Taking Hospitality With a Grain of Salt

“Blessed is the man who can laugh at himself, for he will never cease to be amused.” This proverb is one of my favorites. It reminds me not to take myself so seriously.

Being able to laugh at myself certainly helped me during a recent catastrophe. My husband and I had guests, and when I stood up to re-fill the tea glasses, the slip I was wearing under my skirt mysteriously slid down in perfect ring around my feet!  I won't go into that story now, but I'm pretty sure it broke the norms of hospitality in any country, not just here in Turkey. (I still can’t believe it really happened.)

Why I Can Now Be a Real, Bona-Fide Turkish Housewife

Yesterday I celebrated my 49^th birthday and made it to #2,985 on my One Thousands Gifts List.  See my list below to find out which gift makes me qualify to be a real-life, bona-fide Turkish housewife:

Hope for When You Still Don't Speak the Language

It’s easy to get discouraged about language learning, especially when you still don’t speak the language after five years!   During our fifth year, Turkish neighbors asked my husband, “So you’ve been living here a long time now.  How come you don’t speak any better than this?” They didn’t mean to be unkind, but we were left speechless and discouraged.

My Husband and Daughter

My husband Javier is my language learning hero. Although he scored in the 25^th percentile on a language aptitude test given by our organization, he came to Turkey at age 48, determined to learn Turkish.  It’s been a long road, and we’ve learned some things together about language learning:

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