Stephanie had language again Wednesday morning, which meant I had another lazy morning. Well, kind of. I was reading while Vonda deep-cleaned the apartment. Eventually I felt bad, so I washed the dishes. I ran into her in the bathroom where she was unclogging the shower and cleaning the counter.
"I'm sorry. I live with the most disgusting people," she said.
I nodded hypocritically, because I'm a slob with the best of them. I completely sympathize with Stephanie, because why clean when someone like Vonda will eventually break and clean it for you, better than you ever could.
Vonda and I went to the dernek together at 12:30. On the tram, a little girl fell asleep in the seat across from us. Her mom had a hard time waking her up, and as she walked past she blearily stumbled into me. Her mom cracked up and told her, "You just hit your big sister!" Apparently Turks use the word for "big sister" or "big brother" for kindly strangers.
We bought tavuk dürüm for us and Stephanie and Sarah, then took lunch to the dernek and sat around eating, waiting for cooking class to begin.
Another worker leads a weekly cooking class. Two Turkish women showed up, and they made no-bake cookies. After they were done, which didn't take very long, we all sat around drinking chai. I showed my pictures of family and friends. Three hours later, they left. Yeah, three hours. I forgot how long visits last in foreign countries, or rather, how long they seem when you can't understand what is going on.
At 5:00 we closed up the dernek, and Stephanie and I went downtown for shopping! I bought a lot of souvenirs, and tried to haggle. I don't think I did very well. I got better deals than were offered, but I think I was still ripped off. I hate that countries overcharge tourists. I hate falling for it.
After we'd shopped a while, we got coffee at this cute little fancy shop. I saw more cats hanging around (side story: people are really nice to stray cats in Istanbul! Apparently it is rumored that Mohammad liked cats or said being nice to cats was good or something, so Turkish people are awesome! They frequently stop to pet the strays, and sometimes put food out for them. As a result, the strays are semi-friendly, and very healthy. It's nice.)
Okay, back to real life. We caught a bus that took us back to the apartment. It was an hour+ ride, so I was reading Stephanie's Kindle. A guy got on the bus and stood right next to me, pressed against me. I thought the bus was overcrowded, and I'm non-confrontational, so I didn't do anything. But it quickly creeped me out, so I scooted against Stephanie. She asked if the guy was too close, and when I subtly nodded, she threw him the angriest look and clucked at him in the best shameful Turkish way. The guy backed off.
When we got home, Vonda was back from picking up Emily (the third roommate) from the airport. She seems quite nice. We all ate food, watched TV, and the Hands On guys came over later too. Since I'd been staying in Emily's room, we had to move a mattress into Stephanie's room. Her room is tiny (and messy), so there is now exactly no space for anything other than sleeping. Which is all I really wanted to do, so it was great.
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