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Turkey

Eating in Ankara: Certioğlu Konağı

May 25, 2013

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We went to Ulus today to pick up a few things before we travel home for the summer. We’ve heard about a great manti restaurant from several of the other teachers. We ran into some friends while we were there and they told us where to find it.

Certioğlu Konağı Kafeterya was down a side street (on the left side) when you walk towards the Ankara castle.

The restaurant had a warm, comfortable atmosphere. The man told us it was a “family” restaurant and we could either take off our shoes or put plastic footies over our shoes. We ate upstairs where they had floor seating and Anatolian-style copper tables.

David ordered beef manti and I ordered potato manti. It was some of the best we’ve had! They made everything fresh in the restaurant. Manti is kind of like a ravioli. It is typically served with yogurt, oil, tomato, and herbs on top.

For dessert, we had a honey and wanut gözleme with çay.

After we paid our bill, we got to see the cooks roll out gözleme dough and cook it on the hot, round stove.

Roses, roses!

May 25, 2013

Leah

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Turkey has so many beautiful roses! They were in bloom when we came in August, and there’s so many in bloom even this month.

The Atatürk Mausoleum in Ankara

May 16, 2013

Leah

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Last weekend two friends and I visited Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Atatürk was the first president and founder of Turkey. The museum was a short dolmuş ride from where we live, located just outside of Kızılay.

Outside the memorial was an area called Peace Park. It had really lovely landscaping and flowers:

Entrance to the mausoleum was free!

There were traditional and ceremonial guards at the entrance:

We went into the museum, but photography was not allowed. It featured items and gifts that belonged to Atatürk and had a large section about different battles in Turkey. Near the end, it had Atatürk’s library. There was so much history! I learned Atatürk adopted 13 children.

The Hall of Honor holds Atatürk’s tomb:

It was an overcast day and we got a little rain, but enjoyed checking out Anıtkabir!

A Full Moon in Turkey

May 3, 2013

Leah

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Our girls and boys soccer teams had their big tournament in Gölbaşı last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The teams played hard and both won third place. We had several students named to the All-Tournament team and one of our boys was the MVP of the entire tournament.

It was a lot of fun to watch the kids play. The weather was beautiful and when it got dark, we were treated to a full moon!

I was able to snap a few shots of the moon during the two evening games. I’ve been learning a lot lately about photography. After the first night, I looked up the best settings for capturing the moon. Turns out, you need a very low ISO to compensate for the brightness.

This was a Turkish full moon. Check out minaret silhouette of a nearby mosque:

Children’s Day

April 25, 2013

David

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Every year on April 23, Turkey celebrates National Sovereignty and Children’s Day (Ulusal Egemenlik ve Çocuk Bayramı). For this holiday, “schools participate in week-long ceremonies marked by performances in all fields in large stadiums watched by the entire nation” (turkishnews.com). We had the day off, so we walked to a nearby Turkish school with some friends to check out the festivities.

This boy, dressed in traditional clothing, saw me taking a picture and posed.

The morning was filled with groups of kids performing in front of their parents and community members. One group even performed Gangnam Style!

The day had some of the best weather we’ve experienced this spring. Leah and I decided to go for a walk and we both found four leaf clovers! Leah even found a five leaf clover.

The trees and flowers have been in bloom and Ankara is filled with new life and color. We had such a fun time on our day off and enjoyed the sunshine, performances, and flowers.

Spring in Ankara

April 5, 2013

Leah

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Spring has arrived in Ankara! When we left for break on March 23rd, it was snowing. When we got back on the 29th, it was almost 70 degrees!

We are loving the warmer weather. The kids love it, too. There are lots of flowers blooming and falling off the trees. A kindergartener was handing out blossoms she found on the playground one morning. Another day, I looked out he window and saw a lot of white fluttering in the air. I was worried for a second that it was snow!

David went on a hike in the forest earlier this week and took some pretty photos.

I don’t know what kind of trees these are, but they’re beautiful. They kind of look like apple blossoms, but I’m not sure.

On his hike, David met a turtle friend. Two turtles, actually. But the two turtles were not friends. He thought they were fighting over territory.

We will post soon about our spring break travels to Amsterdam and Bruges!