Ankara Excursions - Embassy girl

Last Friday I went to the American Embassy Happy Hour. It was weird. There were Americans, lots of them, and only Americans. They were army type, muscled and tattooed. They sang songs in praise of America on the karaoke machine (but let's not get carried away - they also sang the lastest hits). They served the cheapest alcohol to be found in Turkey - all imported. They also had - gasp - DOCTOR PEPPER AND ROOT BEER. Surprisingly, I didn't have any. Being that we were in little America, everything was imported from the Coca Cola to the cleaning products in the bathroom. I'm pretty sure the toilet paper was American made. Although the experience was ... interesting... and it was nice to get cheap alcohol... it brings a question to my mind: why be an expat, why leave your country, if you stay secluded and segregated in the land of little America, drinking only American products and shopping at the army canteen? Part of the experience of living in this country for me has been finding substitutes for my favourite foods back home, trying new things, and leaving foreigner land to roam the streets with my Turkish boyfriend and friends.