"Mid-Year Meeting"

Last year with Fulbright we had a mid-year meeting in February in the capital Ankara. It was an evaluative meeting, discussing our different situations in our various cities. It ended up being a really depressing weekend, except for the time spent with friends. It is truly amazing how close we became, building a camaraderie through our ridiculous experiences in Turkey. Some of these friends stayed in Turkey for another year, some with Fulbright, others got different jobs like me. So this past weekend was the Fulbright mid-year meeting for the current Fulbrighters, and three of us “oldies” decided to come too.

I was asked two weeks before if I had wanted to come by Martha, a woman a little older than my Mom who is a Senior Fulbright Fellow. She really helped me out last year with constant encouragement and we became really close (I am also grateful for the letter of recommendation she wrote for my graduate school applications). So I was pretty excited that Martha invited me to visit while the others would be there too. I then decided to invite Donnie and Catherine from Izmir (remember last Thanksgiving?) and they joined us. I was a bit nervous about the cold weather and snow, but it ended up not being that bad, and the snow was quite beautiful, especially in the rolling hills outside Ankara.

The highlights of the weekend include: crashing the Fulbright dinner on Friday night, Mexican-ish food, manti (Turkish ravioli) and catching-up with Jess (from Amasya), Starbucks with friends, snow lightly falling while I’m enjoying a Dr. Pepper Catherine and Donnie found in Izmir, a steak dinner simply for the accompanying delicious, non-Turkish cheese (despite it being the most expensive meal I’ve ever had in Turkey), hanging out in our hotel room, and a hamam (Turkish bath) visit with a coffee scrub!

It was great seeing old friends and meeting new Fulbrighters. Now I just hope some will come visit Antalya. It was exactly what I needed to get me through the next few weeks, and until my birthday in a month and a half (when I will visit Donnie and Catherine in Izmir again since Donnie and I have the same birthday). Then Kaycee with visit in late April and five weeks later Courtney and Connor will come. Now that I know I am leaving, and starting to feel very nostalgic about Turkey, I know I’ve got to make these last four months count.