :)

I hope you have a wonderful day-- sans Loulou. Know that I love you and miss you and think you're the coolest dad ever! EVER!

PS-- Tell Mom to check her email-- you're wretched daughter sent your gift via email. It's a good one-- you're going to love it!!! And I hope you noticed the card taped to my door-- it was quite inconspicuous...

XOXOXOXO,
loulou

for everyone else

Quick update...

We've been on the Black sea for a few days, staying in the rooftop apartment of some friends. These friends get up every morning for a 6am devotional, but luckily we go back up to our apartment and crash immediately afterwards. It's been pretty amazing. Our friends here have shown us the most incredible hospitality. You can't out-love a Turk.

We leave tomorrow for a quick plane flight to Istanbul. We'll be there together until Thursday-- when the group parts ways. Megan and I will remain in Istanbul for a few days, and then join a Greek family she knows in Athens for several days. I'm really excited about Istanbul-- but it's so strange to think we're already there-- this part of our journey is almost at an end.

My friends will leave, and I will return to Ankara. I enjoyed Ankara, but it will be different this time. I begin my writing internship on the 1st of July. I hope they like my style, I hope I live up to expectations. I am living in the dorms again-- which means many new adventures are to come.

Some of you knew I was quite ill for a while. My roommates in Ankara smoked in our room and never opened the windows. I coughed so much that I couldn't sleep-- and neither could they. I didn't want to insult them or damage our relationship, so Jenn took one for the team and let them think she was afraid to sleep by herself-- so I got a few smoke free nights. I am much better now. After a bottle of some sort of Turkish syrup from the pharmacy (which I obtained through charades), and a few nights on the Black Sea propped up in bed, and some dreadful concoction that Scott gets from his chiropractor, I am almost completely back to normal. (See Mom-- no bird flu...) Yay!

fat camp update

This is Lindsey Carter-- reporting to you LIVE from Fat Camp Turkey. We've been out here for three weeks, and I've got to tell you-- it's started to get pretty harsh. In the beginning, they just kept feeding us huge helpings of incredibly healthy food. It's hard to find anything processed out here. And once we got used to the food, they had us climbing ruins and small hills, which culminated in two mountain climbing adventures.

But the latest strategies utilized by Camp have been slightly more unothordox, and have some campers in tears. It seems that they've resorted to using friends and strangers to let us know how overweight we are. NO-- I'm not kidding, folks. I actually had my roommates tell me that I was to big for Turkish clothes and that I should go to a doctor for a diet and exercise plan.

But folks, that was just the beginning of these new tactics. Last night here at Fat Camp, a skinny girl about my age proceeded to pat my tummy and ask me when my baby was coming. And to make matters worse, she went on insisting that I must be pregnant. What do you say to something like that? Finally, she just walked away.

Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig have nothing on this place! I'm never eating again!

alışverış yaptım

Translation: I went shopping.

The Turkish shopping experience has taken me quite some time to get adjusted to, but today, I spread my wings (and opened my wallet), and shopped til I dropped!!!

Jenn and I came home today to find our roommates either absent or studying-- so what is a girl to do but shop? My roomie, Eşra, told me about a shopping area that I hadn't been to yet-- one that she thought might be better for a girl of my "size" (I'll explain that later). So, Jenn and I went to check it out.

After congratulating ourselves for making it their safely-- which means that we didn't get runover (have I mentioned that STOP signs are optional here?)-- we walked into a cute little store, where we happened to be the only patrons. Well, one thing I have learned in my time here is that you must get used to the Shopping Stalkers-- I think they are called sales clerks, but my name fits them better. These Shopping Stalkers are there to help you-- which means that they stand within 2 feet of you wherever you go. They don't disturb you, per se, so much as stand by your side-- just in case you suddenly need help. This freaks me out.

I'm used to pulling my own clothes off the rack-- but they do it for you. I'm used to digging to the bottom of a pile of jeans for the right size-- they do this for you. I'm used to chasing down a sales clerk to open a dressing room, to ask a question, to remind them of my existence-- but here, they do it for you. This is very contrary to my way of shopping, to my way of living. Help? Are you kidding me? But today, I gave in, and accepted the assistance. Grrr.

The other new thing for both me and Jenn was that there is not personal space-- which we knew from walking around town-- but this takes interesting forms while shopping. You can be looking at a shirt here on a rack, and the lady next to you and grab it to look at as well. This is totally acceptable. It is also acceptable to push someone out of the way to finish looking at a rack-- something I think would solicit a slap in the States.

Jenn and I dug through piles and stack and bins and tables of clothing at one store-- everything was 50% off-- can you blame us? I think it took us half an hour to get to the cash register, but we both decided it was entirely worth it :)

Okay, now for the "my size" story...
I can home from a shopping outing, and my roomie asked me why I didn't buy anything. I replied that nothing fit me right, to which she began to snicker. She said, "You're too big for Turkish clothes. You won't fit." I was a little shocked, but I went with it and laughed. THEN-- I went to Mavi for a pair of jeans and found out that I wear the LARGEST SIZE THEY MAKE!!! How's that for a self-image boost?! So anyways, after all that, we're back in my room last night and they are telling me how my other roommate lost 24 kilos last year and wants me to know that she feels diet and exercise should be very important to me. They both thought I should contact the doctor that helped the one to lose so much weight! Geez. Well, I found plenty of lovely clothing items that fit me today, so HA!

turk gibi

Food poisonıng. I think that is the final verdict. I was up all night with it. I'm fine now, just a bıt weak, but the thought of mantı still makes we want to... welll... you know. It was sort of my "welcome to Ankara" gıft.

In other news, my friends and I made some Turkish friends in a cherry and green plum grove at Collosae, where we helped them harvest fruit. I think they thought we were crazy... might be :)

Our van was pulled over twice by the police on our way to Ankara from Pamukkale. They can pull you over whenever they want, and they can make you pay your fine on the spot. Yay.

My home for the next two weeks here in Ankara is a dormitory full of Turkish students. I am sharing a room with three girls-- only one of which speaks any English-- she is studying it ;-) We mostly do charades with random vocabulary words thrown in, and then awkwardly laugh at each other. I still don't know where they are going tonight-- I heard "foot shopping" which I translated as "food shopping"-- but they looked too cute for either of those. Guess they'll act it out for me in the morning.