I don't even know where to start. We've been at our Friends in Batman. We have them 2021 on the holy Mount Nemrut got to know.
So I sent them a WhatsApp message asking if we could come round for a cup of tea. Sure, they're looking forward to seeing us.
So we roll a little to the north, past Mardin and Midyat, also past Hasankeyf and across the huge dammed-up Tigris and stand in front of the door hours later. We are greeted warmly and embraced.
It's as if we had never been away. The children have got a bit older, everyone speaks much better English and communication works much better. And Leo, the Scottish cat, is just as "special" as he was a few years ago. Three kittens have joined the family. We give them names. Unfortunately they have to stay outside, Leo wants to be the sole ruler of the house. So there's plenty of cuddles to go round. Gerd is now also in 7th heaven.
Of course, it doesn't stop at tea. We cook and eat together and I document all the Turkish recipes in photographs because it's so exciting. The family are really good cooks, which doesn't suit our trouser waistbands at all. So the trend is towards elasticated waistbands and jogging bottoms.
We play cards and lots of other games. When we give Tamer a Swiss army knife (we really thought long and hard about what to give someone who already has everything!)he mentions in passing that he always carves now. Well, that's hardly going to work with the knife, but we won't say anything.
After the meal, Tamer gets out his carving tools and we all get a blank to carve. Hours later, minor injuries included, we have some really great spoons. Not all of them are equally good, but as they are our first pieces, we still like them. Tamer carves another H&G for us and gives it to us as a present.
The next few days are wonderful. Although we are guests, we have the feeling that we have always been here. At some point we hear the sentence: "You're family." In a quiet moment, Gerd then asks what exactly it means when you say that to guests. "It means that we would do everything for you as we would for family members." Wow, that's really wonderful. And very touching.
The doorbell rings, friends arrive with flowers and cake. It's a belated birthday celebration, and of course we join in. And we spend the whole day together. Dinner included.
Emire really wants to learn to knit. My big moment, I get out my little knitting workshop and she's already knitting a single-colour and then a two-colour Norwegian pattern. Wow, someone's got talent. Okay, then I show her some plaits, she can do that too in no time at all.
She quickly takes a look at my range of knitting needles and it doesn't take long for her husband to order a set online. A few days later, she's knitting like crazy. I think knitting is very contagious here. The son is also learning and is really good at it, even if he doesn't have his mum's patience.
This is how the days pass, we work in the living room during the day, knit, carve, play, cook and bake in the evening. We listen to music and enjoy our time together. And above all, we learn a lot, ask endless questions and hear about life and Turkey. In return, they also learn a lot about Switzerland, we have a Helvetian Röschti evening and the first German words flow into our conversations. It's great fun, they learn words like "Brotkörbchen", "Gern geschehen" and "Kochlöffel". Just what you need when food is your main daily activity.
We are planning our onward journey to Iran here, have to go back to Ankara to the Iranian embassy and also need dollars, because credit cards don't work in Iran. Of course, our friends help us with all this.
My goodness, what a joy to know a place with family structures here. Full of gratitude, we lie in our Felix in the evening, and if it had been up to Tamer and his family, we would have slept in their bedroom. But a little privacy is good for us all.
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
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