This break from vacation blogging (Yes, there are still a lot more vacation photos coming!) is because I celebrated my birthday yesterday! It ended up being a really fun day, and I thought I'd share a bit about it here! Unfortunately, I don't have any photos, so you'll have to use your imaginations.
First of all, I've been needing a haircut for a while, but my language isn't good enough to where I can go by myself. Plus, I've been hearing horror stories about the difficulty of working with Turkish stylists, so I've been putting it off. Finally I asked a friend - Julie, who has been here longer than me - if she could help me go get a haircut! She lives in a far district of town that I have never been to, so it was kind of my like Joni's Day Out Adventure to go to Julie's district (Batikent, for those of you who might be familiar with Ankara. It takes about an hour for me to get to from my house - 30 minutes on a bus, then 30 more on the subway). She took me to her hairdresser who is located in Acity Outlet AVM (AVM is "Mall" in Turkish). For any locals who might be interested in going, it's called Şahika Kuaför on the bottom floor of the mall - ask for Mehmet. Seriously, it's worth the trip out to Batikent for this guy! He was so friendly and professional, and Julie just explained to him what I wanted and he did it. That might not sound exceptional to people who aren't in Turkey, but from what I've heard, that's pretty awesome for a stylist here.
The hairdresser's shop was different from any I had been to before. There were WAY more people working there than I'd ever seen before! You had the stylists, who were like the superstars of the place, and then a whole horde of people I'll call "minions" that were running around doing the dirty work, and it seemed like their jobs were to just anticipate exactly what the stylist wanted and do it without them asking. First, one of the minions shampooed my hair. Then Mehmet began the cut while chatting with Julie in Turkish. At one point, he dropped his comb, and instantly a minion swooped in with another comb - Mehmet never broke his stride. The minion washed the comb and brought it back, switching it out with the other one, and Mehmet just kept working like nothing had even happened.
So he finished the cut and began to blow dry my hair, and another minion came over with a round brush. They had this amazing system where the minion knew exactly where to hold the dryer, when to hand it to Mehmet, when to take it back again, what angle to hold it. It was hilarious! Then when my hair was styled, another minion appeared with a mirror so I could see the back. I loved the cut, and I was also thoroughly entertained by the show! All this for only 35 TL, which is just over $19. I wish I had thought to get a picture of my styled cut - it looked really cute!
Then Julie and I walked the mall for a little bit. I asked her to help me find some shoes, which I've been surprised to have such a hard time! Apparently I have bigger feet than any Turkish woman is allowed to have, so NO stores carry shoes my size! Julie and I didn't have any luck at the mall either, and she divulged to me that she has people bring her shoes from the States. Guess that's what I'll do!!!
Then Julie took me out to lunch for some Turkish food, which was delicious and we really enjoyed just chatting together. Then I caught the subway back into the town center where I had a language lesson scheduled at Starbucks. Usually my teacher comes to my house, but with my plans in the morning, I wasn't sure I could make it back home in time for my lessons, so she met me in town instead. I was glad to get to go to Starbucks - who would refuse a birthday Frappucino on a hot day?!
After a good lesson, I took the bus home to meet Justin and Elias. They had sweet birthday flowers and a homemade card waiting for me! Then the three of us taxied out to IKEA where we ate dinner in their cafeteria (Swedish meatballs - Yummo!) and did some shopping. IKEA has a free children's play area where you can leave your kid up to an hour while you shop, so Elias loves going out there, and we do too!
So it was a fun first birthday to celebrate in Turkey, and I'm thankful for loving friends and family to help me celebrate!
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