Yum!

Turkey offers a lot of delicious food options and we were thrilled to taste test many of them, but we found ourselves especially loving the following five:

1. Borek

A baked or fried filled pastry made from phyllo. It is often filled with feta cheese, meat, or vegetables. I usually enjoyed the cheese or spinach-filled borek.... yum!

2. Gozleme

A stuffed, hand rolled pastry that is cooked over a griddle. Oftentimes, it is filled with the same ingredients as borek—cheese, vegetables, or meat—but we also enjoyed it with honey and peanut butter... yum!

3. Baklava

Although it looks similar to borek and gozleme, baklava tastes very different. Made from phyllo dough, baklava is sweetened with syrup or honey and frequently coated in pistachios... yum!

4. Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Perhaps it is not a "traditional" Turkish dish, but Istanbul loves their stuffed baked potatoes. Similar to the counter at Subway, you can choose from a variety of different toppings for your potato including olives, meat, coleslaw, mushrooms, onions, potato salad... Why not top your baked potato with potato salad? Yum.

5. Stuffed Waffles

A great idea! Why choose toppings for a baked potato or Subway sandwich when you can put things inside a waffle? Chocolate sauce, carmel sauce, pistachio cream, strawberry cream, whipped cream, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, peanuts, walnuts, kiwi, strawberries, pineapple, yellow cherries, red cherries, green cherries, sprinkles, coconut... yum!

FYI: It's possible the stuffed waffles may upset your stomach...

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

When I'm in Egypt and I'm all templed out, I like to do something different. Hop on a relaxing river boat, sail down the Nile and stop on an island. A banana island, that is.

It's true.

On Luxor's banana island, hundreds of banana trees bask in the sunlight while farmers sit and wait for the fruit to ripen. Why do tourists visit the island? I'm not sure. There aren't any mummies or pyramids or temples or statues to see. In fact, the only other thing to look at is the crocodile the locals have captured, which they now poke with a stick. Obviously, that's not a good idea. But, after a tour around the land with a semi-informative guide and a quick poke at the croc, we sat in the shade and enjoyed a heaping platter of bananas. Maybe that's why people go. Who would turn down a perfectly good banana?

Our boat, the Tom & Jerry

Baby bananas

Don't Touch the Water

A cruise down the Nile River is a relaxing experience, especially after a full day of Cairo's chaos. As the longest river in the world, the 4,184 mile long Nile flows through ten different countries in Africa including: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, and Kenya. The north-flowing river ends in northern Egypt where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Because of pollution, the waters in Egypt are considered extremely dirty and we were advised several times not to touch the river.

I have two things to say about this picture:

1. Of course there is a TGI Fridays on the bank of the Nile River!

2. If you ask someone where Moses was found they might point here, or over there, or there, or there. Nobody knows for sure but if there are reeds then it's a "possibility."

Delivery!

Every restaurant in Cairo delivers.

Wait, I meant to say, EVERY RESTAURANT IN CAIRO DELIVERS!

Feel like Hardee's but just can't deal with the ridiculous traffic in Cairo? Order delivery.

Just got a spur of the moment craving for a milkshake from Burger King? Order delivery.

Want some Egyptian food but you don't have a kitchen? Order delivery.

Never want to leave your house again? That's okay! Order delivery.

Fast food, local food, exotic food, any food. Delivery.

Just imagine what would happen to people in America if every restaurant delivered....

Dinner Party

After a long day at Petra, we were invited to dinner at a friend's house. The family prepared a traditional Jordanian meal of chicken, rice, and vegetables called, Maqluva. In typical fashion, they arranged a monstrous tray of food, which we circled around on the floor and shared family-style. A plastic sheet below the food made clean up effortless and we were able to enjoy learning more about the culture from an insider's perspective.

Dessert—hot tea/coffee and cookies

The food in Jordan and throughout the Middle East is delicious and quite different from the East Asian cuisine I had been eating the past year. In addition to the Maqluva above, we enjoyed several other dishes, including:

Shwarma: Meat (chicken or beef) shaved off an oversized kabob and placed in a pita with vegetables, french fries, falafel, and mystery mayonnaise.

Falafel: Fried chickpeas in a ball or patty shape

Hummus: Chickpeas and Tahini dip served with pita

Lamb

Goat cheese

(All pictures courtesy of Melissa W.)

Marhaba Jordan, Hello Jordan!

Touching down in Jordan, I was eager to immerse into a new culture. Having lived and traveled throughout Southeast Asia for a year, I gained a taste and understanding for the various countries and their unique cultures, but I was itching to try something different. Admittedly ignorant about several aspects of life in the Middle East, I knew the best way to learn was through experience and one month in three different countries promised to provide many diverse learning opportunities, not to mention the chance to see my friends after our year-long interlude.

After an emotionally exciting reunion, I began firing off the questions that were dancing through my mind while Kacy did her best to explain bits and pieces of what she has learned after her first year of living abroad.

What I learned in the first hour:

1. The men and women we saw on our flight to Kuwait were probably Palestinian because of the men's white robes and white or black/white checkered scarves. The black and white scarves are typical of Palestinian men while Jordanian men usually wear red and white.

2. We should not communicate in any way with men we do not know in public: talking, staring, smiling, etc. It is considered inappropriate in their culture and may be interpreted far differently than is our intention.

3. In general, Jordanians are fond of Americans, which makes it a safe country for us to visit.

4. There are "two" types of people in Jordan: Muslims and Christians. If a woman is not wearing a head-covering she is either a Christian or a very wealthy Muslim. We did not have to cover our heads.

5. People do not use headlights because they waste the car battery.

6. Most dishes include chicken, lamb, or beef. Muslims do not eat pork and we shouldn't advertise our love for bacon.

7. The "Call to Prayer" happens 5 times each day and is loudly projected from each mosque... There are many mosques.

Less Than 24 Hours

It's here.

I shipped my boxes off today (all 6.5 of them... one is small) and spent hours cleaning the apartment for the new teachers. After I finish packing my tiny suitcase and backpack I'll be just about ready to go. Tonight I'm having my last dinner at Sumo's—my favorite sushi restaurant—and then I'll get on the bus tomorrow morning at 7:20 am and head to the airport.

Once I get to Shanghai I hope to spend a few days updating the blog with pictures and stories of the past few days (parties, goodbyes, school, etc.).

Until China...

Special Visitors

A breath of fresh air arrived on September 4th when my parents landed in Korea for a much-needed visit. It had been just a few weeks shy of a year since I'd last seen them and their timing couldn't have been better. That day at school felt endless as I waited for their phone call to let me know they were in the country. I told each class about their visit and watched as the kids' eyes grew huge with disbelief. "Teacher, your mother and father...Korea?! Wow..." One class commented on how happy I looked as I told them and I could see my excitement rub off on their faces as their smiles widened.

As the last class arrived, I finally received the phone call from my dad. They had made it safely and were sitting in my apartment waiting for me. A 40 minute class couldn't have gone by slower than that one, and when the final bell rang I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. Without letting my sandals slow me down, I literally ran all the way home and laughed to myself as my own image conjured up thoughts of a sappy movie or commercial. It was worth the run when I busted through the door and saw them standing there—face to face, not on a computer screen.

With only a few short days before they headed to Japan we tried to make the most of our time together. They sampled a few ubiquitous Korean dishes (galbi, bulgolgi, and bibimbap), visited my school, strolled through my neighborhood, indulged in some shopping, met my friends, and experienced one of the largest palaces in Korea—Gyeongbokgung.

Although short, their visit was exactly what I needed to reenergize and refocus myself for the remaining month of school and two months of traveling. I was sad to say goodbye, but excited for the experiences they had yet to have in Japan. Sharing my life in Korea with them is absolutely one of my most cherished memories from this year.

With a stroke of luck, we arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards ceremony at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

A palace bedroom

The painted ceiling of a palace room

A tour guide in traditional Korean dress, hanbok.

The populated palace suddenly opened onto an expansive garden.

JAPAN: Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market

*WARNING: The pictures and video in this blog contain images that may be disturbing to young children, mermaids, and definitely... vegetarians.

Our first day in Tokyo started at 2:30 am...

After meeting our tour guide on a surprisingly busy street corner we headed to the world's largest wholesale fish and seafood market, Tsukiji Fish Market. The market handles over 2,000 metric tons of seafood per day from tiny sardines to 660 pound tuna; and sells everything from the cheapest seaweed to the most expensive caviar. The hustle and bustle of the market was incredible and a distinct sensory overload caused me to forget that I should've still been asleep.

The market itself is divided into two sections: the inner market and the outer market. Each day, seafood is shipped to the inner market from around the world by boat, truck, and plane. The fish is auctioned off to licensed participants and, in some cases, processed in stalls onsite. The outer market is a mixture of wholesale shops peddling Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies and groceries; combined with many restaurants selling the freshest sushi in the world.

A day at Tsukiji Fish Market:

3:00 am - 5:20 am The market opens with the arrival of seafood from around the world. Auction houses and wholesalers prepare the products for auction and give each item an estimated value. During this period, licensed bidders inspect the seafood and decide which fish they would like to later bid on.

5:20 am - 7:00 am The various auctions commence—everything from the smallest seafood to the largest (and most exciting) tuna catches. The licensed bidders are comprised of market stall owners and agents acting on behalf of various restaurants or retailers.

7:00 am - 1:00 pm The purchased fish is either loaded onto trucks and shipped to the next destination, or taken on carts to the various rented stalls within the market. In the stalls, shop owners cut and prepare their fish using elaborate saws, knives, and picks.

1:00 pm The market is closed for cleaning and everyone returns home before waking up early the next morning to repeat the day's events.

The Inner Market

Delivery at 3:00 am

Bidders inspecting the small fish before the auction

Fugu, or pufferfish, are very poisonous and can be deadly if not prepared properly.

Small fish auction

After the auction, carefully preparing his winnings.

Unloading the highly coveted blue fin tuna

Frozen tuna

Before the auction, bidders inspect and choose their favorite.

Fresh tuna

Bidders waiting around for the exciting tuna auction, which can get bids up to $10,000/fish!

Mr. Frugasan, a top Tokyo sushi chef, and his $4,000 tuna.

Post-preparation

After the excitement ended and the sun came up, we were finally able to appreciate the inner market's massiveness.

Our helpful, informative, and...precious tour guide.

The Outer Market

Japanese knives you can't get from an infomercial.