Looking For The Greener Grass: Travels

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Travels - Day 2&3

Outside of a little unexpected commotion in the night, I slept well. I woke up and realized I must have slept until 9 because it was so bright outside. I checked my phone and it was only 6am. We were so far east that the sun came up earlier than I am used to. I went back to sleep and slept until 9. Kadie went to school early and Aunt Jamie slept later than I did so I had a bit of chill time. We got up and had breakfast together. She asked if I had been scared by the gunfire. I said it spooked me at first but I was able to sleep soundly afterwards. I asked her what had happened. She said sometimes the soldiers do that to let troublemakers know they are there. She said it happened when she had visited last fall. They finally went to the window to peek out and saw people sitting around at the park as if nothing had happened.

I mentioned to her about how it was so bright at 6. She asked if I had realized that the sun rises on a different side in our city, as in, it rises in the east in our city but in the west in this city. She didn't realize that our orientation to the sun had simply been changed. There are lots of basic information like this that locals simply do not know. I learned that Aunt Jamie only finished the 6th grade before dropping out of school.

After breakfast, we went to the pazar. I noticed that the women there dressed more conservatively than where I live. I also noticed that they had a slight variation of the different local head covering. Aunt Jamie pointed out that they eat watermelon seeds like we eat sunflower seeds. I also noticed that they had tables of unrefrigerated raw chicken. Gross.

While we were out walking I noticed that outside of the pazar area and entry ways of homes, women weren’t out much. Men were sitting out at parks and in cafes but women, for the most part stayed at home. We sat for a little while at the park with Kadie’s teacher friend. After that we had dinner together and I then I helped Kadie with the final preparations for her art show.

Before bed, I wanted to take a shower. I asked for a towel and Kadie started scrambling. She had a couple towels but had used hers and let her mom use the other. They didn’t have backups. They actually didn’t have enough bedding for everyone before her mom brought some along in her suitcase. Anyway, the best they could come up was for me to use Kadie’s roommate’s clean bath robe. So yep, I dried off for a week with a bath robe. I was thankful to learn they had a hot water option. They had a small hot water heater in the shower. Before showering, I would plug it into the wall and afterward I would have to unplug it.

The next morning we had an early breakfast and by early, I mean around 8:30. Locals’ idea of early is quite different than ours. After breakfast, we walked to her school in time for the art show. It was really hot and I the art show was outside so I ended up sweating quite a bit.

After the art show, we stopped by a place to grab some grilled cheese like sandwiches. I was successful in paying for those. After lunch, I laid down to take a nap because I was still jet-lagging and worn out from our overnight trip to her city. I slept over an hour and decided to get up so as not to be rude. They could tell I was still out of it and so they told me to go back to bed. They hadn’t had their afternoon nap yet so I happily complied and slept another hour or so.

After the napping, Kadie had looked the pictures and video I had done of the art show. She hugged me tightly and thanked me for doing such a good job. She told me I was truly a great friend. She said most of her friends back home won’t go out of their way to spend time with her and her I have made a trip across the country to spend time with her.

That evening involved some more walking and then making dinner. After dinner we watched tv and had tea and dessert. After a shower and toweling off with my bathrobe, I went to bed.