Bus Trips and Marriage Proposals??

Hey All!!
I've arrived in Trabzon after a fantastic 18 hour bus ride. I wasn't sure what to expect from buses here.. I was pleasantly surprised. Big luxurious coach, better than McCafferties with stewards. So I'm glad I took the bus and not the plane. Just the most amazing trip scenery wise. Nothing beautiful as such, actually a lot was quite ugly but so different. Almost all the houses look old and dillapidated even when they're brand new. There's rubbish and rubble everywhere. I remember seeing pictures of street fighting in Kosovo and thinking the rubble looking housing was due to fighting, but that's probably what it was like before the fighting. There were some beautiful views. Seeing the snow capped Kickar mountains as we wound along the coast. The driving is crazy, but there is method. I'm not quite sure what it is yet. We didn't slow down for much. Despite narrow, rough windy roads our driver had no qualms pulling out to overtake trucks, even on blind corners or with oncoming traffic. Cars usually just have to head bush. A few times I just shut my eyes and I was glad I had 10 metres of crumple zone in front of me. If I have to sit up the front at some stage I will definitely get some video.
Trabzon.... an eastern city situated on the Black Sea with a view of Kackar mountains across the harbour. Should make a beautiful photo if the cloud lifts this arvo. No one speaks english here. Restauranteurs no a little.. as much as I know Turkish so it's pretty full on. I'll be investing in a proper english/turkish dictionary. Getting here pretty tired and having to catch a Dolumus (mini bus) was a bit scary, but the people are very friendly and it feels pretty safe, as does all of Turkey I've seen so far. Being a woman might be a different story.
I went for tea at a kebap place last night which was good. My meal (which filled me) plus 600ml water cost $2.50 Aus. Anyway, I was sitting with three uni students and started chatting to them with a bit of turkish, english and a lot of charades. Soon the waiter and waitress joined in. The students left and I was left chatting to mainly the waitress for quite some time. She was really nice. The waiter returned and chatted for a bit and then asked if I was married. When I said no, he gestured if I'd marry Oya. I acted dumb for a bit hoping that that wasn't what he was implying, but he was. Big NO!! I laughed half from amusement and half from shock. She was sad and he was disappointed. We chatted for a fair while after that and I'm going to go back with a better dictionary. It's the best feeling in the world to have the Ureka moments where you finally understand each other. I'm interested to know how the whole marriage thing works though. Many questions to ask cos the waiter had wife picked for him from when he was two, so I'm not sure why Oya doesn't. I'm also interested to see how they react when I say I'm Christian... I'm guessing she must be reasonably religious Muslim cos she wears a colourful head scarf and she was asking if I go night clubbing or smoke.
The place I'm staying is pretty good. Stinks of stale smoke and I think used to be a house of Natasha's (russian prostitutes), but cheap, comfy clean room and good brekky. Theres a catholic monastery that has rooms so I'm going to head there and see if anythings available for something different. Not sure what to expect though. Yesterday when I arrived I was wandering looking for it and a shop keeper guessed I was looking for it. So he shut shop and showed me the way. When it was shut, he led me to the other hotel I'd chosen from the Lonely Planet. This is pretty typical of the Turkish people... very friendly. It was funny when we were knocking at the monastery door cos the neighbours all come out for a chat, and there was a bloke that lived in Melbourne so he's wanting to chat... so hard to understand him but they all love chatting. I think Australia misses out by everyone having there privacy and locking themselves away. Community is cool!