The experience was heightened by the wonderful conversations about Turkish politics, America's influence on Turkish economy and the Turkish culture we've come to enjoy. The store owner invited us back to dinner the next night and extended the invitation to the rest of our group.  Lucas and I returned before our group and learned how to prepare some of the traditional Turkish dishes. Sharing meals and conversations with these Turks was one of the best experiences thus far in the past two months!

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I know, I couldn't believe it either... there is an international UFO museum.

October 3, 2007

Lesson Six: Food unites people, reminding them of home or inviting them to a new culture

We explored seven floors below the surface for more than an hour. Lucas and I hid in dark corridors and jumped out at our friends, scaring them witless; sometimes we're so childish. We decided the underground city would be the perfect location for a Halloween party; too bad Halloween isn't celebrated in Turkey.

While in Cappadocia, Lucas, Anna and I had the opportunity to join a few local Turkish men for a traditional Ramadan dinner (to break the day's fast). We were walking back from the International UFO museum (yep there's an International UFO museum. I couldn't believe it either!), and I stopped to look at a local store. The owner began asking us where we were from, what we were studying and about our adventures in Turkey. He proceeded to invite us to join him and his fellow businessmen for dinner. The homemade food was f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c!!!