A series of interesting events

This week has been a real interesting one. It started by having to say goodbye to my Chinese roommate whom I came real close with and went to work with every day as her office was a couple buildings away from mine.

During the week I also had the experience of getting a haircut, which was much more difficult then ever before. After finally finding a barbershop, I had to figure out how to explain what I wanted to a guy that knew no English and in a place where no one knew English. I ended up giving him pictures of my Driver's License, UWEC Blugold and International Student Card and he cut my hair by looking at those pictures. It surprisingly came out very well too, but it was something that seems so simple that turned into quite an interesting experience.

This weekend was among the best since I've been here. It included playing in an intense soccer match with Turkish friends and my roommates.....overall 7 different nationalities playing in one game of soccer. I also learned how to windsurf at a place called Alaçati, known as "Windsurfers Paradise." It is one of the best places to windsurf in the world and there are major world-wide tournaments held every year. It is a sport that is much more difficult then I imagined, but well worth the pain in the legs the next day.

This weekend I also watched a ceremony held in a friend’s neighborhood that signified a boy becoming a man in the Muslim faith. I watched it from a friend’s apartment on the fourth floor and it was quite a scene with dancers, drummers, and instruments I have never seen before.

Sunday, the Turkish elections were held. A tense atmosphere was in the air the days leading up to the elections. They are among the biggest elections Turkey has ever had and the turnout was over 80% as Turkey tries to decide what role religion will have in government, as well as what to do with terrorist in neighboring Iraq. It was an election so big that it was on the cover of 'Time' Magazine and many other publications around the world. Beaches were empty for the first time since I’ve been here as Turks used this day to stay with families and watch election results (this worked out for me and some friends going windsurfing though).

Overall, last week was very eventful and the coming weeks will be just as eventful as my time in Izmir begins to come to an end.