Second Month of Volunteering: Adventures, Rain and Love

Selam! 

Here we go again after one month! I can’t believe that I’m already writing the second and last blog page. This  was a really full and intense month. The time flies away so fast and I still have to realize well all the things I’m living. So, let’s go deep in this reflection moment. 

In the first days of the month we had a change in our volunteering plan: some of the families victims of the  earthquake were hosted in a dormitory here in Ankara, so we started to help there. Our main activity was to  organize the social market where people came to take clothes and other basic needs. Without knowing the  language, I tried to do my best with the practical work but sometimes it was quite alienating not be able to  communicate with people to be more helpful. However, blessed body language and basic Turkish words that  helped me to try at least. Some days when we finished earlier with our work in the social market we had the  amazing opportunity to join the group of volunteers responsible to entertain the children. This was the brightest  part of our days, the kids covered us with love and joy! We danced, painted, played, they face painted us and  one of my favorite moments was the day we surprised them during the last hour of school bringing sweatshirts  to all of them. They were super happy and grateful for it and was a really good exchange of good energy. I  hope that, even if it was for a short time, we brought a sparkle of joy to them in these days spent together  because for sure they gave us such positive vibes! 

As for the rest of activities we continued to create social contents during the office days and we are enjoying  every day more preparing videos and posts and moreover it’s nice to see our improvements. I’m going to miss  the time spent there working and having fun too. We continued to have Turkish lessons once a week and during  the last one we had the chance to go in one of the Yunus Emre Institutes and it was a really nice experience,  they welcomed us heartily and my desire to continue learning Turkish language grown even more.  

Talking about our free time, this month was the month of the adventures and exploration of Turkey. Every  weekend we visited a new city. The first one was Konya, a really nice city, quieter than Ankara and more  conservative and traditional. We had the chance to feel more the Turkish culture there especially visiting  museums and mosques. Here we also tried the etli ekmek and we spent an amazing and chill sunny afternoon  in a nice park. It was a really good day especially because we didn’t know yet there but that was the last sunny  journey: the following were really adventurous raining trips!  

The first was in Izmir, an amazing lively but chill sea city. We spent a couple of days there and I was amazed  by it. I was missing the sea vibes and one of my favorite place was the Bazar, lively but not so overwhelming  (like the ones in Istanbul), full of amazing food shops and handcrafts. I love the vibe of this kind of places  cause you can feel really well the energy of people and of the city. I can’t not mention two great moments:  trying the Izmir bomb and having my first Turkish breakfast. The Izmir still hot it’s just an explosion of  happiness in your mouth and the Turkish breakfast… my dreamlike idea of breakfast: a mix of salty and sweet  things and such a big variety! It was amazing, especially having it with the sea view. Even with the rain we  enjoyed the journey a lot and we were super grateful and super happy when the sun came out for two hours  giving us a taste of the sunny Izmir! 

Then Istanbul! Such a different environment, it was a bit that I wasn’t in a highly touristic place but despite  the chaos it was nice from time to time to hear familiar languages. However I have to say that my favorite  things in Istanbul were the most hidden ones were you could feel more the normal life. It’s really difficult to  describe Istanbul cause is a really huge and complex city, I think you can find a little bit of everything there  and every place has different vibes. Of the most known places, I really enjoyed was the environment around  Galata bridge: small restaurants and bars on the sea hidden under the bridge, fisherman from day to night and  let’s talk about the feeling of trying the balık ekmek on the bank of the sea watching the night lights of Istanbul:  sublime! And if you want to experience a less touristic and quieter place, it’s a great idea to go in Balat, a really 

colorful neighborhood with its tiny streets and nice coffee places or Kadıköy, in the Asiatic part of the city (it’s  also a great chance to take the ferry, cheap as a normal metro). Another thing about Istanbul: seagulls, it’s not  an Istanbul view if you don’t have seagulls flying around. Super nice! 

And Kapadokya on the road, the most adventurous trip of this two months. Obviously with rain (again) lol.  Despite we couldn’t experience Kapadokya as we were expecting, we adapt to the conditions and we enjoyed  really a lot! The view was amazing even with rainy weather and see the contrast between the grey sky, the  brown rocks and the pink of blossomed trees was such a good and peculiar scenario. Also the ceramics  museums are really worth. Let’s say that the rainy weather is the perfect excuse to return in Turkey and visit  everything again with sunny weather lol. 

The truth is that the best part of this adventures was the companionship and even when things went wrong we  found a way to enjoy and be grateful the same. Not just in the crazy trips we had but in general in this two  months, the bond with the other volunteers was the best. I feel really grateful to have met these beautiful souls  and have built so many memories with them. Grazie belle! Vi voglio bene assai <3 

And now here we are… our last days here in Ankara, enjoying the last activities, eating our favorite foods,  going in our favorite places and exploring new ones, spending time together and with the people we met here.  But new things are still happening. Food delivery (one of the usual activities of the association that was stopped  during the month after the earthquake) started again: we prepared the packages of the food and we brought  them to the refugees here in Ankara. It was really nice to restart this and provide again the service for who is  in need.  

I also explored new places in the city: 50 yıl park, where I enjoyed a gorgeous sunset with the view of the city,  the ethnography museum, where I had the chance to deep a little bit in an old time Turkey and the Ankara  Castle: amazing! The view but especially the tiny streets to arrive in it, full of tiny shops, both old style and  new age vibes. Not a new place, but I have to mention it: Hamamönü with the blossoming trees! The perfect  place to have a walk right now, especially in these last days when the Ramadan started and some minutes  before the iftar the streets take life: people and music everywhere.  

I don’t know how to finish this blog page, I still have to realize that this experience is almost finished but I’ll  have time to reflect about this. Now it’s time to enjoy the last amazing moments, enjoy the last walks in the  city (especially in the night this city is just magic), get our body renew in the hammam (one of my fav things  btw), eat the last ciğ köfte, baklava and Turkish breakfast (and not only, the list is long lol), drink the last çays 

and continue to share love here and wherever we go.  

Teşekkurler Türkiye! Alla prossima! :)

Vittoria Zotti