Thursday, January 24, 2013

Rainy Days and Weekend Exploration

We are having a rare rainy day here in Adana, so instead of exploring the neighborhood or checking out the local markets like I usually do, I am sitting at home sipping hot tea and catching up on blogging.
 
Last weekend, S had Monday off compliments of the great Dr. King, so we took the opportunity to explore the neighborhood as a family. 
 
There is a beautiful park here that we have come to love, so we spent the mornings there E.  That kid loves to slide, so we went up and down all the different slides until we were convinced he was tuckered out.  But no, after the slides came the see-saws, and then of course came the running.  For the record, E doesn't walk anywhere, he runs.  We try very hard to get him to walk, "E slow down, E watch where you're going, E WALK!" but he just shakes his finger at us and says "No walk.  I running!" He is really feeling his "almost-two-ness" lately, and if we can't get the kid to actually listen, then the least we can do is take it outside.  So yes, once the slides and see-saws had been exhausted, E ran...and ran...and ran.  He even gets into a little runner's stance and says "Ready, Set, Go!" before he takes off.  Maybe one day we'll have a future track star on our hands.
 
But I digress...

Once the running was under control our afternoons consisted of yummy Turkish lunches, a stop at a local ice cream shop, and casual strolling along some of the main avenues in our area.  S and I love to discover new places and make a mental list of all the restaurants or cafes that we would like to try, so we started our list last weekend. 

First up was a small place nearby that specializes in tuvuk durüm.  Tuvuk durüm is basically a chicken wrap, but it's a chicken wrap Turkey-style, so it's better.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to successfully communicate that we wanted tuvuk durüm because our waiter ultimately served us a plate full of sliced chicken, bread and a second plate loaded with pickled veggies. I guess the looks of confusion went unnoticed by him because he sauntered off with a happy smile after handing us the food and restocking our napkin supply.  Whatever it is we did order looked fantastic anyway, so we dove in.  And it tasted just as good as it looked.  E was even impressed with the pickled veggies, a first food experience for him.  We will be back again soon, I'm sure. 

The ice cream stop was more successful thanks to the Turkish-English fruits and veggies board books we bought E for Christmas.  What is strawberry again?  Oh yeah, here's E's book...Çilek.  Thanks!

After that we strolled along checking out more shops and adding to our list of restaurants.  Thankfully, there are loads of fine (and not so fine) dining experiences just within a five to ten minute walk of our apartment, but that also means we are going to have to do a LOT of eating out if we are to cover all these places.  And we have only just scratched the surface.  I can't wait to see what this upcoming weekend has in store for us.
 

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