Reunion!!!

December 22, 2009

Today, I met up with Tracy Davis (Soule). We went to high school together! We have only seen each other once since graduation. Who would have thought the next time we saw each other would be in Ankara, on the other side of the world. So I met her at the Sheraton, where she has been living for the last five months or so. Her husband is stationed here in Ankara, and the Sheraton is putting everyone up for their duration here.

We sat and talked for a while in the lobby, catching up on the last four or five years of our lives. We both look exactly the same, haha. Next, we went to the next door mall to grab a bite to eat. Again, just catching up on the past and talking about plans for the future. It’s like we picked up right where we left off without skipping a beat.

Soon, Tracy’s husband, Zach, and his friend, Jordan, met up with us. We were headed to Ulus, the older part of town with streets lined with stores for some great shopping. The streets were all brick, winding up and down. Shops full of rugs, pashminas, angora, metal work, spices, etc. It was great! First stop was a rug and scarf store. It was small and quaint. They offered us çay (tea), when we entered. They had such an amazing collection of scarves, so many colors, patterns, sizes. And you couldn’t beat the price!

After they wrapped all the scarves as Christmas presents, we were off on another mission, a mission for angora sheep hide. Throughout the afternoon we walked into so many stores with angora. It was very interesting, different sizes, colors, and textures. Zach speaks more Turkish than the rest of us, so he was the negotiator and interpreter for the day.

After a wonderful afternoon of walking up and down brick streets lined with colorful spice bags and successful shopping for the party, it was time to go home. It had cooled off considerably by this time, and the sun was setting so it wasn’t going to get any warmer. We walked to a main street to catch cabs. I was the first to get in a cab, they wanted to make sure I made it home safely J After two unsuccessful attempts to tell the driver where I was going, I pulled out my camera and showed the driver a picture of the enormous figure skates outside the ice rink. He immediately recognized the skates, and headed that way.

What a great day! And now I know where to shop for presents before I return home!

What other parts of Ankara are hiding, waiting for me to discover?