IN TURKISH

Nyazi is our official Turkish teacher! He is great. His wife who is Azeri also attends the classes.
Here are a few words to give you an idea of what Turkish is like. I couldn’t include the special accents.

1 Bir
2 Iki
3 Uc
4 Dirt
5 Bes
6 Alti
7 Yedi
8 Sekiz
9 Dokuz
10 On

Hello! = MERHABA! (roll the R and accentuate the H)

Good Bye! = GULE GULE! (said by one staying, literally means: Go smiling!)

Yes/No = EVET / HAYIR (Janet, you were right, i had written the wrong word!!)

Diarrhea = ISHALIM (yep, we’ve had our first Turkish one) :-(

How much is this? = KAC LIRA?

Sunday = PAZAR (day of the market; bazar)

Monday = PAZARTESI (day after the day of the market!)

a taste of istanbul

About Istanbul, a book read the following: "Turkey's major city is like a juicy, sugar-dusted morsel of lokum just waiting to be devoured. Its flavours are rosewater, pistachio, almond and cinnamon - all rich, complex and redolent of the exotic east - but its packaging is different, reminiscent of the the elagantly boxed treats sold in Paris' Fauchon or London's Fortnum and Mason. East meets here, all in one delicious mouthful."
We came here by faith and with our mouths wide open; it appears that God is ready to fill them.

ISTANBUL the beautiful

ORTAKOY CAMII, originally a church

Going site seeing is definitely our least expensive- yet enjoyable

choice for a date!

Turkish lovers

I couldn't resist...! what a clash of cultures

Garip, Jediah, Sadek and P. Matti
waiting for the rest of the group in front of the Egyptian Bazar

Gypsy girls in Tuzla, they sang for me and snapped

their fingers in the most unusual fashion!

'Cok Guzel'

Nyazi and Irada, we have so much fun with them!
(Below eating a baked potatoe filled wih just about
everything you can think of!)

On the ferry, saturday morning going to Tuzla with the team,

in search of divine encounters.

IT'S THE INCIL!

waiting at the tram station
(Taksim is where the old church bulding was - we'll post pics of the new one soon)

kindness of a stranger

... today we met a young lawyer in the tram who pulled out of his bag a present he had just bought in Egypt and gave it to us... that's how kind people are here/ we have his email and phone and will call him back for coffee. A similar encounter happens everyday!!