We made a quick trip to Sakarya, a city about 90 minutes east of Istanbul on Thursday and Friday, May 9 and 10. While the city would win no beauty contest, we were happy to experience a new place and to meet with some old friends again. A visiting professor, Nevra Akbilek, who studied with Alice at Auburn for about 15 months is an assistant professor at Sakarya University and arranged the visit. The university could not pay for the transport costs of driving our car but sent a car and driver to take us and return us to and from Ankara. What relaxation to have someone else do all of the driving!
Nevra also arranged our stay at a five star hotel which was modern and relaxing. It included a hamam and indoor swimming pool which Alice took advantage of. Alice gave two seminars and met with faculty while Randy worked on his new business of editing papers from Turkey for English. At lunch, Alice tried the local kofte which was unusual not for the kofte themselves (which seemed ordinary) but for the delicious bread soaked in tomato meat juice and grilled. This kofte is islama kofte, or wet kofte. Try it if you get to Sakarya.
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| Alice adds another of those nice "Thank You" plaques to her collection after her first seminar at Sakarya University |
The best thing about the visit was the dinner arranged by another of Alice's former visiting professor, Numan Celebi. Numan works at Istanbul University but commutes from Sakarya where he got his degree and his family lives. It was great to see Numan and his sweet wife, Hulya, again. Numan picked an outstanding restaurant on the big lake near Sakarya, Lake Sapanca. We were served an assortment of meze and fish including super kebabs of the local lake fish. Randy and I had a bottle of Turkish sauvignon blanc which was tasty. And, along with Nevra, Numan and Hulya were old Auburn friends, Guven Yuceturk and Veysel Dalkilic. Veysel was a master's student from Auburn whom we had not seen in seven (!) years. He is now married and works for an electrical industry in Kocaeli, a city about one hour away, toward Istanbul. Guven got his Ph.D. in mathematics from Auburn and played tennis with Alice. He has also been working in Kocaeli but he works for TUBITAK, the equivalent of the U.S. National Science Foundation. We had not seen him in nearly two years. Also present was Nedim Tutkun, a professor at nearby Duzce University and a graduate of Sakarya University. He hopes to come to Auburn as a visiting professor in the future.
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| Nevra and Randy at the lakeside restaurant at Lake Sapanca |
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| Guven and Alice reminisce about their tennis playing days together |
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| Alice can't believe it is seven years since she saw Veysel, who still looks the same (except he is wearing a tie!) |
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| Hulya and Numan Celebi, our hosts for the evening |
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| Numan and his friend and former classmate, Nedim |
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| The yummy lake fish was prepared as kebabs |
All in all, it was a short (just over 24 hours) trip but so enjoyable and meaningful. Nevra worked hard to provide us with a relaxing and happy experience while also introducing her university firsthand to Alice, with whom there had been so much contact before (Numan and Nevra and earlier visiting professor Fatih Tasgetiren - more on him on the future post on the trip to Izmir).
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| The group outside the restaurant before dinner - what a nice reunion of former, current and future Auburn people! |
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