Bazaar

Today, I woke up at seven thirty, on my own. I couldn't go back to sleep! So I took a shower and went and used the pitte from yesterday to make myself a sandwich with the salty cheese and some really good fresh tomato. Anne thought this was pretty wild. Then my anne and I took a bus to Kızılay (KUZ-uh-lai), the central, most modern district of Ankara. We went to pick up body wipes at a medical store and t-shirts and boxers at an army supply store to send to anne's son, Onur (oh-NOOR), who is currently serving compulsory military duty. We then took those over to baba's office. He and his sons own and run a technology store, selling to foreign companies looking to start up business in Turkey. I met hs secretary, who was very nice. She commented on how blue my eyes are, as blue eyes are very uncommon in Turkey. Atatürk's eyes were also blue! Speaking of which, in a little gift shop, I got myself a tiny little dark blue evil eye pendent. Ilke explained to me that the evil eye is very important in Turkey, Greece, and many other places, as it wards off evil. It is all over. There is a little rubber on the floor coming into our apartment, one on the little bus into down, and now, one on my neck! It is glass and silver, but was only beş turklira (besh TOORK-leh-rah), or five Turkish Lira, i.e. about three dollars.

Ilke and Kıvanç took me to eat at a nice restaurant called 49. I had some really good chicken kebap and some yummy mushroom cheese bread and a nice salad and some mineral water and a little lamb. All very good. AND honey-soaked sponge cake topped with my favorite, kaymak! Everyone keeps warning me not to eat too much kaymak, as it will make me fat...

Ilke and Kıvanç are a very classy couple. Ilke drives an Audi and Kıvanç drives a BMW. They both were wearing Lacoste shirts and Ilke had on nice pants and pearl earrings. Much less flashy than many young Turks I have seen. Hmm. They are at the basketball game tonight!

The mall was medium sized and was very nice. There were many gaudy dress shops. In Kızılay, there were SO many shops and boutiques. The markets are especially amazing. Everything is very modern, but the markets have still retained the traditional form of just having huge heaps and bins of fresh and dried fruits and grains. There are gigantic piles of dates and apricots and seeds and SO MANY OLIVES. Never in my life have I seen so many olives in one place. A pile in the store was probably two feet deep and six feet long. There are also little stalls or tables selling şimit (shee-MEET), which are like large, thin bagels covered in blackened sesame seeds. Cheap and delicious! Mine was only 50 kürüş (koo-ROOSH), or about thirty cents, and baba says that's expensive for şimit.

We also went to the Ankara bazaar, which was cheap and loud and crazy. Mainly just tons and tons of very inexpensive clothing. I got a very beautiful skirt for about fifteen dollars, and that's where I got the şimit. There was even a man carrying a huge pile of şimit on a board on his head! There were also boys pushing around carts of Turkish coffee, or kahve (KAH-vey). I love the tea here. It is served in these beautiful little hourglass-shaped cups, and is brewed fresh from loose-leaf black tea leaves. Yum.

For dinner, we had much of the usual plus rotini pasta with tomato sauce! My anne (like my other annes!) is a clever cook and uses a grater to crush up her fresh tomatoes. She also chopped an onion by cutting all over down into the whole top, then slicing off a few layers, which would already be diced! She added a few mild little green peppers and some black pepper and olive oil. Mmm.

My Turkish is ever-improving!

I must go and watch the Çin ve Türkiye (cheen ve TOOR-kee-ay, China and Turkey) basketball game! Oh, and yesterday, the US beat Iran in Istanbul! Woo!

Lovelovelove,

Natalie