Anna and Sarah had me and my roommates over for a delicious and fun pancake breakfast (with REAL maple syrup!). It was nice, especially because it was a cold, rainy morning, it was a great way to start off the day.
Last Sunday (the 12th), I wanted to have a get together before everyone scattered for the holidays. It was a lot of fun, I love cooking and preparing things and I went a little overboard but the process of making it is so fun, as it the appreciation people have for it. As always, there were a lot more people then I expected, so of course I panicked about the amount of food there was. Of course, there was enough, but as I mentioned, the gas for the stove ran out and so I couldn't make the spaghetti. Luckily I had already made chicken so I added it to the salad with roast vegetables, served some cheese, garlic bread, and someone had brought a lentil/bulgur/zucchini salad. It was super healthy, but then out came the desserts. Anna made a delicious zucchini cake, and then I made an apple crumble, peanut butter chocolate brownies, lemon cookies, some bars that are like Reese's, banana bread, and some Christmas cookies. I had fun, and I hope everyone else did too! I have to thank Anna and her roommate Sarah for bringing food, and helping out so much in the kitchen.
Here's the Turkish side of the room.
And the foreign side of the room. This definitely isn't everyone that was there or who came, I didn't have time to get any more pictures unfortunately!
This is how I felt by the end of the night.
I have a cousin out here and she invited me to a Christmas gathering at her friend's home. This friend had just been written up in a magazine here for her home and it was beautiful. Super modern, very well decorated. It was a different crowd than I am used to (really, really well off) but it was nice to meet and talk to new people and the food was DELICIOUS. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots - it tasted great and the 4 servers just kept bringing it out. I see a bit of myself in Anne and she slipped away during the dinner and burst into the room as Santa and delivered some presents. It was very funny.
Last weekend Cengiz and I went over to his brother's house on the Asian side and we ended up staying there Friday and Saturday night. It was a nice get away from where I live, because I live, work and go to the gym in the same neighborhood. It was nice to hang out with his friends, they are so so nice and hospitable and kind, and we had breakfast together.
A few weeks ago Cengiz and I went to my student's birthday party and they became friends as they are from a similar region, in the northeast of Turkey. He and all of his friends are from there and love the culture, so they invited her and another Black Sea girl over, and we ate food (I made chicken fettucine alfredo with broccoli - they liked it so much - they had never had it before!) and some of them played some Black Sea music. It was a really fun night and it was nice to be so immersed in such a Turkish cultural experience (ok, minus the not-Turkish food I prepared!).
