being an australian

yesterday i took the journey to gallipoli. after waking at 6am we took a bus to eceabat. 5 very cramped hours later we arrived to be greeted by a very random lunch - meatballs, sweet chilli coated chips, plain noodles and lettuce! definitely not what i think of when i think of turkish food.... on a side note, baclava and turkish delight are amazing here, and yes mum, the locals do eat them! 

as i was on a gallipoli tour i inevitably spent the day once again with aussies, a somber 6 hours of touring the various historic sites on the gallipoli peninsula. the amount of knowledge our turkish tour guide imparted was seriously impressive - i learnt so much about the anzac campaign and the turkish experience of it all. turns out they suffered more deaths and casualties than the allied forces!

i think the most confronting part of the day for me was seeing and hearing about all the young soldiers who lost their lives, the youngest only 14 and 10 months. also a terrible surprise was the overwhelming feeling of shame i felt as an australian when a drunken bus of aussies and kiwis walked around shirtless and mooned the statue of turkey's greatest war hero. 

the day was absolutely sweltering, and swathed as i was in scarves, the only thing i wanted to do was go for a swim and a beer when we got back. so went for a relaxing beer on the beach with the boys - the beer here is great by the way!