Bak Bak

I got my very first cooking "Bak Bak" tonite! That's what our Turkish tutor tells us when we get something right or impress her. It means like, "Look Look!" I made my very first scratch cake which is a totally different story over here in Turkey! Celsius, no pre-made mixes, and a few substitutions later you've got yourself a chocolate chip pound cake! And it was good, so I hear! Afiyet olsun. That means something like Bon Appetite over here! We've had a very social week. We had dinner at two of our new couple friends' houses over here this week. Let's see, Wednesday we ate with our friends who live across from a Turkish hair transplant office. Yes. That set the tone pretty much; it was a fun, encouraging, and pretty much hilareous night! They are great. Tonite we ate with some different friends and I made the dessert as seen above and we can also be seen above washing the dishes after we ate! We were glad to help, but found ourselves thinking one course less might have been okay!

I went exploring out on my own a little for the first time today and it was a total success. Got to use a good bit of Turkish. (Don't worry, I was very cautious and totally safe the whole time.) The more I get to know this city, the more endearing it is to me. Tomorrow I have my English lesson and then we're going shopping with our friend and language tutor. I'm really looking forward to that! Sunday, I'm singing at church! I know what you're thinking...it didn't take me any time to get plugged in! Our tutor might even come to hear!

Next week, we have someone coming from the States to give us more training in teaching ESL, and we might go to Tarsus one day! How great, eh? Stay tuned for stories and pics!