Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Güle güle kullanın (Use it with a smile)

Today was a faırly uneventful day. I woke up at the right time, had my stuff together, and left home, expecting my first day of classes at Tömer. Before classes could start, I had to take a placement test, and suffice to say it was an interesting test. It opened with a 100 question multiple choice section. After you got to a point when you didn't understand anymore, you were supposed to stop. I did some, but sometimes I found it a little difficult to understand what the questions were asking for. After that, it was time for a break at the rooftop cafetria. Then the writing section, and another lengthy break. Then the speaking section, and since the breaks were so long, that was it. I read a newspaper article on hydrofracking, went to the grocery store with my host mom, went on a walk, and later went to the mall to buy a new camera. (This is where the title of this post comes in. It's a polite/common thing to say to someone who has bought something new.) I also watched some Turkish television. I had trouble deciding between some comedy that looked like the most obnocious thing ever, and a cooking show, but the cooking show was boring and the comedy ended, so I somehow ended up unable to watch anything too interesting.


And now, a further word on the protests. The protests in Ankara are in Kızılay, which is right where I have class, but I get out of class wayy before the protests start, so that isn't a problem. I will be avoiding the protests for obvious political and safety reasons. News coverage of the protests is very interesting. International stations show the police blasting people with water cannons in Taksim Square, while Turkish news stations all show an extremely zoomed out picture and then cut to Tayyip giving a speech. Hmmmmm....

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