Seeing Friends in Ankara

After a family breakfast, Turkish style, at Casa Dengiz,  Monday was spent trying to get some banking done in the city with Orhan.  We had accounts leftover from our living in Turkey last year which needed adjustment.  Banking in Turkey is a Byzantine activity if you forgive the allusion.  Things take forever and changes are fraught with rules which seem less than logical and certainly not customer friendly.  Anyway, we did what we could (we would need to return the following week to complete matters) with Orhan's vital help with translations (the bank staff does not speak English).

Alice joined Cevahir Sumer at her apartment for lunch.  Cevahir went all out and prepared some delicious food including the favorites of red pepper paste and the tiny sarmak.  We then went to her beautician's and Alice got a much needed pedicure.

Alice on the balcony of Chez Sumer - notice the strewn flower buds - the setting for an elegant girl's lunch

Pretty Cevahir - we split a small bottle of sparking wine to accompany this special lunch

Alice's toes looked a lot better after the pedicure

Too hot ladies

That night we rendezvoused with Carnot and Alice Nelson.  We met this remarkable couple last year at Bilkent.  Carnot is a professor (and now acting chair) of psychology and his wife, Alice, is a freelance attorney.  Carnot retired from University of South Florida and took a Fulbright at Hacettepe University, another university in Ankara.  He loved Turkey and he and his wife did a second Fulbright the following year (her Fulbright) at another Ankara university.  They then decided to make the move semi-permanently and Carnot found an appointment with Bilkent University.  We ate a lovely seafood restaurant on the Eskisehir road called Sado By Balik (balik is fish in Turkish).   The restaurant is in an older house and rather secluded from the road but it is a very upscale and delicious place.  We dined on cold and hot fish oriented mezes and decided we were too full to order a main dish fish.  So, we went on to desert which was a glorious platter of fruit and a shared chocolate souffle.  Nice evening with some unique and vibrant people.  Great to see you again Carnot and Alice!

Carnot and Alice - cheerful and full of life as ever

The healthy and delicious salad

The fried octopus with sauce (sauce is unusual in Turkey)

The fruit plate for desert

The sinfully rich chocolate souffle with whipped cream

The party at the table as taken by the waiter

On Tuesday, Alice visited her old department at Bilkent (industrial engineering) and had lunch.  About half of the faculty were around and it was great to see them again and to eat the excellent food of the Bilkent cafeteria / restaurant housed in the Rektorluk (Rector's Building). 

Selim Akturk, the department chair (on right), with the efficient department administrator, Yesim Karadeniz

The iconic Turkish coffee after lunch

Faculty member Oya Karasan and Alice at lunch

Alice with Mustafa Pinar, who has lost a lot of weight through living healthy

The afternoon was spent at Middle East Technical University (next door to Bilkent) where Alice gave a seminar to the Modeling and Simulation student chapter then met with the research group for the joint Auburn-METU project in simulation.  This group is led by Dr. Halit Oguztuzun who was very hospitable.

A dual selfie in Halit Oguztuzun's office in computer science at Middle East Technical University (METU)

The group to which Alice spoke

Some of the attendees

Alice with the chapter officers after the event

Alice with the Auburn - METU research team working on a simulation project for an unspecified U.S. defense organization (Orcun, Kaan, Alice, Joey (from the U.S. who now lives in Ankara), Sema, Halit)

The evening was the most fun part - meeting up with friend Christina Hamer, a doctoral student from Canada in political science at Bilkent, and her new friend Nikki Brown from New Orleans.  Nikki is a current Fulbright scholar at Bilkent in American Studies.  Also along was Tore Fougner, a professor of international studies at Bilkent originally from Norway, and his partner Ayca.  We ate a kebab place not too far from METU and then visited our favorite waterhole, The North Shield Pub at the Bilkent Hotel.  We still get 30% off of everything there so indulged in a BIG beer for the table.  So great to see these very special friends again and especially to talk about our mutual love for felines.  Tore was the rescuer of our Turkish cat, Fluffy.  He leads the organization Bilcat which is devoted to improving the lives of the cats around the Bilkent campus (and to other animal rights and welfare).  We call him the "Cat Whisperer" because of his special gifts.

Nikki Brown and Randy at dinner

Christina Hamer and Alice

Tore Foughner and Nikki

Christina, Alice and Ayca

Some of the plentiful meze

Alice's plate of fried eggplant and potatoes topped with tomato sauce - yummy!

A kebab of kofte like meat with bread cubes and yoghurt sauce

At the North Shield Pub

Nikki and Ayca

Our favorite North Shield waiter pours from the BIG EFES tower

Tore looks pretty happy

Christina and Nikki enjoy a glass of beer

On Wednesday we picked up Elif Ozgormus and her mother at a teacher's house (there are all over Turkey and provide clean and inexpensive lodging for traveling academics) in the city.  We then drove out to Baskent University, on the western fringes of Ankara along the Eskisehir road.  There, we met Berna Dengiz and Mehmet Gulsen, both of whom are on faculty in industrial engineering.  We had a nice lunch which also included fellow faculty member Fatma Pakdil.  We ate at the nice student / faculty restaurant at the top of their building.  Elif's mom gave Alice a wonderful necklace in the old style of Turkish jewelry as a welcome gift.  

Alice was proud to see her former student Mehmet Gulsen with his own office and name plate

Mehmet and Elif Ozgormus, Alice's current doctoral student who lives in Denizli, Turkey, in Mehmet's office eating Turkish bananas

Elif and her thoughtful and friend Mom

Berna Dengiz and Randy at lunch at Baskent University

Alice and Elif's Mom

Mother and daughter Ozgormus

These were some busy days but so rewarding with seeing special friends and being back in our "home" city of Ankara.  We noticed that the roads and traffic have improved.  Less positive but interesting was the establishment of city gates at the four corners of Ankara.  These look a little cheesy but are eye catching.  The ambitious mayor also put in many clock towers (all of different styles) around Ankara.  Well, they don't detract but you do wonder if public money could have been better spent...