Remember -- It's not a Christmas tree!

There's a lot holiday cheer in town, but lest you mistake it for Christmas, I have to tell you it's all about the New Year's holiday. Gifts are exchanged, and there are lots of musical events, meals, etc. In fact, I had a conversation with one of our Turkish colleagues yesterday about whether we got Christmas off or not. I assured him we didn't, and he thought that was awful. Then I reminded him that if we took Christmas off, he and the other Muslim teachers would be teaching our classes -- end of conversation. This morning he came in and said I was mistaken; we did get Christmas off. Turns out he was talking about December 1st, New Year's Day. He thought that was the Christmas holiday. Looks like the marketing professionals have done a good job sneaking that commercial holiday into this Muslim country.

Tree in Sanko Park Mall -- looks like Christmas to me

Last Friday night three of us went out to dinner with a member of Zirve's political science faculty. His wife and two children are still in Istanbul, so he usually flies home every weekend. This weekend he stayed in Gaziantep, so we decided to do something together. We ended up going to the restaurant in the Bayazhan. A "han" is a kind of inn or even commercial establishment dating back to the days of the camel trains across central Asia. I'd been told that a han was a caravanserei -- and you will find that same information in guidebooks. However, I was also told you'd never have a caravanserei that close to town -- I guess because camels smell. This person said a han was a kind of mall. Cities liked to keep those traders all in one place so they could collect their taxes. Whatever -- it was part of that famous trading system that grew up along the Silk Road. This particular han has a central courtyard surrounded by a two-story a building. The Gaziantep city museum occupies part of the building, and it houses other commercial establishments, including a fabulous jewelry store. You can sit in the courtyard and drink coffee or tea or even be served a meal. The back portion is occupied by a lovely restaurant.

Restaurant in the Bayazhan

This was my first real restaurant meal -- other than kebab places. We started with several "meze," which are a bit like tapas. They are more than appetizers; they are really smaller portions of quite complicated dishes. One was actually small, well prepared brussell sprouts. Another was something that looked like a large caper with tomatoes and walnuts. And then there was a yogurt dish of some sort. Our Turkish colleague did the ordering. He's not from here but he quizzed the waiter quite extensively and ordered things typical of the region. We had two plates for the entree. One was a platter of eggplant kebab accompanied by what seemed like nicely spiced lamb meatballs. The waiter came over and showed us how to eat it. He very deftly scooped the eggplant out of the skin and placed it in pieces on a piece of flatbread (really just a white flour tortilla). They he cut up the meat and put that on top of the eggplant. There was parsely along with other garnishes on the plate. You then roll up the flatbread and eat it like a burrito -- quite a fancy burrito, however. For dessert we had baklava (what else) and Turkish coffee. At the end they brought the ubiquitous tea. It was a lovely evening. We all agreed that next time we'd just order a meal of mezes. Apparently people do that.

Entrance from the street into the Bayazhan courtyard

By the way, the Bayazhan itself is beautifully decorated for the holidays. The picture above is the entrance into the courtyard -- notice the little poinsettias (artificial although I've seen the real thing around) on either side. The courtyard is also well lit. On the table at the restaurant was a flyer advertising the New Year's festivities -- three days of music and other events. So Merry New Year's to you all.