Zypern!

laura and i left for Cyprus last wednesday morning so exactly a week from today!

it was a nice one hour flight and we even got some food on the plane, well actually our flight was canceled but they put us without any problems on the other plane leaving for Cyprus, the least the could do!!!

We got to Lefkosa at like 4 then took a bus to our little town - Girne and found our hostel after some walking around- funny it seems like no one ever knows the way hehe

The first night we didnt do much except eat and sleep.

The next morning we slept in late, the hostel was quite funny, it was small and cosy and the entrance hall was the dormitory we stayed in at the same time just some curtains dividing it from the main room hehe but it was a very nice place to stay and so cheap! Just at night it was a bit cold because there was no heating!

But Cyprus wasnt very cold so it was ok. We even had like 20 degrees one day! and the first day was all rain that wasnt too much fun, but we only took a look around the city - walked around - walked along the peer and up to the little castle!

it was quite nice but then it started to rain and we went back to the dorm and read. Laura was totally focused cause she was reading "a thousand splendid suns" great book, if you havent read it yet, Khaled Hosseini is a Genius!!!

So the 2nd day we had much better weather and decided to go to Greece, we took a dolmus to Lefkosa to the border, crossed it - got a stamp and were happy! but then we had to work our way through the UN buffer zone- and you were not supposed to take pictures - we did it anyways but it was kinda scary- no one was there except for some military cars driving by.

We were glad when we reached the greek border after like 10 min and entered the EU once again :)

The first thing i thought was: what an ugly place! cause the part of the town where we got was not very pretty and we did follow the sign which said town center but never really got there except for a very expensive shopping street. so we send some SMS to our dear family and friends back in Germany since its only 13 cents per SMS cause we were in the EU.

Then we ate some ice cream after we solved the euro problem. We spend all the Euros we still had in the hostel cause he offered us we could also pay with euros and we aprrecitated it so we didnt have to change more money but when we got to Southern Cyprus we discovered that Cyprus. well the EU part has Euros for the past 2 years so changing money once agaiN!!!

After some time we didnt go that far because we were scared we would not find our way back to the border we did finally go back. The border patrol just had a smile for us. And then we were looking for the dolmus back. Walking around aimlessly. No clue where to go. A car stopped us. A car full with americans, asking us if we were americans too cause the driver had a bet with the rest of the people in the car! so too bad we werent!

Later that day we went back to the hostel but our dear manager send us a message he would be sitting on the roof and wanted to talk to us and we should come up and he was drunk he said so we didnt really feel like dealing with him and went down to the peer. Sat down and chew sunflower seeds and talked! Laura and i we can just talk for ages! so funny then later cause some guys came talking to us, we changed the place and went back to the fountain in the center of the town, where we have been sitting before, its a great place!

When it got too cold later that night we went home and to bed in the morning he apologized for sending those messages cause he send many more.

This day we went to Bellapais an old Abbey on top of a hill- which had a great view over the coast and the sea! we didnt really want to leave from there it was so beautiful!

But we did and had dinner in Girne at Yilmaz döner salonu where we went the first evening, the waiter that liked us so much and took pictures with us was there too!

lol

So after that we sat down at the peer again and chew sunflower seeds like all the Turks do!

and all of a sudden a guy comes up to us and he does not know Engl like always hehe so he is talking in turkish some things in understand but if i dont i just talk to Laura and pretend to be translating to her and even if i tell him i dont understand he just goes on with his little monolog!

WE thought ok let him talk. but then he leaves and comes back with his hands behind his back and says surprise with a horrible turkish accent. we were very confused and looked at him so he pulls out 3 bananas and gives one to each of us! so we didnt understand why but we took the banana but we werent allowed to eat it like this, he pealed his and let us take a bite he begged until we did so we all shared his banana for some reason- oh jeez what a dirty mind i have . well solater he took us to his friends , they were sitting a bit away and they didnt speak much engl either. But at least we figured we have a reason to go now!

so we left them there and went to the hostel!

So that was our little vacation- oh wait the next morning. we woke up at 5 cause apparently the shuttle to the airport should be leaving at 6.30 so we went to the bus stop and waiting and some guy came talking to us but then we told him we both have a boyfriend he left lol

so the guards from the casino next door were looking and kinda laughing at us so i went over there and asked them about the shuttle they said there is one at 9. so i thought . fuck that the tourist information guy gave us the wrong infos!

but laura and i we had fun anyways we were singing taylor swift songs-karaoke with my ipod earplugs in the ears - the song "you belong with me" and "an alle ladies " von den Ohrbooten were the hits ! well we say the town awake - sun raising - more people walking around after time passed and distracted and amused some car or motorcycle drivers with our singing!

so finally at 9 there was a shuttle and we left!

In the airport a guy was waving at us- oh who could that be? it was the waiter from our favourite little restaurant he has a band in Hatay and went there - he even gave us a CD lol

So that was it but we also met a turkish military guy that spoke german fluently and stayed in north iraq for a couple of month ! so lots of new people! and we did have lots of fun too but it was nice to be back in Ankara at 13 o clock sunday!

Lauras farewell party!

Her last weekend in Turkey! We did party a lot i must say! :)

We went to Telwe with some friends and had a great time, so many of them came and we were dancing all night long :)

it was amazing and i think Laura had a lot of fun too!

The only sucky thing was , that in the end of the night there was a bill at our table over 180 TL not paid, which would be 36 beers and we really asked everyone even the people that left earlier if they forgot to pay but we everyone said they did, so we finally came to the solution that the waitress just were too stupid to cross out what was paid that is the only way we can explain that, just too bad that others that didnt have anything to do with that were involved !

but no one is mad anymore!

ok back to our weekend!

Actually Lui wanted to come but of couse he didnt he is in Germany now and might come later in Feb. who knows. So Laura and i Went to a techno club close by and to Eskiyeni- where they were playing Ray Charles and old kinds of old stuff like that-great to dance!

and then of course tuesday night, in telwe we had lots of fun, the last party night with Laura!

and we even met the BERK! lol its was amazing even though some things kinda kept me thinking... oh well dont worry guys iam over it! :)

we finally made it home at around like 3 or something and went to bed without packing our stuff...cause leaving for cyprus the next morning lol

NEW YEARS!

I have a lot to catch up! so i just write really quick, what i did!

Laura and i didnt really want to stay in Ankara for New years, even though a friend of us had a great party coming up, but we thought there gotta be more to it than staying here.
So when Lotta told us she will go to Istanbul we joined her!

and Also a friend of mine (YFU friend) doing Erasmus in Norway was coming to Istanbul to see some friends , great opportunity so finally see her again!

So we took the Van gölü Express, great train, comes from Van, the farthest east it can possibly be- close to the Armenian border and takes like 20 hours to ankara or something lol!

So it only cost like 4 euros to Istanbul so we were fine with it!

But it was like really really slow. We went over night and it took 9 h. There where some strange people in our compartment. An old guy from Eskisehir that looked like he wanted to eat us right there-and then he invited us to his house, we could just go to Istanbul the next day, thanks but no thanks

and a little guy, just 18 but looked like 12! a barber from van but works in Istanbul and after the old guy left the little one couldnt stop talking but neither one of them spoke english so he was kinda entertaining himself and just threw words at us , like Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Fenerbahce and stuff .

Was funny in the beginning but then only annoying!

So later on we went to sleep finally! the compartment was overheated! we felt like in a sauna! aweful you couldnt even move because it was too hot!

Oh and there are no trashcans at least we didnt see any, so our "friends" just threw the stuff out the window-what the hell?

Ok so like the last hours we finally managed to get some sleep even though it was too hot! and that funny little guy ended up sleeping crawled up in my lap, whatever!

we got to Istanbul at 5 in the morning so we slept a bit at the train station then we went to Miriams house , got some more sleep, a nice breakfast! and then went to Lottas friends, but we didnt feel like getting stoned on Silvester so we took off too meet Miram and some friends that were invited for dinner by their coordinator!

We joined them it was a nice group! really enjoyed it, later we went to a party in Taksim but we didnt walk down iseklat , cause it was too crowded!

well i met this banker lol really funny but it was too boring so he ask me too leave with him but i kinda enjoyed the party and i was already quite drunk!

so i stayed and met some Americans that travel through turkey these days, and both of them were jewish and spend some time in Israel i was in heaven, so interesting to hear their stories!

So then some time in the morning we went home-to Miriams place with a nightnbus to the asian side ! it took us forever and i was drunk and was singing and talking about whatever shit came to my mind so Laura told me to shut up and i was really going on her nerves and iam really sorry about that!

but oh well i did shut up eventually!

we were sitting at the Bosporus for like half an hour then it got too cold and we went home to sleep on the floor once again, cause our stuff was still at Lottas friends house, we are just some geniuses!

So the next day we tried to pick up the stuff , first we couldnt find the house but finally we managed to get it and met my friends from Norway/Germany and had something to eat with them. then we took a bus to Sariyer to see Lui.

Had a nice evening with him didnt really do anything but watch movies and chill but that was just what we needed! and its always fun to be around him. So we actually wanted to only stay until Saturday night and leave that night but we decided to stay one more day and go back sunday night!

so we didnt have to hurry! we had a nice dinner on saturday and just enjoyed!

And Lui didnt even promise to come and see me in Ankara when hes back from Germany who knows if that is going to happen ?

So we left Sunday morning-went to the Bluse Mosque really quick, cause Laura has been there but not inside!

Then we were too tired and lost to find the Grant bazaar without getting on the metro agaiN!

so we took the ferry over to Kadiköy and met Miriam, ate some soup, talked and then she took us to the Trainstation!

The trainride back was a bit more expensive but still cheap like 9 euros, it took us awhile to figure out that we were in a sleeping compartment but it was nice! there was an old lady sitting next to me and without any prejudices or stereotypes she honestly looked like a witch, but she was very nice and shared the food her daughter in law had given her for the way with us and tried to talk to us, successless but oh well! it was still unbelievable hot in the train but we got to Ankara at 7 am so we were good with that!

Great TRIP! like always :D