Aşure

Aşure (Ashure) is a Muslim holiday commemorating several events in Islamic history. It is traditionally the day Noah's ark settled on dry land. Tradition holds that Noah's family made a Thanksgiving-like meal with what they had left after so long on the ark--namely some beans, dried fruit, and a bit of meat from the animals they sacrificed. This was made into a stew called aşure, or Noah's Pudding. Muslims celebrate this event over a season, making aşure pudding and giving it out to neighbors as a symbol of friendship and goodwill.

Three neighbors brought us some aşure as a treat. All of them had nuts, pomegranate, and figs which made it quite sweet. Two of them also had beans and chickpeas, which contrasted with the sweetness. All of them were very high in calories, which is why it's traditionally a cold-weather treat. 

The first bowl we received - it was beanless and the one we liked best.

The beans made this one a little iffy for us!

Turkish culture says that when someone gives you a food item, you return their dish with another food item in it, so Joni returned the bowls to the neighbors with some homemade pumpkin bread. It coincided with our own Thanksgiving, so we enjoyed the parallels. Justin attempted to explain the parallel to one of the neighbors and it was met with an "Okay." :-) We were very thankful that we had several neighbors wanting to reach out to us in this cultural way, regardless of whether we loved the dish or not!

Roses!

I can't speak for all of Ankara, but I have been so pleased to see that our neighborhood is completely covered with rosebushes! Although nobody has a yard, it seems that people are pretty serious about landscaping, so every building has a garden that someone keeps, and the public trail that I walk to/from Elias' school is beautifully landscaped by the city. I've been watching with great joy through the spring as buds are coming out on all the bushes, and now they're finally beginning to bloom! Our building has an arch covered in climbing roses that are just beginning to bloom out a gorgeous red.

Little buddy is waiting patiently on the doorstep for Mommy to take the picture!

 

The public trail has rosebushes at every gap where there's a sidewalk out to the road, and those are completely covered in buds, which are blooming out a bright and beautiful pink!

So thankful for the natural beauty I get to see every day even living in an apartment in the middle of a huge city!

First Days

We've had a good first couple of days getting settled into our new home. The apartment is beautiful and we are so thankful for how convenient it was to have a furnished place to come home to! It is on the 4th floor (which is the top floor) of our apartment building, so we have quite a few steps to get here, but it's good exercise, and the view is amazing! Here's the view from one of our rooms:Although completely furnished, the apartment was still lacking quite a bit in just simple household items like extra linens, many cooking and baking items, etc. However, we've been able to find almost everything we wanted just in the couple blocks around our house! That's so great! We have several great grocery and general stores just around the corner, so that's incredibly convenient.

On Sunday morning, Elias woke up sick and was yucky all day. He was slightly better on Monday, much better on Tuesday, and completely well today. That made for a bummer couple of days, though, because we couldn't get out with him, not to mention how completely not fun it is to be sick or clean up after someone who is! He's a trooper, though, and bounces back quickly, so we're back in stride now. Here he is playing with his Thomas puzzle on Monday morning:
So right now our focus is language! Although Justin is functional, he still has a lot he wants to learn to improve. And I'm starting from scratch but already making some great headway with concentrated study. It's so much easier when it's all around you! Elias is even getting a start with words Justin is teaching him, and Justin has been showing him some Turkish children's television on a station called TRT Çocuk (pronounced cho-juke). He has found some of Elias' favorite shows dubbed over in Turkish, such as Dinosaur Train and Chuggington. However, Elias even loves the Turkish shows he's never seen before. Look at him laughing at one of them!