The first thing we noticed about the outside world was that the weather was rainy and breezy. We looked for things to do. We had talked with Pınar the night before about the 3 of us watching a chick-flick together. So, Pınar came over and we watched Sleepless in Seattle. Afterward, we walked to Moda to meet up with some other friends. While we waited, Hyde took a few pictures.
Then Pınar took a picture of us.
We met up with friends, Atakan, Roseanne, Mert, and others. A little later I got a call from Batuhan which I knew instantly by my phone playing the ring-tone I set for him: the chorus of Özlem Tekin - Bana Bir Şey Olmaz. Anyway, Batu was calling to see if I would play football that night. I thought about it for maybe half a second. "Certainly," I replied. After a while, I left Hyde with my friends (which was a strange feeling- like what I imagine dropping your kid off for his/her first day of school is like) and went home to get ready for the match.The game was probably the best I have ever played. I was cautious but creative, and I never seemed to run out of energy. Batu and I played defense in such a cooperative way, backing up each others' attempts to slow down the opposing offense and regain possession. At one point in the game, Batu have me five and patted my back, giving me a heartfelt, "Thank you, brother! You saved my ass." I had run across the field to help him stop a strong player, whom upon gaining the advantage on Batu, lost the ball to my lunging right foot, sending it out for a corner. Later in the game, Batu saved my ass after a blunder. We really felt like our own two man army on the defensive end.
Another highlight of the game was when our side had won a penalty kick. I was watching from the other end of the field as one of the strikers, Eser, set up the shot. But he didn't take the kick. Instead, he turned back to me and said "Cem, you take it." Though I declined, the others on my team all chimed in asking me to take the shot. I jogged across the field toward the penalty area. As I got close, I stole a quick glance toward the left side of the goal. When I was really close, I tried to hide another much shorter and much more subtle glance toward the left side. I positioned my body and foot carefully to strike it for that target. However, at the last moment, I turned my foot sharply and powerfully sent the ball toward the right side. It worked. The keeper, completely fooled, dove for the left side as the ball sailed uncontested into the far right side. It felt awesome (and after all that buildup that's about all I can say about that).
I rejoined Hyde and the others where I had left him. He was in good spirits and told me they had enjoyed deep and satisfying conversations. I engaged in one such conversation with Ayhan about the Kurdish situation and perspectives of Turks in the East and West regions. He is very knowledgeable on these subjects and so it was mostly an opportunity for me to learn a lot, which I most certainly did. He comes from Hakkari, a city on "my list" though I don't think I will get to visit it until next year or later.
Hyde and I have plans for Monday which he doesn't even know about yet, so I won't write them here just yet! But it seems that each day for the next couple weeks will be densely filled with awesomeness. ...and correspondingly, this blog, as well as his blog (http://corvik.blogspot.com/), densely filled with stories and photos.
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