Cultural Exchange

Friday night was my introduction to Turkish culture. I thought it was actually sort of poignant that on the day that the US embassy was bombed in Ankara, I was joining a bunch of Turks for dinner.

This was the calmest point in the evening

I was the only American in the company of the Turks so I think they liked explaining some of their traditions to me, especially when it came to food and drinking.

A main focus of the night was raki, a Turkish alcohol that is still super strong even when it is watered down to become "lion's milk." Raki is supposed to be a drink you enjoy slowly while conversing--it's not like taking shots of vodka to get super drunk as fast as you can. That being said, raki is pretty powerful. 

We also had a table filled with Turkish food, which looks a lot like Greek food, but don't tell them that. Anyway, it was delicious. Murat told me a story about how to enjoy raki with the salmon we had. He said the story goes that when you eat fish (and he made me take a bite) you swallow it down and it looks up waiting, and what is it waiting for? The raki. So then you help the fish out by taking another sip of raki.

One thing I learned that night is that every Turkish person has rhythm. Every single person can dance at least a little. And Turkish dancing is very joyful and proud. You cannot be around Turkish dancing and be in a bad mood. Of course they all made me join in as I was the special American guest. I had a lot of fun but it was pretty embarrassing. Especially compared to Nildag, the belly dancer.

The night before Turkish night I hosted a few friends over at my place so they could finally try enchiladas. And these were extra delicious enchiladas since Carla brought sauce her grandma made back with her from Mexico. It was too spicy even for my Pakistani friend, so some dilution was required, but it was still incredible. Introducing my friends to Mexican food was pretty hilarious. After experiencing guacamole and homemade chicken enchiladas with enchilada sauce made by a Mexican grandmother I think they are hooked. In fact, the next night, Idil's boyfriend who is visiting from Turkey shyly asked me if we could do another enchilada night before he goes. 

I don't have a picture to post of enchilada night because we ate them so fast...