Day 7: Turkish Coffee-Making, Gracious Bus Driver

6:30 a.m. EST
It’s now 1:30 p.m. as we’re pulling out of the school and headed to our next destination. We were originally going to a resort area and then shopping before calling it a day early so we could pack for home, but instead our Turkish bus driver invited us to his home up in the hills to teach us all how to make Turkish coffee and tea, two drinks our team became obsessed with by the end of day 2. His family was so welcoming and adorable. I think the girls couldn’t stop their amazement of his precious little daughter and her shyness. One of them gave her a Nutter Butter cookie, and she was, I must admit, entirely adorable, as she would only eat the peanut buttery center, and throw the two cookie halves on the concrete ground outside. But it was time for the main event, Turkish coffee and all its glory. We watched with our bodies leaning forward with childish delight like a kid in the Macy’s window at Christmas time watching every detail of the polar express train gliding around the 4 x 6 ft frosted wonderland. A scoop of coffee, then another, and we would watch her swirl the silver spoon in the pot that created a whirlpool of foaming coffee, emitting a strong aroma of a scent all too familiar to our group since Istanbul. Some of the guys had already become coffee addicts, and just wanted to knock back the coffee cup like it was a shot of espresso. Our bus drivers wife had also crocheted a few scarves for the family, but gave a few of them to two girls in our group, who were overcome with gratitude of such a gift. The whole time I sat there on the couch in their home and looked at the happiness that filled the room, I couldn’t stop thinking about new found respect for this family and the love they had for each other, and for us. It was probably the highest honor we had on this trip to be invited into their home and treated exactly like extended family. But we had to leave and pack up our suitcases for home, a place we were all beginning to miss. With our things together for the night with a little more packing to go, we went to dinner at the Ambiance restaurant which sits right on the beach. It was a very fancy place and a perfect way to end our time together as a team. The food was amazing with endless bread, lamb, chicken, etc. One kebob after another, and slowly each notch in our belts were getting looser and looser to make room for the rapidly expanding stomachs we all shared. I thought it easily could’ve accompanied one of the contests at a state fair back home, measuring the biggest expanded stomach at the table. I would’ve given the biggest person a run for their money. Our bus driver and his family graciously agreed to come with us for dinner there, and it was such a warmhearted blessing to watch them at the end of the table eating together as a family, with their new found family of 19. As we left the restaurant and back to the hotel, those same mixed emotions from earlier knocked me in my gut and remained there while I walked up the stairs to finish loading all of my memories and clothes into my suitcases. Almost all of us in the group decided to have an all-nighter since we had to leave for the airport at 2:45 a.m. Saturday, or 7:45 p.m. EST Friday.