Traditional friday meeting

Hello, everyone! I would like to tell you about our Friday meetings in Department of Tourism and Culture. For the very first time, my mentor invited me to participate in Friday meeting in other Odunpazari municipality's department. To tell the truth, I have no idea what they are talking about there due to lack of knowledge of Turkish language. But I will speak about this little later

Before the meeting 

When we came to the department, I was introduced to all the workers. They were very curious about me and wanted to find out all the things they can. We were speaking for very long time and about everything. They have offered one cup of tea after another, it is called tea culture and Turkish people hospitality. I was introduced what these people are doing during the workdays. I like these people, they welcomed me warmly, they are socialised. Even if not all of them are speaking in English, but they showed interest in me. I am really glad with my internship because everyone are trying to teach me something different, they are always showing interest in me.

Meeting time has came

To tell the truth, I was feeling little bit anxious about the meeting. I was thinking that our president and manager were coming and I did not meet them yet. But after some minutes I got back to normal. During the meeting I could not understand anything because of Turkish language. My mentor knew english very well so he explained me everything.

What are they discussing about?

Firstly, these meetings are weekly reports of the Odunpazari district. For example, what was done, how to improve something, what things need to be changed and so on. This time, we were talking about an accident in Odunpazari area. Some houses burned down and because of the fire few nearby buildings also burned. The workers told me it is very stressful to think of something. They need to reconstruct very old houses and to think how to prevent fires in this region.

Nevertheless, they are trying to use the natural resources and how to make the area more attractive. Furthermore, Odunpazari area has a lot of projects which improves the neighborhood in many ways. Firstly, the houses are reconstructed from outside to make the area more attractive to the people. Secondly, there are projects for improving the infrastructure of the area. Thirdly, museums, mosques, and other important areas are also being reconstructed. 

Moreover, Odunpazari area attends for UNESCO. It is a historical area of Eskisehir. I will talk about this later on my blog.This historical area is very vulnerable and must be reinforced.

After the meeting

I thought that our meeting is finished and everyone will turn back to their offices. But it was opposite, they invited us to have lunch with them. It is obvious that I accepted because I was hungry already :D For some time we were just sitting outside and talking about everything. Furthermore, I can not count how many cups of tea and cups of Turkish coffee we have drank :D After the lunch our meeting was finished already and it was time to turn back to work.