"iyak shamlar"

That's a rough phonetic for 'good evening' in Turkish.

Today I visited the town castle and saw 1st century glass work. There was an alabaster jar in another display but it doesn't look as cool as these. Maybe it was the lighting. Every new conquering empire built a tower so the castle is a mish mosh of eras but very cool.


Wouldn't be my blog without a food photo. This was a portion of tonight's dinner wonderfully prepared by Emre's mom. Emre told me today that Anatolia is literally Lots of Moms. The Turks love their mothers. In the background, you can see the green bean and tomato dish made by Emre's dad, his specialty. I'm sure Turks love their dads too.

Not only was dinner delectable and the view stunning, Emre's mom also picked these flowers from her garden for Karen. And then on our way out, they bought some more peasant bread that we eat for breakfast from the 90-year-old neighbor lady.

Here's my reflection in the window. If you look carefully, you'll see their view reflected as well. Amazing, right?

I've been specifically careful to not give out last names of my hosts or any of their kids' names. I will continue this rule, as a note to my future hosts. Isn't she cute?

Random stuff:
- I burned out my Sonicare charger in Poland so back to manual brushing for me. Tough life.
- Steamed milk really makes the latte for me. Karen and Emre have a fancy coffee machine here. Everyone has had pretty great coffee options everywhere I've stayed: Nancy with her Cafe du Monde, Joyce's sister's mini-maker, Shannon with her french press, Colleen's cup-at-a-time, David's lattes, Gosia's coffee-ala-Gosia, and now here!
- Did I mention that several of the kids from Chinese church in Richland have been emailing me? It's great. Julie tells me about the WASL, Tiffany got baptized on Easter, and Grace forwards me funny stuff. Alex even wrote once. I'm very honored.