When I landed in Turkey, I was overwhelmed by the people. The kids were held onto tightly and the elderly were being rushed, as if it wasn't safe around here. I found my brother waving a cute little poster with my name on it, written in sloppy hangul.

I ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"Welcome to the city of beauty." he said, throwing an arm casually over my shoulders.

"This is awesome! Thank you so much for giving me someplace to stay." I said.

"What're you talking about! Family special treatment is an unspoken law of Turkish culture. I would be breaking it if I didn't take you in."

"Wow, you've become quite the Turk, I see!" I smirked. "I think I can get used to this law."

Apparently, though, it was also customary for the bride of a family to not like sisters-in-law. Or any of the female in-laws for that matter. I learned that one pretty quick. By the first week, actually. Gülizar, Hiu-tuk's wife, didn't seem to like me much. She seemed to be uncomfortable to be in the same room for a long time, especially if Hiu's not there.

Hiu had to work hard. He told me he always worked this hard, but from the looks Gülizar has been giving me, I'd say he was working harder for me. I felt responsible and also cooped up from this language barrier we faced, so by the end of my second month, I had myself a job.

I worked as a waitress at a very high-class restaurant, and I'm pretty sure the only reason they hired me was because I knew English fluently. With this job, I started to pick up some Turkish. I learned some words and the bilingual clients we served were very kind in teaching me a few phrases. I now knew how to say "Hello" (merhaba), "Good morning/afternoon/evening" (Iyi sabahlar/günler/akşamlar), "Goodbye" (Güle güle) and "Thank you very much" (Çok teşekkürler).

I think Gülizar enjoyed it when I went out. I think she got sick of me the last few months, and so now that I wasn't a drag on her everyday, she started to like me. She even liked to speak to me at the dinner table with Hiu as our translator.

One day when I wasn't working, I was hanging out with Gülizar. We found a new way to communicate: Google translate. Even though the translations were rough, we both understood what the other was trying to say. Also, I picked up new Turkish words and she picked up some English as we passed my laptop to and from each other.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" she tried to sound out the words on the screen. She had a thick accent.

I took my laptop and typed, "No, I did, but we broke up."

She nodded and changed the subject. I was actually startin