On Saturday after work Esteban, the Costa Rican trainee, and I took Lee, the new Australian trainee, and Walid, the new Tunisian trainee, for a little stroll around Bursa. We stopped at a place called Pirinç Han, which is a nice little courtyard where you can sit at tables and drink çay, play games like Backgammon, and have a nargile. Esteban and I tried to fill them in on what to expect and our experience, as well as an introductory Turkish lesson.

Like I mentioned before that night we met up with most of the other trainees at Cacaron. The band was pretty cool, and they were playing all these English rock songs that Lee and I knew. We were standing at the front and singing along, and hooting and hollaring after each one, which was incredibly funny because EVERYONE else in the bar could've not even been there and it wouldn't have mattered. Seriously, no on else was even dancing, and after the songs there were maybe a few golf claps, but that's about it. I'm not even sure if they were breathing! It didn't matter to us, though, if anything, it made our hooting and singing seem even louder.

Unfortunately, we(Lee and I) had to cut out early to catch the last metro and Lee had to pick up his bag from the Aiesec office, and I'm pretty sure the party left with us. The whole way back to the Aiesec office we kept singing the songs on the street. When we got there, the Aiesecers had just finished their meeting for the night, but they were still in the office. When they met the L^2 craziness, they were convinced that we were wasted off our rockers, and I just kept saying that this sort of craziness just results when you get two native English speakers together. I think that Lee and I are going to be the new crazy comedic dynamic duo, and believe me, this town needs it.

Also, a little American culture:

Happy MEMORIAL DAY!

Memorial Day, originally called 'Decoration Day', is celebrated the last Monday in May in the USA. It is an official holiday, serving as a day of remembrance of those who have died in our nation's service, and almost no one works on this day. People can wear ribbons, and visit cemetaries or memorials or parades to formally observe this day. It was originally observed on May 30th, however, Congress changed it to the last Monday in May to ensure a three day weekend. Pretty swell of them, eh? Unofficially, it's the beginning of summer! Woo hoo! And as I mentioned before, usually cities will have parades, and families and friends will take advantage of that three day weekend by going to those parades, as well as having parties and barbeques.