Five cups of tea, a cup of Turkish coffee, Nescafe with creamer, and (of course) the morning cups of joe later, I went to bed. Yes, my day was fueled well. For those who may be wondering , this is not entirely a normal day. Typically I don’t drink the Turkish coffee.
I lay in bed last night pondering the day. It was full. It was good. It really was a typical fall/winter/spring Saturday. Morning at home (coffee), basketball game in the afternoon (nescafe), dash home to greet friends (three cups of tea), run over to the two neighbors on my floor to give them leftover pastries (no tea), then run upstairs with cake to welcome the new neighbors into the building (Turkish coffee and two more cups of tea).
Instead of tea, lets describe it based on food. Woke up, drank coffee and made pancakes. So good. And the strawberries this time of year…heavenly! My goal is to have strawberries every day until they are out of season. After working out I made börek, a pastry I would serve to my friends coming over later in the day. Lunch and off to the game. No food at the game. This was a good thing. My friends lost by a hair, which means that if I did have food I would have ended up mindlessly tossing it in the air every time my friends missed a basket or let a turnover happen. Several times I was forced to put my cell phone in my pocket for fear that it would end up flying three rows up and smacking someone in the head. Game over, run home. My roommate, being the younger member of the household, served the börek I had made this morning, along with purchased stuffed grape leaves (sarma), a bean salad (piyaz), cake, and baklava given as a gift by the visitors. Off to greet the new neighbors. I gave them my plate of cake. In return they invited me in. They’re offering was a poğaça (sort of like a roll or a bun), éclairs and a slice of pound cake. Fortunately, as I had dropped in, I was not obligated to eat everything on my plate. Even more fortunate, they did not force the issue. This bodes well as I look ahead to future visits.
Or we could describe the day based on friends. I woke up to a quiet house. My roommate had stayed the night with friends. Ah, the sound of silence. Off to the game. On my way I ran into one of the players, walking her dog to the gym. We talked on our way in. She told me of her latest crush. To the gym where I said hi to another player, chatted with a player’s mom, and sat in the stands to watch warm-ups. During warm-ups I waved to several other players. Another friend came in and we watched the game together. A sad play-off loss, but we still have another chance. Game over, run home to greet friends. My roommate and I had a believing couple and their son over for 5 o’clock tea. Amazing conversation. I am full of thanksgiving for this couple! They leave, and I deliver pastries to the neighbors. These neighbors are my landlord’s sisters and they are a hoot and a half! One is practically blind, the other is basically deaf. Home to fill up a plate with cake, then off to the new neighbors. A new family moved into the building a few weeks ago. As far as I can tell, its two single girls in their 20s/30s and their parents. Their grandparents are staying with them at the moment so their grandma can have tests done at the hospital. The girls recently opened a beauty salon. We talked about everything from my background to university studies to the tort problem in America (but not in so many words). And we have basketball in common. They have a friend playing on the other women’s division two basketball team in Ankara. Turkey is indeed a small country.
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