Pizza! Pizza!

The taste of America has arrived just 3 blocks from my house! And yes, even though they don't eat pig products in this country, there is pepperoni on that pizza I'm holding. It may be made of turkey (the animal, not the country), but it still tasted like pepperoni, which is all that matters. Hooray for globalization.

Kitten (Cat) Caboodle

Well, I thought it was time for some more cat pictures. I think our cats have reached their full size. They're certainly not kittens anymore.

They've become very studious as they get older.
Pamuk is still very much the dominant cat. She'll even guard the sink to keep the faucet away from her sister.

Today we bought a very large can of green beans because we're having lots of company. Pamuk was kind enough to pose for a size comparison.

Happy Ramadan Holiday

Or, Ramazan Bayraminiz kutlu olsun! (as they say here). Ramadan officially ended last night, and today was the first of the 3 day holiday celebrated after Ramadan ends. You heard about my iftar experience during Ramadan. Well, I wanted to include a brief picture of another way to do iftar:
That's right, our neighbors had their friends and family over for an iftar in honor of our neighbor who passed away a month or so ago. They couldn't all fit in their apartment, so the caterer came to our parking lot and they set up a sort of backyard barbecue-style iftar. The pictures were taken from our usual "spying location," our balcony.

Anyways, back to today's holiday. It's kinda like a cross between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Halloween. The other name for the holiday is Sugar Holiday. People visit family, friends, and neighbors for 3 days. Guests are served coffee, candy, and dessert. Children stop at your door, and wish you "Bayraminiz kutlu olsun," and in return you give them a piece of candy (I love trick-or-treaters!) Today is the biggest day. Ninety percent of the shops are closed. We went out today, and everyone we saw was dressed up. If they can afford it, they usually buy a new outfit just for today. Today is primarily for spending time with family, and then the next 2 days you see friends and neighbors. So, it's been a quiet day for us, but the next 2 days should be busy.

A Little Taste of America

I guess it's kind of strange to say I went to a Mexican restaurant to get a taste of America. But it's owned by 2 Americans, the menu's entirely in English, and the waiters spoke English. The food was more of an approximation of what you get at Mexican restaurants at home, and to be honest, I can make better Mexican rice (then again, I don't like my rice spicy). Although the chips and salsa were great (you can't buy salsa here). Plus, they even had MTV on a big screen on the wall. Not that I love MTV. And our Turkish teacher was kind enough to speak entirely in English with us during dinner. I guess the plethora of English was enough to make a Mexican restaurant feel like America. I'll take what I can get occasionally.