The new year has arrived!
For NYE I went to Adana and celebrated with the AIESEC trainees and some Turkish people at Deniz abi’s place, past Cukurova University. Deniz abi is an AIESEC trainee employer. The midnight countdown was held in the gated housing complex’s hall. I won 10 YTL for my 5 million TL ticket (doubled my money) in the huge Milli Piyango lotto draw. Afterwards it was outside next to the fires. Fun!
On 1 January, like last year, I stayed in bed most of day 😉
In the evening I went with the trainees to Tiyatro, a great cafe/restaurant with budgerigars and fan-tailed pigeons flying around in the open. Back at the trainee apartment we watched a current cinema movie, Ocean’s 12, for a total price of 2 million (or 2 YTL). The shadows walking across the screen were an extra bonus!
On Sunday we met Marina, the new Ukrainian trainee, for the first time. Marina is from the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine and her traineeship actually involves teaching Russian at Cukurova. One day I will quiz her as much as I can about the recent Ukranian political upheaval or ‘orange revolution‘, as it is called.
Sunday afternoon was spent at Kaktus Cafe. At Kaktus, nargile was smoked and games played. One very funny moment came when I received my iced coffee. Well, I thought it was iced coffee, although the drink was strange as it was slightly warm and didn’t have ice cream. Later, my real iced arrived and we realised I had drunk Thomas’s cafe latte! Needless to say, I bought him another one!
A kebab later and we caught the bus back to the centre where I boarded a train to Mersin. I really enjoyed the weekend despite the 2 day long hangover (I’m getting old ;-)).
Other news:
-The New Turkish Lira (YTL) has arrived!
I will write about this at NewLira.com when I get the time.
-I replaced my first Mach3 razor after more than 5 months of use!
-Tomorrow I will travel to Syria to meet Canadian Alicia. Alicia lived in Mersin in the summers of 2000 and 2001 and she is currently navigating around Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Read about the adventures on her great blog (link removed as blog no longer available).
