Ankara…

December 18, 2009

So since we’ve been here, it has been hard to find exciting things to do. There’s a lot of history here, but other than that, what can young people do to have a good time? All the guide books we’ve read have told us, you only need a day or two to see what Ankara has to offer. Not a very promising thing to read when we’ll be here for about five months. Also last night, we told the Turkish men we went out with that there’s nothing to do here and they got really defensive, but didn’t suggest anything. We were still left to believe that there really isn’t too much going on here until…

One of our teammates, Lola, asked us to go out with her and some friends. We went out a place called “Flat” with one of the Ankara University men’s players, Mattias. At first it was just the four of us, hanging out and talking. Mattias told us that his perception, and probably many others, of the United States is based on Gossip Girl, xoxo. Haha. I saw the show for the first time a day or two before this, so I thought it was hilarious.

Our beer was delivered wonderfully by different servers all dressed as Santa Claus! Everything we associate with Christmas, the Turks associate with New Years, because they don’t celebrate Christmas, as they are Muslim. We had tall and short but all way too skinny to be Santa Claus’s serving us drinks. It was great, they brought us much happiness! After a while, more of Lola’s friends showed up. Mattias, Lola, and all her friends speak English very well. So we drank Efes, a Turkish brand of beer, and hung out speaking English with multiple people rather than our usual two or three.

After Flat, we went to If, a “club” somewhere else in Ankara. At no point during the night, did we know where we were, or where we were going; we were just along for the ride. If was a nice place. After walking through the crowd of smokers on the first level, you descend the stairs to an open room with a bar and stage. Onstage was a band. The band was peculiar. They played American music but sang it in Turkish. I kept on thinking I knew the songs, but when the words were said, I was lost. Lola’s friends were great; they just wanted to make sure we were having a good time. Around three or four, we decided it was time to head home, after an intense night of dancing and attempting to sing. We were so happy to find that Ankara had life!

What other pleasant surprises will we encounter? :)