Beautiful Feet: A long winters travel

Twas 6 days before Christmas and all up the coast Airports were closing just went we needed them most. I with the bags her with the passes, had just woken up to head out with the masses. When what to our wondering ears did we listen, "All flights to JFK you will be a missin'".

So not a great poem but maybe you will get the point. The day we were supposed to leave for Turkey the big freeze blasted the coast closing all the northern airports thus leaving us in NC for three more days. Our trip to turkey was supposed to be 10 days would now be cut to 7. Well we did finally get tickets and guess what we road in business class. What an upgrade. Probably the first and last time we will ever get that opportunity.

So we finally landed in Istanbul then it was time to take the long train ride down to the city in which we were Meeting out friends Daniel And Priscilla. So you might think "Turkey=no Christmas".... wrong. Well it wasnt exactly "Christmas" but new years. The city was very decorative as you can see here below.

So Allison and I didnt know that us coming to town was a reason for a party but at the school where they have been helping out found out we were coming they decided to throw a party and make a very traditional TarTar mean Chicofta. So what does this tasty treat consist of? Well first it has a wheat type substance, tomatos, red pepper (about a pound of those), and lemon juice... oh and raw beef. Yeah that is the kicker, raw beef. The process in making Chicofta a fun to watch and the taste is well... interesting, with a hint of intestinal burning. The stuff would about light you on fire.

So as the week continued we had a great time just visiting with Daniel and Priscilla getting to see where they had planted their lives and how they are settling in. Their appartment is massive and a great place to throw a party which is what we did on Christmas eve. It was great. Priscilla made a ton of food and we all enjoyed dirty santa and board games. It was fun to get to hang out and enjoy Christmas with people from around the world. There were a few from Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and Iran. Amazing if you ask me.

Christmas day was much like any other day there. We woke up and followed D and P to their language class where Allison and I enjoyed a few games on thier Ipod Touches. Turkish a tough lanuage but they are doing amazing whether they will admit it or not.

This is a picture from inside the school they are helping teach english at. The group behind Danny are good at english.