Manisa Weekend

The word for this weekend- Hectic. Manisa is a smaller town about 30 minutes from Izmir. Why then, you ask, did we spend a weekend there? Well Manisa is famous for this candy stuff called Mesir Macunu. It contains about 41 different spices and so if you have a head cold the candy will supposedly cure it. It was made for a Sultana by order of the Sultan at the time and it worked. So, they decided that once a year they would throw this candy to the people so that the common person could be cured. So that's why we were in Manisa: to be a part of this once a year tossing. The catch: TONS of people. We arrived Saturday, went to a concert and spent the night in Manisa at Rotarians' houses. Then Sunday morning we had breakfast and then walked in this parade with the Mania Rotaract and ended up in front of the mosque where they threw the candy. The thing was we were supposed to be in the mosque but we weren't and got caught in this mob of people, mostly men, who were all scrambling and pushing each other to get this candy. Thankfully, no one got hurt and the Rotaract kids got us out of there pretty fast. A few of us did end up with candy though, and once we'd all had something to eat we were fine. The day actually ended really well, so I'm not complaining. I'm not sure I'd try that again though. 

:) Monica

During the Turkish concert

At the end of the day, we were smiling :D