Oy, I forgot that coming to Turkey means taking a trip back in time as far as internet's concerned. I wrote half this entry and then the phone rang, somehow deleting most of it. Meh. 

Today, I went out to my university, ODTÜ, and interviewed a few friends-of-friends about the Turkish language reform. Then I just walked around and visited all my favorite places. I like it better in the spring, when there's students everywhere and the trees are all green and everything's flowering and the dandelions take over. Right now everything's bare and covered in a blanket of snow, and it's too cold to lounge around outside like in April and May. The buildings stand out more, and they're not the most attractive feats of architecture. But still, it's nice to see everything. 

I went to Tunalı in a taxi from Kızılay, because it was ridiculously cold and my feet were cold and wet (My host mom forbade me from stepping outside in anything but my boots. That's how I found out my boots are anything but waterproof.). Getting a good taxi driver is kind of like playing Russian roulette. This time I lost. He asked me if I had a boyfriend (when someone asks me that, I always say yes), and then asked if I wanted another one. He said he was an architect. Gözde and I had a good laugh about that later. I guess he just drives taxis for fun. 

Aaanyway, after running an errand in Tunalı I went to Ceyhun and Nesrin's house. I spent a lot of time at their house this spring with Austin, and they became like my second host family. I LOVE THEM. Seriously. They stuffed me full of food, because apparently they thought I was too skinny. We talked forever, and watched TV, and danced, of course. One of my favorite things about Nesrin is that she's very much a free spirit - if she hears a song she likes, she's out of her seat in a second. Then Nesrin went and bought these big... wafer things and we put ice cream on them and generally made a mess of ourselves. We also created a musical instrument out of them, thanks to Ceyhun. I'm going back next week. Apparently they had thought I was spending the night.

Then I went to meet Gözde at Starbucks after she got off work. On the way there I was sliding all over the place, because of the snow and because the stone they make the sidewalks out of is slippery. So I just decided to go with it and slide on purpose, thinking, eh, people are going to stare at the yabancı anyway. Then I looked up and saw that everyone else was doing it too, kids, grownups, businessmen! I got hit by a snowball in the street where there are lined up stalls of books, and then I hit the guy back. Everyone was having fun in the snow.  

Now I'm at home and getting fed again. I'm not complaining. Çay zamanı! Oh, I may or may not be going out of town for a few days. 

Also, I love Gözde. We stay up way too late being ridiculous. Who wants to pitch in to buy us a Lear jet or two so we can see each other more often? Eh, eh? Or possibly just to speed up continental drift. Actually, I wish I could just move all my favorite Americans to Ankara. Yeah, that would go over well.