Lokma

A few weeks ago my roommates and I went to a local cafe to study Turkish. Afterwards we decided to treat ourselves to Subway. It was actually really good and the prices were very reasonable, maybe even cheaper than America. I think I paid less than $4 for a six inch turkey sub. Good deli meat and loaf bread is hard to find in here, so even though I rarely eat at Subway in the states, it was a real treat in Turkey! Oh and the chocolate chip cookies are delicious!!!
Anyways as we were sitting near the window eating, we noticed a large van drive up and begin to unload what looked like kitchen appliances. My roommates then said, "Oh it looks like they are setting up for lokma" Come to find out lokma is the Turkish word for donut and when someone passes away, the family will hire a lokma company to come and pass out lokma to the community as a way to announce the death. We watched as several people walked by, asked questions, and then waited around for the oil to be hot enough to begin frying. Within seconds a line had formed and they began making plates of donuts. We quickly finished our food and got in line.

Oh and if you want more than one or two plates, then you can take a kitchen bowl (any size) and they will fill and refill it up as many times as you want. I haven't gotten the courage to do that yet!!

Christmas only comes once a year….

….but lasts much longer!

Several weeks ago, my mom told me a few people had asked about what to get me for Christmas. I told her I didn't need anything, but would love to receive Christmas Cards. One of my favorite things about Christmas is being home and looking through the hundreds of cards that my parents receive. I especially love the ones with pictures because you can see how people have changed from year to year. Since I moved out of my parents house, I have always received a few cards each year from close friends and family. But this year I am blown away! So far I have received over 40 Christmas cards. Today when I going out, there were twenty cards propped up on the landing in the bottom of my apartment. Some were post marked Dec 5th and some Dec 27th! It seems like the post office has been collecting them, I am sure they are assuming all types of things about why I am receiving so much mail.  I don't really know why it took some cards so long to get here, but I am just happy they have arrived! It has made the holiday season last even longer. Before Christmas I had received 2 cards, but now everyday when I come home I get excited because there just might be more.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS TAKEN THE TIME TO MAIL A CARD ALL THE WAY TO TURKEY. IT MEANS SO MUCH AND SEEING YOUR PICTURES AND READING YOUR NOTES HAS MADE CHRISTMAS VERY SPECIAL FOR ME.

As I sit in my room and type this post this is my view…

Also, last week I stopped by the post office to check on a package my mom had sent and there were 3 waiting on me! I put them under the Christmas tree while I ate lunch, then I turned on some Christmas music and opened my gifts.

The fact that all my gifts, cards, packages, etc are arriving in January is not what I would have chosen. However I must say it's been nice. I really feel like December was about Christ's birth and sharing in the joy of that with others. That's all I had, and that was enough. Its made the waiting to hear from friends and family that much more special.