Overnight stay in Manisa

After the evening performance we returned to the homes of our host families.  It was interesting to see how alive the city was at 11:00 at night.  There were kids playing in the parks, people out walking.  Far more lively that Wichita at 11:00 pm.  We even saw two parks with public trampolines where kids were jumping like crazy!  (in the US: can you say liability??)  

David and I got a little extra space and privacy because the grandparents who lived below our family were out of town, so we got their apartment to ourselves.  I chose to sleep on the couch in the air conditioned living room rather than on the bed in the stuffy bedroom, which also smelled strongly of moth balls.  The street was pretty quiet and since we got back after midnight, we fell asleep very quickly.

informal living room

formal living room

kitchen.  There was no oven, only a stove top.  We notice in the host's apartment that they had a large countertop toaster oven.

We peaked in the cabinets in the kitchen in the apartment where we stayed and I got to see some of the linens we had heard about earlier in the trip.  When women are married, one of the things that they are given as gifts are hand stitched shelf liners for the kitchen, none of those peel and stick kind in these kitchens!

Small balcony off the kitchen - really helped with getting a breeze through the apartment

Bathroom/laundry room.  The whole room was tiled and the shower sprayed directly onto the floor and ran into a drain in the floor.  Pretty easy for mopping the bathroom!  The washing machine was covered with a protected plastic cover that could be taken off when it needed to be used.