They are an elderly couple from Turkey, and have gone to spend the winter in Antalya with one of their three sons (the other two sons live here in the area with their families) - a wise move, if you ask me, since Antalya on the Meditarranean will certainly have a more pleasant climate at this time of the year than Germany.
Not long before they left, Muslims all over the world were celebrating Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), and so were they. This holy day in the Muslim calendar commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac on God's command, a story from the Bible's Old Testament most of you will be familiar with.
As is their habit on such festival days - much like what we do for Christmas and Easter -, a lot of food is prepared at home, and almost every time, my kind neighbours bring me some of it.
This time, I was given a plate of Börek (which came right in time for my lunch break!) and a smaller plate of Baklava - very sticky and very sweet, and utterly delicious!
Now they are gone, which means the house is MUCH quieter, with no door-banging and furniture-shifting going on above my head early every morning... I know they don't mean it, they don't even realise I hear their every move, and since I really do not want to be on bad terms with them, I usually don't say anything. Maybe I am wrong there, maybe not.
Anyway - I'll be gone for a while, too:
Tomorrow evening after work, I'll get on a train to Munich, where I'll be working at the "Electronica", a trade fair, until Friday evening. This time, it has nothing to do with my regular work, but a friend of mine runs a company distributing printed circuit boards (do I hear someone stifling a yawn?) for a Chinese manufacturer. The booth (and my work) is being paid for by the Chinese company, and like two years ago when I first worked for them, several of the Chinese staff will be with us. It was my first experience working closely with people from China (who, for the most part, had never been to Europe before), and quite interesting.
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| November 2010, Munich, Electronica |
So, if I don't post on my own or comment on your blogs all of next week, you'll know why.
I wish you good fortune with your trade fair in Munich. It's a long time since I did a trade fair. I must go to one a s a visitor some time and see if there is anyone I know still doing the rounds.
ReplyDeleteUsually, I do about 4 fairs a year, only two of which are for my actual boss. When I work at a fair as an extra job, the money is most welcome - as is the change of scene and chance of meeting new people.
DeleteFirstly, I think your neighbors have brought you that food before, if I am thining of the right ones, and it looks so good! I wonder if they knew how loud the sound came to you if they would try to be quieter?
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I think your week ahead sounds interesting. Will Chinese be another language that you will learn? I am only half kidding here, you know so many already!
Thirdly, I hope you have a wonderful week! :-)
Thank you, Kay - it is certainly going to be a different week from my normal home office routine :-)
DeleteYou are right about them having brought me that kind of food before. There is even another picture of börek on my blog (with more spinach in it than this time), you should be able to find it by simply typing "börek" into the search bar.
No, learning Chinese is not on my To Do list, although it would be certainly useful in business :-) It's not that many languages I know; apart from German and English, there's only Italian and French.
Sounds like you have very kind neighbors. I hope you enjoy your trade show too!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary! I think I will.
DeleteHello Meike:
ReplyDeleteNeighbours who present one with food are always good in our book! How really kind and neighbourly of them to give you such delicious looking goodies. We can obtain these foods in Budapest where there is a large Turkish population and we like them very much.
Good luck at the Fair in Munich. We have to say that circuit boards fill us with a certain amount of tedium, but Munich is somewhere we very much want to visit and we have friends there. Safe travels!
Hello Jane and Lance,
Deletethey are indeed very kind, and the only complaint I have about them is that constant door-banging, something they obviously are not doing out of spite, but the thought of it possibly disturbing someone else in the house seems not to occur to them at all.
Good job I don't need to know anything about the circuit boards - all I have to do is make sure my friend will be able to keep all her appointments, and every visitor to our booth feels welcome.
Hope you enjoyed your days of silence, and I wish you a good week in Munich too, even if I suspect that will probably be the opposite of a quiet time... (In my experience trade fairs are usually rather noisy events...)
ReplyDeleteMonica, the fair where I work every year in August, the GamesCom, is extremely noisy indeed, but this one is a quiet business-type one, with serious looking men wearing dark suits talking about elctronic parts.
DeleteI've never heard of Borek before but it looks like its made with the same sort of puff pastry as baklava? Any time for side trips in Munich?
ReplyDeletexx
julie
Yes, Julie, it is made of puff pastry just like baklava.
DeleteNo, we will be at the fair all day every day, but our Chinese business partners will expect to be taken out for food and entertainment in the evenings.
Enjoy your quiet winter until your kind, if noisy neighbours come back with the spring, Meike. The food looks delicious. Have a good week in Munich.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Perpetua! I have no idea when they'll be back; when they said good-bye to me, I asked, but they couldn't tell me yet. I suppose they'll decide on the spot.
DeleteI am glad you're getting the chance to go to a trade fair, because I know you like them! I think you are quite right in not complaining to your Turkish neighbours. You are partly repaid by the goodies they give you, I guess :)
ReplyDeleteYes, Jenny, that is what I am thinking. And since they are owners as much as I am, and not just tenants, I am sure we'll both live in this house for many more years to come (it's nearly 10 years since I moved in).
DeleteIt sounds like a fascinating opportunity to get to know people from China, and learn about their business practices, too.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother used to make baklava, but i haven't had it in ages.
It is indeed insteresting, messymimi; last time, the young lady (you can see her behind the counter in the picture) was fascinated by how tall the German ladies were compared to her, and she shyly asked some of the young and pretty ones whether she could take their picture to show at home :-)
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