Visit to Turkey: First Mornin'

I was overwhelmed at the generosity of my family. They really stocked me up on American food and goods. Mom made me homemade Chex Mix (my favorite). Do you now my first year away from home in 1997, she mailed me some all the way to Singapore? Coffee, creamers, candy, bacon bits, cake mixes were all there. We will be enjoying these for months to come! I had to reorganize my pantry/cabinets just to get it all in there. It was like a mini wal-mart brought to my doorstep.

The first morning, we all gathered, and I served Turkish breakfast to them. Fresh stuffed buns (called pogaci), a cheese plate, fruit, honey butter, helva, a tray of jellies, boiled eggs, and of course, olives!

Did I forget to tell you that I served chocolate spread, too? How could I forget that?

Here's my big brother. I like him.

We took the adults to the hamam and had a good ol' Turkish scrub down. Cassie and I had a ball and talked about it non-stop. When the guys emerged, they were strangely silent. I'm sure they loved the exfoliation so much, it was hard to know what to say.

Later in the day, we took them on a tour of our beloved school. My folks have met Serdar Bey before. He is one of our dearest Turkish friends and has worked with us for many years now. Here are all the grandkids in age order. In case you are wondering, yes, we were pretty much like a tour group.