friday night fish & chips... in ankara?

as an expat living in ankara, i have discovered many random places that most turks would probably never know about. ben and i talked about this yesterday - how i've shown him a different side of ankara since moving here, which was quite unexpected. well friday nite was no exception-- as we dined at the 'sausage king's' restaurant on fish & chips. now, this was not my discovery, but some other ex-pat friends of ours found it & figured we might enjoy it. the food was delicious- truly authentic british grub. the location was... totally random and a bit strange. but we're so used to discovering these kinds of off-the-beaten-path places in ankara, it didn't phase us to be spending our friday night sitting on a hay-covered lawn at a picnic table and sipping wine & beer from plastic cups (20 lira all-you-can-drink... also random).

i guess the only question is, what will we discover next...?

evie!

our friend nilay is visiting with her daughter evie for a few weeks... they came for dinner the other night & we loved playing with this little sweetie. ain't she cute? she calls me 'tatie.'

an ankara saturday

the weather has been beeeauteeeful here in ankara, blue skies & in the 80s-90s, and ben & i took full advantage this weekend. we spent saturday morning running errands, including a trip to ayranci market in downtown ankara to buy fresh fruits & veggies. they have the best produce there-- and it is so much cheaper than buying it at the grocery store. we wandered around and bought lettuce, tomatoes & cucumbers, watermelon, nectarines, lemons & cherries, eggplant & spinach all for about 20 lira. inanilmaz! (incredible!)

then we spent a great evening at our friend's tom & lisa's house, enjoying tom's bbq'd ribs... mmm!
here's tom, posing with his seriously large grill, proudly purchased here in ankara.

later on their kapici (door man/maintenance guy/building mgr) joined us for a beer(s) and told many stories that ben translated. i believe one story involved him eating at a restaurant in ankara in the 60s when two iranian planes collided in the sky and crashed on top of the restaurant. apparently the waiters were able to throw him from the balcony where he was sitting so quickly that only the backs of his ears were singed. unfortunately he couldn't recall the fate of the waiters. he then brought out these oranges jerseys & gifted them to lisa and becah. as you can see, they were delighted. good times.

trip to the us

i spent 3 weeks in the us, beginning in nyc with my family & my sister's in-laws, celebrating jeff's graduation from law school. then home for 2 weeks with mom & dad, during which i fit in a year's worth of doctor appointments, teeth cleanings and check-ups. ah, the joys of living abroad where your insurance is not accepted! but now i'm back in turkey. it's amazing how quickly you can get used to living in such a vastly different country/culture. at first it did feel odd thinking back to just a day or two before when i was in auburn, but after about a day i had readjusted. that is a sign, i think, that i'm getting used to this place, this life overseas. i guess seeing ben again didn't hurt, either ; )

below are some pics from my trip... i didn't take very many, but these give a pretty good idea of what i did:

sarah, mom, lynn (jeff's mom) and i spent my first day back shopping in nyc. so fun! i had really missed these people & this activity. we found these funky shades at h&m and clearly we all had to buy them... the security guard told me it was the first time anyone asked him to take their picture. what can i say? we're dorks.

the law graduate preparing for his par-tay
dave & adam stephens enjoying some cocktails in the nyc apartment
nice view!
we walked to central park and found a cool jazz band...
a girl making a funny face (oh wait... that's sarah!)...
a man taking a nap in the sun (or, dad)...
and some dudes playing frisbee (jeff & adam).
afterward we had drinks at the oak room. a perfect summer day.
on the way home i caught the sun just as it slipped behind a building
back at 17 hamilton i found everything was as i left it, including the cats.
jenni's garden is starting to bloom. we picked out the fountain with dad- i think it's a nice touch


jenni's tree
the back yard is looking great
and now, back in ankara, where the flowers are also in bloom! it was a treat, as dad would say, to come home and find roses blooming all around our building.



happy summer!