I arrived at the University campus this afternoon with the other volunteers and the participants from Poland. We are staying in a huge conference-hotel that is reserved strictly for this event. It's like being in a very posh dorm. Each room has its own bathroom and mini-fridge. The participants are all in double-rooms (with twin-sized beds) with a room-mate from another country. The volunteers and mentors get solo rooms with one double bed to each. Kata, Ana and Tati opted to all share a bed and take the suite.
The landscape here is rather surreal. Dry, barren land with scraggly shrubs and low trees with modern but nondescript buildings, mingled with the fact that we are 1/2 an hour out of the city of Balikesir and the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere. As Tati put it, it reminds you of an apocalyptic movie where only a few people and buildings remain. Like a modern-day ghost town.
Breakfast will be served each day at the hotel, lunch will be at the University cafeteria and dinner is (unfortunately) at a sort of upscale, fast food restaurant. There are no options to the meals, you get what you get...unless you are vegetarian, and then you get extra french fries!
It's funny, I think this is the first time in my life where I am in a social peer group strictly consisting of people in their 20's. I have so often spent months dominated by the company of young children through my work as a teacher, but this is very different. Even in college, I never lived on campus, so I have never really had this experience. I am sometimes enjoying it, but I do find myself having moments where I long for a more adult conversation...a chat with someone who has more experience in life. But, since it is so unique of an experience for me, it is interesting and mostly fun.
After lunch, I took the bus back into Balikesir and spent the day touring around town with the Polish group. They're a nice bunch. 2 girls and 2 guys (one more girl yet to arrive). We visited the mosque, caught a glimpse of the inside of the Hammam (Turkish Bath), had fresh-squeezed juice in the plaza ($1.25 Turkish Lira buys one tall juice...the equivalent of about $0.75), had beer at a roof-top pub, then meandered through jewelry shops a bit...but even here, everything is made in China! I had an interesting conversation with one of the Polish girls about the rare combination that the nation of Turkey blends in being an Islamic country and a republic. The famous leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Republic of Turkey and became the first president in 1923. He led a huge social and cultural reform which included adopting the Latin alphabet, ridding Turkish of Arabic words, and making a clear separation between religion and government by making it illegal for women to wear head scarves in the work place or at the University. (The Burkha is also outlawed for citizens of Turkey).
Got back this evening just in time for dinner...the standard meal of soup (which tonight, tasted like a Turkish version of Campbell's tomato soup), white bread (which is always eaten plain...today I got daring and asked for butter), rice pilaf, salad and meat. During dinner with the Turkish group and the Polish group, the Italian, Romanian and German groups arrived. I think the Latvian group will arrive tomorrow morning at around 3am. After dinner, the project volunteers, along with the Polish and Turkish groups all got a ride back to the Hotel in a tractor. For some reason, this was very thrilling for everyone and it was as though they were on a carnival ride...everyone cheering and shouting every time the tractor sped up the slightest bit, or we hit a bump...(maybe it's the age difference?)
In about 5 min. the 3 project volunteers will begin the first workshop...name games, ice-breakers, etc. Time to go! Here it begins...!
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