A Turkey day

No, literally.  A day in Istanbul, Turkey.  On my way back from Italy earlier this month, a quick connection turned into a 24-hour adventure.  I was trying to recall some of the Turkish I knew, but other than merhaba (hello), the only thing I could come up with was "guzel lutfan," which translates to "beautiful please" (and doesn't really mean anything to anyone except me!).  So I stuck to English....

My 3 takeaways:

1.  I definitely want to go back to Turkey and spend more time there!!  It's beautiful and chill.  You can walk through markets and parks, pass by beautiful mosques and buildings that reflect a historical perspective on globalization.  If you're tired, you can stop for a glass of fresh pomogranite juice or a cup of tea.

2.  The food is amazing!!  I couldn't stop stuffing my face.  The kebabs were out of this world!  Everything came so fresh; even the bread was straight from the oven.

3.  Take an empty suitcase.  There are a lot of things to buy!!

A very creative (and tasty!) wedding gift

This baby mango tree belongs to Shazzad and me!  We received it as a wedding gift last month.  It was born in Rajshahi, an area in Western Bangladesh that's famous for mangoes.  It traveled by train to Dhaka.

It didn't fit in the elevator, so we couldn't get it up to the rooftop.  Right now it's living right outside our building.  We may eventually take it to my father-in-law's village as a more permanent home.

It will need about three years before bearing fruits, but we hear that they will be quite sweet!