A Weekend with Aunt Leyla

 Brussels

Almost two weeks ago (yikes) Johanna and I went to Brussels, Belgium! We left on a Thursday and flew to Brussels where we met up with a very good friend of my family, Leyla. As we boarded the airplane, neither of us knew how much the weekend would end up meaning to us.
Leyla had worked with my parents to start a church among Turkish believers in Paris, France about five or six years ago. Since the very first time my family met her, she has been a very dear friend. I had not seen Leyla teyze (Turkish for "Aunt Leyla") since I was sixteen years old, when she came to the U.S. to stay with us for two weeks. My most recent memories of her were from six years ago-- going dress shopping for a new dress to wear to my sixteenth birthday party, watching her prepare a big Turkish meal to celebrate my sweet sixteen, laughing as she took pictures of the big yellow school buses that she had only ever seen in movies. When we landed in Brussels, I really had no idea of what to expect when I saw her. We walked through the gate and there she was. We recognized each other immediately. I will never forget what she said when she saw me. She just touched my hands and said "You grew up. You are a lady now." We hugged and I tried not to bawl.
We got in her car and made the hour drive from the airport into the city of Brussels. This is going to sound crazy but.. man, it felt great to ride in a real car. As we drove, we laughed as the weather switched from snowing to sunny to snowing to sunny over and over again. It was completely different from Spain. Though Leyla was sick and tired of the bad weather, it was lovely to see the snow falling on the orange terra cotta roofs of the houses in the Belgian countryside.
There were so many memories from this trip, so I am going to divide them into moments and impressions.

The City

Leyla took us to the Grand Plaza. We saw some beautiful old buildings in the square and walked around the old Plaza. This is the place where they make the enormous carpet of flowers every summer. Here in the city center, we ate the richest waffles I have ever tasted. So good. Believe it or not, the whole city smelled like waffles too. Anywhere we went, we could smell waffles! They were literally sold on every street corner! We saw the King's Palace, the Cathedral, and the Old Palace in the Grand Plaza. I was struck by the architecture of everything. Every single building was unique. Everything about Belgium was completely different from Spain. We also went to a big beautiful park that was were Belgium was founded. We walked around by the fountains, and went into a big war museum that was there. It was crazy to see the history of WWII told from the European perspective! In this museum, there was a huge room filled with old war planes! We also saw Mannequin Pis- a famous fountain with a peeing boy that supposedly ended a war by peeing on the enemy troops. Jo and I laughed pretty hard at that.

We Got Spoiled
When she met us at the airport, Leyla greeted us with two bags of real Belgian chocolate, and from that point on did not cease to spoil us! Leyla cooked amazing food for us. Not to say that Pepita's cooking is bad, but having Leyla cook for us made me realize exactly how bad I have been eating for the past two and a half months. Spanish food is good but let me tell you something- grease and fats are undoubtably the main factor in every food in this country. Everything we ate at her house was fresh, delicious, and healthy. It was so nice to actually eat wheat bread. I also realized that Spain stinks. As in.. it is a little smelly. It wasn't until we were in Leylas clean apartment that I realized something was smelling a little funny.. and it was me! The first night we were there, something was up with my stomach, so I was spending a lot of good quality time with the toilet. Sweet Leyla called all the members of her family on the phone to pray for me! They all told her different remedies for my stomach. First, I was told to down several cups of Turkish tea. When that didn't work, we switched to coffee. Finally, Leyla ventured out into the snowy cold to go buy me some medicine for my stomach. Turns out that good ol modern medicine won this time.
The weather was pretty cold that weekend, so we spent a lot of time drinking hot tea and coffee in Leyla's apartment. Her apartment was on the third floor and overlooked a street. Two of the walls in her living room had giant windows, so we could see the snow outside. It was beautiful. When we remarked to Leyla about how quiet and calm her apartment was she told us "Everyone who has been here has said that there is a peace here." It was so true. It was quiet. There were no noisy neighbors above, below, and beside us. The sun shone through the big windows every morning and afternoon. There was definitely a peace and a calm that I think both Jo and I needed. Every morning we woke at nine o'clock and joined Leyla in the living room to drink tea and sit quietly. "Like the Italians say, piano piano- slowly slowly," Leyla said every day. We took things slowly, starting our days peacefully, lazing around, talking over breakfast, and then slowly heading out the door to do a little sightseeing. It felt like a much-needed retreat away from big loud passionate Espana. We were quiet, we were calm, we did everything slowly. Everything about it felt restful. Leyla gave us so much love, so many kisses, and so much encouragement. I loved sitting in her living room every day and just talking with her about my life. The last time I saw her, I feel like I was just a young girl. This time, it was nice to have more grown up conversations with her, and be able to share more about my life and personal growth with her, as well as learn about her life. She and everyone in her community knows my family from when they worked on the mission together. My parents had gone to visit her and her family a few years ago, so every one in her family knew my parents. It felt like I was with family. Every person asked how my family was doing. They all said that I looked like my dad. They all told me how they still prayed for my family. Leyla also took us around to places that my parents had visited when they came so that we could take pictures in the same spots. I felt so loved, and it was so nice to be around people who know my family.  I had no idea how much I needed that.

Turkish Culture 
We definitely experienced what life is like in Belgium, but more so, we experienced Turkish culture! Leyla has a whole community of friends and family from Turkey who live within a few blocks from her in Brussels! Around ten years ago, her whole family was living in Turkey when her oldest sister, Fedva felt the call from God to go and live in Brussels. Fedva obeyed, but asked the Lord to make it possible bring her family with her to live in Brussels. Leyla told us how important it is in their culture that their family be together. She said that within several years, her whole family (and even some friends) had upped and moved to Brussels. Leyla talked to every member of her family on the phone every day and took us to see every person in her family while we were there. Every where we went, they offered us food. Leyla told us that it is rude to refuse food even when you can't stomach anymore, so we did our best to go along with this custom. I was pretty glad that I had gotten over my stomach bug pretty quickly! Also, Jo and I got a kick out of taking our shoes off at every house! In their culture, the custom is to take off your shoes before entering someone's house. When you enter, they will offer you a pair of slippers or little shoes to wear inside the house. Jo and I got a kick out of all the little different shoes we had to wear! We also had to change they way we kiss for greetings! We have gotten pretty used to giving the two kisses here in Spain, but in Belgium, I never knew how many kisses I was going to get! The Belgians did one kiss on the cheek, but the Turkish did however many they were feeling! One day, when we went to visit Leyla's parents, Leyla's mother gave us four kisses on the cheek!! By the second one, I thought we were done, but she just kept going!
 Leyla told us that four kisses meant that she was VERY happy to see us! We also drank our fair share of coffee and tea! Both of these drinks are HUGE in their culture! Leyla was so happy to find that Johanna is a big coffee drinker. She told us that none of her nieces like coffee so they won't drink it with her. "Coffee is a drink that you have to share with people," she said. Needless to say, Johanna and Leyla drank quite a bit of coffee together! Leyla and her sister Rima also showed us a funny way that Turkish people tell each other's fortune! After you are done with your turkish coffee, you with have grounds left in the bottom of the cup. You turn your cup over and set it upside down on the saucer and let the grounds drip down on the saucer. After a few minutes, when you turn your cup over, you look at the shape of the grounds left in the bottom of the cup and use it to "read" your fortune. Leyla gave Johanna a pretty big scare when she told her that it seems in a very short time she will be married and have twins! Poor Johanna got teased about that all weekend long!

People

Leyla's niece, Debora spent quite a bit of time sightseeing with Leyla, Jo and me. She is nineteen years old and a university student like us. She spoke fairly good English, but I was really surprised and grateful for the effort that she put into speaking English with us when she could had ignored us and spoken Turkish with Leyla, or had Leyla translate for her. Learning Spanish has really made me appreciate people who speak other languages. Rima, one of Leyla's sisters also spent quite a bit of time with us. She could speak a little less English than Debora, but she also made a big effort to use it. Jo and I loved Rima and Debora. Both were so kind and sweet and willing to get to know us. One night, Leyla made spaghetti and invited Debora and her sister, Lydia as well as Leyla's brother and Rima to come over to eat with us. I loved sitting around the table, talking with her nieces, learning about each other's culture (and enjoying the delicious homemade spaghetti sauce). Every night, Leyla would let the living room get darker as the sun set and would turn on one lamp when it got dark. This made the living room have a dim light. That night that we ate spaghetti, she lit candles, so the living room felt warm and calm. We sat around, watched a French movie, and talked about what actors and celebrities were the most famous for being good looking in our countries! Lydia and Debora agreed that in Europe, most women are in love with either David Beckham or Leonardo DiCaprio. It was a fun night. Another nice moment was when Leyla took Jo and I over to Rima's house after church on Sunday. Leyla said that every Sunday afternoon, their family usually makes visits to each other's house. We hung out at Rima's for most of the afternoon. One of Leyla's other nieces and her husband came over to see Rima and play with their kids. They all eventually switched over to only speaking Turkish, so for a good part of the afternoon, Jo and I sipped our tea and watched the sweet family interact with each other. It was so nice to just be in a family setting.

Bernard

Sweet Aunt Leyla is engaged! We were so lucky to get to meet her fiance, Bernard. Bernard is Belgian and lives in the city, so we got to go over to his place twice. I think he may be perfect. The first time we went over, he fixed us some delicious flan to eat, then sat down and played the most beautiful music I have ever heard on the guitar.
That night, we made one of my favorite memories from the trip. After we had visited for awhile, Leyla told Bernard that it was time to go and that we would walk over to a famous monument near his place and then take the metro home. He refused to let us walk, so we took his snazzy car and drove over to the monument. It was pretty cold, so he and Debora stayed in the car while Leyla, Jo, and I got out to look around. The wind was blustery and cold so after only a few minutes, we decided to go home and see the monument another day. When we got back in the car, Bernard was blasting Simon and Garfunkle! I shouted over the music, "I love this song!" and Bernard cranked it louder! We drove back towards Leyla's apartment with The Sound of Silence and Bookends swirling around inside the car. It did not take me long to realize that Bernard was taking a long route home. The music continued to play as we drove past beautiful chalets and tall unique brick buildings. He took us through old beautiful neighborhoods and past a big green park. When he opened up the sun roof Leyla said "Hey, its cold outside!" But Bernard said nothing, just stuck his hand out and let the music play! I know this all probably sounds super cliche, but it was a pretty magical moment. One of my favorites :) On Sunday evening, Bernard invited us back to his place for dinner! It was probably one of the fanciest dinners I have ever been to! He had brought back a wheel of expensive cheese from Switzerland and had a machine that would heat the top of it. When the top was melted, the machine would tilt the cheese over and he would scrape off the top of the cheese onto the food on our plates, similar to fondue. It was pretty much the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.
Jo and I were both so happy for Leyla that she had found such a generous, caring, kind man. We loved spending time with Bernard and laughing at his jokes. He was so kind to us and so fun to be around. We told Leyla that we definitely approve of him!

Church
On Sunday morning, we went with Leyla to her church! We felt very honored because their congregation was moving to a new building and that Sunday was the last Sunday that they would be in their old building! We enjoyed worshipping with them and singing their songs in Turkish! The music sounded much different than ours. There was definitely more of an eastern feel to the music- a lot of minor chords. But Johanna and I recognized several hymns that we sing in English! After the service, the small congregation all gathered together and took a picture in the sanctuary! Johanna and I felt honored to get to be in the picture too! Then we all went down into the church basement to have some coffee and tea. Johanna and I met more girls our age who spoke English and enjoyed getting to know them a little bit.

I loved seeing how relational their culture was. Everyone took the time to sit and talk with each other over a cup of tea or coffee. It seemed like everyone in their church body was connected by family or marriage. All of them were close friends. It was amazing to see a group of people so close, so connected.

On Monday before we left to go back to Spain, the three of us along with Rima went over to Leyla's oldest sister (Fedva)'s house to have breakfast. My mom had always told me such good things about Fedva and I was so excited to meet her. Once again, Jo and I received so much love (not to mention food) from her and her husband. Though we could not speak the same language, I felt like we could communicate so well. I felt like I had a piece of my family right there with me.

I would say that this weekend may have been my favorite since coming to Europe. The love shown to us by Leyla and her family was amazing to me. It really felt like I had gone home for the weekend. It was also encouraging to see the deep faith in Jesus Christ that their whole community had and how it united them. They never stopped talking about the greatness of Jesus and the power of prayer. It was good to just be around such a big group of strong believers. It was also eye opening to be around such strong believers who were not American! It was just another indicator that God is not the God of America, but of the whole world too.

It was a wonderful weekend and it was very difficult to leave Belgium. Jo and I feel so grateful for everything that Leyla teyze, Aunt Leyla, did for us. Now more than ever I feel like she really is my aunt and her family really is my family.



But! The long weekend did not end there! We returned on Monday, and the next day I embarked on another grand adventure to LAS FALLAS in Valencia! More on this in a blog post coming next!