Turkey: Land of Giant Vegetables

I'm not kidding. I am often blown away at the market by the sheer size of the vegetables. Leeks, cabbages, and apples in particular stand out as amazingly large versions of the normal-sized fruits and vegetables we have at home. I wish I had a picture of the apples, but the leeks and cabbages will have to do for now.

This week is Kurban Bayram, the holiday devoted to sacrificing goats and sheep in honor of Abraham's sacrifice (that was supposed to be Isaac) so we have the week off from school. Its been a good chance to rest. I made some Christmas cards, which made my heart happy, and we've been watching lots of Christmas movies, and listening to Christmas music! Next comes decorating the house for our Christmas/Goodbye Alli party. Last week we did puppets at school, and the kids loved them. We used them as we taught the concepts of "night" and "day" so the students got to make snoring noises and put their puppets to sleep. Lots of fun!

Tomorrow we will go to Konya to see the Whirling Dervish festival at Mevlana. We've heard from several people that there will be snow, so I had to pull out all my warm layers, that I haven't needed yet in Antalya. Should be fun!