Tea Time!

I posted some of these pictures on Facebook already, but I had one of my favorite families over for tea (as well as some American friends). We sat, talked, laughed, drank tea, and ate deliciously unhealthy snacks. 

Another unrelated event, we attended another henna night, which is like a bachelorette party (the bride is in the red dress).

These next pictures are from another wedding that we attended (not the same person as the henna night). We danced and danced and danced!

And this is our lovely language teacher. We love her!

A Little Trip to the Village

I had the exciting opportunity to go with some friends to a very small city in our country. While there, we hosted an eye clinic during the day and visited homes in the evening. I helped translate, assemble and distribute glasses, and I even made dinner one evening for one of the families! Here are pictures from the trip:

These are the hotel rooms we stayed at. They tried to fit two queen beds in a room that had one foot of walking space around the edge of both beds... In the second hotel it felt a little like we were in someone's house. The comforters and towels were not coordinated, and you could practically take a shower while on the toilet!

We flew to one city, then drove a while, took a ferry, and drove some more. On the way we stopped by the river and drank some tea. Oh, and I think at one point we were by the Euphrates River, I am just not sure when!

 Some of the materials and preparing for the eye clinic...

The first day of the clinic, the governor happened to come in town for the first time in years, so there was a big ceremony outside of our building, men dancing in lines, as well as tanks driving all over the place!

At one of the visits to a home in a village of about 5 homes, I saw these shoes outside! One of the ladies had somehow acquired a pair of fake TOMS all the way out in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes the world seems so small... Here they are in the kitchen preparing tea for us. The following picture is the home, and then the view from the village.

Assembling some glasses

I think the idea of this is so gross, but they actually don't taste that bad!

The two ladies that made breakfast for us almost every day. It was delicious.

One day we had lunch with the mayor of the city!

I made a new friend! She helped us with the eye clinic and translate for most of the week.

More pictures from visiting villages, including a lady making flat bread, and a lady beating wool (I got to pretend like I was helping her!). The last lady was making a quesadilla-like food and I bought some socks and a scarf from her.

Miscellaneous

One of my dearest friends just left and I am going to miss her so much! We have had such fun times together during the past year, and everything will be so different without her...

This is a cake the girls made that says "cok iyi" which means "very good".

The other day we played a game of Apples to Apples. Our friends said that whatever green cards you end up with describe you. Ronnie got "disturbing" and "unbelievable". I got "masculine"...

Also, we have a place here called the "Shake Shack". I don't know if it is in the states, but if so I have never been there before. It's pretty good. They make custard concretes, and I had my first one!