Today was a pretty interesting day. It started out with me going grocery shopping with my host father, Fettah. But, instead of going to just a plain old grocery store like people do in the US, we went to a bazaar. A bazzar full of stalls with every different kind of thing you could possibly want to buy. All of the people running the stalls were yelling, trying to get people to come buy their merchandise. It was really cool. We got some fresh fruits and vegetables and fish that we ate for dinner.
My host mother, Semra, has been absolutely fantastic about me being a vegetarian. She always makes sure that I have something to eat, and usually it's more like four or five somethings. She is a fabulous cook and I find it really fun to help her. Yesterday, we made a really delicious cake with cherries and it and a few days ago, we made two huge pots full of tomato sauce. We used fresh tomatoes and squeezed them ourselves (with the help of a tomato squisher machine). Apparently, this is something she does every year, and then we eat the tomato sauce all winter long.
In the afternoon, I went with Semra to her friend's house and we talked to her (or rather she talked, and I listened) for a while. Then, I had my first Turkish lesson. The president of the Afyon Rotary club is giving me Turkish lessons. We just went over the basics today, but I found it pretty interesting.
Semra came to pick me up after my lesson, and she had Yilmaz, the 5 year old son of one of our neighbors with her. He is really adorable and a lot of fun to be around. So we got back to the apartment building, and we got off the elevator, and Yilmaz vomited right in front of our door. That was an interesting experience.
I also watched a Turkish game of soccer (football) today. It was between the teams Beşiktaş and Antalyaspor. The Beşiktaş fans are the most hardcore fans I have ever seen in my entire life. They started singing and cheering their team on in the first 2 minutes of the game and they sang throughout the entire 90 minute game. Even the fact that their team lost 3 to 1 didn't stop them, it just made them sing louder.
I hope everyone is having a good weekend and happy September to everyone!