This might be kind of long..

So this is a pretty long overdue update.  I have been really busy at work lately, so I haven't updated in awhile, but now I have a vacation for a week, :) So I have a little bit more time.

Halloween

The night of halloween I had about 30 kids show up to my door to get candy, it was fun to hand out candy to all of them and see their costumes.  Since I live in a country that doesn't really celebrate halloween kids have to get creative with their costumes you can't just go to the local Halloween Store and pick up a costume, it was fun to see what they came up with.  Even one of my students came to my door, he doesn't really like to speak English much, so I told him I wasn't going to give him candy until he said trick or treat, so he said it, talk about positive reinforcement :)  I also decorated my door and have put up pictures of that so don't forget to check out Flickr.

Birthday

So this week it was my birthday.  I had a nice birthday, on Sunday a group that I have been meeting with in the mornings had a cake for me and another girl who was born the same day as me just 2 years earlier :) so they sang happy birthday and gave us each a present.  It was very nice I even got to take home a piece of cake so I would have some on my actual birthday.  On my birthday I worked all day and at our staff meeting in the afternoon they had a cake for me.  It was chocolate banana cake, I have noticed that a lot of cakes here have banana in them, not sure why but they do.  I actually really like the chocolate banana cake it's pretty yummy :)  When I got home from work I was able to talk to most of my family and friends :) and then my upstairs neighbor invited me up to her house for some ice cream :) So I brought my left over cake and she had the ice cream.  It was a pretty nice birthday :)

This Week

This week was crazy at work, I have had so much paperwork to do and I was observed twice this week, so that was a bit extra, both observations went well, but now I have a week vacation.  This week is called Kurban Bayramı I have been told that in Turkey during Ramadan they spend the month fasting and so 48 days after Ramadan is over the Turks will get together with their families to celebrate that they completed the fast.  So this is more of a food holiday, I guess you are supposed to eat a lot.  Also most families will sacrifice an animal and enjoy it together, they will also give some of the food to the poor.  No one goes hungry during this time.  And supposedly it has some connection to Abraham sacrificing Isaac on the altar.  

As for my plans for the week I cleaned my apartment and made some cookies, I also took some pictures of what my apartment looks like now, be sure to check those out.  Also on Monday I am headed to Istanbul with another teacher, we are going to do some sight seeing so I'm sure I'll have to post about that when I get back.  I will be coming back to Ankara on Thursday night, That way I have next weekend to sleep and get ready to go back to school :)

Sorry this post was so long, but I hope everyone has a nice Kurban Bayramı :)