After proctoring a midterm exam on Friday morning, I went to my Turkish lessons. This time we covered the differences between conjunctions (but, yet, however, because, therefore, ect.). It's tricky, and I'll need to spend some time on the topic, for sure.
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| This 3rd grade Turkish book is a little much for me. |
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| I sometimes know what this says. Only sometimes, though. |
On Saturday, Jamie and I purchased an oven! Look how cute it is! A pocket-sized oven for a pocket-sized kitchen.
The little electric guy (ie: glorified toaster oven) sits comfortably on our counter just next to our non-functioning actual oven. This addition to our kitchen was long overdue, and two batches of cookies later, I couldn't be more pleased that we finally have a baking-roasting-broiling-toasting option in our humble mutfak.
Sunday was spent at the hamam, or Turkish bath. At 2 pm Jamie and I were whisked off to one of Afyon's 5-star hotels by my Turkish tutor and her husband. For all of Afyon's quaint Turkish charm, it has a few high-end thermal hotels that provide a nice escape. Pinkies up!
After swimming in their indoor pool, we parted ways (girls to one side, and Mr. Turkish Tutor to the other) and began our hamam experience. Upon entering the marble labyrinth of faucets, basins and pools, we headed for the sauna. This heated room has wooden benches for you to relax on. Then, we went to the steam room. Clouds of mint-infused moisture hung in the air while we simultaneously chatted and poached ourselves. After an intense scrub-down by a hamam Pro, my newly revealed skin was glowing. We dried off and ate apples before heading home for the day. I'm surprised at how tired I was. Relaxing for four hours can really wear you out.
This week leads up to my first big travel escapade through Turkey, so I'm glad I was able to relax a bit. A fellow Fulbrighter and myself will be venturing to a few different Turkish sights during Kurban Bayram. See....you lose a Halloween, but you pick up a Kurban Bayram. It all evens out in the end.
Here's a sketch of our travel plans:
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| So excited for this journey! |
Congrats on your new Easy Bake, Em! And don't worry, Halloween was "canceled" in lots of places in Jersey because of down power lines from our October snowstorm. (All of those things sound terrible and vaguely post-apocalyptic. But don't worry; everything's fine! Snow days in Oct.! Woot woot!). Have a great trip. xo, MK
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