Randy and Alice Live in Turkey: Dr. Sofia

We have a special friend in Turkey, Sofia Shakhin(or Zulfiya Sahin in Turkish). We met her though the Sumers more than five years ago in Auburn. Sofia is originally from Russia but met and married a Turkish man and moved to Ankara. She is smart, funny, friendly and interesting (and a great cook!). At Auburn she gave birth to her daughter (she has two older sons). It happened that Sofia and her family had a double celebration this past Saturday - her daughter's fifth birthday and the completion of her doctorate in Russian language at Ankara University (where she is on the faculty). We were invited to their house for this event.

We met her husband who was hospitable and sophisticated. He owns a construction firm and together he and Sofia designed and built their house. This amazing structure spans three floors and includes a man cave, an incredible walk in closet in the master bedroom and a chef's kitchen. Also present were Ozge and Cevahir Sumer and Sofia's husband's brother (very similar to him and he commutes from Chicago where he has a construction firm) and his family. This consisted of three boys and a wife Elven involved in the medical profession. Elven spent most of her growing up in the U.S. while her medical doctor father was training so she is bi-lingual.

Anyway, we had a super time with lots of food and drink (including wine from Moldavia - a first for me - and very nice Talisker scotch). The best parts were the celebration of the little girl's birthday complete with Sponge Bob cake and the completion of Sofia's doctorate. As you can see from the thickness of her dissertation in the picture below, she had to earn this distinction the old fashioned way - by writing a lot!