Three Great Meals

It’s been a while since I put any substantive information in this blog, but here’s a description of what I have done over the past weekend.

First, on Saturday, I had lunch with this married couple in Istanbul (the first great meal). I got a scholarship through an organization in the United States to come to Turkey, and I met these two people through that organization. They took me out to lunch at this nearby place, where they just kept bringing out course after course of delicious Turkish food (I’ll have to write another post soon detailing the full excellence of Turkish cuisine). The woman had studied abroad in California and New York when she was younger, and the man is a business person who has traveled to the US frequently. We talked about my reasons for studying in Istanbul, and other things that it seems like everyone asks me. But then we had a good discussion about both American politics and Turkish politics. We talked about some of the issues that are affecting US-Turkish relations… and it was pretty eye opening, because these are things that don’t get discussed in the American media very often.

Later on Saturday, I went to eat dinner at a Turkish family’s house with three other exchange students and two Turkish students (the second great meal). This was organized through the xChange Commission, and was part of a program they have called “A Warm Turkish Home.” And the home I went to was indeed warm, and cozy, and very comfortable. It was the apartment of one of my Turkish friends’ relatives on the Asian side of Istanbul (I am currently living on the European side). My first impression of the apartment was that it was extremely well furnished… and when you enter (after taking off your shoes, which is Turkish custom), you just feel so welcomed… and it’s hard to describe. The owners of this apartment are a fairly old couple – think grandparent age. Sorry Mom and Dad if you’re reading this; I didn’t mean to call you old! And they were so friendly (you’ll hear me describe a lot of Turkish people this way). They didn’t speak very much English, but the Turkish students translated for us.

So the night started off by us sitting around the table and eating some typical, but extremely delicious, Turkish foods (again, I will describe Turkish cuisine in a future post). First there was soup, followed by something like six different Turkish dishes. They kept offering us more food, and I kept taking it, thinking that once we left the table, the meal would be over.

But I was extremely wrong. We did indeed get up from the table to sit on some couches in their living room, and listen to one of the neighbors of this couple play this clarinet-type musical instrument. But the food didn’t stop. Turks drink a LOT of tea, so we had some of that, which I had expected. But then they brought out these desserts, and I thought “OK, this has to be the last course of this meal.” But then they brought out MORE dessert, and I thought “OK, this REALLY has to be the last course of this meal.” And then they brought out MORE tea, and then two large pieces of fruit for each person, which was luckily, the last thing. Keep in mind that I was pretty much stuffed after they had offered us a million different dishes when we were still sitting at the dinner table. But then it seemed like they brought out 10 different courses after that, and each one was excellent, and by the time we were finished, I could barely move! So… lesson number one for entering a Turkish household: don’t go in unless you are really hungry.

And then today, I met up with a new Turkish guy named Hüseyin, a person I found through the xChange Commission’s “Meet a Mate” program. We had lunch in a restaurant around campus (the third great meal), and then went to this place that is 15 minutes away by bus for dessert. After that, he took me to a book store to look at some children’s books that I might be able to start reading in a couple of weeks after I learn some more Turkish.

Hüseyin is one of the friendliest people I’ve met here – and his hospitality was almost overwhelming for me (but in a good way!), because people in the United States are not usually like him. I ended up spending about five hours with him, and he kept taking me to meet different friends of his, and he wouldn’t let me pay for anything, and he seemed interested in meeting up again sometime. I could tell from the time that we spent together that he is a deep person – he will be a high school or primary school math teacher once he graduates in a few months, and he told me that he holds “informal” lessons for some of the people he knows. From what I could gather, he teaches science and math to some younger kids, but also acts as a mentor for a lot of teenagers facing the typical social/emotional questions of growing up. He seems very interested in self-development and becoming the best person that he can be, so I think that I will learn a lot from him.

Other than that, things have been very busy. I will try to hit the highlights in this blog, but time is flying by SO quickly, and I can barely process everything that is going on. In a couple of days, I will also have some pictures of places that I have seen in the past couple of weeks. It’s taking me forever to get this ready, because I have taken over 800 pictures since I got here! Stay tuned.

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