Remember when I was so excited that I would be visiting Rize? Where all the Turkish Tea I could ever want comes from? It was WAYYYY more than I had hoped for.
Rize is in the northeast section of Turkey, close to the Iraqi border. Beautiful, green and lush and cool. We had a surprise waiting for us when we arrived for brunch, Mayors from 5 of the surrounding villages (along with their wives and children) were ready to greet us with a meal fit for royalty. Huseyin Sari made note of the fact that there was meat (unusual for a breakfast unless VERY special guests were in attendance), we took our places at the long tables arranged on the expansive veranda upstairs overlooking the tea plantations throughout the hillsides. Huge umbrellas shaded us from the midday sun and gentle breezes cooled us to the point of needing our scarves to cover our shoulders. Suddenly all the men stood up and looked very nervous, straightening their clothes and rapidly arranging themselves in some kind of order...Mr. Sari leaned over and said the Governor had just arrived to join us for a few moments. After the introductions (which we went through at EVERY visit in EVERY town, "My name is Lori Nelson and I am an artist. I have two children and a grandchild in the Harmony school system. This is my second visit to Turkey.") we ate, had tea, and then went inside to visit in a more formal setting. The governor cancelled his afternoon appointments so he could get to know us better. We had great conversations about U.S-Turkish relations, the upcoming presidential election, Turkey's efforts to enter the European Union, tea production, their love of our country, their dislike of President Bush, and the education systems in the U.S. and Turkey. Then it was picture time, including the media which planned to run our story front-page.
And by the way, they would very much like to see Barack Obama become our president....
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