Turkish Crash Course

Serra, our Turkish coworker gave us a ten minute Turkish class today. Reading the words is one thing, saying a foreign language out loud for communication is another thing. My way of learning a language is through hearing and saying it . The things I learned to "pronounce" so far were of utmost importance to me so I really appreciated Serra's effort and patience.

Cemberlitas ['chember'litash] - the hamam I want to visit
Midye ['midi'e] - mussel, my favorite seafood
Turk kaveh - Turkish coffee
Varmi ['varme] - Mi [me] means "is there?"
Varmi turk kaveh fal [fa:l] - is there Turkish Coffee fortune telling?
Ceramic [ceramic] - this one sounds exactly the same as English.
lampa ['lamba] - I'd like to have a ceiling lamp like the ones I missed in Morocco. Kebele, the hotel we are staying at in Istanbul has lamps overhanging in every ceiling every room. It will be fabulous.
Vapur - ferry. We possibly will take one to cross the continents the first afternoon.
Ben lei - "I am Lei". This one is so easy. I urged Julee to remember it too so I don't need to learn "... and this is my friend Julee".

On Food!!

• Doner - doner kebeb
• lokum ['loku:m]- Turkish delight
• simit - some round salty sesame thing which is supposed to be delicious according to Serra. We should have it with tea ['chei]
• kalamar - calamari (this is my favorite too... if I could have it grilled with lemon and garlic... I would be in heaven. I am completely envisioning it in a mezze at this moment.)

If I am also concerned with manners, I should remember to say:

• Merhaba - Hello
• Sau - thank you in simple format
• Tesekkurlash [te'shek 'kularsh]- is the "thank you" in difficult configuration for my tongue and I know I am butchering it so I will stick with Sau.
• Hoscakal ['hosh'chakal] - good bye when you are the person leaving
• Gule gule ['gewlei'gewlei] - goodbye when you are the person staying. It literally means smile, smile. When I say it, I think about Serra's smiling face. How cute!

I am 90% packed and ready to go.