In Turkey (where they don't have turkeys!)

One of the questions I have been asked many times by students when they found out I was traveling to Turkey was "Do they have turkeys in Turkey?" I did research on Pebble Go (see the photo below) and found out that turkeys are native to North America. I also discovered Turkey is the 4th largest producer of tomatoes, and the top supplier to the world of figs, apricots, hazelnuts and raisins. One fourth of the roses in the world come from Turkey; I hope to see flowers while I'm here!

 On Saturday at 1:30 in the afternoon, I got on a plane which flew directly to Istanbul, Turkey. In the video below, you can see the path the plane took. It was about a nine and a half hour flight, and I had to put my watch ahead seven hours because of the time zone difference; can you figure out what time I arrived?

The person sitting next to me was a nice woman name Beytul. She was visiting friends in New York City for a week and returning to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. To get there, she was flying to Istanbul and getting on another plane to Ankara. She spoke very little English, and I spoke very little Turkish (see the words and phrases I learned below), so we communicated with our phones, using Google Translate and lots of smiles! 

Turkish Words and Phrases

• Hello            Merhaba (MEHR-hah-bah)
• Good-bye        Elveda (el-veh-DAH)
• How are you?        nasilsin? (Nah-SUL-sun)
• I am fine        lyiyim (ee-YI-yim)
• Thank you        Tesekkur ederim (tesh-ek-KEWR ed-er-im)
• Please            Lutfen (LEWT-fen)
• Yes            Evet (eh-VEHT)
• No            Hayir (HAH-yuhr)

What do you want to know about Turkey? I will do my best to get answers for you.  It's time for a short nap; it's 8:00 am here in Istanbul, but my body thinks it's 1:00 am. Elveda!