Hoş geldiniz!

After Montreal and the awkwardness of dredging up silty French for unimpressed Quebecois, I am overjoyed to be in a place where I can play in a foreign language and be patted on the back for it. In Paris, I bought a ridiculously priced café allongé (which I pronounced allonGAY for the pleasure of the barrista) and opened my tattered Turkish in Three Months. Flip flip flip, it began to come back. When the plane touched down in İstanbul, I braved my first conversations. Want to hear?

M stands for Mary, and G stands for nice girl across the aisle.

M: Affedersiniz (Excuse me)
G: [Smiling] Evet? (Yes?)
M: Türk müsünüz? (Are you Turkish?)
G: [Smiling more] Evet
M: Biliyor musunuz, havalimanıdan otobüs istasyon'a kaç dakika? (Do you know, from the airport to the bus station how many minutes it is?)
G: Hangisi? (Which one?)
M: Büyük, çünkü Bodrum'a gitmek istiyorum. (Big, because I want to go to Bodrum)
G: İki var, ama Esenler... (There are two, but Esenler...)

Now, on the metro to Esenler. B1 stands for nice boy 1, and B2--yeah.

M: Esenler terminal'a gidiyor musunuz? (Are you going to the Esenler terminal?)
B1: Evet [more stuff I didn't get]
B2: Nerelesiniz? (Where are you from?)
M: Kanadalıyım (I'm Canadian)
B1: Neeagara Falls!
M: Efendim? (Pardon me?)
B2: Niagra Falls'a gittik! (We went to Niagara Falls!)
M: Oh! Çok iyi. (Oh! Very good)
B1: Ama Amerikadan, çünkü Kanada visa vermedi. (But from America, because Canada didn't give a visa)
M: Hmm [nodding head sympathetically]
B2: [pointing at luggage] Yardım verebilir miyim? (Can I help?)

He carried a bag and helped me buy a bus ticket to Bodrum. The city is 12 hours from here. On iki hours from here. Oh wow, I love Turkish.