Delightful Isparta SERVAS Visit
We arrived in Isparta late in the afternoon, but too early to present ourselves at our host's home. It is Friday afternoon. School is out, mid-day prayer is over, people are shopping, going home, and the streets are busy as we drive through town looking for a grocery store. Eventually, we leave the city center and find a small market where we pickup some bread, cheese, fruit, and cookies to bring to our hosts along with a few small house gifts.
Earlier we had found the house, and after our trip to the grocery, we found it again easily, parked and rang the doorbell. Our host Ugur said he would be working all day (middle school English teacher) and would be home at 5:00. We arrived at 5:30. Our host opened the door, a bit surprised that we had found his home without some phone directions, but still very welcoming. He introduced himself and his mother Afife.
We spent a delightful evening with our new Turkish friends, learning about one another and discovering as we always do with our SERVAS visits that people around the world are more alike than dissimilar. We love our SERVAS visits because it keeps us grounded in the best of humanity, generosity, and kindness. Our host Ugur took us out to dinner at a local restaurant where we enjoyed soup, Turkish Pizza, and kebabs. The food and conversation was wonderful.
Afife was a lovely lady and when we returned home, she presented me with three scarves, one for me and two for our daughter and daughter-in-law. She and I both took great pleasure as she demonstrated how to wear the scarf. We had a good time.
The following morning, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast. Afife grew up on a goat farm, and shared with us goat butter for our toast. It was very tasty. We learned through Ugur's translation that Afife was sad that she could not understand or contribute to our English conversation. I remembered that I had an app on my I-pad that could record in one language, and provide an oral translation in another. We tried it out, and it worked fairly well. The syntax of English and Turkish is quite different and because names in Turkish have meaning, for instance Afife (means a moral woman), the names color the translation. Ugur still needed to do some translation, but the conversation now became more participatory. Technology is really amazing.
After breakfast, Ugur guided us out to lake Ada, the second biggest lake in Turkey and much like our lake Tahoe.
Set in a bowl of large surrounding mountains which are home to ski areas in the winter, the lake changes colors from blue, green, and grey depending on the light and cloud cover. We drive to a lookout where we have great views and enjoy a light lunch and Turkish Tea in a little cafe where we share a table with a lady from London who travels considerably and lives in Turkey.
After tea, we took our leave with a brief stop at lake level on the island connected with a land bridge, and returned to Isparta just before 3:00 pm.
We said our goodbyes to Ugur and Afife. Ugur was driving his mom to his sister's home for a late afternoon tea, and we were off to Aspendos. We had a wonderful visit and are grateful to SERVAS for opportunities like this to meet and make new friends all over the world.
All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's in Turkey
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