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food

12. 12 Lira. 12 Lira, 30 Centimeters Looong!

February 6, 2013

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Last night we went to a mall to pick up a few groceries and supplies. (Our neighborhood has a few small grocery stores, but they do not carry everything. When we need certain items, we shop at the larger grocery stores in the malls.) We decided to grab some dinner, too.

We were very excited the new Subway in Kentpark’s food court had opened! Subway is a favorite of ours, and it’s always nice to get a taste of home while we’re overseas. (There are several American chain restaurants in Turkey like McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, KFC, and Arby’s, though the taste and quality is usually quite far from what we have in the States.)

While they did not have the full Subway spread of meats and cheeses, they did have some familiar favorites. I got the teriyaki chicken on honey oat bread. They had sweet onion sauce, and my sandwhich tasted just like it does at home. David got the spicy Italian.

The people that work there are super nice, and some of them spoke English.

We also ran into one of the families from our school. Just a bunch of forigners at eating at Subway!

Daniel Meets Our Neighbor

January 30, 2013

Leah

Volleyball and Fall Carnival

October 21, 2012

David

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For the past several weeks, I have been helping two of my co-workers and friends coach the boys volleyball team. I’ve learned a lot and have enjoyed getting to know some of the older kids. (I contact with all of the elementary students at least once a week, but I rarely see the secondary students.)

I’ve also enjoyed getting to know the coaches, Bo and Greg. Both are extremely dedicated to their work with the kids at Oasis. It was fun to see them work together and I was encouraged by their willingness to help me learn. It is obvious they are influential role models at the school.

One of our volleyball games earlier this season.

This week was the big tournament to wrap up the season. We had two games on Wednesday, one game on Thursday, and one game on Saturday. We went into Saturday’s game confident, having won all of our previous games. The opposing team was also undefeated and they ended up winning the championship. The first set Oasis played had a close score the entire game and ended 24–26. The boys played hard the rest of the match, but could not squeeze out a win. I was very proud how the team demonstrated sportsmanship and character, even in a loss.

To add to the craziness of a week filled with the volleyball tournament, teacher observations, PSATs, and a college fair (there were five schools from Michigan!) our school hosted the annual Fall Carnival on Friday. Fall Carnival is a time of fun and food put on by the students, teachers, and parents of Oasis. Each class is responsible for designing a game for the carnival. Parents and students sign up for shifts. There’s an international cafe and plenty of candy to go around.

My sixth graders designed a game for our classroom called “Secret Agent Man.” The students were very excited and each donated three lira towards extra “mega” prizes. It turned out our game was slightly complicated, and I hung around the classroom most of the night to make sure it ran smoothly. It was a lot of work, but the students had so much fun. It was also nice spending time with the parents. They are all very nice and care so much about their kids.

One of the highlights of my night was liking sushi for the first time! The International Cafe is comprised of food prepared by parents. Each dish represents a different culture. It was fun to try the different foods, but the sushi really stuck out to me. I’ve tried some fo-sushi in the States and never liked it. However, the rice and the fish were perfectly put together and it was delicious.

To wrap up the busy week, Leah and I walked to a local restaurant on Saturday for dinner. It was nice to slow down and enjoy each other.

When we got back, we took some time to call home. My grandpa just celebrated his 88th birthday. It was great to catch up with him and Grandma. He is one of my most influential role models and has sacrificed so much to bring our family where we are today.

We only have school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week because of the Byram holiday. On Thursday, we are traveling to Izmir and Ephesus for a few days!

[box] PRAYER REQUESTS

Health for us, the other teachers, and students: As it must be at every other school, there is (always) something going around. We’ve been fighting sore throats and other aches and pains for the past couple of weeks. Please pray we will not get sick so we can teach and serve the kids!
Our ESL Kids: We have several students that are English as a Second Language. They have made impressive progress since the beginning of the year. Please pray they will continue to learn quickly.
Safe travel: As I mentioned, we are going to Izmir and Ephesus later this week. We’re traveling with two other teachers via bus.

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Eating in Ankara: Pakistani Restaurant Masala

October 14, 2012

Leah

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[Update: Unfortunately, this restaurant closed sometime in the fall of 2014. We will miss it a lot!]

Several weekends ago, our friends invited us to go to a Pakistani Restaurant in Ankara called Masala Cafe. It’s nice to escape our neighborhood on the weekends, and we were excited to try something new.

The restaurant was a short taxi ride away in the GOP district of Ankara. Masala had outdoor seating, but we sat indoors. The menu came in a newsletter format with text in English and Turkish.

We were really hungry and destroyed the appetizer before I got a picture. We ordered the Keema Samosa, a puffed pastry filled with mince, coriander, and special seasoning. The sauce that came with it was amazingly delicious. It had ginger, but I don’t know enough about Pakistani seasoning to figure out the rest. I wish I could have taken home a huge bottle of that sauce. Yum.

With the meal came complimentary chips and a chickpea salad. We also got a Turkish-style salad and rice with our entree:

I ordered Ginger Chicken (not spicy) and David ordered Curry Chicken (spicy). This food was so good!!! It was my first ever taste of Pakistani food. I loved the spices on the Ginger Chicken – sweet with just a little bit of a kick!

The restaurant had super comfy seating and a pleasant atmosphere. The waiters spoke English, which was helpful. (Very few Turks know English!) We later found out the owners of the restaurant lived in Canada for several years.

The restaurant was colorful with plenty of artwork:

We finished off our meal with the most delightful tea. It was a little bit sweet and spiced oh, so nicely. The waiter told us the tea helps calm your stomach (for those that got spicy dishes).

If you’re ever in Ankara, we definitely recommend Masala! They have great service, very reasonable prices, and fantastic food.

Our First 30 Hours in Ankara

August 10, 2012

David

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After about 18 hours of travel, we arrived in Ankara yesterday at 3:30 pm (Turkey time). The three flights went very well; there were no long delays and all of our luggage made it to our destination. It was quite the experience for me as I had never before flown overseas. I think Leah got a kick out of me looking at our GPS location and how excited I was about flying over various places. This trip was our first time riding in a plane together!

Upon arrival, our director picked us up from the airport to take us to our new home. Immediately we noticed how the people of Ankara are packed in tight. The city is filled with high-rise buildings, and most people live in apartments. The “packed-in” feeling is also evident in their driving. There were several times when drivers filled the road five cars wide in a three lane area. Our director said the philosophy of driving in Turkey is “find a place that’s empty and fill it.” The Turks have a much smaller driving “bubble” than Americans, and it is not uncommon to be within centimeters of the car beside you.

Our apartment is much bigger than we expected — even larger than the house we rented in Virginia. We have two balconies, a full kitchen, and were provided with plenty of modern furniture. Last night we sat out on the balcony and took in the noise of the city and the cool breeze. Some new sounds are the Islamic call to prayer and the packs of wild dogs that roam the forest next to our building.

Last night, I thought I’d give Turkish grocery shopping a whirl. It turned out to be a bigger whirl than I had predicted. Leah stayed in the apartment because we were having issues with our keys and lock (which is now fixed). My first challenge was trying to order baklava; I realized I didn’t know how to say the quantity or number of pieces I wanted. I had two teenagers behind the counter laughing as we tried to overcome the language barrier. After getting about five times the baklava I wanted, I decided to try something where I could choose my own quantities. As I was selecting produce, I noticed a gentleman trying to tell me something. After many hand motions, I found that unlike Walmart or Meijer, this guy had to weigh the produce before I checked out. My last communication challenge came at the register. I didn’t realize it was bag your own food until my stuff started piling together with someone else’s. This bagging strategy makes sense — it’s my food, so if I want it in bags, why should someone else put it there? Eventually, I made it home and made our first meal in Turkey.

Today, we went on a tour of our school and neighborhood and did some small scale shopping. On the tour, we ate at our first Turkish restaurant. Each meal comes with complimentary salad, a salsa type dip, pita bread, fried vegetables, and hot tea. For my entree, I chose Döner Kebap. This delicious dish consisted of fried strips of beef served over a pita with a spiced grain (similar to couscous).

We are enjoying our new home Ankara. The people are friendly, the food is good, and jet lag has not hit us much yet. We have a lot of language yet to learn in order to function well on our own. Until then, the few phrases we know in Turkish will be most important: “My Turkish is not very good” and “I don’t understand.”