A Lovely Evening in New York City

Dinner at Pera Mediterranean with Robert College graduates

A busy morning, as Beth, Rami and Tyler left about 7:30 and headed off to Dartmouth for a college trip.  Evie and I walked Marisa to the bus and now we are home, in an empty house, how strange, until about 3:00 when the kids return, Mitch with skate board buddies, and Marisa with hip hop at 4:00.  It's a lovely, cool morning, about 45, sunny and blue skies.

Last night, we took the 5:43 train into NYC for dinner with some of my students from Robert College, class of 1972.  It's been only 39 years but we had no trouble talking and laughing, catching up and telling stories until we almost missed our train at 10:22.  Roni Detoledo brought his wife, Nora, along which was nice for Evie.  All three guys seem to be doing amazingly well, no shock for RC graduates. Two, Roni and Ali Iz live in the city, and Sant lives in New Jersey.  They all agreed that their years at Robert College were wonderful, that the Istanbul they grew up in, was uniquely different, that the city has changed so much today that it's almost unrecognizable.  All three are now American citizens and only visit Turkey occasionally, as they have become much more American now then Turkish.  I knew Roni pretty well, taught him, went out a couple of times with him into the city, as he reminded me, to a couple of restaurants.  He was a very bright, smart ass kid and we really got alone.  As his wife said, he has not changed.  They have two children, a son 23 and a daughter, 16, who is a National champion horse back rider, competing in events almost every weekend.  Where do you keep your horse if you live in the city?  They also have a summer house on the Long Island Sound.  Nora, Roni's wife, has an interesting story; her father was second to Castro in Cuba during the revolution.  When Castro decided to go Marxist, her father broke with Castro and was thrown in jail, though eventually friends raised enough money to save his life, and the family went to Spain, eventually the US.

Heading into NYC

We ate at Pera  Mediterranean, an upscale Turkish restaurant on Madison Avenue.  It was very crowded, even though it was a Thursday night.  We ate Turkish style, ordering dishes to share, as the table was filled with conversation.  The food was all shi shi Turkish, as they called it, not what we were used to in a restaurant in Turkey.  All Turkish specialities were redone so I cannot say I loved the meal.  It was good but I would have preferred the good old Turkish boreks, or sweets, or mezze.  But the good part was the gathering with new friends, with old ties, something that has been one of the best parts of retirement, getting together with various folk from the past, finding you have lots in common and enjoy each others company despite not having seen each other  for years.