Antalya

I’m in Antalya now, where Sinan’s family lives. He just finished his semester, so it is his break now, so we are doing typical "break-like" things - eating, sitting, watching stuff...He has a brother who is an English teacher, and a 16 year old sister who knows some English. Neither of his parents speak English. It can be frustrating because I want to express myself and communicate with them, but often I just turn into a giggly American girl. Yesterday I went to a friend’s house with his mother, where no one spoke English but it was nice to sit around, drink tea and eat food, while the ladies knitted and talked. I like to listen and try to figure out what they are talking about. Every day I am trying to teach myself Turkish or get Sinan, Serdar, and Kubra to teach me. I'm learning, but I wish I had more structured lessons. Anyway, FOOD!

One of my favorite Turkish dishes:
Iskender kebap – cut up bread with meat over it, yogurt with garlic sauce, tomato sauce, and butter. This is in Istanbul.

This is what we had for breakfast the first day at his family’s house, spinach and egg. Tasty!
We eat on the floor around a big metal plate. These rolled up things are borek, which have a feta-like cheese and parsley in them. Bread with butter and honey is typical, olives, and tea of course!

This is dinner, a sort of stew with onions, beef, and chickpeas and some red pepper and tomato sauce. Of course we use bread to soak up the delicious flavor. The picture was taken earlier before water was added to give it a more soup/stew like texture.

Breakfast today, which was grated potato with parsley. One of the borek’s had cheese in addition. There were also tomatoes and cucumbers and cheese, which is usually at every breakfast. Turkish breakfasts have got to be the most delicious in the world.