Culture culture culture!!

About a week ago, I was invited to a friend's Henna night. One of my Turkish classmates had gotten married about a year and a half ago, but she had never had a bachelorette party, so she and our TA (who was born in Izmir) put together a party in which we would do the traditional Turkish pre-wedding activities. I was a little nervous about it, but I'm always up for learning about new cultures, so I decided to go.

I looked up the address and figured out where it was, and then ended up knocking on the wrong door first. XD No one answered though, and after standing there for at least 3 minutes, I heard some people speaking Turkish next door, and realized I was definitely at the wrong house. So, I finally got to the right place. It was very laid back and relaxed. The house itself was very cozy, and the backyard was mystical. They had this nifty trellis with these vines growing on it, and a tree above it and a bench beneath it. So cool! Some people brought some traditional Turkish foods. I'm not sure what they were called, but I shall do my best to describe them. There were these zucchini fritter things, this sticky rice with vegetables, some couscous-like stuff, garlic-y yogurt stuff, and some spicy soup. There were also strawberries, jicama, dates, and this delicious banana pudding topped with cinnamon. ^_^ Sooo delicious! I think my favorite, though, was the beyaz peynir (white cheese). It's a cheese that is very common in Turkey, and it is absolutely fantastic!!

After the food, the "bride" went and changed into her formal robes. It was a beautiful maroon color. I'm not sure how to describe it... it had those poofy pants like Princess Jasmine wears, but it had a long-sleeved top too, and then this sheer robe that went over the whole thing. She also wore these sweet shoes, and a headdress with a veil. She went outside and sat on a chair, and all of us ladies got a lit candle, and went outside, and we sang a song to her, while circling around her. The guys standing outside sang it too, which was nice, because most of us didn't actually know the song. I just knew the first words were Yüksek yüksek tepelere. But that was about it! The song is about how the girl is leaving her family, and generally the bride is sobbing through the song, but not this time. Oh well. =)

Next came the Henna! No one there was an expert, so the most artistic of us thought she'd give it a go, and it turned out great. =) Everyone liked her work so much that she was doing henna for over an hour! I did some on my ankle at the end. It turned out okay, not too bad. It's still there right now. I'll post a picture later.

While the henna was being applied, we listened to some awesome Turkish dance music and danced around. I'm not particularly dancey... so I mostly listened and watched. Towards the end though I tried dancing a bit and it was really fun. Our teacher also taught us a traditional Turkish dance, where you all for a chain by holding pinkies, and step left, right, left, kick with the right to the left, and then step to the right with the left, right, left, kick right to left, etc. That was pretty nifty too. There was another one that involved pointing your right foot in 3 different directions, then clapping at your knees, then about at navel height, with arms extended, and then face-height or higher, and then stepping, etc.

Overall, the night was awesome! The weirdest part was seeing my Turkish teacher drink a lot of rakı. XD The most fun part was dancing, and the most interesting part was singing the song. I loved seeing my friends outside of class, and getting to know a little more about Turkish cuisine and culture. ^_^ I really want to go to Turkey!! =D

Quote of the day:

"For Narnia!!"

--High King Peter, the Magnificent