Polonezköy

Turks relax in hammocks at the Polonis restaurant in Polonezköy, Istanbul, on Thursday May 1, 2014.

I greatly enjoyed a Turkish village breakfast at the Polonis restaurant, walk in the forest, and English lesson with my student A. and his family in the historically Ottoman and Polish village of Polonezköy, Istanbul, on Thursday May 1, 2014. With the blocked streets and cancelled public transport on Labor Day, I felt especially grateful to escape the European side for the calm village on the Anatolian side. In green, calm Polonezköy, the sounds of nature, the taste of delicious food, and the coolness of a shady forest all relaxed and inspired us for English and Turkish language learning.



What's for breakfast?

sucuklu menemen: sausage and eggs
ekmek: bread
haşhaş tohumu mısır ekmeği: poppy seed cornbread
peynir: cheese
lor: cheese curds
yeşil biber: green peppers
salatalık: cucumbers
domates: tomatoes
zeytin: olives
incir: figs

What's for dessert?

meyveli karpatka: fruit cake
kestane rolada: chestnut
caramel ceviz: caramel walnut
pastanın babası: cake's dad
polina özel: polina's special
profiterol pasta: profiterole cake

strawberry cheese cake

cakes at Polonis restaurant

What do you see?

hamak: hammock
sülün: pheasant
horoz: rooster
eğreltiotu: fern
hayvanlar: animals
orman: forest
toprak: soil, earth
çamur: mud
ses: noise, sound
yasun: moss
sopa: stick
wadi: valley
merdiven: stairs, ladder
semiz: strong, muscular
otu: grass
dereotu: dill
semizotu: purslane, lamb's ear
gölge: shade, shadow

What animals live in the forest?

karga: crow
geyik: deer
kurt: wolf

How is the forest?

hidden: saklı
locked: kilitli
burnt: yanmış
quiet: sessiz
silent: sessiz
rusted: paslanmış
forbidden: yasak

What's that sound? : Bu ses ne?

What is that noise? : Bu gürültü ne?
What do you hear? : Ne duydun?
Look! Listen! : Bak!
Stop! Wait! : Dur!

hear: duymak
listen: dinlemek
sound: ses
noise: gürültü
bark: havlama
chirp: cıvıltı
crunch: çıtırdamak
whistle: düdüğü
howl: uluma
rustle: hışırtı

The rooster crows.
The dog barks.
The bird chirps.
We crunch the leaves.
The birds whistle.
The dog howls.
The treetops rustle in the wind.
Watch out for the barbed wire.
Those are blue flowers.
Blow the dandelion seeds
There aren't any wolves.
Find a walking stick.
We like the shade, the dark, and the night.
We like the soft light of the forest.
There is shade under the trees.
We have shadows.