My Turkish Family

Late Sunday afternoon, after a long night of partying, I was woken up by a knock on the door. To my surprise it happened to be a colleague of mine who was sweet enough to stop by and check on me after I missed work Thursday and Friday due to a horrible case of the flu. So she opens the door to six sleeping girls in a room full of pillows, beer bottles, and wine stains on the floor. Hmmm…still recovering from that flu of yours Nikki? So she ended up inviting me to a traditional Turkish dinner at her family’s apartment. Caught in the numbness of my hangover I was unable to come up with an excuse of alternative plans so I accept the invitation and agree to be ready by 4:00 p.m.

I had planned to go to the pastry shop to pick up some baklava as a gift, but unfortunately I exhausted all of my energy just by showering and by the time I was about to recap the night with my roomies Ilay had come to pick me up for dinner. She shows me to her uncle’s car and we ride through the back streets of Kasimpasa. I have no idea where the hell I am but it seems like a whole new world to me. Real life in Turkey; people walking past broken down shacks, dodging random wood pieces on the skinny cobblestone streets going to the market to get fresh bread for dinner. As we finally arrive at her family’s apartment and I’m thinking “god, I didn’t have any idea she lived in a place like this. What a difficult life!” But once inside I was absolutely amazed. Their apartment was beautiful! The apartment had classic Turkish furniture and was delightfully decorated and quite a lovely view of Taxim Square, Galata Tower, and the Bosphorus from the kitchen. It had one bedroom and one of those bathrooms that convert to a shower when needed. Quaint but cute. Grandma and her sister lived next door and Uncle Metin downstairs.

Once comfortable in their home with nice warm slippers anne (mom) immediately served 5lbs of delicious homemade börek (a cheese type pastry) to me and the rest of the family. After the first pound or so I was quite full but noticing everyone else cleaning their plate I felt it would be impolite not to finish everything given to me. I thought my stomach was going to burst! I made the excuse that I was still slightly ill so that I could lie down. We hung out with the fam for a while, watched Turkish music videos (please see Monica’s web log for more info http://monicastravels.com/blog/blogger.html it’s under “Music and Clubs Dec. 27th), took pictures family pictures, and talked about whatever we could with the small amount Turkish that I know.

Somehow our conversation turned to Raki. Metin dayi (Uncle Metin) immeadiately went down to his apartment and brought up a bottle of Raki. They quickly cleared the coffee table and set out some cheese, banana chips, orange slices and two glasses for each person participating. The women were forbidden by anne to drink the Raki but of course since Ilke new I like it I was pretty much forced to down at least a glass on top of all the borek. So it was pretty much me Pops and Uncle Metin getting drunk together while watching what seemed to me to be pornography disguised as Turkish music videos. Encouraged by Metin dayi, Ilay would take a swig here and there every time anne would go to the kitchen to bring out more tea or anything anyone needed.

It was suggested we all play a board game at the kitchen table. Metin dayi busted out his game called O.K. It’s similar to Gin Rummy but with little chips instead of cards. It was men against women and between each turn Metin dayi would go back to the coffee table for more Raki. Although I was a little tipsy I learned to play quite quickly and starting winning a few rounds. But in the end the cheaters (the men) somehow came out on top.

It was getting late, I was getting quite tired, and the bottle of Raki was quickly depleting. and just as I was about ready to politely ask them to bring me home anne began to serve dinner. I thought “What?! Dinner!?! Yo..I’m still nauseatingly full from the börek and Raki. There is now way I can even attempt to put away another bite of anything.” But of course I said, “Oh my goodness! This looks wonderful!!” It was a traditional Turkish dinner; it would be rude to say no. So we started with lentil soup, followed by salad, melitzanes papoutsakia (stuffed eggplant), bread, and even more börek. Oh my god! It was delicious but I thought I was going to roll over and die. When everyone was finished and starting to clean I couldn’t do anything but sit in my chair as I couldn’t move or even talk. I’m not sure how it happened as at this point I was still a little dazed from my over consumption of food, but I have some recollection of being given a pair of lime green pajamas and a nice bed to sleep in. I woke up the next day to two girls hastely getting ready for work. I through on the clothes I had been wearing the day before, brushed my hair and was out the door with two kisses from mom. She named me her third daughter and invited me to come back as soon as possible.

Talk about Turkish hospitality!!