Student hospitality

I spent a couple of days in Erzurum and had a great time with my couchsurfing host Görkem and his roommates. On Sunday night at eleven we got on a bus and headed out of the town to a football pitch for a match. I hadn’t played in a while and was a little rusty, but we had a great team and finally won the game with 12-2.

On Monday morning I set out to do what I had to do while I was in Erzurum, to get my visa for my next country on this trip, Iran. And it was easier than what I had expected and in the evening I had the Visa in my passport. But I was prepared and had gotten a code from the Iranian government through an agency. So when I got to the embassy I only had to fill out some more papers and pay for the visa and a couple of hours later everything was sorted out and I got my 30 days tourist visa.

I liked it in Erzurum and stayed another day before getting on the bike again and cycled to Horasan. It was a different Erzurum I left that how it was when I first arrived. I came there in a snow storm and when leaving a most of the snow was gone and even if it wasn’t warm, it was much nicer than before. When arriving in the little town of Horasan I got invited for tea by some nice men and we tried to talk a little bit even if it was hard understanding each other. I asked them for the cheapest hotel and a little later a young boy came and he got the mission to show me the way. He took me to a school where I met a teacher who knew English, we than drank some tea before he had to go. I wasn’t sure where I was staying for the night, if it was at the teachers home of if he were to help me find a place. But in the café I met some students and got an invitation to stay at their apartment for the night. And I had a great time with the guys who were all studying to become firemen. We shared a great meal student-style, played games and they showed me Turkish dancing and Ismail played the Saz and sang traditional music.

And after a nice breakfast together I had my last mountain in Turkey to get over before getting to Agri. It took me about three hours to get up to the top and to my new personal record 2210 meters above sea level.

But the weather was nice and for a while the sun was even shining. And the ride from the top and all the way to Agri was nice with a big downhill to begin with and then flat landscape with the wind in my back. Here in Agri I’m staying with Necmettin, a very nice host and a teacher at the school. And earlier today I visited the school and the very enthusiastic kids could practice their English by asking me questions. They had just started learning English so the questions were very basic, but they were really interested about what I was doing and did the best they could asking me about many different things. I visited two more classes before leaving. And getting out of the school was difficult because I was surrounded by curious kids. So after a hectic morning I could rest up before putting on football shoes again for a new game.