Over to Osa's
Bursa, Turkey

Want to know what the highlight of the past two days have been for me? Remembering—and experiencing—what's it's like to wake naturally, and not by an infant. To not have a baby waking you up like it's Christmas morning, each and every morning, still comes more naturally than the opposite after a year of tolerating such things.

Simply put: The baby alarm clock is gone. My ass is sleeping in, and enjoying every glorious minute of it.

I changed CouchSurfing hosts today, but am still in Bursa. Timur, my host for the past two nights, had a friend come into town for a long weekend, which meant I needed to vacate the apartment to make space for the fellow.

Taking his place is a conversational honey pot of a personality called Osa. She's 29 years old, a trained singer, born in Nigeria then was raised in northern Cyprus, Istanbul, southeast Turkey, and spent more than a handful of years on the east coast of the U.S.

She made the mistake of signing a two-year contract to teach English at a school here in town, but generally hates it (as the school is full of rich children that don't want to learn, they're given no supplies, etc). She's strongly contemplating bailing to Istanbul.

Being a black woman is Bursa isn't easy for her. She gets nothings but stares everywhere she goes.

She speaks with a very neutral American accent, but can also speak Turkish, so she can (unfortunately) understand the nonsense people say around her. I can sympathize, as listening to the droll people talk about around me in the States is one reason I don't enjoying being back there—at least abroad I can turn off the little translation switch in my brain.

Osa's guest room

Osa and I chatted for hours this evening. Conversation with Timur was absolutely exhausting as his train of thought is working so fast that he'll ask you a question but not really listen to the answer before dumping the next one on you. This was a very refreshing change of pace.

I'm set to be here in her lovely, spacious apartment for three nights before pushing on. Timur's quite interested in meeting other CouchSurfers in town, and since I received another e-mail from a Turkish guy looking for tips on Latin America, I'm feeling inclined to organize a little CouchSurfing meeting here at Osa's pad over the weekend.

Explore photos from Turkey

Browse more entries