Thee Shall be Remembered

Kerim n the children with photos of the honoured one on the backgroud...

It was wonderful to see the kids saying...

*bu dede... bu dede...bu dede*

(this is dede (grandpa..this s grandpa..this is grandpa)

The Grandchildren

Sabahaddin, Keremcan, Nur Hatice

Mehveş, Muyessa Yenge and Mahture Yenge

The 3 male siblings who was there... Selim couldnt make it due to his night lecture..

Halil, Kerim, Halim

The man being honoured... Baba..

whoever he maybe to some.. to me he is simply..baba..

Keng Bey... bu adam taniyor musun?

Evet.. Nevzat Bey...

The lady who cried...

Uskudar Belediye başkanı giving baba the plate n flowers..

When his one and only daughter was called upon to the stage to talk about him, she was basically trembling. Being an educator at a university with whom she had faced thousands of students over the years didnt helpat all. This is a special occasion.... She knew too that she would cry while talking about him. Having such a tender sweet heart that is rare... Even for a smple thing, her tears can flood the world.. and to talk on such a dear person at heart? I was expecting more than just simple flood! hahahahha...She was gracious.. she was polite.. she held herself very well... him proud to see her manarism..... proud to have a daughter like her... and at one point when she could take it no more... she cried in front of the audience... making most of the ladies in the hall (not me ... i was laughing at her heheheeh)... burst into tears!.. Well... now she is paying for it of course for she is non stop being teased by her siblings! hahahaha

And then the youngest son was called upon.... again, another nervous one. But he spoke well of him, impressing everyone at the way he spoke, at his word choice...of his description of him... the honoured one... Of course, The youngest son's son upon seeing his dad on stage, asked the mom's permission to go on stage as well... and so... 2 generations were on stage....one giving the speech... and one hoovering around , even making actions only kids do...but someone who bears the name of the honoured one....

I will put the video of their speeches later in my photo blog... next week perhaps... inşaAllah cd da gelecek size..... ama biraz vakit alır...kusurabakma..

What a night it was. It was a really nice night really..coz it was that night (Tuesday night) that the Uskudar Belediyesi (Uskudar Municipal Authority) decided to honour baba (my dad in law) by holding the Sabahattin Zaim Gecesi (Sabahattin Zaim Night) at the Uskudar Kültür Merkezi. It was a wonderful gesture on behalf of the belediyesi... to honour a man like that... We were also impressed by the Uskudar Belediye Başkanı for he was one very gentleman...who did not put *air* around for the position he holds...Çok effendi bir adam...maşaAllah..

Towards the end, there was the photo session... we all went to the stage of course... it was definitely nice particularly for the grandchildren to be around.. true they were tired coz it was so long and it was really late... hatice even fell asleep while watching while baddin ran all around the place (but he's the grandson of the honoured one..so nobody scolded him hehehe)... n keremcan was like....ne zaman bitecek? (when will this be over?)... but they stayed patient till the end.. i particularly wanted my kids to see their dede being honoured.. baddin may not remember it much.. but it should be an experience they should remember... ..

and what was i wearing?.. i think my costume was quite strikingly different from the rest of the people there because i was wearing our traditional dress (baju kurung) ..white n pink color.....

The last two weeks, they were happening weeks. This week is no less. I wont bore u with the details... but i am puffing still :0) As some of u may have known.. a fellow blogger *ibu* is here in istanbul for a meeting... she is also the one who is holding my asam *hostage* at the hilton hotel *wink*... insyaAllah... ibu n her sweetheart will be staying over at our humble place... that means from friday till sunday... i will be playing host...

And that same sunday, hatice will have the end of the year school show... she will be involved in several activities...

1. drama (turkish)

2. drama (english)

3. halk oyun (basically traditional dance)

4. choir...

she will also be saying something and something ..one in turkish... and one in english... i cant wait to see her show though i have seen all those when we practice at home..

Isteyenlar... pazar akşam saat 1900, Maltepe Coşkun Lisesi... davetlisınız...

That also means that i will be missing till Sunday from the net...will try to update on Monday...(if i have the strength hahaha)... i miss blog hopping..but these days...it is a luxury i cant really indulge myself in much...

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!!

And yes! I am FİNALLY a LEgAL ResiDENt of Turkey! I cant say i am looking forward for the next renewal... But u know what? i was only 3 years late in my renewal.... there was one person who had not renewed the PR for 15 years! hahahhaa..... But looking at the process needed to renew the PR.. i dont blame that person... it is a nightmare!

Thank You for hopping by...Hope to see u again the next time..

Genç (Wink) Hanımlar Gunu

How would u feel when u saw a notice pasted at the entrance door of the apartment saying that the next day between 9am till 1pm, there wouldnt be any electricity due to some work in the area? Would u be smiling knowing that by 10.30am max on that day, u were expecting around 7 gorgeous ladies to ur home for a breakfast get together..and at that time, there would be no electricity? No electricity would also mean that there would be no water. Wonderful,huh?

Luckily the electricity went off only after we were all seated at the dining table. It didnt matter much then. We all had our breakfast, chatted in glee and by 12.15 noon, everyone parted.

Such a gathering is actually a tradition in the turkish community. While Anne (my mom in law) was alive,she used to have these kind of gathering for the ladies at her home. Her date was always the 15th of each month. Her friends would come and she would cook and prepared so many food, enough to feel a whole batallion of armies. All her children used to come to her in the evening to eat all her wonderful food.

I remember how as a new bride, i used to dread when i was invited to a *gunu* (day) like this. First of all, i didnt understand a word they were saying. No. 2… I didnt know really anne’s friends. No 3… socialization was not my strongest point. I got bored so fast and so easily. And these gatherings could stretch for hours. as the bride u cannot be u totally. so...for those long hours u have to be at ur best manner which was really tiring since i am not a very well mannered person...

We didnt have such a gathering among the brides then. Mainly because, for years, Funda was working. Özlem was in the US and Meşe was joining the gatherings with anne and teyze.

After Anne died, almost 4 years after her death, Funda (who gave up working to look after her younger child elo) one day invited all the ladies for a get together since we rarely see each other much. Then, 2 weeks after that we gathered at İclal’s.. and today, it was my place.

What i gather is this… these kinds of gathering is only fun only if it is being held with the people u get well on.. someone near ur age. If u include an older person…of the older generation, then everybody would be acting differently. From what i see, we shared loads of laugh n stories… and it was indeed fun… so the *gunu* i used to dread for is not really a dreadful thing if it isheld with the right crowd...

Thank u for coming! Ayağınıza sağlık!

Özlem, Pınar, İclal, Mehveş, Yeşim, Funda

some of the stuffs on the table

Egg

breakfast without ekmek is not a breakfast

sosis

pancake topped with mushroom n vegetables topping

One cake from özlem, one from iclal n the apple pie made by me

Thank You for hopping by...Hope to see u again the next time..

*On the go* r the words

Rest assured that while i am trying to tranfer n modify the pictures from my camera into the pc.. baddin decided to crash in n sit on my lap…

Be assured too that with baddin is on my lap…he is non stop asking me the numbers on the calculator he is holding,… my one hand dealing with the keyboard…as i am also trying to eat my meal.. (shrimp n squid with sauce n spaghetti n bla bla bla..at 8.30am??? i must be nuts! hahah)

When Halil told me to expect around 6 students for dinner .. my past experience of feeding university students told me to let it be heavy on the main menu.. n light on the cold dishes…Well..that was what i did… we fed them last night…simple may be easier said than done though… the whole day yesterday i was busy dealing with tidying up the place…n last minute cooking.. on Sunday, i was on my feet cooking the cold dishes the whole day…

Simple cold dishes:

börulce salatası (biji kacang panjang salad), green salad, fried carrot with yogurt n garlic topping, friend eggplant with tomato sauce n garlic, rus salatası, turşu

Main dish:speghetti with mushroom n tomato sauce, fresh steamed peas with butter n chicken topped with mushroom sauce, mash potato n cheese

I forgot to snap the photo of the apple pie as the dessert :0)

Then, on Saturday night, we invited everyone in the family to celebrate baddin’s belated birthday… n on top of that, that same day… on Saturday at 1.30pm, there was the PTA (parents,teacher meeting)… at hatice’s school which i attended while Halil looked after the kids….(Hatice got excellent for all sections in her report card..aferin kızıma)…n the journey home by the mini bus..was a long one…becoz it was Saturday.. the traffic was heavy.. i only reached home by 5pm after one hour journey…Alhamdulillah enough for me to do the last minute home cleaning…..

Due to the circumstances of Saturday, i had no choice but to prepare the salty things for Saturday night on Friday ( a day earlier)… that took me the whole day too as i discovered my whole apt was a mess as well…

N now i need to go somewhere after this as well…hmmm… interesting is the word i’d say these past few days have been :0) .. tiring but i think they r satsfying…

Satisfying coz everybody got together on Saturday night… the kids got to play with their cousins..This was the first time everybody got together at our place ever since Hatice n baddin have separate rooms… There r more rooms for each kids to play… Hatice, Zeynep n keremcan played on hatice’s bed… the younger ones played everywhere else..underneath hatice’s bed… inside baddin’s room, along the corridor… n at one point..underneath the eating table in the living room! Hehehe..

Satisfying coz on Monday night… we fed some university students…we do that once in a while..whenever requested… they r usually those students who study here in İstanbul n their parents live in another city… perhaps very far from here… i suppose the aim is to let these students eat home made food…instead of junks n ready made food….I cooked 2 apple pies for dessert …they finished one… so Halil packed that extra one pie for the students tobring it to where ever they r staying…


It is 9.30am! i better get ready! Will try to blog hop n reply emails tonite…(remembering the tons of clothes to be ironed waiting for me)....

Zaimlar: i will try to add in the rest of the pictures at the photo blog a bit later..

Thank You for hopping by...Hope to see u again the next time..