Happy Holidays

Hello Everyone

As Turkish-American women, we love holiday season in America. December hosts all different types of holidays for different cultures and traditions. It is a colorful festival for us to see all people to celebrate each other's holiday and to exchange gifts.

Undoubtedly, the most important feature of this season is giving and sharing. Giving gifts open the doors of friendship and strengthened the existing friendships.

To be part of this giving and sharing festival, this year we had decided to share Turkish cookies with our American friends, neighbors and colleagues. We knocked 360 families' door.  We shared our cookies with our teachers, bus drivers, nurses, and police officers. As a response we got great smiles and heart full of thanks.

Hopefully, next year we will visit more families to see more smiles.
Thank you for sharing your culture and have a wonderful holiday season.

iyi tatiller...

December 2012 Turkish breakfast meeting (Last breakfast of 2012)

Merhaba

First, we would like to thank you for your interest in Turkish Breakfast. This month, we had many guests for breakfast and we hosted them in 3 groups. Thank you very much for coming. It was wonderful to have breakfast with you and to talk about our common values. 

Since 2011, we have been coming together around breakfast table, and we are discussing the events from women's perspective. We are sharing our culture and we are learning from each others experiences.

This month's breakfast took place in a sad environment due to Sandy Hook shooting. We expressed our condolences for deadly Connecticut shooting and we tried to answer the question of what turns a troubled person into a monster that pours death onto other fellow human beings. As caring parents, we pray to find the strength to illuminate both hearts and minds of our sons and daughters with the love, respect and compassion for others, and do whatever is in our power to help prevent the reoccurrence of such tragedies.

The other breakfast meeting were hosted by a  family who is from Karadeniz (Black Sea) region of Turkey and shared a short movie with us. Karadeniz is the most green area of Turkey and its climate is appropriate for tea agriculture. It was very interesting for us to see how black tea was prepared and come to our table. 

Some guests were making Turkey trip plans after these breakfast meetings and this made us very happy. We will be happy to host you in Turkey as well. 

We are hoping to see more friends in 2013 breakfast. 

Till then Hoshcha kalin

Condolences to Sandy Hook Elementary School Parents and Newtown community members

We would like to express our deepest and heart-felt condolences to all the aggrieved families and loved ones.

We are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting incident at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. We cannot possibly imagine the shock and sorrow this unfortunate shooting incident has caused all families.

Regardless of where the fire falls, it burns our hearts. A true human being is the one from whose tongue and hand all others stay safe. To be safe in the future, we have to increase our efforts to brighten both hearts and minds of our sons and daughters with the love, respect and compassion for others, and do whatever is in our power to help prevent the reoccurrence of such tragedies.

Please know that, we, as Turkish community, deplore this tragic incident, and pray that it happens never again. 

Mott Road Elementary School Visit

Merhaba

This week, we visited Mott Road Elementary School, second graders to talk about Turkey and about being a child in Turkey. We talked about Turkey's location on globe, Turkish, family structure, culture, holidays and Turkish food.

Students were so happy and curious to learn a new culture. They asked many questions about Turkey and about children in Turkey.

We had prepared special bags for them and for their families with Turkish cookies and snacks.

It was a wonderful experience for us to meet with them, to spend time with them and to talk about Turkey and Turkish children. Thank you for having us.