Field Trip

On Thursday a few of my classmates and myself went on a field trip. Now I had been aware of this trip for a few days now, I didn't know where they were going, and I didn't think I would be going. But of course, as Thursday rolled around, I had just sat down at my desk when the girls in my class poke their heads in the door and say "Come on Torvald, let's go!"

"Where are we going?" I said, knowing that they were wanting me to come on the field trip, but still not sure where we were going to be going.

"On a field trip," was what one of the girls said. I didn't get any more detail than that. I just shrugged, packed the stuff I had already brought out, and followed them out the door. I guess it's an exchange student mind set to just go with whatever is presented to you. All of the kids going on the trip were gathered outside the school. After we got an orientation in Turkish about what we would be doing, we loaded ourselves onto the bus. This was actually quite a squeeze since there weren't enough seats for all the butts that were on the bus.

We start driving out to the country side, and finally I am told what we are doing. We are going to a small farming village in order to ask questions to the people living there about what it's like to live in the country. It takes about an hour to drive to the location, and once we get there we sit down for some tea. We sit down at a small, open air cafe in what appears to be the main part of the village. I didn't get a good look at how big the village was, but from the looks of it, it is very small. All of the people sitting at the cafe are looking at our group, but I find multiple sets of eyes looking at me in particular. After tea we break into groups then we all go out to interview the residence. Most of the houses are concrete or brick with patios out front. All of the people I see are older, it is hard to find a face that isn't riddled with wrinkles and age spots. As the boy in our group asks the questions, the other girl and I sit quietly.

After we finish interviewing one group we wander down another gravel road to find some more people to talk to. The town is very small. There are chickens and dogs wandering all over the place, and I find it interesting that the chickens are still alive. We get to talking with this one man, and after some conversation we start walking with him. I have no idea what's going on, and soon I find myself walking up to a car. The boy gets in the car, and the girl and I look at each other in a sort of "What's going on" fashion. The girl gets in the car, and against all of my instincts and better judgement I get in the car as well. As we start driving, I ask the girl if she knows the driver, she shakes her head. Then I ask her if she knows where we're going, she shakes her head again. We start driving out into the country side with no legitimate destination in sight, and silently I think to myself "So this is how I die." After about 10 minutes of driving, and me constantly on edge, we pull up to this mosque literally in the middle of nowhere. I suspect that we are here for more interviews since there is a group of old ladies in the courtyard. The mosque is surrounded by a  grave yard, and I joke with the girl that they already have our graves dug out and ready for us. We stay here, talking with random people for about a half hour, and then, thankfully, we head back to the village. Once we got back there wasn't much time left so we just went back to the cafe and waited for everyone, then we got on the bus and headed back. It was a very interesting day for me, not only did I get to see what it was like in rural Turkey, but for the first time I got in a car with a stranger and lived to tell the tale (Don't worry mom, I won't do it again).  Off to more adventures.

Elveda
-Torvald