Dinner with School Family

Last night I was invited to dinner at the home of one of my 4th grade students. The father is the head of the IT department at the university and he, his wife, and their two daughters live "on-campus" in the academic and employee housing of the university. It was a delightful evening of wonderful conversation and delicious food.

The father had been a visiting professor at Rensselaer and speaks good English, a plus for me. I learned that he is implementing ideas learned in America to increase worker productivity.

The mother is a high school math teacher. I learned that all students take the same math classes through 9th grade. Then they are separated by ability. Those academically able continue with math. The others are finished with math and focus on the social sciences. This "decision making" at 9th grade explains to me why so many students take extra classes in middle school on the weekends.

The dinner began with onion soup followed by what you see in my picture. I can't remember the name but it was delicious, meat, vegetables, all packed together and displayed on a serving platter that looked like a layered cake. This post wouldn't be complete without the mention of the "after dinner" latte. When I chose coffee, the wife said (and I understood this in Turkish) that she can make chai but her husband is the coffee maker. (sounds like our home.) Anyway, I mention the latte because it was made in an espresso machine with Starbucks coffee and it was DELICIOUS!

At about midnight, I arrived home from my "school night" dinner.