As we Say goodbye

Tomorrow is my last day in Turkey. I will keep this blog for more travels. I will try to get more pictures tomorrow and then post them and i hope to post a lot more about turkey as well as lots more pics as well as from all the other places i have been. I am going to dearly miss Turkey and all that came with it. I had the most wonderful 8 months and i would not take them back for anything. I am so grateful to have this time a part of my life and to have met and done the things i have been able to do. What a blessing! I will forever love Istanbul and Turkey.

Nearing the End

Its down to the last three weeks of my time here in Turkey. It has been a crazy, exciting, hard, and great 7 months!
I am so excited to get home and be with my family and see my friends again. I am so grateful that I will be back for Christmas and as soon as i get back I get to go to Tanaes wedding with Jill and Chelsea!! I love these girls so much and I have missed them a lot. I have also missed many of my other close and good friends such as bro/Corey and Alyssa (i will be going to her mission farewell the day after Tanaes wedding! )
I am sad I dont get to see my Turkish best friends especially miss Kelly Donkersgood. I have missed having her here in Turkey with me.
I cannot wait to see my family and go back to school! I even miss snow!! not the cold but yes the snow! I am sure this will change after the first couple weeks.

Anyways I am going to miss Turkey dearly, especially my dear sweet Derin who I love spending my days with. I also miss my first sweetheart Zeynep and I hope that I  can see her before I leave.

The good news is that my parents are moving to Barcelona Spain in January if the visas go through in time so I can visit them and then it will be easier to make a trip over to Turkey.
Dad and I had a great two weeks together and it was so nice to spend that time with him and travel together to Italy and Spain and in Turkey. We have seen soooo many rocks!! at least they were cool rocks from ruins and ancient art and such but still in the end a rock is a rock and we saw tons and tons of them!
I will write more on that later.

This week is Thanksgiving and I am planning to cook a few (with Derins help) traditional dishes for my host family. I hope it all goes well and I am excited because I looked up a bunch of fun stuff for Derin and I to do to learn about thanksgiving.
We also started to read one of my  favorite books Ella Enchanted and I am super excited. It is a little advanced for her but its a good change for us to go over new words.

So three weeks and counting down. Derin is sad but I need to keep it in mind so we can make the most of our time. I am so excited to get back into my own country where i will understand the people around me! its going to be weird and i am sure my brain will fry but its so worth it.

I am going to miss Turkey
Adieu for now!!

Man of many talents

Other than Derin I teach a guy who works for Samen (my host mom) as head of the tech department. His name is Kaan Tezimel. He is a very tough student but i must say he is a man of many talents. His true passion is for history, specifically Turkish history but also every other history.
He has written a few historical novels and he is very much into traditional parts of the Turkish culture. He plays a very traditional instrument but i dont remember the name and he sings and dances.
Here is a video of him that he posted on facebook. It sounds very different to anything I am used to but in the Turkish view he is very talented and sings beautifully.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oey6cQ4Y-KQ

here is another video of him from youtube. This is very traditional and Turkish people love to still listen to this kind of music. Things are changing now with our music from the states and such but I think that this culture still runs strong in Turkey.

Also the president of Turkey is on the cover of Time this week for Europe Asia and the South Pacific! check it out!
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/europe/0,9263,901111128,00.html
i need to read it still... :)

Take Luck!

my merhaba

hey this is a great site for anyone living in Turkey for a while
you can meet people
find out about events
learn more about Turkey
and basically help with any questions or needs about Turkey
its really great.

http://www.mymerhaba.com/

kahvaltı better known as Breakfast

Turkish breakfast is different than anything i was ever used to. None of the pancakes, bacon, waffles or other things i usually cook up for my morning meal.
Traditional Turkish Breakfast consists of usually fresh breads such as simit, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, many different cheeses, jams, honey, borek, olives, eggs, sausage, fresh squeezed orange juice, and of course tea.
delicious and nutritious is the  kahvaltı  which literally means before coffee. Here take a look at some photos of breakfast in Cesme at the summer home.

Ramazan

Or better known to us as Ramadan is a big fast in the Muslim culture that i was so excited to experience while i was here! instead of trying to explain it all i am just going  to copy and paste and let Wikipedia do it :) the classic 21st century way of learning!
Ramazan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamicmonth of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexwith their partners^[2] during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and submissiveness to God. Muslims fast for the sake of God (Arabic: الله‎, trans: Allah) and to offer more prayer than usual. The dates of Ramadan vary, moving backwards by about eleven days each year depending on the moon; thus, a person will have fasted every day of the calendar year in 34 years' time. Muslims believe Ramadan to be an auspicious month for the revelations of God to humankind, being the month in which the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.


Now for what i have observed....
unfortunately i have not been as involved in it as i wish i could have. The family i live with does not practice the Ramazan fast except for the last day. Which Derin was excited about because they kiss their elders hands and get gold coins, money. Once we had someone over for dinner who was fasting and we had to wait until 8:30 when the sun went down to eat. When i was staying at a hostel near Takism Square i would stay up late talking to people and such and around 2 or 3am there would be a guy who would go around the streets banging a drum to wake everyone up so that they could eat before sunrise. My friend got a video of it but i didnt get one sadly, maybe she will send it to me. The restaurants all have things going on for the fast, specials or they are just open all night. In all the main places there are big areas with booth with shops (different arts and trades and things to sell) and places to eat. This is where i got to try the art of Ebru (also known as paper marbling) which is so cool!
What it is is a sort of bowl full of plain water or sometimes they add this stuff called size to it. You dip a rough paintbrush in the paint and then lightly tap it on the soft part of your hand between your thumb and index finger. The splashes of color spread in the water and once you have enough splatters of the colors you want you draw through it making a marble pattern. (its like baking where you draw a knife through the two mixtures of cake to make a pattern or with the icing). Then you dip the end of a tool in a different paint and when you dip it into the water it spreads out in a circle, the more times you dip the darker the color will be. you used different colors and techniques to make different designs. the easiest is the tulip which is made. if you want to learn the technical stuff about it here is the Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_marbling.
here are a couple of cool videos about it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYGkGm6SaeU&feature=related
this one is long but it shows you alot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQSWmkt6-Hk&feature=related

What an amazing experience and time to be in Turkey! I love it!
Here are a few pics!

Manti

This is my favorite Turkish food, even though all of it is amazing!!! It is a kind of Turkish ravioli. It is usually hand made and takes a lot of time but it is delicious! It can either be fried or boiled although  I have only had it fried once and boiled is much better. You usually top it with Greek yogurt and then a blend of spices, tomato paste, and melted butter. Or you can eat it plain which is still amazing and i like it if the water has a bullion cube in it.

here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon water, or as needed 2 onions, peeled 1/2 pound ground beef

salt and pepper to taste 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs and water, mixing well with your hands. Add more water, if needed, to form a soft dough. Cover and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
2.	Shred the onions and place them in a colander or sieve set over a bowl; drain the juice and discard. Combine the onion, ground beef, salt, and pepper; mix the meat well with a spoon until mashed.
3.	Divide the dough into two portions and lightly flour a work surface. Keep one piece of dough covered while you roll out the second portion into a rectangle, rolling the dough as thin as you can. Cut the rectangle into 2-inch squares with a knife or pastry wheel.
4.	Place about 2 teaspoons of the meat filling in the center of each square. Seal the dumplings by gathering the edges of the dough and pinching them together at the top to form a bundle. Transfer the finished manti to a floured plate, and sprinkle more flour over the manti to prevent sticking. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
5.	Heat the oil and red pepper flakes in a small skillet over low heat just until the pepper flakes have started to color the oil; don't let them burn. Remove from the heat and keep warm. Stir the minced garlic into the yogurt and set aside.
6.	Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook the manti until the filling is no longer pink, and the dough is tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain well. Divide the manti among four plates. Spoon the yogurt sauce over the manti and drizzle each serving with the hot pepper oil. I got this one from all recipes but there are a lot of different versions of it. Try it you wont be sorry! :)