The Trip to Begin Trips

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Aug. 25th 2007

As my Lincoln town-car pulls up to the back of the house, I grab my bags and I begin my steps to the car, steps to a new world, new life. I load my bags into the trunk of the car and give my family hugs and kisses good-bye, they wish me luck, as I slide into the back seat of the car catching the last glimpses of their eyes. Was I scared? Were they scared for me? Where was I going?

On the drive to the airport I double, triple and quadruple checked to make sure I had everything I would need in my venture to this new land, Turkey, to play volleyball. As my drive continues I pass by many places that were familiar to me and I had many memories. Then I begin to think of what I am really doing! I am going to Turkey for 8 months, by myself, and I am going to miss a lot of celebrations from family birthdays to great parties with my friends, and all of the comforts I am used to. There was no turning back, but there was really no drive inside of me to turn back, I was excited to play overseas for my first year and to have all the experiences that were laying ahead in my path.

I arrived to LAX lugged out my two huge duffle bags, my carry on and my laptop bag with to the check-in counter. British Airways here I come! First stop London, UK, for a 6 hour lay over. I finally boarded my plane at 8PM that night with a 10 and a half hour flight ahead of me, hopefully I sleep the whole time, but will it be the case? I sleep on and off thinking of what it is going to be like.

I get to London give my mom a call on a pay phone and grab a few sandwiches. The time in the airport flashes by and next thing I know it i am back on a plane heading to my final destination Ankara, Turkey! This 4 and half hour flight flies by. I get jerked awake at 3AM on Aug. 28th. Now I am in Turkey, I am missing two days, pretty much delirious from the days of travel. As I am standing in the plane with my eyes squinting open they catch a glimpse of a nice big smile from a lady in the first row of first class, I genuinely return the smile with one of mine and wave, which I have no clue what it looked like after my travels and just waking up. I turn back to just staring at the person back that is standing in front of me, and the image of the person who was smiling gets replayed in my mind and BINGO!!! I recognize the face and I look back again and my smile back even bigger than before and it is received and returned by none other than Angelina Jolie. What I great sign to have at the start my trip and my adventures giving a good sign that great things were headed my way!!

Entering the Country or Entering Turkish Jail

As any international flight arrival everyone has to go through customs. So I am hauling my carry-on and my laptop bag through the terminal and I met with the normal customs gate hand them my passport and I am told I have to get a visa in the best broken English ever!! I head over to the Visa Office a lil ways away and there is no one there so I wait and then eventually the guy from customs leaves his post and he enter a door around the corner and he ends up popping up in front of me in the Visa Office. He must run the whole airport being the only employee haha! So he tells me that I need to pay him $30, unfortunately I do not have any cash on me, so instead of trying to explain through the language barrier I open my empty wallet and point to it and show him that there is no cash in there. He responds with nothing just kind of a grin like sorry buddy your S O L. So I quickly grab my credit card and try to ask for an ATM in the international sign language of pretending to slide my credit card and typing in my password in an invisible machine in front of this guy. He smiles at me and says in English "Oh you need an ATM machine that is on the other side of customs", so my thoughts are W T F you know English while I am sitting here at 3AM dancing around in International Sign Language Lingo, and how am I supposed to get money from and ATM machine that is on the other side of customs when I can't cross customs til I pay for my Visa. He steps away and comes around the corner out the door and escorts me through customs to go to the ATM machine. As I cross the baggage area I run into man who is looking at me, i guess I stand out that I am from America or hopefully this is my agent. It ends up being my agent or so he says I don't know because I have never seen him or even picture of him before. He follows me to the ATM with the customs guard I grab some money and then I head back through customs to go back to Visa Office. I get my Visa pass through customs and I grab my bags and head with this guy (maybe my agent) to his car.

I throw my bags into his trunk and I keep my carry on and my laptop bag with me. We drive for about 40 minutes in the complete dark and eventually get into somewhat of a city, where we eventually stop. This is where I will be staying for the night so I go to grab the bags I have with me to check in then I go back to grab my other bags, but he insists to just leave him in his car cause he will be back in the morning so there is no need to carry them all around since I will only be staying here for one night. WOW! hmm what should I do? Yeah sure I will just leave them in your trunk, I put my trust in you and plus I am too tired to carry them or even worry about them.

First Night In Turkey

I finally get settled in my room in Ankara and I whip out my laptop to try to get online to talk to some family members but the Internet is down. Since there is nothing to do and I am very tired I just end up passing out. This peace I have while I am asleep is only brief, 5AM I start to hear some chanting and I jump out of bed. As it gets louder and it seems to be coming for more places, WHAT IS GOING ON? Do I stop drop and roll or wedge myself in doorway for safety? I don't know what is happening... I don't know if it is a bombing attack or what. I don't feel the earth moving or no sounds of explosions and eventually the chanting stops, so I just try to go back to sleep.

My agent comes back the next day and he takes me to lunch and we go to AnkaMALL. I guess he takes me here cause it is something I can relate to something that is Westernized. We go to the food court, and you see all the normal stuff Mcdonald's, Burger King, and even Pizza Hut. I tell him I want to start the Turkish experience so get me something that is close to authentic as you can. We sit down at a Turkish restaurant, and he orders. When the food and drink comes I notice it is only for me. So I question his hunger and he explains that it is Ramadan and that they can't eat while the sun is up! So then I begin to piece things together asking about the chanting and he explains it is pretty much a wake up call to eat before the sun rises, but normally there is chanting about every four hours anyways. So I learned something new today, so I felt accomplished! Now I just await our so-called 5 hour drive to the city I will live and play in TOKAT!!!

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