Just some fun things in Turkey

 This area is called Hamanonu.  It is in the oldest section of Ankara.  During the Ottoman period these were all mansions and they were beautiful.  Recently they have begun restoring this whole area.  It is full of shops, restaurants, art places, galleries, and there is also a traditional Turkish bath here that has also been restored. There are plenty of places to sit and enjoy or eat or shop.  Great place.

 This is the entrance and clock tower of Hamanonu.

 This is Zubeyda's family.  I call them my family away from Utah.  We had them over for dinner and I felt I was with my family.  As you can see they are as huggy as my family is. 

This is building going up just below us.  We watched them put this scaffolding up and though they surely wouldn't stand on it.  But, if you look closely you can see the man at the top putting something on the building.

 

 The melons here are so good, I think they are one of the things I will miss the most.  This is a cabbage.  It is huge.  Half of it is on the drainer and 1/4 is cut up in my bowl.  The cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower are as big as watermelons. 

 One of the vegetable pizar's.

 We took this picture only because of the big globs on the top of the meat.  For the life of me, I can't figure out what they are.  They look alien to me.  Wouldn't buy or try this one.

 I think Duard is beginning to get a little trunky.

 We found this in a museum.  It isn't a sleight.  If you look where Du's hand is there is a pole.  Two people, one at each end would carry this little chair with the pole to give people a ride.  Probably for important people.  Don't know that one for sure.

There are beautiful buildings all around us except for these little houses (?).  They call them Gece condos.  Most time they go up over night.  This is the way it is all over Ankara, beautiful buildings and right in the middle are these poor little homes. 

Hasanoglan

 Our dear friend Zubeyba is a math teacher at this school in Hasanoglan.  They had a celebration on Tuesday April 17 and she was partially in charge and invited us to come.  So we jumped in a bus and went about an hour East of Ankara to this community.  We hadn't realized it was such a big event for this school.  First of all we went to her classroom and watched her teach for a little bit and after she told them I was a dance teacher I offered to teach them a little tap.  They loved it.  This girl really took to it and could be a very good dancer. It was so fun.  These young people were very vibrant, energetic, smart, and happy.

 During the ceremony they asked Duard to speak.  He spoke about Turkey and how much he loved it.  He told them they needed to get the word out for people to understand how beautiful and safe this land is.  He told them the part he loved the most was the good people that live here in Turkey.  At the end of his few minutes, he was in tears and so were many others.  It was a very wonderful speech.

 This entire front row was full of the dignitaries of the community.  The Mayor and the representatives of all the ministries.  They had only asked the principal and Duard to speak.  Afterwards you could tell they all were very happy with what was said.

 This darling young man kept following me.  At one point he showed me his left ring finger and said I'm single.  So I showed him mine and said I'm married.  He was so cute. 

 While there they taught Duard how to water paint.  It is a process where you put the paint on top of this solution and make designs in it.  When you are happy with it, you lay a piece of paper on your design and lift the paper up.  It is harder than you would think and Duard's was very good. 

 Here is a picture of his painting.

This is Zubeyda with her class.  Such a great day.

Yozgat

This trip to Yozgat/Sorgan was quite a trip.  We went with another couple, the Canfields, and our interpreter Meric.  Our first night we stayed at a beautiful Hotel.  But, at about 9 pm, a dance in the lower conference center began and it was so loud our room was shaking.  Also on the next floor, a group of men were watching a soccor game on tv and they were very loud cheerers.  The hotel was beautiful, but no sound-proofing, and not a great design as far as sound goes.  Not a great night - but oh well.  In the morning we drove to Sorgut to distribute these wheelchairs.  The Mayor and dignitaries were very kind to us.  As always, we fall in love with these wonderful people we give the chairs to.

 

 I felt very fortunate to have these ladies let me take a picture with them.

 

 This grandmother was accompanied by her daughter and granddaughter.  Can you see the Grandmother holding my hand. 

 This little girl was so happy to have a chair that she just couldn't stop smiling (except for this picture)  They told us she writes with her toes. 

 These women are always so loving.

 Another happy child that loved giving high-fives to Duard.

 We were in a village discussing a water project in the Mayor's home.  I am sitting on the traditional type couches in their front room.  There was a stove in the middle of the room that the mother kept stoked with wood.

The Canfields, the Mayor, Duard and me, representative from Yozgut, and our interpreter, Meric (she is also our Relief Society President)

Beypazari

We were invited to a town west of Ankara to visit a handicapped school to see if we could help them with a rehabilitation room for their students.  This lady has done so much work in Turkey to better the lives of other people and we are so priviledged to be able to works with her.  We were in for a great treat at Beypazari!   Beypazari is known for its carrots, silver working, metals, and scarfs.  As you walk down the pizar, you can get fresh carrot joice that they make right there.  Very delicious!

First of all we were picked up by the Mayor's wife (Hamida) and driver, in his car at our apartment and taken to this city where we met with her and her husband, the Mayor of Beypazari.  He presented us with this beautiful rendering of the Historical part of the City in wood.  Afterwards we visited the handicapped school. Hopefully we will be able to work together.  

This is Engen, me, Duard, the Mayor, Hamida, and Seda our interpreter. 

This is the traditional dress of the women of this area.  I just had to have a pair of these pants, in fact I bought two.  They are very comfortable and I just love them.

They then took us to lunch in this very wonderful outdoor restaurant.  The food was so good.  I think I have found another recipe that I have to take home.  I wanted to leave the group and spend time in the kitchen, but probably would not have been appropriate.  The soup, carrot dish, and some other dishes are native to this area.

During our visit Hamida heard me talking about how much I loved butterflies and at the end of our visit she had gotten me a very lovely hand tooled beautiful butterfly necklace.  She is putting it on me. 

Everywhere we went they had a photographer with us.  That night we received an email that we were in the newspapers.  The article was very complementary about LDS Charities and was a beautiful article.  You won't be able to understand it because it is in Turkish, but it really is a nice article.

http://www.seyelan.com.tr/haber/1485/lds-hayir-kurumu-temsilcileri-engelliler-icin-beypazarinda.html

Kastamona

We had an amazing opportunity to deliver wheelchairs to the beautiful town of Kastamona.  This is the hometown of our interpreter, Seda.  She had told us she wanted to take us to her hometown, but never let on about how wonderful this place is.  While there she took us into the mountains to the family farm, that they call the Village.  We found out that this farm is famous throughout Turkey.  Dignitaries and visitors come from all over Turkey to eat at the home of her Aunt.  She had prepared dinner for us and now we understand why she is so well known.  You can't even see the end of the property it is so large.  All of the food you eat there was prepared and grown on this farm.  She must have put out ten varieties of jams and jellies.  Seda told us she spend much of her childhood there.  All the cousins come and help with the ranching duties, the farmhouse, and the serving and preparing of food in this home. 

In the days of the silk road, they didn't have hotels, but did have caravansaries where both the people and the camels stayed.  This one has been converted into a modern facility that we stayed at.  In this first picture you can see the castle which is on the hill above the Caravansary.  The patio is completely enclosed.  You enter through some very large doors.  There is a small one for people and a very large one for the camels.  The dining room, which is very beautiful, was once the place where the camels slept. 



There is a beautiful fountain in the center of the courtyard, it is hidden a bit by the umbrella.  It used to be the watering trough for the camels - maybe for the people too.  But it is very beautiful.  The big round thing by the stairs used to hold water and it sat over hot coals to heat the water.



We thought these little doors were very unique and fun.  We couldn't decide if people were just smaller then, or if they just liked small doors.



This veranda went all around the top floor and looked down into the courtyard.  All the guest room were off of this veranda.  I loved the arches in the architecture.  We also found on each door - the Star of David.  Very interesting.

This is the stable/now dining room.  You can see the buffet set up around one of the pillars.  A typical Turkish breakfast is several varieties of cheese, several varieties of olives,  lots of different jellies, breads, fruit juices, and sometimes salami.

Another view of the inside of caravansary

Close-up of the big big pan used to heat water.  You find these in many old gathering places.  Although, they are not used today.

The legend is, "if you drink from this natural fountain, you will visit this place again 7 times".  I quickly had a drink, because it was very cold and good water, and because I wanted to come back here again.  Duard wouldn't drink the water.  Oh well, I hope he misses me.

Our darling Seda and her son Barkin

This little boy was so excited to have this wheelchair that he would not stay still for the picture.  He was laughing and wheeling around.  Everyone was enjoying the delight of this little guy.  He just couldn't go fast enough or smile big enough.

This young man told us he is going to start a wheelchair basketball team in Kastamona.

Some of the wheelchairs lined up and ready to go.  The names of the recipients are on all the chairs so there is no question as to who they will go to.  All recipients have to be pre-certified that they really do need the wheelchair.  So we have all the names ahead of time.

Duard gave a beautiful speech telling about the church, by its real name, and about how the monies are raised to be able to provide these wheelchairs.  Great job!  Seda is by his side interpreting.

Time out for a picture

One of the women who live at the farm house making some of the breads and food.

I can't say enough about this wonderful woman.  She is as gracious and wonderful a person as I have ever met.  She has a dignity and beauty that is rare.  She grows all the food used on the farm.  On the upper floor they have changed the rooms into places to eat.  The walls are filled with history in pictures and artifacts from the farm.  You just can't quit looking.  They have ducks, chickens, dogs, cats, birds.  She said she has seen bears and a few years ago a pole cat came down out of the mountains and killed some of the birds she had in cages.  She felt so bad that she opened the cages and let all the rest the birds go and then broke apart all the cages. 

The family took us over the mountain to a place where they have started a state of the art dairy farm. 
For my Taylor cousins:  This whole farm gave me a nostalgia trip, remembering Cokeville and all the great stories from there.  I thought of all the milking days.  While we were there, they began their first day of milking the cows.  They were all excited for this event.  What an amazing heritage both there and in Cokeville.