The past two days have been incredibly busy. Yesterday morning we went on a "field trip" while at the hospital to go see the warehouse/storage area. I guess this could be considered their central supply of sorts. It was actually interesting to see how medications are kept when ordered in such massive quantities to be sure that the quality is not compromised while waiting to be used. I also continued to work closely with two of the pharmacists, Ahmet and Şeyma, to learn more about the procedures and work flow in the pharmacy. One of my proudest moments was when I was completing paperwork for Albumen to be sent to a unit and Şeyma made a comment about how I catch on quickly and I'm a hard worker. It actually made my day knowing that I have been leaving a positive impression on the pharmacists thus far.
In the afternoon we went for lunch in the hospital cafeteria again. I had brought along some Reece's peanutbutter cups that I stashed in my carry on from the United States. I was planning to bring them to the picnic at the lake but it was postponed because of logistics. So at lunch I passed around a Reece's cup to each person. Upon eating it the one student commented that it was a bit "aşırı" which translates to "overload." When asking him to explain he stated that Americans seemed to just do more of everything. Instead of just eating plain chocolate we have chocolate with pretzels, peanuts, peanutbutter, strawberries, cherries, caramel, raspberry, etc. Our cars are bigger, our houses are larger... While I've always kind of realized that America has a consumer society, his statement made me feel as if our country is like a spoiled child that gets whatever it wants, whenever it wants, no matter the cost. And seeing someone point out this fact to me made me kind of embarrassed in a way. Why is it that we cannot be happy eating plain simple chocolate?
This concept of America is better came up later in the evening as well. Since the lake plans were canceled, some of the other students we know took us out for supper and drinks at a bar. Any time a song came on in English, I most likely knew the song and most of the words...as did everyone else out with me. However, whenever a song came on that was not in English I could not sing along a single word. Meanwhile, most of the company I was with could still recognize the song and perhaps sing along (even if it wasn't in their native language). So why is it that other countries are so familiar with American and other cultures while we tend to only care about our own country and surroundings. Ask any foreigner who the president of the United States is and see how many times you get a correct answer versus asking a US citizen about the president or prime minister of Turkey, Poland, or France.
On a lighter and brighter note: This morning we left for a weekend trip to Cappadocia. The bus ride to arrive was about five hours, then our bus toured us around Cappadocia stopping at different sites along the way. I have seen some of the most amazing landscapes while in Turkey. It's amazing how diverse the country is both in how it looks as well as the culture that comes from different regions. In the evening we went to what is called a Turkish Night. We went for supper and there was a show going on of music and dancing. I was able to take some incredible photos from throughout the day, but I will need to wait until I am back in Ankara to be able to upload and share them.
Tomorrow morning (in about three hours actually) Mathilde and I will be going hot air ballooning! I am very excited for this opportunity as apparently Cappadocia is one of the top places in the world to have such an experience. Stay tuned for photos!