Spring is in the Air!

Spring has finally arrived in Malatya.  It took considerably longer to arrive than I had originally anticipated- with some late winter winds and snow impeding the few teasingly warm days we had, but all in all it was worth the wait.  During those bleak days I kept telling myself that I would miss the cold when summer kicked in with blisteringly hot days, no air conditioning and a serious lack of rain, but selfishly I was ready for some warm weather and felt that by the end of April, it was time.  With spring, the flowers have finally blossomed and the perfumed air is delectable as I move my exercise regime into the great outdoors, wandering the cliffs that overlook the side of the house and I am finally glad that we live outside the city as it allows more opportunity to explore.

It's finally green again!

A few firsts have come along with the warmth: my students invited me to join Islam, which was a mildly amusing experience that I hope doesn’t happen again, because it turns out it is a little tricky to politely decline such an invitation with a limited use of my vocabulary, but I did the best I could.  Friday night was also the first time that we have invited people into our house- a couple of my students (Eser and Ilker) drove me home after class and so we picked up some beers and invited them in.  They agreed, but Ilker’s socks had holes in them, which I guess he was embarrassed about, so he bought new socks along with the beer and we stopped at a gas station under the guise of him needing cigarettes so he could change them, and although it was sweet, I teased him for it as neither Joe nor I would have noticed or cared that his socks had holes in them, but I guess falls under disgraceful behaviour in Turkey.  It was a little awkward (as is normal) until the first beer had been drunk, but after that was a lot of fun.  

On Saturday after class I walked up to the mall to meet one of my students and her friend for lunch, running into a bunch of my other students and reaffirming the reason I do not go to the mall on the weekends.  It passed pleasantly enough with a few strange moments, when my student told me that her fiancé will not allow her to have any form of social media (which I find alarming) and that her friend is married to “her uncle’s son” or her first cousin.  Again it is tricky to find a polite answer to “Is this normal in Canada?” when the answer is blatantly ‘no’ but again I did the best I could.

Dance dance

              I headed back into town to wait for Joe to finish work as we were heading to an African student union party that night.  We managed to find the café and rows of people sitting awkwardly as Turkish music blasted so loudly it was impossible to have a conversation, but we found Malik (Joe’s friend from the Gambia) and Seb (his Turkish friend) and joined their table.  Seb was a little intense, but his wife was friendly enough (despite the fact that it was too loud to speak).  Eventually they turned off the Turkish music and the African music (not sure which country specifically- they seemed to be from all over) started.  It fulfilled every stereotype I have about African culture as all the African students began to dance.  And they didn’t stop.  For the couple of hours that we were there it was constant dancing.  Eventually the non-Africans got over there awe and stopped watching and joined them (myself and Joe included- a rarity when there is no alcohol around).  We stuck around until about 9, and then called it a day after a long social weekend.