New Year's Day

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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." Baby's get that angelic glow when they sleep! Late afternoon Cenker drove his dad's car with his sister, brorther-in-law, mom and me to his Aunt's house about a 45 minute car ride. The road less travelled we took ran parallel to a major highway. Many curves and sudden lights, which may or may not be heeded by fellow drivers, sprinkled the road D-100. The security of guard rails, even if just for mental assurance of safety, lacked in a few choice spots, impressing me even more with Cenker's ability to drive in Turkey. As we crawled to a halt for one red light, Cenker and I quickly glanced at each other with an ironic chuckle, as we see three to four cars stopped in front of us, inch forward checking the coast to be clear and then dashed across the intersection while the light was still red. Cenker in his lexicon of tips for driving in Turkey, also informed me that contradictory to flashing your high beams on highways as a signal to other cars that it is safe to pass you, the flashing of high beams on Turkish highways means, "I'm barrelling forward, don't get in my way." For dessert we enjoyed a homemade cake and some chestnuts roasted on an enclosed fire stove.

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Photos

Napping in 2008
Cenker and Demir enjoy a quiet moment.

Roasting Chestnuts
Özlem, Cenker's sister, monitors the process of roasting chestnuts.