Merhaba! (Hello)
Today was a holiday for Turkey. On this day in 1922, Atatürk led the Turkish army to victory in the war for Turkish independence. Everyone had the day off from work and I was watching a performance on television with my host parents. There were dancers dressed in traditional Turkish clothing and performing Turkish folk dances. There were also fabulous singers who were singing traditional Turkish folk songs. My host mom was singing along with them, it was cute.
I just looked out the window, and there was a marching band (or rather a sitting band, as they were all sitting in a truck) right outside my apartment. My apartment is right next to a main road, so you can always hear cars driving by. This band was part of a small parade that consisted of them and a few trucks draped with Turkish flags. Yesterday, when I was walking through Afyon, I saw some dancers dressed in traditional clothing performing outside, it was really cool.
Last night, I went with my host parents to an Afyon fair. It was pretty small but really close to us, so we decided to go. There were rides and lots of food stalls set up. There was also a building for businesses to set up stalls and advertise their products. It kind of reminded me of the Montgomery County fair, except that it was much harder to get inside and find a place to park because there were so many people. There were not only a million cars, but a bunch of people running all over the street. After being in crowded places in Turkey, crowded places in America will seem like nothing and the drivers in New York will seem very careful.