Second Family

I'm enjoying my time with my second family.  I came here on Tuesday afternoon instead of Monday morning as originally scheduled, as Abdullah really wanted me to stay longer.  Since I came later, I made no plans for the weekend away and will spend this weekend with the family.

The daily routine is for Hakan to go and open the bakery around 6:30 or 7:00 (I'm not sure, since I haven't woken up!), then Derya gets up around 8:00am and gets out of here by around 8:45.  Ege and I get up when we want (which has been around 8:30-9:00): he watches tv, and I get ready, use the computer some and we might play a game of cards.  We then walk over to the bakery (about 2 1/2 city blocks) and along the way I work on vocabulary with Ege: tree, car, square, circle, fast/slow, etc.  Derya has breakfast ready for us and we all sit down together for breakfast. Derya and I will get a few minutes to chat about the day or whatever before she must get into the kitchen.  Hakan waits on the customers if any come in while Derya is busy either with Ege or in the kitchen cooking, runs errands, works does just a little of everything. 

Ege's school is from 1 to 6 pm (the older students go to school in the morning), so we have more time to play games.  I have him count everything in English and use English phrases, "your turn", "do you have", etc. A little girl from nearby comes to be taken to school with Ege, and she just stared at me the first day and then told me -- which Derya told me later -- that she wanted to learn English and speak it right now, and, and, and....just a mile a minute of which I understood nothing.  I discovered though that both of the kids had learned "head, shoulders, knees and toes" in preschool -- well, they learned the tune, but have no idea of what the words are!  Anyway, we spend time playing around, drawing, playing cards, etc. until he is off to school.  Derya said he is really enjoying my company, as he usually prefers to watch tv during this time, but he hasn't gone inside to watch it while I have been there.

Some days Derya's mother, Makbule, comes to help make the borek -- their main specialty.  I will do another post with photos about what it is and how it is made.  It is definitely a two person job though, as otherwise Derya would not have time to make anything else.

Each afternoon I have walked over to Abdullah's and had afternoon tea with him and Ayten.  We have been playing tavla each day, and he is still beating me except when I get a few good dice rolls in!  When I get back, I have time with Derya before it's time for Ege to be picked up.  We have done a lesson, made cheesecake, chocolate chip cookies and dinner in this time frame, talking all the while of course.

My first night we came home after closing the bakery around 8pm and had dinner at home.  I shared my photos, and they theirs.  The second night we went to Derya's parents house for dinner, the third night I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes and we ate at the bakery before going across the street to Abdullah's daughter's house (Makbule - the one who set up the exchange here) for tea and dessert, and then last night went to Derya's parents for dinner again.

Makbule making the dessert called kunefe from Antakya area of Turkey.

Derya explained that they go to her parents for dinner more often then not.  Her mom will call around 5 or 6 to see if they have other plans and if not tell them to come on over, she has made whatever and has plenty of it.

Last night was kind of funny.  Derya's friend/customer called her to see if she was cooking dinner and if so, what it was.  Derya told her she was making stuffed peppers and her friend asked her to make a few extra for her, and she would buy them for her families dinner.  Derya said she has a number of friends who started doing this after she opened the bakery about a year ago, and they have encouraged her to make meals as well to sell.  She said she wants to see if she can be successful with the borek and cookies, etc., first.  Anyway, Derya had the pan out front as she had just put her friend's peppers into a container for her, when another customer came in and wanted to buy the rest of them!  Derya told her no, they were her families dinner, but then ended up selling some of them, and we took the rest of them with us to her mother's house for our dinner!

Her mother must spend  her whole day cooking, as yesterday she was at the bakery helping with the borek and then served us a bean soup, fried sardines, and salad for dinner.  There is just nothing bad about the food here!  Ok, maybe too many cucumbers, but.....