christmas eve party, part deux

ben & i had a great first christmas together. on christmas eve we through a party for close friends, and on christmas day we were hosted by serhat & beril for a gourmet christmas dinner (leg of lamb cooked in a delicious blend of herbs with wild rice, fresh olive oil from their own crop with his homemade sun-dried tomatoes, a bean salad, home-dried apricots, cheese, pears... you get the idea). it's so nice to have good friends here to share the holidays with-- i get a little homesick at times, but they make it fun to be here.

below are some more pics from christmas eve (see post below for the first set). we had a great time with about 14 friends-- did a gift exchange & played some taboo which got a little heated...

serhat, ben & can, getting into the game

bige having fun
the guys, getting concerned because the girl's team was winning
ben & can, sharing a moment as the other can heckles the girl's team

this picture clearly illustrates how difficult the guys made it for us to win. poor burcu!

christmas eve party, part one

here's the first round of photos from our xmas eve party, i'm putting them in 2 posts to fit more in.

everyone came dressed up & with a gift to swap

i made some appetizers & mulled wine
ben & i in front of our first tree ; )

taboo started around 11:30pm and went well into the morning, it was a heated game. below you can see our girl's team did our best to heckle the guys during their turn- but the guys were much worse (here's bige, serhat, asli and burcu)
...more in the next post.

white christmas

here are some pictures i took after the first snow-- we got even more last night, winter is officially here!

view from the office

our building
looking down our road
in front of our apartment waiting for the taxi

the view looking down from our apartment

let it snow!

as anyone would know who has spoken with me in the past month or two, i have been dying to see some snow. ankara has provided nothing but grey, foggy, dismal, boring weather. the temperature hasn't even been of interest, sticking right in that area where it's cold enough to require a coat but warm enough to rain. and rain it has, all week. while family and friends have been sending reports of snow and ice storms up and down the greater tri-state area, i have been wishing, hoping, and praying for some snow.

this morning, my luck changed. ben was up early to go to the dentist, and came into the bedroom to wake me up. 'it's going to be a good day. remember what you've been wishing for?' he asked. 'more sleep.' i responded. oh... and snow! i jumped out of bed & ran to the window to find a few inches covering the ground. he left & took the car, so i had to get a cab to work. no problem. i spent the next hour getting ready and singing various renditions of 'snow' from my favorite movie, white christmas (see below). i put on my fancy new boots that i've been wanting to break in, bundled up with a scarf & gloves, and trudged out into the snow. the 30 minute wait for a cab to show up at the taxi stand didn't even phase me. i used the extra time to take pictures, which i will post later. you'd think i'd never seen snow before... every single year of my life! the cab driver almost went off the road & drove like a maniac down the highway, but i just laughed, thinking 'we might go off the road, and i don't care because it's snowing, and this is not my car.' luckily we stayed on the road and i made it to work just fine- and in record time.

snow has finally made it feel like christmas, and just in time. it's still snowing even now!

snow
it won't be long before we'll all be there with snow
snow! i want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow
snow! i long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow
snow-oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow
where it's snowing all winter throughthat's where i want to be
snowball throwing that's what i'll do how i'm longing to ski through the snow-oh-oh-oh-oh
those glist'ning houses that seem to be built of snow
snow-oh, to see a mountain covered with a quilt of snow
what is christmas with no snow
no white christmas with no snowsnow!
i'll soon be there with snow (chuga choo chuga choo chuga choo)
i'll wash my hair with snow (chuga choo chuga choo chuga choo)
and with a spade of snow (chuga choo chuga choo chuga choo)
i'll build a man that's made of snow
i'd love to stay up with you but i recommend a little shuteye
go to sleep
and dream
of snow

peanut butter & limes

so, it's been a while, again. i have been busy since returning from london (great trip, by the way, and will try to post some pics later on). last week kind of flew by. work was hectic after both ben & i being out of the country for a week, and dealing with varying degrees of jet lag. but the more exciting update from the week is that i started private tutoring sessions to learn turkish. a friend recommended a turkish tutor who works with embassy employees, and i've already had 2 lessons. so far it's going well- i am learning key phrases & can count to 30! it's a little frustrating that i can't just learn it overnight, but i'm trying to be patient.

the weekend was both busy and relaxing. busy in that i did a lot of shopping for holiday decor & groceries for christmas cookie baking. relaxing in that ben & i spent sunday entirely at home (and i mostly baked). my trip to 2 grocery stores on saturday proved extremely successful... i found everything i needed, and a few surprises. strolling the aisles of kippa (i think this is a british run grocery since they've started selling tesco products), i was perusing the 100 different brands of hazelnut spread (BIG in this county), when i noticed on the bottom shelf two stacks of peter pan peanut butter, both crunchy and smooth. peanut butter doesn't exist in turkey, so i put a jar in my cart and gladly paid the 9 lire (about $7) for it. my next stop was real (reh-all) market. i love the produce section at real because it's larger than any other market, and tends to have some unusual finds. well this trip did not disappoint, as i found a fruit so exotic to turkey i had given up hope of ever finding it: limes. LIMES! two huge baskets filled with limes. i bought 16, and paid about 16 lire... a bit much, but worth it in my mind. yesterday ben and i made a batch of margeritas to celebrate... i'll bet they drink them during christmas in mexico... feliz navidad?!

this week i'll celebrate christmas far from home, for the first time. we'll definitely make the most of it. on christmas eve we're having a cocktail party at the house, then will have dinner with friends on christmas. i will be sure to post pics from the festivities... merry christmas!

weather, and other updates

the latest thing that i really miss about living in new york/the US is snow. my fellow new yorkers probably think that's crazy. it's funny, last year i was also longing for a big storm all winter. i feel like they were always missing binghamton-- by a mile or 2. maybe it's from growing up in the north country, but to me there's nothing more satisfying than a huge winter storm.

here in ankara, it's all about the pollution. that's the kind of weather i note each morning when i wake up & look out our window, down below to the city: 'how much pollution is in the air today? well, it's a little less grey than yesterday...' it's not even warm-- it's just not cold enough to snow, and there's rarely any precipitation here to clear the air. we're in a huge drout, and anatolia is turning to desert. and the coal that many people use to warm their homes, because they can't afford alternative sources, is polluting the air. of course, it's gotten worse as winter approaches.

and the fog! you can't imagine the fog we get here. i think it's tied some how to the polluted air, but have yet to wickipedia that theory. it's been burned off by the sun today, but for the past 3 days it simply never lifted. i drove home twice without seeing any of the buildings on the side of the road, the fog was that dense.

i must say i am very excited for my trip to london. this saturday i'm flying first to istanbul, then on to london, to visit my dear friend alexa & her bebe, cecelia for a week. it's a bayram (holiday) here in turkey for the week, so it seemed the perfect opportunity. i've never been to london- only to heathrow.

in the meantime ben will be in the us with his father. they leave tomorrow morning, and i will be on my own for 2 days & nights, doing everything on my own, for the first time... in turkey. after living on my own for 6 years you'd think this would be no big deal, and yet i've found myself asking ben about the stupidest things, like: how do we set the alarm clock? how do i run the dishwasher? if i need gas in the car, will i be able to do that? it's like i'm learning everything again, and it's very frustrating. but that's why i think these few days alone will be very, very good for me. i need to be forced into a little independence. stay tuned for stories-- or possibly an s.o.s.??