Season 2: Invasion of Turkey: Culture Shock "HELLOOOO KEBAPS!!!"

After a very long trip I finally arrived in Ankara, Turkey.  It looked just like a typical European city so it wasn't a real shock like it was last year.  But, I met my coaches and they took me to dinner.  First thing I thought of was "Ohhhhhh goodness what the hell kind of food do they have here!"  So we get a very good Kebap restaurant and they ordered me chicken and beef kebaps.  They brought out that plate my eyes lit up!! Meat! Meat! Meat! Rice! Ekmek! I wish I had a picture of it! Boyyyyyyyy that food was DELICIOUS!! Oh my goodness the food here is off the damn chain!!!!!!!!!! I was like man this is going to be a great time!! I might even gain weight here!! Sooo I said goodbye to the burnt frozen pizza and french fries from spain and hellllllllo kebaps!!!!!

The coaches told me that my apartment wasnt ready and that I had to stay in a hotel.  I was cool with that because I could have the internet and meals paid! I was excited because shoooot the food is great!  I stayed in the hotel for 2 weeks and finally got my apartment.  The apartment is soooo nice! I would post pictures but somehow my camera cord got lost in the flight.  I'm looking in the little bitty kitchen like where is the oven?? The oven is the size of a mini microwave! But hey I don't know how to cook so it don't even matter!  That was the only thing that stood out ohhhh and the washer machine is in the bathroom...weird. 

The problem now is the language.  I think Turkish has to be the hardest language everrrr! At least I spoke and understood Spanish but this right here man o man o man is tough!  The only thing I can say is yes (evet) hello (marabar...selam...gunyden) and that is all.  I know I spelled them wrong but oh well.  I have no clue what is going on nor what they say which is bad because I have no idea if they are talking bad about me.  I've been here a while now and I haven't even picked up on words. 

One thing about this place is that it is very Americanized.  The music stations are in english and people know alot about rap and hip-hop which surprised me.  I would have thought they only knew pop music (which i definately CANNOT get jiggy with).  I was listening to "I'm A Flirt" by R.Kelly feat. T.I and T-Pain and my manager Ozar took one of my ear plugs and was like oh R. Kelly! I'm like whhhhhhat?!?!? What you know about R. Kelly?? He was like I know R.Kelly! I was shocked.  So it is a little bit of influence here music wise .

I went to one club and if you have been to one club over here you have been to them all.  Rediculously loud, extremely crowded, zero dancing just jumping around.  Definately not my type of party.  I told them to take me to a hip-hop club because I LOOOOVVVEE dancing.  Plus hip-hop clubs you find other americans and I need all the connects and friends I can get.

Rules and Regulations by the Government: Now this right here is what killed me.  The government regulates what you can and can't look at on the internet.  You talking about mad, I was heated!!  The government banned youtube.  That is the most rediculous thing I have ever herd in my life.  Overseas, my life revolved around a couple websites...YOUTUBE!!! and the usual facebook, twitter, JUSTIN.TV (which is also banned) Ustream (banned), Sticktv (banned).  Now the last couple of websites I mentioned are all of the websites that streamed live sports games from home.  I am very upset that I can't watch the NFL on sundays or I can't watch my alma mater (Mizzou) or any college basketball.  Its truly a travesty and its not fair.  I get punished that you Turkish government for taking away my freedom and rights that I hold true from America and make me feel like a prisoner in my own freaking house.  How you gonna tell me what I can and can't watch yall crazy as hell.  I'm a internet buff and I have my ways I know how to look at youtube now and the only thing left is for me to figure out how to watch sports online.

The only thing I can say is that you appreciate the little things from home when you are overseas.  I will say this: THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.  God bless it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Streets of Madrid

After my adventure of taking the Metro I finally get to the big city. For starters, I hate the metro, its confusing to me and I always end up lost. Where I am from we don't have subways, so all of this is new to me! Anyways, I step out of the Metro station and I look up and saw huge beautiful buildings. I had to stop which caused the people behind me to get aggrivated but damn it's a little breath taking. The architecture is crazy! It's like the movies! I couldnt tell you what part of the city I was in but I walked around all day. I saw Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace (the garden thing was beautiful) and just a rack of different places those two are the ones that stick out in my head right now.

It had to be a million people walking around and because the streets were so tiny I thought the area was pedestrian only. Wrong. Cars be scootin through those streets with people everywhere, they act like they in a big rush. I almost go hit once because I was just chillin standing in the middle of the street and a car was coming I was looking at the driver like he was crazy. My friend yelled "Tish get out the street!" I'm like "Oh my fault I didn't know this was a real street". I thought the car was in the wrong. lol

There are restaraunts of all nationalities there. American, Irish, Cuban, Chinese, Japanese, Indian the list goes on! Whatever you are in the mood for you can find it in Madrid and you will love it! I chose to eat at KFC! I felt like I was home, except for the fact that you don't get biscuits with your meal :(, you get french fries. Other than that the chicken was ohh so good lol! There was also alot of fresh seafood and Tapia places. It was so crowded the day I went I couldn't try the Tapia place that my friend raved about.

On Sundays they have this huge street market. They sell any and everything...for the low low! It was sooo many people though and too many people make me aggrivated and nervous. I was trying my best to enjoy it but people kept bumping into me and if somebody would have stepped on my shoes it would have been a problem. "Do what you do but watch my shoes...you'll get blues if you dont watch my shoes!"

A downer to walking around was seeing all of the crazy and poor people begging for money. Because of that you have to hold your bags because of pick pocketers. I see homeless people back home but nothing like this. I mean a man dressed like peter pan playing this flute thing walked up on me an was holding his hand out. I'm like "Peter you better move!" I asked my friend do people normally walk up to you and she said no. I guess he looked at me like I was his pay day. Crazy lady worshiping the ground and crying it was a mess. I saw this man with no legs and he had an old dog and a puppy and he was having the puppy do tricks. I lost it by then, I started tearing up. Yes I'm a sensitive one but after seeing all of those poor people by the time i saw this man I couldn't take no more I just hate seeing people living like that. This one man had me cracking up though he had a sign talking bout I need money for wine. lol at least that man was honest.

There are many many stores, boutiques, shops its crazy. Only problem is that every day shoe store I went into their shoe sizes stopped at a size 45...well i wear a 48!! The cutest boots and casual shoes that I would looove to take back to the states but nooo big foot Tish is out of luck. The shop place is Puerta de Sol its like 3 miles of shops if I'm in the City you can most likely find me walking around there!

The city is cool. It's plenty of things to do (even for american's like me whose spanish is terrible), great places to eat, great shopping, extravigant (college word lol) sites, and a real diversed group of people.

Culture Shock Part II

Okay so on my previous note I talked about my drive from the airport to my apartment. (Pics coming soon) All of the buildings look exactly the same and because of that my coach and I were walking around from building to building trying the keys to see if they fit. Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself the setup of alot of "flats" or apartments you have gate to get into where the apartments are, once you find your apartment building its another gate then you walk inside and find your door. After walking around for like 10 minutes we find it and I walk in and I was like "wow"! The place is crazy! Three bedrooms, one in a half bathrooms, large living room and dining room, large kitchen which is unusual here supposedly, laundry room. We were hooked up! The thing that got me was "alright I see the washer where is the dryer?" So I looked out of the widow and saw all of my neighbors clothes hanging from a line. I was like "oh hell naw a line?" I couldn't believe it. But, the line was a big help of helping me find my building because I look up and see my leopard thong and my other intimate clothing just hanging three flights up in the wind. "Welp, There's my building!"

A big issue I have here is the food. I am the pickiest eater in the world and to top it off I have know idea how to cook. I lived off of fast food my whole life. They said Spain was really Americanized so I just assumed it would be fast food all over the place. WRONG. Aint no damn fast food but McDonald's and Burger King in my city. Spanish people LOVE to cook, therefore, fast food is something they eat every blue moon. Like at McDonald's people get all dressed up and go on dates and what not. One day I was in there and this chick had on a mini skirt and a fancy shit with heavy make up all that like she was really going somewhere and her boyfriend was dressed really nice too. I'm thinking they are getting their food to go. Nope. They are on a real date sitting across from each other gazing in each others eyes an all this eating a damn big mac...get the hell out of here go to a real restaurant, or better yet go home. lol. But everytime I'm in McDonald's I see that all the time.

I'm getting off track but I had big issues with my lack of cooking abilities I ended up losing 16 pounds these 3 months. When I first got here I went on strike until someone took me to McDonald's so sometimes I didn't eat for days. To me Ramen noodles is not dinner! I'm use to eating 3 times a day with the last 2 times is some sort of fast food. Big adjustment but now I eat Ramen noodles (of course), Frozen Pizza, French Fries, and occasional chicken wings. Terrible I know but thats the best I can do. Problem with it is not the health value...but the price! Frozen foods are not cheap! Frozen pizza I like is 2.89 Euros per pizza, the cheap chicken wings are 10 wings in a bag for 3.89...Ramen noodles 63 cents per bag! Basically I spend 50 bucks a week for food. It's really killing my pockets.

One thing I think is really cool is all of the fresh bakery's. They are all over and the breads and doughnuts (i don't experiment with unknown foods so we'll leave it at that) are delicous! I love it. I look forward to Wednesdays which are my off days to walk to the bakery and get doughnuts and breadsticks.

But as for Spanish foods in general I haven't tried any. Why because I don't know what it is therefore I leave it alone. They might think I'm rude but its not because its Spanish, I just don't fool with food. I'm black and I don't eat soul food so please my Spanish homies don't take it personal.

In real restaraunts the service is iffy. Sometimes the waiters and waitresses are really nice they get you what need they work hard which is unusual according to my coach. I'm saying to myself "unusual hmm?" Well my question was answered when the bill came and it was time to tip. 10%?? 15%?? Not even close you give them change!! I wouldnt want to serve your ass either if you gave me 35 cents! He said, "If you like the food and service you leave them some coins". Wow. All this time I was tipping the pizza man 2 or 3 Euros!! Coach told me the pizza man probably thinks I am his queen because you dont tip here! Oops. Well at least I made somebody happy. I'm glad I know now but still I feel bad just giving waitors and waitresses spare change. I mean they have a hard job!

The people. Super friendly and really nice. I guess I'm use to rude people but I'm a friendly person if I make eye contact with you I'm going to say hello whether I know you are not so these people are right up my alley! Only thing is that you have to kiss people "dos besos" two kisses. Me I am not the most affectionate person in the world and I have to kiss everybody I meet! It was an adjustment but now I don't care kisses for everyone!!

*besos*

Culture Shock! Part 1...Stepping off the Plane

Well for starters, I am late writing this. I touched down in Madrid Spain September 7th 2008 and it is December 17th! On the verge of my Christmas break, I decided I need to get this whole blog thing jumping.

After waiting almost an hour to get my bags, I found my coach outside waiting for me. I took a look around and saw all of the tiny cars! If you remember the show Family Matters, the car that Steve Urkel had well that's what alot of the cars look like (I am not exaggerating either). ----------->


It was a short drive from Madrid to Alcobendas but I noticed on the highways there was no kind of big SUV's or Trucks. I also realized that they drive on the correct side of the road. I don't know why I was under the impression that they drove the wrong way. Anyways, I asked why are the cars so small. He said, "The roads are extremely narrow, parking is scarce, and most importantly gas is like 2.00 a liter" I'm saying to myself a liter? Damn! That's like 6 bucks a gallon. (I don't know the actual conversion that was my guesstimate) Glad I don't have a car here!

Once we got to the apartment first off, there was nowhere to park so we just parked in the middle of the street and turned the hazard lights on. I'm saying to myself "what the hell we just gon leave the car here?" Indeed we did. The street is narrow but you can stop your car in the middle of the street. As a matter of a fact, you can even block cars that are parked in well you can't but everyone does it. For example, your at a store and there are no available parking spaces no problem just block people in. I'd be mad as hell if i came out the store and saw somebody parked behind me blocking me in. Oh quick story: My roomate wasn't paying attention aka she wasn't looking out of her rearview mirror as she was backing out of a parking spot. Now mind you we walked from the gym to her car why she didn't see this bright red car blocking her in I still have no idea. But anyways, she turns the car on, radio on goes in reverse...BOOM hit the damn car. She cursing in spanish about to cry and I just started laughing because how the hell did you not see that car LOL.



Next observation is the Circles. They tell me the reason for the circles is because it makes traffic run smoother without having a lot of traffic lights. Okay whatever. They say that but yet there are huge circles like 3 lane circles as soon as you go around it theres a damn traffic light. So what's the point? I don't get it. But the only problem I really have with the circles is not the circle itself but the damn drivers not understanding the rules of driving in the circle! The person already in the circle is suppose to have the right away...so you think. Nope, you get in where you fit in, who cares if another car is already in the circle. Then in the huge circles (The ones that's 3 lanes or more) its chaos. The car in the left lane randomly crosses to the far lane to turn off the circle, the car in the middle goes straight, and the far lane wants to continue to go around the circle. A damn mess. Then while you switching all these damn lanes once you turn off the circle to drive on a straight away you have to immediately switch lanes because of cars parked in the middle of the damn street! I fear for my life everytime I get into a vehicle.



Most people don't have cars they walk, take the metro, cercanías, or bus. I will go into detail about my adventures on the metro (lord help me) in part 2 but the point I'm making is that its pretty pedestrian here. So when people are in the crosswalk they have the right away. Wrong. I don't know what the mortality rate is with vehicles and pedestrians it has to be high. My coach says it isn't but I don't see how. People are in a huge rush all the time. I blame the people who made the streets because they have random crosswalks at these crazy circles i talked about earlier. So you have people zooming around the circle coming to a complete stop because of the old couple trying to cross the street. Crazy my roomate rarely stops I say to myself "did she not see that man!" "We are going to jail, I'm too pretty to go to jail" lol. But the crosswalks be so random and people don't look either that don't help the case so I can't put all the blame on the drivers.

That was driving in the suburbs, just wait untill I explore Madrid.