Uptown and Downtown

Uptown: We took at 31 of our conference participants to our favorite fancy dig in town, Hacibaba. Fine dining and delicious Turkish food (stuff you don't find everywhere). I went down the long table, explaining my 3 favorite dishes, plus a quick overview of the other items. I think 27 of them ordered one of my 3 favorite dishes!

This sweet gal taught one of my girls in 1st grade. I also went to her house one night a week for a dvd workout, which we still laugh about. She's now an elementary principal in Africa and about to adopt a little girl. I am so happy for her, and was so happy to see her.

Downtown: The next day I took all willing participants (almost all the spouses went!) to the hamam. We stripped down and got scrubbed down. Then we got lathered up and served orange juice, which we drank up! These hamam workers were so happy to have us come down, they took us outside for some freshly brewed Turkish tea....

 ...on their stove!

You can't imagine how wondeful it feels to have no dead skin cells left after a strong village woman has scrubbed you, then to be handed a fresh cup of hot Turkish tea. I thought I might fall asleep!