Turkish Hospitality

Hi blog!

Oh man. Soooo many things to write about! It seems like every day just gets better and better. Today was the first time that I felt actually somewhat adjusted. We had our second day of work; right now we are working on compiling information about the world's top executive education programs so that the GSB at Koc (that's graduate school of business for all of you that aren't in the biz. I am not in the biz) can work on improving their executive education classes. The research is actually really interesting and I'm enjoying it and wishing that I had 10+ years of management experience and a spare $11,000 so I could take one of these classes.

Side Bar: The most magnificent thunderstorm I've ever heard just started up. Insanely Loud. Maybe it's because we're so high up and close to water but it's the loudest thunder I've ever heard. Or maybe I'm just being blonde, who knows.

On to the important stuff, FOOD!!
I feel like I could already write about this forever and it's only just begun! My first morning in Turkey I was fortunate enough to experience my first home-cooked Turkish breakfast, made by our program coordinator Selnur. I vaguely remember already blogging it but like an old person I give zero fucks and you will listen to it again! She made this wonderful cheese pastry with feta-esque cheese (I was specifically told it was NOT feta. Turks in general hate when people call their food greek names, because I guess the Greeks have claimed a lot of Turkish cuisine and renamed it, and the Turks are bitter because who wouldn't be? Cooking is serious shit! I'm surprised there hasn't been a 100 year war about it already). Longest parentheses ever? Anyway. The entire table was laid with food: three types of olives, cheeses, multiple loaves of bread, tomatoes on and on. It was like there were 10 people eating instead of 3 adults and a kid! The next day when Selnur took us to her beach apartment we had a very classic Turkish meal. And by very classic I mean not classic. And by not classic I mean Dominoes pizza. It had corn on it which I suppose makes it exotic. The crust was different. I enjoyed it, and the beer that we had with it (I'm legal here what's upppp) which was Efes, the most common Turkish beer.
Thennn the next day at work we were treated to a strange fruit I wish I knew the name for. They were small and green and kind of looked like apples, but they tasted a bit like sour plums. I have a thing for sour fruit so I adored them. And then we found out that they were grown in one of our coworker's garden! Made it even better.
Okay I'm almost done talking about food. Sorry. I am overwhelmed by how cheap good food can be here. The cafeteria at work has tons and tons of options and you get to pick 3 plates and pay...wait for it......5TL, which is about $2.75!!!! I keep thinking about my little brother because he is the biggest bargain hunter I know, and he would love this kind of stuff. This evening when we ventured into the downtowney bit of Sariyer we had a fresh carved chicken (?) sandwich with veggies and fries inside for 2.50TL, about $1.25!! It was delish. Something my family calls street meat, long story. Family inside jokes, aren't I the coolest kid in school?

The last thing I wanted to talk about tonight was Turkish hospitality. After being here only a few days it is clear to see that everyone here is friendly and helpful, almost beyond belief. I am used to traveling to places where people aren't always that keen to help Americans, especially when you make it painfully clear that you can't speak their language, which Emily and I are pros at. Really though, it's embarrassing. The two instances we experienced today were great. First, on our quest for Turkish cell phones we made a new friend inside of the Turkcell store. His name was Tugay, and he was incredibly helpful and chatty and talked about going to college in America and how it was too cold there. Then he lectured us on the amount of crime in Turkey, "I am Turkish, but I hate Turkey! Just the other day my wallet was taken out of my pocket, just like that!" To be fair, he was wearing Louis Vuitton shoes and didn't exactly look like he was from the dirty Turkish backstreets or anything. But he was so nice he ended up writing me a note so that the place that sold the "shit phones" (which is what I wanted) wouldn't rip me off. It translates to something like "I'm Tugay, the manager of this Turkcell store. Please sell this woman a beautiful new phone that works for a good price, thanks" I know it says beautiful because he kept saying it and then when we went to the other store and the guy read the note he goes "beautiful phone?" so funny.

The note and beautiful phone

I will write about our first dolmus experience in the next post, it's getting late.
Shoutout to the handful of people that have told me they read this, it makes me want to write it!

P.S.
Here is a video of the thunder