Food Food Food

Vonda is a coffee expert, so Tuesday morning she made me a delicious hand-ground cup of coffee. But that was it for breakfast, because we were going to drive an hour to the shore of the Bosphorus to eat kavalta. We picked up the Hands On guys (three this time instead of two) along the way. Kavalta is a Turkish breakfast made up of bowls of olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, cream and honey, jam, faux peanut butter, cheese, fried cheese, and lots of delicious bread. It was all you can eat, and I can eat a lot. Too much.

I spent the hour drive back to our apartment in a semi-coma. We rushed upstairs to pack all the books that were donated into a suitcase, then hurried downstairs to join Sarah and Shana in driving to the dernek. Stephanie and I put the books on the shelves, and they look so wonderful! Thanks to everyone who gave me the books to bring here! Tulay (Stephanie's Turkish teacher) came to the dernek to take us all to her neighbor's house for visiting and food. We rode the tram a little ways, then walked and walked and walked. We ended up going through a bazaar to buy strawberries to take to their house, since it's good form to bring a gift.

We arrived at the house around 2:00, and the eating took place pretty immediately. It was so super delicious, but I wasn't very hungry to begin with, and whenever I finished something, one of the women would add more food to my plate. It was never-ending! I also drank three cups of chai and one cup of Turkish coffee. It's a wonder my brain didn't explode.

I couldn't communicate very much, since everyone spoke Turkish. But I was super impressed with Stephanie! I don't know if she was speaking correctly, but she talked a lot, and all the women seemed to get what she was saying. I tried out the few Turkish phrases I'd been taught, mostly at Stephanie's prompting, but mostly I mastered the art of smiling. Which was easy, because these ladies were wonderful and friendly.

We took some pictures before leaving three hours later, then took a minibus back to the dernek. On Tuesday nights Stephanie and Sarah teach English clubs. One woman showed up, and I kind of took over, because I'm obnoxious like that. I like to think that since I did this for five months, and also am kind of a teacher by gifting, that I was somehow helpful? But I think I might have offended Sarah, so after I sorted the flash cards and worked with Fatime on family words, I handed it over to her. And then promptly told her exactly what to do, because even when I'm kind, I'm still obnoxious.

The end result was good, though! Fatime mastered probably 75% of the words before leaving, and would proudly go through them over and over to show how good she was. She stayed until 8:30 (that's two and a half hours!) and after she left, we cleaned up and closed up the dernek. Vonda wasn't home when Stephanie and I returned. We sat around, played on the internet, watched videos, and went to bed. It had been a long, food-filled day.

But it was totally worth it, since I got to see Stephanie really rock at her job, and I got to hang out with Turks pretty much the whole day.