Kurban Bayram: a four day holiday in which sheep are slaughtered and distributed to the poor

The day of “bayram” as most people simply call it, was within my first month here. Bayram is an extremely important holiday in turkey and according to some people comparable to the American christmas. On bayram I woke up and came into the kitchen to find boxes of meat all over the kitchen, I asked if I could help and ended up grinding meat. ( definately a new thing to check off my list of to-dos ) Later we had our neighbors over, and I discovered I had a fever. (dun-dun-dun) After the guest left we went to two houses and one hotel to meet family, at the last meeting I had a most enjoyable conversation with the little girls of my extended family. I love the way little kids can talk so openly. One asked me if I knew Hannah Montana <3 . In the end , bayram was definately a day I will never forget.

These are pictures of my card ride on the way to my host families summer house, sometimes you just gotta stop and look at the beauty in the small things like the color of the dirt.:)

fuckyeahwomensfootball:

In Turkey, men were banned from attending the Fenerbahce-Manisapor game due to rising hooliganism. On 22 September, women and children were given free tickets and filled the 41,000 seat stadium.  Hell yeahhhh!

Today was my first day of school , I attend Gaziantep Andoulessi. It’s a public school Gaziantep everyone wears uniforms but it’s so funny there are about eighty variations to the uniforms different shirts, skirts, shoes. I was so embarrased that I actually walked in with my shirt tucked in , later after observing the people around me I untucked. It’s funny because I’ve never been a new kid I’m not sure if I like the chaos or not but right now I’m leaning toward loving it.

Turkish flag :)

My second day in Gaziantep my family and I drove off to a place a little bit off of Gaziantep named Sanliurfa, Birecik ( with accents I dont have :p) and these are the pictures! It was so beautiful I felt I was in painting! Sanliurfa is a holy city with very intresting story which I don’t want to tell inproperly. anyway enjoy!

This is my host family :) Their names are Tulay(mother), Cihat(father), and Mert Akinal. They are very sweet and kind. We are currently in their summer house which is in a courtyard with three other houses which belong to Cihat’s brothers and father. They call me Lee-lee-ah or Leelana

Turkish food is so delicous each bite is an explosion of fresh spices dancing and seducing your tastebuds. Everything is fresh and its as if the food is more lively than american food. The breakfast is so yummy! Although I have only one picture of food in Gaziantep ( garlic stand) I’m finding that in antep they use alot more bread in their meals.

Ankara was an exceedingly beautiful city but on the third day we were there it hailed! The hail was the biggest and the worst I have ever seen!