Tenth November

10^th November is the day that the Turks mourn the death and remember the life if Atatürk, their national hero. I was up early to go with the other exchange student, Riad, and his host mom, Gülçin, to a service at a city center in Bursa to remember Atatürk. The ceremony was really quick and consisted of a few words about Atatürk, some banners and plaques being presented in his honor, torches being lit, a moment of silence and the national anthem. It's actually a really big deal. All of the schools have their own ceremonies and even traffic is stopped for the moment of silence. I don't really know whether to call it a moment of silence or not because there were really loud sirens going off for the entire minute. I don't know why, it has to do with Atatürk because I heard the same sound on TV later in the evening.

After the ceremony I went out to breakfast with Riad, Gülçin and a group of her friends. Riad and I got to practice our Turkish which was really funny. We just find things and say that they're really nice, or not nice. It's really simple, but because our levels are about the same, we have a good time trying to make Turkish conversation with each other. Later in the morning we went to a Sultan's tomb and to the Green Mosque. We found a group of people from Malaysia at the mosque, so we followed them and their English-speaking tour guide around while in the mosque. It was my first time in a mosque, so I was really excited and Riad was able to explain what everything was to me. I love learning!

The rest of the morning and afternoon we walked around Bursa together, going into different shops and walking though the silk bazaar. It was raining all afternoon, and as we were walking down the street, a car splashed water all over my legs. It was so cold, but so funny at the same time. It wasn't so bad. I felt like I was in a movie, I didn't think cars actually did that in real life. For lunch we had ISKENDER which is a traditional Turkish dish with meat, pita bread, tomato sauce and yogurt, it sounds a little weird, but it's absolutely delicious, especially because they pour melted butter all over it. I looked at Gülçin and said, “So many kilos!!!” I've started to really like Turkish food. I wasn't really a fan at first, but I really like the really rich and fattening Turkish foods we get at the restaurants. I'm not a huge fan of everything, but there are certain foods that I really like, such as iskender. After lunch I returned home and spent the rest of my evening at home. I really enjoy Riad and his host family, so I'm really glad I was able to go out with them today. I got to practice my Turkish, which was so nice. Thanks so much for the awesome day guys! Çok teşekkür ederim. 

There was a huge crowd for the ceremony!

We got to get a picture with two of the bandies. It felt like home :) 

Riad and I in front of the tomb.

This man was reciting the Quran I believe.

Here is a statue of Ataturk with the plaques and torches burning.  I counted like 20 Turkish flags when I was standing next to that statue.

Riad and I in a store.