Goodbye

So I have been back in New Zealand for a couple of weeks and I've been very busy so I've only just got the chance to write about my last couple of days in Turkey. The day before I left some boys from AFS took me around Istanbul to see the sites. We went to Topkapı Palace, the palace where the Sultan of Turkey used to live. It is a huge and it took us a couple of hours to walk around the whole palace. We also went around İstiklal Avenue/ İstiklâl Caddesi which is a big, famous street in Taksim Square. I also tried Turkish ice cream which is really nice.

Topkapı Palace

The boys and I around Istanbul
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İstiklâl Caddesi

It was sad leaving Mira, Selim and Ebru. I had a wonderful time staying with them. I am definitely going back to Turkey one day to see them again and I hope that they will come to New Zealand so I can show them our beautiful country .

The other weekend Anday came down to stay with us. This was my first time meeting her. She was fun to hang out with. We went op-shopping, both hoping to find a ball dress and we also went to the Zoo and to Mount Vic lookout. It was nice being able to show someone around my city for a change.

Anday, my mum and I at Mount Vic lookout

Gallipoli

After saying goodbye to my friends I went on a tour of Gallipoli that my host family organised for me. It was fantastic, I was able to see everything that I didn't get to see on ANZAC Day. The tour guide knew a lot about the Gallipoli campaign and taught us all some new things. We went to ANZAC Cove which was really cool. We also visited some cemeteries including Beach Cemetery and Ari Brunu. We also got to see the grave of the Australian, John Simpson Kirkpatrick- the man with a donkey. We also went and saw the memorial sites again, it was very different without thousands of people around. We saw the trenches and communication tunnels which was really cool. I think that was my favourite part. I could have been standing in the exact same place that Herbert stood on 96years ago. I am glad I got to see Gallipoli again, it is a very special place and everyone should try and get there one day.

ANZAC Cove

Communication Tunnels left- ANZAC and right- Turkish

Me at North Beach- Where the Dawn Service is held.

In front of the New Zealand Memorial

ANZAC Trenches

Turkish Trenches at Chunuk Bair

Goodbye Çanakkale

We are going to Istanbul tonight so today I had my last day at school. It was very sad saying goodbye to everyone I didn't realise how upset I would be. We all cried and hugged and said that we hoped to meet each other again one day. I really hope that I will meet them again. I left part way through the morning and the physics teacher was kind and let the girls walk me down to the car. I am very sad to leave Çanakkale but I will come back one day. I am excited to spend the next few days in Istanbul before my flight on Saturday.

The English Department
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My two English teachers

The girls in my class

ANZAC Day in New Zealand

Anday Yalin, an AFS student from Istanbul, Turkey participated in the ANZAC Day ceremonies in Wellington. Anday read a poem at the National Service and laid a wreath on behalf of the youth of Turkey at the Ataturk Memorial on Wellington's south coast.


The National Service


The Official Party at the Ataturk Memorial


Anday with the Turkish Ambassador and his wife

ANZAC Day 2011

By 3am I was at the Kolin Hotel with everyone else who was going to ANZAC Day services at Gallipoli. We went on the VIP buses across to Gallipoli. We arrived at North Beach in time for the Spirit of Place ceremony where names were read of some of the New Zealand and Australian soliders that died. Then the Dawn Service began. I cannot describe the feeling of being at Gallipoli for the Dawn Service. It was unreal and extremely moving, I feel so privileged that I was able to be there. The wind was icy and I couldn't feel the tips of my fingers but I didn't care. After the Dawn Service we went and had some breakfast at a hotel. Then went to Lone Pine for the Australian Service. Afterwards was the Turkish 57th Regiment Memorial Service. Then we made our way to Chunuk Bair for the New Zealand Service, this was the best part of my day. It is an odd but great feeling standing on the land that my ancestors once stood on. It was very peaceful and it made me feel so much closer to my relatives that fought at Gallipoli. I cannot thank RNZRSA and AFS enough for this amazing experience, I am so grateful to have had this opportunity.This has been one of the most amazing days of my life and I will never forget it.

New Zealand, Australian and Turkish flags at the Dawn Service

The Australian Service at Lone Pine

Turkish Service

New Zealand Service at Chunuk Bair

A Day in Çanakkale

I can't believe I only have one week left before I go home. I don't want to leave so soon, I'm having too much fun. This morning my friends called me and we arranged to meet up so we can spend my last weekend in Turkey together. We went to a really nice cafe where there was the most delicious food- all sweet things. I got a raspberry and chocolate cake which was really nice but I couldn't finish it, it was too rich for me. Then we just hung out for awhile, looking around the shops and just relaxing. They took me to some cute little boutiques and they bought me a really nice necklace. I am going to miss them when I go back to New Zealand but I hope one day we will meet again.

My delicious cake and a Turkish sweet my friends bought me- it's a little like toffee

My friends and also the necklace they bought for me (it's the top necklace)

Some Pictures from my last few weeks in Turkey

One day we all went to the hair salon and got our hair done

Mira's hair and mine

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We also all got glitter tattoos at the hair salon

My host mother getting hers done and Mira's one

And mine

Trojan horse at a cafe

The painting I did at Mira's academy. The kids were painting element faeries so I did as well.

I couldn't get a picture of the other kids paintings because they all finished theirs before me and they got put away- the academy is having a show to display all the artwork done by the kids.

The sunset one night. I thought it looked quite pretty.

Friends

I have really settled into school now and I have made some really lovely friends. We are managing to have pretty good conversations, they know more English than I realised. They are a couple of years younger than me but to be honest there is no difference between us. They are really great people and I know that I have made some friends for life. It makes me sad to think that I have to go in a couple of weeks when I'm just really starting to making fantastic friends. The other day I took my camera to school and the girls in my class loved it. They took turns taking photos of each other and we had a great time. Although not all of them liked having their photo taken and some were sick and at home.

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My Weekend

I just had a very long but a great weekend. On Saturday I went to my little sister's academy like I do most Saturdays. This is where she does painting, piano and ballet. I've joined her painting class, the other kids are about 7. I left the academy early to meet up with two very nice boys, one is an AFS volunteer who is from Çanakkale. We walked over to a park where he had organised a pillow fight. I played for the first round but then I decided to sit out and watch. We also looked at the big wooden horse that they have in Çanakkale. It is in the Morabbin Park on the waterfront, the horse was made for the 2004 movie 'Troy'.

Me in front of the wooden horse

The Pillow Fight

Then we went to the Çanakkale Naval Museum. We got there a bit late so we had to look around everything quite quickly. It was really cool, there is little museum with things from WW1, like bullets and flags. There was a section for the Gallipoli Campaign. There were Australian badges found in the ground at Gallipoli. There was also a boat you go on that has a presentation about 18th March. It was in Turkish so I didn't understand what they were saying but there was a video showing the ships and the mines so I got the general gist of what happened. There is also a fortress. It was built my Sultan Mehmet in the 15th century. Around the grounds are mines and cannons on display from WW1.

Some bullets found at Gallipoli and a British flag that was taken by the Turkish

The Fortress

Afterwards we met up with my host family whose Harley Davidson friends had ridden Çanakkale from Istanbul for the weekend. We all went out for dinner, they are really lovely people and very funny. On Sunday we went to say goodbye to them but we ended up going for a ride with them, halfway to Istanbul. It was a lot of fun, I quite like being on the back of a motorbike. By the end of the weekend I was very tired but I had had a lot of fun.