November has been a fascinating month. I survived my first earthquake! It was a 5.3 although I wasn't exactly sure what was happening when I noticed my room shaking, and by the time I realized what it was, it was over.
Two weeks ago, there was a week-long holiday in Turkey called the "Kurban Bayram" or the "Sheep/victim/sacrifice holiday" (kurban means many things in Turkish). This is when they gather lots of sheep/goats and sacrifice them in honor of the Abraham/Isaac story from the Bible (although they believe the story to be Abraham and his other son Ishmael). While my students told me stories about the sheep they got to kill, I decided to leave Turkey and take advantage of how close I am to other countries. I got the chance to tour three countries in Europe: Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland. It was a great holiday! I went with one of my friends from work, and we just traveled making last minute hostel reservations and booking trains from city to city. We did a lot of free walking tours (www.neweuropetours.eu), which I highly recommend! My favorite city was Prague where we got to see the astronomical clock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Astronomical_Clock). I also saw Auschwitz when I was in Krakow which was a very sad but powerful visit.
I have some pictures available on facebook, but I will have a Picasa link for you soon so you can see the rest of the pictures that I didn't post to facebook. Hopefully, I will have that soon!
Back in Izmir, I have just moved apartments! The girl I was subleasing for returned home, and so I moved in with another friend from work and it has been great! I couldn't have asked for an easier transition. Just yesterday, we celebrated Thanksgiving (albeit a few days late). It was quite a memorable meal, and definitely the first Thanksgiving dinner I have attended where the Americans were outnumbered. There were 3 Americans, 4 Turks, 1 Swede, and 1 Brit; and we had quite the food selection: Chicken (turkey is very difficult to find and very expensive in Turkey, ironically enough), stove-top stuffing (courtesy of my roommate's parents' visit the week before), Swedish meatballs, cabbage, çiğ köfte (a Turkish meal), mashed potatoes, cornbread, and pumpkin-ginger cupcakes. While quite an eclectic meal and group, it was a lot of fun!
Can you spot the Americans?
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