I had dinner with a friend last night at a local Turkish restaurant.  It was the first time I ate Lamb ribs, and they were very tasty!

The meat was kind of cut away from the rib, but left hanging on one end and grilled over a fire.  Then the exposed bone was wrapped in foil so that we could pick them up and eat them.  The meat was so tender and juicy and had a great taste!

I found out about this restaurant from the Turkish man who delivers my bottled water to my apartment.  I had asked him if there were any good Turkish restaurants.  I grew to love some of the Turkish dishes while living in Kyiv, Karaganda and Tbilisi.  I still haven’t found a Turkish buffet like the other cities.

The salad was a traditional Turkish dish served with a slice of lemon.

My friend had asked me to do a favor for him and the answer I had for him was negative.  I really wasn’t looking forward to sharing the news to him and was trying to figure out how to break the news to him.  While I was chewing on a piece of meat, he boldly asked me whether the answer was положительный or отрицательный (positive or negative).

I sat there stumped by his question as I had not heard these words used in this context.  Then, he had to explain to me what the words meant and finally he used them as a math equation of plus or minus.  The light went on in my head and I finally understood what he meant.

I sat there wondering how he was going to take the news and he took the burden off my shoulders and said, “I guess it is negative…”  I shook my head yes and explained to him why the answer was no.  He understood and smiled back at me.

At that moment I was very thankful to the Lord for His goodness and mercy upon me.  I was afraid that the answer would hurt him somehow.  But in the end, we had a great meal, our friendship was strengthened and I learned a couple of new words.