“Awesome” Weekend

We  experienced more of the Turkish hospitality this weekend.  We met Roger (English), his wife Sibel (Turkish), and their charming 6 year old daughter Sedefsu (Turkish name,  Christine, English name .  She just turned 6 yesterday.    Roger and Sibel both teach at Anadolu University. We met them at a Japanese tea garden on the University campus for drinks.  Because they had a lot of food from Sedefsu’s birthday party they invited us back to their home.  Everything is within walking distance for us or at worst a quick tram ride.  They have a lovely 4th floor apartment near the University that is very new.  The food, just happened to be vegetarian, which was perfect for us and all delicious.  We had a quinoa dish, several different types of breads and desserts and way more food than we could eat.  Sibel’s mother had made several of the dishes.  Roger is a writer and has worked on over 25 special projects for the UN.  He has great pictures from India and Africa and has worked in many places around the world.  We borrowed one of his books which is  a fantasy along the theme of the movie Jumanji with Robin Williams.  He wrote the book before the movie and it seems to me that he should have got credit for the movie but unfortunately, he didn’t.  Jerry will add the links to his Amazon site and the book site later.  Sibel is a professor of cinema.  The classes deal with the history and themes of films.  Apparently there is quite a film festival in Eskisehir in May.  I’m looking forward to hearing more about their careers and experiences. 

In addition to their home they own an acre of land about 20 minutes from downtown where they have have planted tomatoes, corn, potatoes, onions, fruit trees, and walnut trees, etc.  We drove out to their garden this morning (Sunday) and picked fresh tomatoes off the vine.  We have some to enjoy this week.  You can’t imagine the difference in taste from the tomatoes in the grocery stores in the U.S.   Sibel fed us more delicious leftovers.  While Sibel and Roger watered their trees and plants Jerry and I climbed a nearby hill with Sedefsu.  The views were wonderful and we ended up coming down the hill into a little nearby village.  There was a herd, if that is what they are called, of sheep walking through the village. 

We  ended our Sunday with our friend Diane seeing the new George Clooney movie, The American.  If you haven’t seen it, don’t.  It was pretty worthless.