Ulus

Last Saturday I went to Ulus with Hannah-Lee (one of the other teachers). Ulus is in the historic part of Ankara. It was the original part of Ankara and today there are neighborhoods built up all around it. I live in Çiğdem Mahellsi (the g is silent, the rest you pronounce pretty much the way it looks), which is the in very southwestern part of Ankara.

We took at Dolmuşa (a bus) which is only 1.20 YLT (New Turkish Lira), which is about 90 cents. I really like Ulus. There is a castle, which I will visit another day, and lots of monuments. We had to walk a little ways and most uphill to get to the shopping area. It’s a bazaar really, with stands with all kinds of shops. I do like shopping much better here than in Istanbul. They are much less aggressive in Ankara. Istanbul it’s overwhelming, the sellers are yelling at you to buy their stuff. You don’t feel that pressure here and can browse a little more.

I got a skirt for 8 YLT ($6). And several other neat little things. It was a ton of fun. Check out my pictures on http://photobucket.com/albums/y145/CDeLong/Turkey/ I’m slowly improving my language skills. I can ask how much something is, and I know most of my numbers so I understand the answer. I will be starting language classes after school settles down.