The Holiday season is upon us. My American friend Suzanne in my European Studies Masters Program and I prepared a Thanksgiving feast for our classmates and teachers on Thanksgiving day. Yes, I cooked my first turkey, pumpkin and apple pies. Although a little dry the turkey was edible - the apple pie a la mode was a huge success! All the traditional fixin's filled our table - mashed potatoes, stuffing, my grandma's stuffing (every other day of the year except Thanksgiving this is known as meatloaf or kofte in Turkey), sweet potato (carrots substituted for sweet potatoes which are not to [View Full Entry]

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The first two weeks in Istanbul were solely dedicated to completing the reams of paperwork necessary to get married in Turkey - at least three business days required for you to physically go to widely geographically dispersed areas of the city. On Sunday afternoon August 10, I arrived in Istanbul. On Monday August 11, the adventure of Turkey's own form of Marriage Preparation began. The first step to get the process going was picking up the Affidavit of Marriageability from the American Consulate in Instanbul. The document basically stated that I had never been married before, nor was I widowed or [View Full Entry]

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The viewing for my Grandma, Kay Zonenberg will take place at Scillieri Funeral Home, 351 5th Avenue , Paterson , NJ 07514 on Monday 2/11 from 2-4 and 6-8, 973-345-6767. The funeral mass will be on Tuesday 2/12 at 10:00 am at St. Therese Church, 765 Fourteenth Avenue, Paterson, NJ 07504, 973-278-4135. [View Full Entry]

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Grandma set sail for her final cruise on Friday, February 8, 2008. She died peacefully while still in her bed with her rosary beads nearby. Grandma prayed every night before going to sleep for her entire family and loved ones. Luckily, she didn't suffer any ailments or sickness. For a woman of 88 years, she was in good health, maintaining her independence til her last day. Kay Zonenberg was born with the last name Gallovich in Vandergrift, PA on July 15, 1919. Grandma would sometimes say she couldn't believe all the technological changes which she witnessed throughout her life. Her mother, [View Full Entry]

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Pazar means both bazaar and Sunday in Turkish. Cenker's mom Feyhan and I went to the Thursday bazaar less than a 10 minute walk from the house. I try to name each of the vegetables in Turkish, Feyhan helps me with the names I don't know or can't remember or fumble with pronunciation. Neighbors stopped to greet us along the way. Cenker's mom introduced me to some. With one woman I actually had a decent conversation, that is an exchange of three sentences!!! (Yeah, I'm being liberal with the definition of conversation here...) Oh yeah, nothing like a marriage proposal to [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday afternoon Cenker's mom and I ventured to Tuzla coast, a good 35-40 minute walk, those with longer legs could probably do it in 20 minutes. Attempting to use the little Turkish, I have garnished since the beginning of my visit, we talked about the cars going fast and slow, hızlı and yavaş. Baby talk in a foreign language is so humbling. Listening to conversations, I often hear what sounds like "Jackson," making me think of Michael - it was a "thriller" to find out this week that the "-ecek" ending is the future tense, when added to the base of [View Full Entry]

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White flakes drifting silently provided the only witnesses at the edge of the Swan Fountain at Dolmabahçe Palace to Cenker stopping me mid-step to ask me to walk beside him for a lifetime. He started with a topic we discussed many times before, "What would you say, if I asked you to marry me?" Before I could say anything, a red velvet box emerged from his coat, as he opened it, asking, "Would you marry me?" I immediately wrapped my arms around him. I held him tightly, as insuppressible tears warmed my chilled, rosy cheeks. That morning we woke up late [View Full Entry]

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On Thursday, I accompanied Cenker on his ride to work in his company car. Leaving his home around 6:30am we made it to his office by 7:15am - we flew over the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Brigde, aka the Second Bosphorous Bridge, in Turkish Fatih Sultan Mehmet Köprüsü. Cenker used his lunch card, loaded each month with a stipend for his mid-day meal, at the Starbucks in the Sun Plaza lobby. My mochino-latte-ya was 6 YTL - rent we paid to let me sit, sleep, and study Turkish in the restaurant for three hours, while hanging out, waiting for Cenker's cousin to [View Full Entry]

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Most offices were closed on New Year's Day, although it seemed shopping centers and markets remained open. Capitalizing on a day off, the whole crew slept late. We had a yummy breakfast of fried eggs with sliced sausages, fried potatoes and the usual bread, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, jellies. Cenker's sister came over with her husband and thier baby. After a busy day of playing which doubled as a lesson for me to learn how to say some colors in Turkish, Cenker and Demir took a short nap. Cenker succinctly described the feeling of laying next to a sleeping baby - "heavenly." [View Full Entry]

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What better way to celebrate New Year's Eve than with a delicious meal at home?! To prepare for our New Year's feast Cenker's parents and I went to Pendik - a bustling seaside area with shops and restaurants. A thick throng of people gathered around a guy doing or selling something not legal, could've been a card game, because when some official looking men in uniforms carrying clipboards circled around the area on foot, the crowd quickly dispersed. Only to spring up again in about 15 minutes on the other side of the pedestrian area! The first stop was the money [View Full Entry]

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