For those of you who regularly follow my blog, you’ve seen my love of travel. From a last minute flight to Dubai, to a family vacation in Costa Rica; from multiple stays in Turkey, to a winter trip to Spain; I’ve been extremely lucky not only for all of the opportunities I’ve had to go the places I have, but also for all of the people who have helped me along the way. I’ve stayed in the homes of more friends and even more complete strangers in the past two years than I have in my entire life, and I’m thankful to each and every family that has shown me that hospitality.
Staying with locals is only full of advantages, beyond the obvious financial ones. You get the benefit of their expertise and advice when it comes to getting around, perhaps practice some language skills, and get a chance to learn about different aspects of their culture you’d never see hanging out around the big tourist spots. Also, the food is always way better than the stuff served in restaurants!
And so it’s rare that I get the same chance to show people the city I grew up in or the culture I’ve lived with for most of my life. However, this past winter break I had the chance to show someone very special to me all of those very things!
My boyfriend, Hasan, arrived in Las Vegas on December 20th. This being his first (properly celebrated) Christmas experience, my mom went all out on the decorations this year. The tree was done up as usual in traditional Hawaiian style: a strange combination of seashell-shaped angel ornaments, snowflakes, starfish, strings of pearl-like beads, and other gold painted objects. There were nutcrackers and stockings hanging from the fireplace and a mini snow white Santa Claus on the staircase. Garlands along bookshelves and of course bright little lights strung on the palm trees outside. Just like we used to do when I was a kid.
One of the things I was most excited for was by far my mother’s cooking (which I am still trying to learn how to replicate!). I’ve always wished I could bring home all of my international friends just to show them that American cooking, contrary to popular belief, is not just limited to McDonalds and hamburgers. My mom can make some amazing dishes, from rather strange sounding things like her spicy Chicken Papaya, to her more traditional Thanksgiving dinner spread (which she did twice this year since we missed out on the first one!). Hasan was also lucky enough to get to try her Hawaiian Bread Pudding, a dessert quite different from anything else I’ve ever had.
Throughout the week Hasan also got to see and experience some of the more average goings-on in the Bakken household. We played Scrabble more times than I can remember, watched and actively participated in Jeopardy almost religiously, and walked Koa, our Doberman Pinscher, every night around the neighborhood. On Christmas day we opened presents and had a huge breakfast.
Koa was a little bit of a surprise for Hasan, whose experiences with dogs were mostly limitied to street dogs in Istanbul
All in all we had a great winter break this year, and I was happy Hasan got to spend some time with my family and learn a little bit more about them. It was also nice to be on the giving side this time around (: Happy new years!
