Gaziantep-Turkey

I know that lots of people do not know the city - Gaziantep. Gaziantep is in the southeast of Turkey and it is below Syria. Because I do not want to go to Southeast Asian countries this time and I want to experience central and Eastern Europe, Turkey has become my first choice.

When I first told to my parents, I wanted to go to Turkey for a volunteer project. Their first reaction was that NO! Turkey is very dangerous! The life there is so hard! Let alone when they knew the location of Gaziantep!

There was a time that I hesitated, I really wanted to seize this opportunity that I had prepared for a long time, but I also had to know the real situation. The best ways is to ask the person who have been there before and I also looked through many material, then I made the decision and convinced my parents. Finally, I began my volunteer trip in July 2017.

For more than 20 hours at the airport, I was really really tired. The weather in Gaziantep was sooo hot and dry, like the summer in Shanghai. What's more, there were few air condition, both at home and the coffee shop. (Here I wanted to thanks Onur and Deniz for picking me up at the airport.)

The first time I met other volunteers always made me excited and nervous. Some people was really different from the photos, but, it does not matter, all are friendly and nice. They are from Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Ukraine, Jordan... I am the only one from China! After we got to know each other, they called me Panda, hahahaha, I like it very much! Maybe because I come from China and also have round face and eyes, just like panda.

All of us❤

I lived with my EP buddy, in Ela's home. She is a funny and pretty girl. She always takes care of me, like my big sister, but actually she is younger than me. And the host parents are also sweetie and cute, always ask me that are you hungry, and I always said yes, hahahaha. The deepest memory is that the parents love eath other very much. When we go out for a walk, they walk away, holding hands and taking pictures with each other. All is good memory and I will never forget all of them.

Gaziantep is a place that you should never foget. Almost everyone does not know this place; I strongly recommend this city. 

Beautiful but unfriendly sunshine, traditional but special things, stone buildings, green trees, lovely local people and people who always focus on hand work...All of these, I want to save in my mind. There is a huge, fantastic, special castle, which looks like a bid blockhouse. I walked into the castle, I was amazed at the scenery. As you can see, the blue sky, pretty sunshine, green trees, colorful house all combine with the castle well. And the peaceful atmosphere is wonderful.

The castle The traditional street

Here is Glaobal Village! I stayed at a big mall for a whole day and showed my country-China to Turkish local people! Everyone would show their country this day. By the way, I met another April this day! We prepared all things together, and we were proud of it!

Volunteer from different country 

It was my first time to go to another city, the best thing was that we would have a boat trip and I met another two Chinese friends, Silvia and Alfred. When I got there, I saw a beautiful lake with several boats on it.

The boat We all had fun Sooo nice The food

I was excited to see the sunrise, but it was not easy to achieve.

We went to NEMRUT by bus at 10:00 p.m. 12, August, and arrived at 5:00 a.m. 1, August. It was still dark and we also needed to climb a steep hill( because it was dark, I have no pictures). When we reached the destination, the sun began to rise.

The sun was rising

The view was really really good, I have been taking photos all the time.

On the mountain Me and Padma❤

It was well worth visiting.

This day I took a friend’s car beginning my Tisan trip. It almost took me seven hours and the road is rough.

It was said that Tisan is a niche place, having sunshine, blue sky, coconut trees and golden beach. Actually, I did not expect much of it, but it fits all my imagination about the sea after I saw it with my own eyes. And I found that there are very few tourists here, most of them are nearby residents, and some tourists rent houses to take a vacation as us.

It was really a good place to have several days relax. If you like sunshine, you can go to the beach in the morning or afternoon; if you do not like the hot weather, you can lie on the beach at 6 or 7 pm. You can enjoy the different beauty of Tisan.

The beach

Oh, if you are confused, why do volunteers go traveling everyday? Actually, my volunteer work is going traveling and taking photos, writing articles and promote this city- Gaziantep❤