Hi everyone, so I am in Turkey, in a small city called Mersin on the South-East coast. It is a very very beautiful city, if I had to compare it to a city in S.A...I would have to say Cape Town! The sea front is beautiful, with amazing sculptures and outside gym equipment, you exercise while staring at the sea, but unfortunately the sea is dirty here so we have to drive an hour away to be able to swim! The city has a population of less than 1 million, but in the city...it feels really big as everyone lives in apartment buildings to live by the sea...but if you just drive 5 minutes north, the city disappears and is met with old broken down houses and large pieces of land. It is also funny because if I look out of my window I can sometimes see horses pulling carts with fruit or nuts on them.
Many people in the city have 2 or 3 houses all within an hour of each other, one by the sea side in complex buildings with many pools and a relaxed environment, and one in the mountains because the summers here are extremely hot and humid - the mountains are an escape to a more fresh environment.
I love the mountains as they actually live in houses with gardens, which I have become very accustomed to from S.A. There are also fruit trees which I really love... being able to go pick a few mulberries for a snack is really cool.

My hosts here are the RC of Mersin. I have been to a few meetings, but it is hard since it is an all male club and their meetings are held in the afternoon.
My family is kind of like my everything here...they are amazing! My host father is an ex-district governor, so I think my club does not care so much as they know I am okay with him. But the real councilors in Turkey are the ex-exchange students who take care of us and I think that is good since they have been through many things that we have been through. The actual girl in charge of in-bound exchangers does not like me for some reason, but in general she is a very hard person to get on with, but the rest of the committee I get on very well with and they are all very friendly and helpful.

After just one week in Turkey I had my big Rotary tour that was two weeks of amazing fun. We started in Ankara, which is the capital city, moved up to Istanbul, which is my favorite place in Turkey because of its amazing life and mixture of western and eastern culture, we also visited places like Ephesus, which is a beautiful old city, and amazing place to see if ever in turkey, and Gallipoli, which is where the ANZACS (Australians and New Zealanders) fought a horrible war. It is a very emotional place which thousands of Australians visit each year, Australians and Turks fought during the day, but shared cigarettes and stories at night, it was very sad. We also went to Pamukkale, which literally means cotton castle. it is a beautiful place where limestone has turned white from hot water, it looks like snow... the trip also included Antalya, which is a beautiful seaside city, Bodrum, where all the houses are white by law (also on the sea), Canakale and Kusadasi, both seaside cities the latter with a great night life.
I also went on the Rotary district conference...which was at an amazing all-inclusive resort in Belek, on the sea, it was a very fun 5 days for the exchangees to have fun and say goodbye as most would return back to their countries shortly after. I have also gone on a weekend tour to a place called Eskisehir, which means old city, it was very very nice there. In the next month I will go to a place called Capadoccia, which is one of the top touristic places in Turkey, it is full of fairy chimneys, I can't wait and will tell you more about that when I get back.

The school here is very hard; my school is very small, last year with only five other girls in my class, and this year with seven other girls, and one boy...plus me and the other Rotary youth exchangee at my school, a boy from Canada. School is very boring as they have no interesting classes like art, cooking, drama, PT or anything. They have no after school activities either which I really would have liked to be involved in. I have my own work from South Africa which is what I spend most of my time doing. Lately I have been visiting the younger grades, primary school classes, and helping them with English which is fun. I also spend every Friday at my host brother's school (Erdogan, he came to your club one day) to speak English with the high school classes, that is very fun. Children here have a lot of school, from 8 to 4 everyday, and most go on Saturdays and Sundays for 6 hours a day, to a different kind of school, some even go after school and only arrive home at 8... Everyday I go to school on a school bus, each school has over 30 school busses, mini busses, which take and fetch everyone. The busses are very interesting as each one has a person who stays on the bus making sure everyone behaves, my bus lady is definitely quite a character!

The language has definitely been very tough! I can almost fully understand but I unfortunately have no confidence in speaking it as my whole family here speaks English...or wants to practice with me, just like the rest of the people here. I can get around though, and even just to speak basic Turkish makes he people happy and more welcoming. The language is very different to the English speaking system, which was very complicated at first. Even speaking English here is confusing as they do not understand my accent so easily, I now have a completely mixed accent, and I had to stop using South African slang, which I miss terribly - now it is naartjie season, and I just want to say naartjie, but I have to stop myself and say tangerine, it is weird!

The food here is AMAZING and I will definitely miss it back home. There is actually an old exchange student that went to S.A over 10 years ago, then went back to Wits for university who now want to go back and live there and open a restaurant, I told him if he did, I would go at least 3 times a week and be his best customer. Their yogurt here is the best...and their kebabs are mouth watering. The summer fruit here is also so different and delicious.

The culture shock here is unbelievable! Turkish culture is so different; I think it is one of the few countries that have stayed so true to its heritage. They take their shoes off before going into a home, unless they have many or not very close friends at their house, at first I though it was strange but then I realized it makes people feel more welcome and at home. They have many special sayings, which at first I found quite insulting, maybe because I was not used to them, but now I have grown to love them and use them often, like one after you buy something new, or every time you see someone eating something, or after a shower...just to name a few. It was also very hard to adapt to being in a country with no black people, Afrikaans etc... Here, everyone speaks the same language which is hard for me as in S.A we are so diverse, the rainbow nation. They are also very family orientated, going for weekly lunches, and visiting the elder family members on special occasions, they even have a special way to greet them, by kissing their hand, then placing their forehead on their hand and doing a type of bow. They also have many traditions here involving the nazar (protection from the evil eye).

I was very sorry to hear about Ian's passing. I am sure he will be greatly missed as I know he left an impact in my life from the first time I met him. I recall that on St. Patrick's Day, when coloured his beard green!