Hasanoglan

 Our dear friend Zubeyba is a math teacher at this school in Hasanoglan.  They had a celebration on Tuesday April 17 and she was partially in charge and invited us to come.  So we jumped in a bus and went about an hour East of Ankara to this community.  We hadn't realized it was such a big event for this school.  First of all we went to her classroom and watched her teach for a little bit and after she told them I was a dance teacher I offered to teach them a little tap.  They loved it.  This girl really took to it and could be a very good dancer. It was so fun.  These young people were very vibrant, energetic, smart, and happy.

 During the ceremony they asked Duard to speak.  He spoke about Turkey and how much he loved it.  He told them they needed to get the word out for people to understand how beautiful and safe this land is.  He told them the part he loved the most was the good people that live here in Turkey.  At the end of his few minutes, he was in tears and so were many others.  It was a very wonderful speech.

 This entire front row was full of the dignitaries of the community.  The Mayor and the representatives of all the ministries.  They had only asked the principal and Duard to speak.  Afterwards you could tell they all were very happy with what was said.

 This darling young man kept following me.  At one point he showed me his left ring finger and said I'm single.  So I showed him mine and said I'm married.  He was so cute. 

 While there they taught Duard how to water paint.  It is a process where you put the paint on top of this solution and make designs in it.  When you are happy with it, you lay a piece of paper on your design and lift the paper up.  It is harder than you would think and Duard's was very good. 

 Here is a picture of his painting.

This is Zubeyda with her class.  Such a great day.