Back in Ankara

Saturday, 21st was a looong day. A day starting from 6,30 am, not finishing untill 2am next day, having to take 3 flights in the same day. To start from the beginning, had to wake up at 6,30 to catch the flight at 9:00 to Ankara, after having not much sleep as stayed late at work the day before. One of our directors was invited as a speaker to a conference titled "competition" in Bilkent, Ankara, and I was asked to translate him simultaneously in this meeting. I said OK, and the next thing I know was that I was put in this flight not knowing any detail as to where will it be, what time will it start, or what will the discussion be about, etc. As I was having these questions, luckily I met Eric at the flight, he told me the details and gave me his speech to that I can prepare. I usually have no idea what the speaker will talk about and I'm prepared for any challenge, but this time I read the speech beforehand, even though the speakers usually track off the text, I still had an idea. When we landed, a driver met us and took us to the venue. We had a nice welcome and time to eat ice cream, as one of the biggest ice cream manufacturers was sponsoring the event...

The conference went well, I enjoyed the topic of discussion, but didn't stay for the lunch as I wanted to meet my sister in METU (Middle East Technical University). This is her prep year in the Industrial Design department. Being back in METU was great as I had been there before when I was a student to visit my friends, and when to the same places again this time. The only thing was I was too posh for the students with ripped jeans & t-shirts (as a working girl). I think I'm getting older.. Well, at least I still turn the heads :)


Spend the day in Ankara with my sister, in a beautiful warm day, relaxing, breathing Ankara's dry air, being back in Ankara, my lovely Ankara days came to my mind.. Convinced my sister to come to Samsun, so she will be there with me. But soon it was time to get ready for the flight. My first flight in the morning was from Istanbul to Ankara. The second would be to Samsun, but as there were no direct flights from Ankara to Samsun, I had to fly back to Istanbul, then to Samsun and wait in between the flights! The first & second was ok but the last flight was a torture..

Before going to Esenboga Airport in Ankara, I had planned the times that I needed to take the shuttle & how to go there, etc. But something unexpected happened on the way. I found the shuttle on the planned time, as I went closer a person that looked like the person in charge saw that I was looking for the shuttle and asked me about the time of my flight. I said nine, and then he said the shuttle goes away to pick up people from 2 more stops and takes 1 hour and 10 mins to go for the airport, which was something I hadn't planned for. He said there was one more passenger who missed the previous shuttle, he is going to Germany & we can take a taxi together and quickly he took me to this guy and we were off to the taxi. I didn't panic, but I felt like there was something fishy going on, beccause the guy was too insistant. As we were walking towards the taxi, all kinds of scenarios was running through my mind- like the two guys actually know each other & this is a set up and I will find myself in a bath tube the next day with one of my kidneys gone!!! - I said no, I will call a friend and ask, and i did make the phonecall and then asked other 2 people, I had their confirmation that the shuttle actually takes that long. After all my suspicion and distrust -I was even thinking of texting the number plate to my frineds!- It turned out that this guy was just a taxi driver & he was only trying to get customers, but the guys looked really suspicious, well we hear lots of urban legends so had be carefull. When I was safely transported to the airport, he asked me if I was pleased & satisfied now :)

It wasn't the end of the day, I was early and had to wait an hour for the flight. I had been in Esenboga before but not much was left on my mind about the place, whereas this time I was able to see that it is to international standards compared to Ataturk airport which looked like a bus station to me after Esenboga.

Flight to Istanbul was ok, but waiting for Samsun flight and trying to keep my eyes open was a killer! The flight to Samsun itself was the most unpleasant time of the day, having had woke up at 6,30, being still awake at 11.45 to 12.45 and to 1.30 was a total killer.

Finally my father picked me up and took me home. Home at last, and to bed.