This Book Has Been Prepared as Part of

2 Countries 1 Language

E-Twinning Project

CHAPTER 1

BEELY TRAVELS FROM TURKEY TO SLOVAKİA

There was a bee living in beautiful Turkey. Its name was Beely.

He loved his country and his family very much. Every day, he and his family collected pollen from colorful flowers. Belly woke up one morning and feeling bad.Because he didn’t want his family to get sick, he was thinking of leaving his beautiful home and staying away from the hive and his family for a while. He was very upset, but he did not want his family to be harmed. He said goodbye to his family and left his home. In fact, this situation pleased him a little, because it was his biggest dream to travel the world since he was little.

He was stretching his wings and floating in the air, flying happily even though he did not know where he was going. He set off the road from Konya,Turkey. About an hour passed as Bleey floated through the air. He was flying as if fascinated, he suddenly stopped and looked behind him, not knowing where he was. He guessed he lost his density due to some technological reasons, as in many other times. He looked at an anthill, wanting to at least know which way he was going. Knowing that the anthills face South, he realized that he was going to the northwest of Turkey and continued on his way. Beely had lots of information about maps. He knew which country was in the northwest of Turkey.

He even continued on his way by counting the names of the cities and countries. He saw a lot of historical places such as Rumi Museum ,Ankara Castle,Topkapı Palace,Dolmabahçe Palace and a lot of lakes such as Lake Yeşilırmak,Lake Gölcük and a lot of mosques which are old than a hundred years such as Hagia Sophia Mosque,Blue Mosque and finally a huge sea ‘Black Sea’.

While passing over Bulgaria, it was quite difficult to see in front of him as it was very cloudy. And it was evening, because Beely was very tired, he rested in the hollow of a tree. When he woke up in the morning, he planned to continue on his way. When he got up in the morning, he arrived in Romania after traveling a little.It was very hot. After flying a little, he saw bees singing and dancing in colorful dresses. After having some fun with the bees, Belly set off to other places by flapping his wings. and while flying over Hungary, he encountered Hungarian bees. Hungarian bees appeared before the Beely with more colorful clothes as in the novels, the weather was very nice and the trip was getting more and more fun. However, although he did not want to leave this country, he left the country.And then a green and wonderful country appeared, this was Slovakia.

CHAPTER 2

BEELY IS IN SLOVAKIA

Beely comes to Slovakia. It is a big state for him and he doesn´t know what is where. So he just flies and flies and watches the surroundings. It is beautiful sunny day. He wants to go everywhere but he finally decides that he will follow his nose.

The first place, where he starts is the capital city Bratislava. In Bratislava there is a castle with four towers and when you look at it from the opposite it looks like a table. Beely flies around the castle. The walls are white and the roof is red. ,,It´s beautiful castle,” thinks Beely. He likes the Bratislava city, but he wants to keep looking around in Slovakia. He sees so many villages, towns, meadows and hills.

As he flies, he hears about the High and Low Tatras. They are beautiful mountains. He wants to fly there, but he doesn´t know where they are. He wonders how to get there. Then he sees a billboard with the picture with the mountains. There is an arrow on the left. It says ,,Ten kilometers.”. So Beely flies really fast and in a few minutes he sees big mountains. He says: ,,When I go first to the High Tatras, then I maybe can see the Low Tatras.” and as he says, so he did. They are really high mountains. The mountains have the highest peak called Gerlachovský štít, which is 2655 meters above the sea level. But Beely doesn´t give up. He tries to fly as high as he can. When he is higher, it is colder too. He wants to go all the way up, but he can´t. His wings will be frozen. But he is happy, because he is high in the sky anyway. And the view is beautiful. It was a long way, so he sits on the backpack of one man and takes a nap. When he gets up, he is not on the backpack any more. Beely feels warm, so he continues with his trip. He flies to the town. He wants to see this town because there is a town square. The town square is the second largest of its kind in Slovakia. In the middle of the town square there is a watchtower. The town is called Rožňava. In Rožňava there is a Grammar School, too. And primary schools, nursery and many shops. Beely really likes Rožňava, but the evening is approaching. He wants to see one more city. So he flies to Košice. Košice is a beautiful city, too. It´s the second largest city in Slovakia. In Košice there is the main square with a fountain that shines in colours. There is also Žigmundova tower – St. Elizabeth Cathedral. It is said that there is one brick that, when pulled out, completely drops the entire tower.

Beely spent a beautiful day observing the surroundings of Slovakia. It was the evening already so he flies back to the Turkey. To a place called Konya.

CHAPTER 3

BEELY’S ONE DAY AT SCHOOL IN TURKEY

After a looonng travel,finally Beely arrived in Konya. He was very happy to reach his home because he missed his family and friends very much.Likewise, his friends and family were very happy to see him.Beely’s friends love each other very much. Beely’s friends and teachers are very understanding and helpful to each other.So Beely loves to go to school so much.

They start the school at 8.10 every weekdays.They have 8 hours lessons.Each lesson lasts 40 min.And they have 10 min. break.They love breaks so much and want them to be longer 😊They have 5 lessons before lunch time.

At 12.10,They have lunch break and they go to the dining hall.It’s out of the school building but at the same garden of course.For lunch,They have different meals every day.They have rice,salad,soup,pasta,meatballs,meat,bean and such meals.After having lunch,they play in the school garden.Mostly,they play dodgeball all together.They love playing there.Because it’s very big and there are trees,flowers and their teachers wandering around the school to look after them.After lunch,they perform the ritual prayers of İslam.Because they are Muslims.And then they go to their classrooms.Because it’s lesson time.They have 3 more lesssons.At the end of the day,the school finishes at 15.20.They use different ways to go home.Their school is at the centre of the city.So some go by bus,some on foot and some go home by car.When they go home ,they do their homeworks if they have .They like reading books and having time with their family.And they go to bed because they wake up early.This weekdays are the same for Beely and his friends.

To Belly and his friends, it was very important to be a good person except their studies at their school. They love their teachers,respect them and listen to them carefully at classes.And on the other hand, they are so active at school.They prepare theaters ,organize aid campaigns and care about being respectful to each other,too. Once again, there was a theater at school, the story of a wandering bear was being told in the theater. Suddenly,Beely realized that he missed traveling and Slovakia while watching the theater, when he came home, Beely told his family about his situation.He taught that Slovakia missed him and vice verse.He  asked them what he should do. His family supports Beely and they said ‘my son does whatever comes to his mind’. If you want to go Slovakia, you can go.They said we always support you.Beely was very happy.

And he woke up in the morning and set off to Slovakia…

CHAPTER 4

BEELY’S ONE DAY AT SCHOOL IN SLOVAKIA

When Beely arrived from Turkey to Slovakia, it was still night, so he decided to go to the bed. When he woke up in the morning, he decided to study at the Rožňava grammar school.

They start the school at 7.45 a.m. every weekday. They have 6 lessons on Mondays. Each lesson lasts 45 minutes. And they have a 10-minute break. They go to have lunch after class. The school finishes at 1.10 p.m. but sometimes it ends at 12.15 p.m. or 14.00 p.m. depending on the number of lessons.

After school, Beely with other kids goes to lunch. He and other kids have a cauliflower with potatoes for lunch. After lunch, Belly goes home like everyone else. After coming home, he washes his hands and goes to do his homework. After doing his homework, he starts to learn from his notes.

Then he can take a break for a while. After doing all his homework and learning everything he needs, he takes a break and then he goes out for a while. He is very happy when he comes to Turkey again and will tell his family everything he has experienced in Slovakia.

The following day, he went to school and after school he had lunch, said goodbye to the children he met and went home to prepare for the trip back to Turkey. At around 2.50 pm he set out on a long journey back to Turkey….

CHAPTER 5

BELLY LIKES TURKISH DISHES

Beely had returned to his beautiful country, Turkey, he missed his country and his food very much, he was very hungry, he wanted to eat ‘muhlama’ early in the morning and went to Trabzon city in Turkey’s Black Sea region. Muhlama is  a really good choice for breakfast . He dipped his bread into the muhlama and stretched out to fill his stomach.

After he had a good meal, he left Trabzon  and continued on his way from the Aegean Sea’s coast. When he came to Izmir, it was noon and Beely tasted KUMRU  and loved the taste of the cheddar cheese combined with the sausage.It was wonderful.

Beely should have continued on his way, although he was full while going  through Mersin, he couldn’t stand ‘tantuni’ consisting of tiny chopped chickens with delicious spices.After that beautiful city,there were lots of cities which have famous dishes must have to taste.The next city is Hatay and it is one of the most popular city with its meals with meat and of course delicious desserts.The city’s famous dessert Kunefe is a warm dessert with shredded wheat in syrup and cheese, would go well after eating tantuni.

The next day, he continued on his way from where he left off, the next hop was Adana. In Adana, he ate Adana kebap and drank şalgam with it.

And then he was in Şanlıurfa. He ate a lahmacun.It is very famous in this city and it’s like our dish ‘etliekmek’.They look like a pizza but the ingredients are different.We just use minced meat on it.Suddenly he longed for baklava.It goes  well after lahmacun, so he made his way to Gaziantep.

He had many cities to visit and foods to eat in his country, but Beely had to return home to Konya now. And it wouldn’t have been if he didn’t eat Konya’s etliekmek.

CHAPTER 6

BELLY TASTES TRADITIONAL FOOD OF SLOVAKIA

When Beely slept in Konya, he decided to go by train to Slovakia to taste traditional dishes.

When he arrived in Slovakia, he sat down at a table in a restaurant. They offered him halušky. It is a traditional food and we could describe it as potatoe dumplings with sheep cheese cream. It is prepared as follows: We make a dough from flour, eggs and a pinch of salt. It is good to add water slowly until the dough merges nicely into one mass. Make sure there is not much water. We cook the peeled potatoes, add sheep cheese, ground black pepper and at least 1 tbl spoon of sour cream. You don’t need salt at all, but it also depends on what kind of sheep cheese you have. “Pop” it nicely and mix it. Roll the dough, it must not be very thin, otherwise the dumplings will be torn. 2 or 3 milimetres is ideal size. Cook them in water for about 5-6 minutes or until they float to the surface. ,,Yum. It´s very delicious.” said Beely. He left the restaurant and went to taste the lokshe (lokše) on the farm. He sat down and the landlady brought him lokshe. “My little friend, these are prepared as follows, “said the landlady.” A day before, wash the smaller potatoes and cook them in a peel until they are soft. In a bowl, mix together the sifted flour and salt into a smooth dough. Not too long as the dough could start to stick. Make a roller out of the dough and cut it into rough pieces. Create balls from each piece, roll them out on a floured board so that the dough does not stick. Bake on each side in a dry warm pan. Sprinkle each loksha with salt or fresh water. And your lokshas are ready. Offer them to your little friends from the hive, “the landlady replied, escorting Beely to another restaurant. When he arrived, they offered him zemiakové placky (potatoe pancakes), for which we need  these ingredients: 1200 grams of potatoes,  150 grams of plain flour, 2 cloves of garlic,  salt, ground black pepper, marjoram, 2 eggs, 1 deciliter of milk, 100 grams of lard. Then we can start to prepare the pancakes as follows: first  grate the peeled potatoes, then cover with smooth flour, add pressed garlic and salt, pepper, crushed marjoram, eggs, milk and mix all these ingredients well. Zemiakové placky (potatoe pancakes) we baked on greasy baker in a heated oven. They can be served with tea.

       When Beely was done with zemiakové placky (potatoe pancakes), he went to the new restaurant. They offered him jablkové rezy (apple slices). We need these ingredients: 500 grams of smooth flour, 1 baking soda, 150 grams of powdered sugar, 1 margarine, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Stuffing – 1 kilogram of apples, 100 grams of ground nuts, 1 vanilla sugar, a pinch of cinnamon. They are prepared as follows: sift flour with baking soda and sugar, add margarine, eggs and lemon juice. Divide the dough into two halves. Place one half on the roller and put it on a greased and floured baking sheet. Lay it on with the apple stuffing. Then cover it with the second half and make small holes with a fork. Bake in a medium-heated oven. Sift sugar on a baked pie and cut it into slices. Stuffing- grated the peeled apples, mix with ground nuts, vanilla sugar and cinnamon.

,,Yum. It is very delicious. Thanks.“ said Beely. After that, he went to the second restaurant but he was very thirsty. He sat down at the table and a bee came to him. She asked him, “Can I sit down?” “Sure,” Beely replied. The waiter brought them strawberry tea with honey. Beely held his breath at the beautiful bee. He asked her, “What’s your name?” “My name is Beezy. And yours?” she asked Beely. “My name is Beely. Where are you from? “Beely asked her.” I’m from Slovakia. And you?” she asked him, “I’m from Turkey,” Beely told her. They talked for a long, long time. It’s obvious. They fell in love. And that’s how the friendship between Turkey and Slovakia was formed.