Brief Overview

I woke up late again. My anne had two friends over, sisters, and they were helping her make a huge batch of stuffed grape leaves for bayram. Delicious! I got to help. You have to pluck off the stem of this big floppy leaf, lay it face down, put on a little line of spiced, cooked rice with tomato, and then you just tuck and roll. Later, we walked over to the same friends' house to help them make their stuffed grape leaves. The one sister had a few children, and I got to talk with her daughter, who spoke pretty good English. She is currently working on getting her PhD. in chemical engineering, and she gave me an organization to contact about scholarships for going to college/studying in Turkey. Very good information!

I met Gulia's Russian daughter-in-law and her mother. Very blond, very nice. The mother didn't speak any Turkish or English, and the daughter didn't speak any English, but they were nice company. We had some tea at Gulia's and played with the Russian girl's baby daughter, Asia. She is about one year old and very cute! They had some Russian picture books for her to play with. She is the one who is having all this relationship trouble or something with her husband. I still haven't figured out the exact situation. I find myself often out of the loop or only vaguely in it, but it makes for lots of adventure.

We also went to an open-air food bazaar. Amazing amounts of really good fresh produce, all very cheap. We got a full grocery bag of tiny little delicious strawberries, usually about $5 per pint in the U.S. at farmer's markets, here, 4 1/2 lbs. for about $2! Incredible. Everyone is very willing to let you sample the produce/food you are buying, even in a large grocery store. It's great.

Going to sleep now, as it's late, as usual.

Abbreviated-ly,

Natalie