Thanksgiving

Of all places to end up in Turkey eating turkey, I did not think I would be at the home of the consul general. Deborah K. Jones has worked in Syria, Iraq, Argentina, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. She is followed around by body guards on a daily basis and we had to pass through security just to get into her home.

How did I get this invite you ask? It's quite a complicated story, but let's just say I was the outsider of outsiders. It was something like Courtney's friends' parents who were visiting from the States went to high school with the consul general. They didn't know the consul general was posted here in Turkey until an event at the U.S. Consulate when they had quite a reunion from what I'm told. Said friends' parents were invited for Thanksgiving and since they had already invited us for Thanksgiving, we got the invite as well...there, i don't know if that makes any sense.

Anyway, it was an interesting event, and one unlike anything I've really been too. I sat across from a woman who knows Castro very well (so she says) and has met Clinton on numerous occasions. The house was beautiful and the view was incredible. And the food was prepared by a personal chef. There was turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, everything you can imagine at Thanksgiving dinner including 4 types of pie. We even had Minnesota wild rice. The only thing that was missing was a nap and some football.

Wine Tasting

This past weekend, all of the top wine producers in Turkey and other parts of the world (Napa was represented) had a 3 day convention at the Hilton Convention Center in Istanbul. Though not formally invited, Courtney and I had heard about the event and decided it might not be too difficult to gain entry. We had a good story prepared, and taking a page from the Wedding Crashers, we decided to be venture capitalists from New Hampshire. Agate Ventures, so printed on our name tags, was exploring import/export opportunities. Our psuedonyms, given to us by the woman printing nametags who had some difficulty with our handwriting, were Edward Acasbian and Courney Doggart.

The funny part about all of this was there were plenty of other English speaking people who didn't really have any reason to be at the convention beyond the free wine. We realized this after our second or third wine booth. We stayed for a couple of hours and sampled wine from all over Turkey, not too mention Italian, French, Georgian (which is very good), and Spanish wine. It was lots of fun and we met some interesting people. Wine is definitely on the up and up in Turkey.

Sultan No More????

I practiced yesterday in what was effectively an intrasquad scrimmage. I arrived after teaching, just after stretching and just in time for kickoff. This was all well and good until I was suddenly called in to return the kickoff. Mind you, I lacked any sort of padding from the waist down. When I objected, one of the players who I've become friendly with said, "don't worry Edward, you are Ironman!" Somehow this made sense at the time. I eluded a few would be tacklers until I was facemasked and dragged to the ground (It was most definitley of the 15 yard variety). The Turks are still working out the kinks in regard to the rules of the game.

Sadly, I received some bad news from Sultan's camp yesterday. I'm told that the league will require a residence permit from all players. This does not bode well for English teachers on tourist visas such as myself. It is a disappointing development and might sideline me to the role of a coach.

Sheker Bayram

Last Wednesday marked the end of Ramadan. Ramadan is the holy month of Islam and is observed by fasting from sunrise to sunset everyday for an entire month. Here in Turkey, and particularly in Istanbul, not everyone fasts. But everyone celebrates the holiday at the end of the month, including me. "Sheker Bayram" (Sugar Holiday) is, from what I gathered, all about eating. I spent the holiday first in Iznik, and then in Izmir.

Iznik was formely Nicaea, site of the ecumenical councils way back during the beginnings of Christianity. A friend of mine from my teaching certification course has a summer home on a lake close to Iznik. I spent an evening at her house along with some other friends. The house lacks electricity, but makes up for this shortcoming by being located in the middle of nature. We picked pomegranates, carrots, fresh herbs, and quince to name a few. It was a welcome change to the craziness of Istanbul, and it felt good to get out of the city for the first time. Other highlights included swimmming in a natural hot spring and sitting by the fire.

After Iznik, I departed for Izmir (about 9 hours from Istanbul), but not before stopping in the city of Bursa for the famous "Iskender Kebab." Iskender Kebab consists of layered bread, lamb kebab, and tomato sauce. Doesn't sound like much, but the dish is finished with hot melted butter that is poured at the table. It is fantastic, but then again so are most things with hot melted butter.

I arrived in Izmir and eventually connected with the Zoral family. The Zoral's are friends of the manager (Colleen) I worked for at Pisces restaurant this past summer. They were wonderful hosts, and introduced me to Turkish hospitality. I spent the weekend relaxing, eating and enjoying the beautiful weather of Izmir.