Cuenca trip

About three weeks ago I went to Cuenca with Charo, Milos, Amber and Mehdi (our friends from Spanish class). I don't remember whose idea it was but I'm glad that we took this trip. I automatically loved Cuenca (even though it was freaking cold) because I already love Toledo. Old buildings, narrow streets, same colours...

I really liked this liquor. Highly recommended!

some cool graffiti

First we found a spacious and lovely flat on Airbnb to stay for a night and then hopped into Charo's car! I think it's the best and cheapest way to find accommodation if you're travelling with a group of friends. I had never used Airbnb until then but luckily it turned out really well. The landlady was really nice, she even had some drinks in the fridge for us. And we were allowed to use microwave, dishwasher, toaster etc. It was literally "make yourself at home." And the most fun part: we had to draw for the rooms! Surprisingly I was lucky to have the room that I set my eyes on haha

                         

And it was "Carnaval" time on our first day so we all dressed up and hit the streets. A pirate, a cowboy, a vampire, a smurf and a mime! As you will guess, everyone was looking and smiling at us as we were the only ones with costumes on. It was funny. We never found the "plaza" that the celebration was supposed to take place. So a bunch of weirdos wandering around haha

the "supposedly" vampire

Charla Intercultural

I wrote about this workshop before but this time I want to tell you what kind of
things we shared or I shared with them as a Turkish.

Well, the first meeting was all about introducing ourselves and our countries briefly. I prepared a short presentation on who I am, where I come from, and Turkey 101 (flag, currency, official language, climate, people etc.). I needed to have a text to be able to make sounds in Spanish :P although we're just supposed to talk haha But it was fun. Both the process of preparing materials -mostly photos- and presenting it to lovely people.

Jose Luis brought along a dessert (I forgot the name) and Helena made us tea

Also we had Serbia, Italia and USA presentations on that day. Unfortunately it was the only meeting Antonella attended, she went back to Italy later. Although we never could truly communicate with her as she couldn't speak English, I liked her very much. She used her Italianish Spanish on others very effectively though :) 

in Toledo with Antonella

(very loudly)

Antonella! Se stai leggendo questo voglio solo dire "Non cambiare mai. Tu sei unica!" (it's google translate's fault)

(very loudly)

The second one "Gastronomica"

Time to go in the kitchen!

I had a few things to cook in my mind but lack of some key ingredients (like tomato for a tomato soup) forced me to make a kind of dessert (helva in Turkish) which I never tried to prepare before. Sounds risky! But I first asked my mom "Do you think I can make irmik helvası?" After she said "Yes, you can!" nothing could hold me back. And it was really easy. You just have to stir the mixture like for an hour:(

I proudly sent this photo to my mom. Maybe not a big deal but I'm not Martha Stewart myself. At all! haha

Anyway it turned out good for a first try. And I wrote the recipe in case someone might be interested in trying it himself/herself. But I think no one was really into it :D It was not too sweet (unlike polvorón or mazapán or roscón). I find spanish people very very fond of sugary things. Maybe I was being a little bit selfish by adding less sugar on purpose :P

Last but not least, I made turkish coffee for like 10 people on a small portable electric cooker. Believe me it was not easy! :D It took so much time. The coffee pot could get just 4 or 5 cups of coffee at once so I had to serve first ones before they got cold and go back to prepare the rest while they were waiting for me:D Unfortunately none of them was foamy or tasty. To be honest worst turkish coffee that I've ever tasted and made! 

this is not how it's done but they liked the idea of coffee fortune-telling:) 

But did we have fun? Yes, totally!

The third one "Navidad"

I mentioned this one in one of my previous posts but it's worth talking about again. All I can say is: desserts!

I ate turrón for the first time thanks to Charo and as we don't have a special Christmas dessert Milos and I decided to make a ready-in-5mins cake:D Maybe it took us even less! A cake, chocolate pudding and milk! It was tasty and a little bit bad looking:P

The fourth one "Películas"

Lately I've been criticized for my taste in films :P But I can proudly say that I like old movies!

So of course I picked an old Turkish drama called "Canım Kardeşim" for this meeting. This film never fails to make me cry. I don't have to see it. I can cry even when I think about that famous touching scene where the main character dies of cancer while his brother is about to make his one and only dream (a television) come true. After giving information about the film, I made them watch this scene but no one cried! What's wrong with you people!? haha At least the very very sad music should've brought some tears. But no! The only teary-eyed was me:)

this cute kid dies:(

The fifth one "Bodas"

This is the last one we had! Well, it was very fun. There were so many things to tell about a traditional Turkish wedding but as I had henna at home and Helena had some accessories from the youth exchange they had with Turkey before, we had a "henna night" instead. 

First we watched a video to see what this henna night is like and then applied henna ourselves. Well, just Amber and me. The others didn't want to -_-

Amber looking good in a Turkish way :)

Well, normally the bride is supposed to cry to an old Turkish song called "Yüksek Yüksek Tepelere" at this henna night. But no one cried. Again! :P Ours was a happy one:) At the end we danced to a Moroccan song in our own way.

I want to say that I really enjoy sharing the things I love with others even though they can't understand it the way it is or share the same feelings. We all just deserve to know something beautiful is happening somewhere around the world. It is happening. 

This post is definitely...

To be continued

a Turkish one, of course!

Axa España no tiene un idea

Sevgili Axa İspanya, seni kınıyorum ve sana laflar hazırladım.

Dur bekle şindi sen asfdsf

If you are sick and the clinics (even though you went there before and got treatment) don't want to accept you because you don't have those golden cards, what should you do?

The answer is definitely not: Call Axa Spain to get information. Because they have no idea! They don't even know that as an Evs volunteer you have Axa insurance.

Okay let me tell you what happened. I had a sore throat and I desperately needed a medicine to be able to eat again. So I went to that clinic near our house because I went there before and they had filled a form to send the bill to Axa and wanted me to sign it. So everything was fine. But this time they told me they couldn't get a response from Axa (or something like that because she showed me the form that we filled before and she seemed very unhappy). Well, she was kinda trying to help me by calling Axa and leaving me alone with that lady on the phone! But thanks god she realised that it was not a good idea when I was literally struggling with Spanish. Anyway, eventually they told me to call Axa Turkey!? But it has nothing to do with it! The bills are not going to Turkey or something.

When the lady in the clinic heard that I'm Turkish she said "Oh, Turquía es bonita!" Ok lady but I'd prefer una medicina bonita, instead.

The problem is that Axa can't even give any information let alone assuring that they will cover the bills so no wonder the clinics don't want to accept you as they don't know if they'll get their money or not.

So, I called Helena to ask if there's another clinic that I can go. Yes luckily there was one. On my way to the next adventure, I saw the Axa office. A ha! I definitely had to go in and tell my problem in Spanish, I didn't care if it'd help or not, I had to at least disturb them even just for a few mins.

Well, nothing different. She looked at my card like it was a UFO and called someone who had no idea either. But it was very nice of her to call this Msh international company that never picks up the phone. At least she gave me the directions to the other clinic. See? They're not that bad. You can call Axa to ask for directions :P

Oh, and the other clinic. They told me they don't work with this company.

The only thing left to do was to send an e-mail to Msh International. I told them I'm having problems using my insurance card where I live. 5 days later I got a response but they were saying that I should first pay myself and ask for a reimbursement OR if I request a direct payment I need to contact their some department to give the information about the hospital, the date treatment will begin and type of treatment etc. I'm sorry but the second option is a total bullshite. It means, either way you're paying first.. What am I supposed to do? "Okay I have an emergency but first I need to send an e-mail to the insurance company and wait for a response. Meanwhile, can I die here in a corner? Thanks."

So if you have an emergency it doesn't work for you. Go to an "Urgencia".

Eventually I did. My spanish mothers:p Helena, Mabel and Charo got worried about me and Charo took me to the emergency. We were not so sure if they'd accept me but they just requested an id and I finally got a bag of antibiotics and painkillers.