Yesterday was 24 Kasım (November 24) which is Öğretmenler Günü (Teachers' Day) all over Türkiye. Schools across the country recognized and thanked our teachers for being the wonderful people that they are. We had a short ceremony during which we sang the İstiklâl Marşı (I am going to have that song memorized by the end of the year) and a few students gave speeches.

This morning, my friend Hande had a volleyball match, so I went to see that. Hande's team won 3 to 0. I also saw my friends Mercan, Merve, Sabire, and Seda there, which was nice surprise. When I got home, Semra told me that she was going to visit some friends and she invited me along. We went to her friend Seniha's house, and I met their friends İknur, Asuhan, Nebahat, another Asuhan, and Perrihan. Iram's mother Nilgün and her aunt Servet were also there, and when they heard that I was there, they told Iram to come as well.
These women get together once or twice every month and have been doing so for the past 18 years. Iram, Can, and Aslı grew up with the children of the other women. Everyone was very nice and it was fun to spend my afternoon with them.

Well, I knew the time was going to come eventually...my school is in the middle of exams. A bunch of students (including me) had their English exam last week, and everybody wanted my help. I was invited to two other classes, because the students were hoping that I would take their exams, and then they could copy me. I went to their classes, but I wouldn't let them copy me, so they just copied each other instead. The teacher watched them do this, and when I asked her why she didn't stop them, she just replied that none of them had the correct answers anyway, so their copying didn't matter. It was really funny. I am happy to report that I got a 100% on my English exam, which makes up for the abysmal grade I got on my math exam. Seriously, math combined with a foreign language is just evil.

I have also already taken my Biyoloji (Biology), Edebiyat (Literature), Coğrafya (Geography), Tarih (History), Din (Religion), Sağlık (Health), and Psikoloji (Psychology) exams. I was staring at my Biyoloji exam, willing the words to start making sense (and wondering what I was going to do, because it wasn't working), when Arzu, who sits behind me, saw that I couldn't understand the exam. She said something to the teacher, and the next thing I knew, she had given me her exam to copy. So, with Arzu's help, I think that I might actually pass my exams, even if I don't know what I am writing about. I still have yet to take my Fizik (Physics), Geometri (Geometry), and Kimya (Chemistry) exams, so wish me luck with those.

Last weekend, my friend Gökçe had a fencing match and she invited me to come see it. It was really fun; fencing is a very interesting sport. Semra's cousins Veys and İknur and their daughter Güneş (her name means sun, we call her Güneş bebek, or sun baby), also visited. Güneş is only 6 months old and she is so sweet.

Today marks the 3 month anniversary of me being in Turkey; the year is going by way to quickly. I wish Thanksgiving food existed here; I am really craving cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie right now.

I hope that everyone has a good holiday and a great weekend!

Today is 10 Kasım (November 10th), which is another special day for Türkiye. Why? Because it is the anniversary of Atatürk's death. It sounds depressing, but it is actually a celebration of the life of the first president of Türkiye.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in 1881 and he died in 1938, when he was 57 years old. If he were alive today, he would be 125 years old. At 9:00 this morning, my entire school lined up outside in order to get ready for the minute of silence that happens at 9:05, which is the time that he died. Also at that time, all the traffic stops and all of the cars in Türkiye sound their horns. After that, we sang the İstiklal Marşı (the national anthem) and raised the Turkish flag to half-mast, which is how all the flags in Türkiye were flown today.
At the end of the day, there was a short assembly during which a movie about Atatürk was shown. All in all, it was a very interesting day and I am glad to have experienced it.

İyi hafta sonları (have a good weekend everyone!)

Last Wednesday, I went on a field trip with my school. We went to this place called the Frig Vadisi, which is kind of like a mini-Kapadokya. I saw some really ancient rock formations there, as well as some caves and tombs that were used by the Byzantines and Hittites. I don't know very much history about what I saw, because the öğretmen (teacher) explained everything in Türkçe (Turkish in Turkish), but just seeing it was amazing. One thing that I did learn about, however, was this beautiful palace that we saw. It was built in 1434 and we saw the entrance hallway and the rooms used for guests. We also saw the stables that were used to house the visitors' camels.
There were people on this trip from the entire school, both afternoon and morning students. So, I got to meet more new people, which made the trip even more fun.

On Friday, I went with Semra and Fettah to Mersin. Semra's sister, my teyze (aunt) Minoş, and my amca (uncle) Mesut live there. Mersin is a seaside city and I could see the ocean from my teyze and amca's house. There is an exchange student there, Daniel (who is from Mexico), and who I met during my trip to Kapadokya. I got to see him while I was in Mersin and he showed me around the city. It was cool to have my own personal tour guide and really awesome to be able to spend time with another exchange student.

It was really warm in Mersin, but when I got back to Afyon, it was freezing. In fact, it snowed here for the first time on Friday. Afyon is one of the coldest places in western Türkiye and I am told that it snows a lot here during the winter.

Today was a special day for me: I understood an entire conversation for the first time. It was between me and Gulderen, and it was a very short conversation, but still, I understood the entire thing!

Well, I hope that everyone's November is off to a good start. Happy Birthday Daniel!

Here are some pictures of my trip to the Frig Vadisi and of my Turkish friends. I hope you enjoy them!


Some of the caves at the Frig Vadisi

Furhan, Apo, and Gökçe

Me and Gökçe

Ece, Nesibe, and Tüğçe

A really awesome carving of a lion. It is upside down,
with the head pointing towards the ground.

Nesibe, Tüğçe, Me, and Ece

A really pretty lake

(back row) Ece, Nesibe, Tüğçe, Mustafa, and Apo
(front row) Osan, Hikmet, and Murat Can