Wednesday, November 24th, 2004

Well, we’re back in Ankara now, and have been doing a lot of CCID business. In the past two days I’ve paid a visit to the US Embassy, YÖK (the Turkish Council for Higher Education), met with both the vice president and president of Ankara University, and spent a lot of time with Dr. Balci, my father and Tony Digenakis. We even went to the Balci’s for a wonderful evening meal. It’s been really interesting to see how these meetings take place, what the protocol is, what the results end up being. I feel like I’m learning a lot, and I’m lucky to attend!

We’ve also been eating at tons of great restaurants. One day, we just walked behind our hotel and found a nice looking place. We went it and the brought us a menu. There were only about 8 items. We tried to choose a few. They pointed to all of them. Confusion. Finally we just agreed to whatever they wanted. They began to bring out great plates of salads, salsa-like minced tomatoes and spices, sautéed onions, etc. Then they brought out thin, tortilla bread. Then they brought out tons of skewers laden with meat. It turns out this was a special şiş restaurant, and we simply did not understand the process. But we learned quickly! You just combine all the items (in whatever way you please) inside a tortilla. Then you snarf it! This was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time, and I will make sure I go back again!