Maybe I am a little crazy

Pictures: Old men selling tabacco in Urfa, Omer the carpet seller, me with the kurdish headscarf and my two movie director friends, grandmas, mums and kids in a home in Urfa.

I arrived in Ankara on monday evening, exhausted after three weeks of solo travelling and hitch hiking around Kurdistan (mummy don't worry I take rigourous security measures). The way to Ankara was long, as I made the mistake of hitching a ride on a very slow truck. I told myself never to hitch trucks again. I might go back to taking boring buses just to go easier on my nerves. The good thing though, is that hitch hiking is the best way to learn languages. The driver usually talks to me about his life all way long and I end up understanding some part of what he is saying and can make some comments like 'oh, interesting!', oh I just tell him that I really like strawberries.

Arriving in Sıla's modern, familiar, open minded and not religious home felt great. I spent the whole day at home yesterday watching movies and reading articles on string theory on the internet (thank you Siavash for opening new intellectual horizons to me, I think I will be blind of too much reading soon and my brain will fall out of my ears).

Anyways, sometimes I wonder what drives me to travel the way I do. Maybe a psychologist would categorize me as a high risk taker-high achiever personality with a constant need for more excitement, novelty and adrenaline. Recently I took a test on the internet involving picking colours (link: www.colourquiz.com)

My result started like this:

"Needs excitement and constant stimulation. Willingly participates in activities that are thrilling and offer adventure."

And my 'problems' turned out to be:

"Is afraid she will be held back from obtaining the things she wants leading her to act out with a hectic intensity."
"Fights resistance or limitations, and insists she is free to develop in her own way. Rewarded by accomplishing things on her own, with little to no help from others."

I thought it's all quite true. Thank you colour quiz for helping me to understand myself ;) You should try it and tell me your results :)

In three weeks, I hitched 11 cars, 2 trucks and 3 buses. I spend time with school teachers, carpet traders, kurdish movie directors, policemen, truck drivers, footbal players, iranian political refugees, kebap shop owners, several kurdish families... All this is tiring and sometimes nerve racking. There are times when I am so tired (physically and mentally) and I want to snap my fingers and be back to a place I know. There are days I just don't want to wake up and take the road again. Sometimes I meet dishonest and manipulative people and lose my good spirits and positive attitude. But next to this, there are many priceless encounters. I met people who showed me so much genuine kindness, and I met many very interesting people from whom I could learn. I was accepted in families as one of their children or sister. All the experiences, the good and the bad ones, are priceless. I learn so much, and as long as I stay alive and well, I think even the hard times are for the best.