Oh my goodness. So it's been ages and I don't even know where to begin. Actually, it's only been two weeks, but I'm going to fast forward through the first of those because it was really just a lot of planning for the event that happened in the second week, and that is far more interesting. Between week one and week two, however, there was, of course, the weekend.
For the first time in a while I didn't do much. I was half hanging around because my father's friend was supposed to be in town and had expressed some interest in getting together for dinner or something, but he never contacted me and I wasn't terrible fussed. The real reason I didn't want to travel last weekend was the Quidditch World Cup. It took place in North Myrtle Beach on April 5th and 6th, and let's be honest - I can't miss the World Cup. There were streaming issues on Saturday, but Sunday UT beat Baylor, A&M, and Texas State in that order to win the Championship a second year in a row. It was pretty spectacular, and especially after the day I'd had.
With the time difference, games didn't start until the early evening, so I went out on Sunday to see the Anatolian Civilizations Museum: easily the most important museum in Ankara. The good thing about that is that it was gorgeous and I found a deck of cards with pictures of Turkey on them (background: we'd been searching for playing cards). The bad thing is only one of the three galleries in the museum was open, so there was only a little bit of bang for my buck and a lot of wandering the grounds because it was beautiful and perfect and sunny out, which never happens in Ankara.
After the museum, I went to the hamam (Turkish bath) because I love hamams and there was one in the area and oh my goodness saunas and massages and exfoliation. It was a little more expensive than I was comfortable with, but not breaking the bank by any means, and I learned a bit about local baths as opposed to the tourist baths I'd mostly visited. Apparently they charge for everything: entrance, scrub, soap, massage, shampoo, all individually so it starts to add up. It looked like you were expected to just bring a lot from home. They also sort of coerced me into a coffee massage, not that I'm complaining. It's literally what it sounds like. They moisten Turkish coffee grounds and then rub it into your skin. Apparently it's healthy. It's also exfoliating, and I smelled like coffee for days. All very good things.
It was good that I got some relaxation on Sunday too, because all of that was gearing up for the five day marathon that was last week. Due to some disagreements and miscommunications between the Economic Section and Public Affairs, I was tasked with organizing a visit for a group of high school students who are studying abroad in Turkey for the academic year. It's a bit like what I did with the Arabic Flagship, only they're younger and in Turkey. I got tasked with it because four of the students were assigned mentors in the Economic Section, but four quickly grew to six quickly grew to eight, and at the last minute I was scrambling to house everyone, get them to and from bus stations, and make sure they had a good, informative, fun experience at the Embassy.
Needless to say, it was a 24-hrs a day job. The students got in on Sunday night, came to the Embassy to shadow their mentors on Monday, went through my carefully planned and executed survey of all the Embassy departments on Tuesday, and in the evenings spent most of the time with me and Mark being carted to various places and events. A lot of them got into a fancy reception Monday night, though I took the rest out to dinner. Tuesday we ordered in Chinese food because that's one of the things they missed from home, and though most of them were supposed to leave Wednesday evening, many ended up staying an extra day, going to trivia with us at the British Embassy, and then cooking dinner to thank us with food they'd bought at the commissary: Easy Mac and bacon. Imagine my joy. (Note the sarcasm.)
At the very least it was sweet of them to do, despite miscalculating tastes, and only reinforced the week's rave reviews. As many of you know from stories or experience, it can be difficult to live as a young student abroad, and they were all very grateful for their short American break. The thank you emails have been flooding my inbox since they left and I think many of them will keep in touch. I was also pleasantly surprised that even at eighteen, many of them were considering a career in the Foreign Service and were terribly excited to get a glimpse of the inner workings of a U.S. Mission.
While the event was definitely a success in my book, and I've been putting together a debrief so it can be repeated next year, it was also exhausting. Two of the students were staying with us in our building, one with Mark and one with me and Isobel, while Isobel's family was also in town to visit. I don't think I slept more than four hours a night until they all left. That on top of running on all cylinders during the day quickly burnt me out, and by Thursday I wasn't the only one ready to crash.
We got our rest in though, and I even convinced some friends last night to go with me to a local restaurant they had been refusing to visit since I got here. It's called Speakeasy, which drew my attention because the 20s, but it also has this beautiful stone patio with stained glass windows and a sort of steampunk decor. Inside is even better, with stone walls, antique tables, and bookshelves all over. It's like... all of the aesthetics I love rolled into one, and the food was amazing. So, one more point for Lauren.
Alas, even that moment of rest cannot last for long. Tonight I have volunteered my building's roof, and in the event of inclement weather my apartment, for the going away party of one of my friends at the Embassy. She's been reassigned to Niger, as seems to happen often in the Foreign Service. I am not technically hosting the party, Eva has that covered, but I have tried to be as helpful as possible. Mark is chipping in too, but Isobel is out of town. She was disappointed she won't be able to make it, but there will always be more parties, I'm sure.
The inclement weather thing might actually be a problem too. After days of beautiful sunlight and reasonable temperatures it started to pour rain last night, and then this morning I woke up to hail. It's calmed down now though, so as long as that lasts we might be okay. I will be cleaning my apartment thoroughly regardless.
Next week there's a lot going on too. We have another visit, but Mark has taken point on this one. I'm just tagging along to babysit, but it should be fun regardless. And it's only one day instead of five, so that's something for which to be thankful. Assuming I'm not needed for planning that on Monday I should be off to the foreigner's office in Ankara to apply for a residence permit too. For those who haven't heard, the Economic Section wants to keep me. Not that they're allowed to hire me because rules, but they got my housing extended, so it looks like I'll be jetting off to London for a few weeks and then coming back to work a few weeks more assuming I don't have visa issues. Mostly, I'm trying to extend my stay in Ankara until I can take the Foreign Service Officer Exam in June. I'm a week short now because of Department rules, but I'm sure I can find something to fill my time.
And now a wedding procession has just exploded in my street. At least I assume that's what it is. There is a lot of car horn honking and drums and joyous ululation. It's extremely headache inducing, so I think I'm going to go make a cup of tea. Ugh people celebrating with noise.
For the first time in a while I didn't do much. I was half hanging around because my father's friend was supposed to be in town and had expressed some interest in getting together for dinner or something, but he never contacted me and I wasn't terrible fussed. The real reason I didn't want to travel last weekend was the Quidditch World Cup. It took place in North Myrtle Beach on April 5th and 6th, and let's be honest - I can't miss the World Cup. There were streaming issues on Saturday, but Sunday UT beat Baylor, A&M, and Texas State in that order to win the Championship a second year in a row. It was pretty spectacular, and especially after the day I'd had.
With the time difference, games didn't start until the early evening, so I went out on Sunday to see the Anatolian Civilizations Museum: easily the most important museum in Ankara. The good thing about that is that it was gorgeous and I found a deck of cards with pictures of Turkey on them (background: we'd been searching for playing cards). The bad thing is only one of the three galleries in the museum was open, so there was only a little bit of bang for my buck and a lot of wandering the grounds because it was beautiful and perfect and sunny out, which never happens in Ankara.
After the museum, I went to the hamam (Turkish bath) because I love hamams and there was one in the area and oh my goodness saunas and massages and exfoliation. It was a little more expensive than I was comfortable with, but not breaking the bank by any means, and I learned a bit about local baths as opposed to the tourist baths I'd mostly visited. Apparently they charge for everything: entrance, scrub, soap, massage, shampoo, all individually so it starts to add up. It looked like you were expected to just bring a lot from home. They also sort of coerced me into a coffee massage, not that I'm complaining. It's literally what it sounds like. They moisten Turkish coffee grounds and then rub it into your skin. Apparently it's healthy. It's also exfoliating, and I smelled like coffee for days. All very good things.
It was good that I got some relaxation on Sunday too, because all of that was gearing up for the five day marathon that was last week. Due to some disagreements and miscommunications between the Economic Section and Public Affairs, I was tasked with organizing a visit for a group of high school students who are studying abroad in Turkey for the academic year. It's a bit like what I did with the Arabic Flagship, only they're younger and in Turkey. I got tasked with it because four of the students were assigned mentors in the Economic Section, but four quickly grew to six quickly grew to eight, and at the last minute I was scrambling to house everyone, get them to and from bus stations, and make sure they had a good, informative, fun experience at the Embassy.
Needless to say, it was a 24-hrs a day job. The students got in on Sunday night, came to the Embassy to shadow their mentors on Monday, went through my carefully planned and executed survey of all the Embassy departments on Tuesday, and in the evenings spent most of the time with me and Mark being carted to various places and events. A lot of them got into a fancy reception Monday night, though I took the rest out to dinner. Tuesday we ordered in Chinese food because that's one of the things they missed from home, and though most of them were supposed to leave Wednesday evening, many ended up staying an extra day, going to trivia with us at the British Embassy, and then cooking dinner to thank us with food they'd bought at the commissary: Easy Mac and bacon. Imagine my joy. (Note the sarcasm.)
At the very least it was sweet of them to do, despite miscalculating tastes, and only reinforced the week's rave reviews. As many of you know from stories or experience, it can be difficult to live as a young student abroad, and they were all very grateful for their short American break. The thank you emails have been flooding my inbox since they left and I think many of them will keep in touch. I was also pleasantly surprised that even at eighteen, many of them were considering a career in the Foreign Service and were terribly excited to get a glimpse of the inner workings of a U.S. Mission.
While the event was definitely a success in my book, and I've been putting together a debrief so it can be repeated next year, it was also exhausting. Two of the students were staying with us in our building, one with Mark and one with me and Isobel, while Isobel's family was also in town to visit. I don't think I slept more than four hours a night until they all left. That on top of running on all cylinders during the day quickly burnt me out, and by Thursday I wasn't the only one ready to crash.
We got our rest in though, and I even convinced some friends last night to go with me to a local restaurant they had been refusing to visit since I got here. It's called Speakeasy, which drew my attention because the 20s, but it also has this beautiful stone patio with stained glass windows and a sort of steampunk decor. Inside is even better, with stone walls, antique tables, and bookshelves all over. It's like... all of the aesthetics I love rolled into one, and the food was amazing. So, one more point for Lauren.
Alas, even that moment of rest cannot last for long. Tonight I have volunteered my building's roof, and in the event of inclement weather my apartment, for the going away party of one of my friends at the Embassy. She's been reassigned to Niger, as seems to happen often in the Foreign Service. I am not technically hosting the party, Eva has that covered, but I have tried to be as helpful as possible. Mark is chipping in too, but Isobel is out of town. She was disappointed she won't be able to make it, but there will always be more parties, I'm sure.
The inclement weather thing might actually be a problem too. After days of beautiful sunlight and reasonable temperatures it started to pour rain last night, and then this morning I woke up to hail. It's calmed down now though, so as long as that lasts we might be okay. I will be cleaning my apartment thoroughly regardless.
Next week there's a lot going on too. We have another visit, but Mark has taken point on this one. I'm just tagging along to babysit, but it should be fun regardless. And it's only one day instead of five, so that's something for which to be thankful. Assuming I'm not needed for planning that on Monday I should be off to the foreigner's office in Ankara to apply for a residence permit too. For those who haven't heard, the Economic Section wants to keep me. Not that they're allowed to hire me because rules, but they got my housing extended, so it looks like I'll be jetting off to London for a few weeks and then coming back to work a few weeks more assuming I don't have visa issues. Mostly, I'm trying to extend my stay in Ankara until I can take the Foreign Service Officer Exam in June. I'm a week short now because of Department rules, but I'm sure I can find something to fill my time.
And now a wedding procession has just exploded in my street. At least I assume that's what it is. There is a lot of car horn honking and drums and joyous ululation. It's extremely headache inducing, so I think I'm going to go make a cup of tea. Ugh people celebrating with noise.
No comments:
Post a Comment