Birthday Tidings

The snow still has yet to arrive, and it is beginning to warm up- about 11 degrees on average- so I don’t expect to see any anytime soon.  It is even beginning to melt off the mountains- although it is so foggy all the time it is hard to tell.   I met a lovely woman at the gym when we first started going. She speaks English quite well (she attended high school in Toronto) and we chat on and off whenever I see her at the gym.  On Tuesday as I was finishing up my workout, she asked if I would like to grab coffee with her at Malatya Park.  I am not in the habit of turning down invitations (although it did interfere slightly with how I had anticipated my day was going to go- I had some errands to run, but figured they could be done some other time), so naturally I said yes, went home, ate lunch and then headed out to meet her.  We wandered around a little, and she helped me buy Joe a birthday present and then we headed for coffee and to chat.  She is a very interesting woman, she was a chemical engineer for twenty five years and has recently retired.  Her husband is a chicken veterinarian (planning to retire next year) and their only son is a medical student in Vienna.  It was a lovely couple of hours (as is now normal in Turkey, she paid) with her informing me of the long list of places that I ‘must’ see before I left Turkey.  I am already fully aware of all of these places, however time and money as always will be the determining factors in these decisions.  

Our Christmas corner.

As the weather starts to get cold again (the warmth only lasted about a week), I am beginning to accept the fact that it will probably start to snow here as soon as we leave for holiday- a saddening and maddening fact.   As Christmas nears, a few shops have begun to look the part.  Of course they are all “New Years” decorations- Joe bought us a little Christmas tree and on the box, it clearly states that it is a New Year tree.  A bit odd, but it is nice to see some festivity regardless of what holiday it is apparently for.

The littlest "New Year" tree.

Other than slowly getting ready for holiday, Joe’s birthday is today, so last night I organized a small gathering at the pub in a small celebration.  I met Kubra, Ali and Buglem in the afternoon and we went to Malatya Park instead of to their house. There is a sand box there- so Kubra, Buglem and I went and played in there- after the inflatable snow globe experience.  It was a nice change of pace- although it is a little odd to leave the mall in December with snow in your socks. Not the most pleasant feeling in the world.  I went by the school and waited for Joe to get off work and then we headed to Melita.  We were the only ones there, and for a while I thought it was just going to be the two of us (Mustafa was sick, Ali’s wife is pregnant and he feels guilty leaving her at home- the smoking indoors is not good for a pregnant woman, and a couple others came up with various excuses) but eventually Gungor showed up, followed by Elif and eventually Mehmet.  All in all it turned out to be a highly enjoyable evening (albeit expensive- as I have mentioned, if you invite you pay, and they were there on my invitation) that concluded at midnight with Mehmet driving everyone home and Gungor gaily singing along to old Turkish folk songs.

Yes, the candle was bigger than the cake.

This morning was dull and grey as I headed in to work (the fact that they have started a class days before we go on holiday baffles me slightly) and then I picked up some groceries for Joe’s b-day dinner.  We were going to go see the Hobbit, but with the weather neither of us felt like moving.  We stayed in and watched Elf (Christmastime classic) and then I made Chicken Tikka Masala and garlic naan.  A very relaxing day which is needed as tomorrow when we get home it will be time to clean and pack and Sunday we are off on an adventure!