Random pics from our Christmastime trip

We took a several-day trip back to the city we previously lived in just before Christmas. Unfortunately, seeing friends took priority over taking pictures, but here are a few shots I did take.

First is Matthew eating a doner when we stopped for lunch on the road. Doner is meat (in this case, chicken) roasted in front of a flame on a vertical skewer. The edges are shaved off with a long knife as they are cooked. It's served on a platter with salads or on a roll with fixings--anything from plain ketchup to the works (including hot peppers and french fries).

Before our trip we made salt-dough Christmas ornaments for our friends. Can you tell which ones Mommy "helped" with?


Friends we visited from our first home here. This is a very patient family who tolerated our earliest days in language and culture learning! My kids remembered them and were glad to visit and eat traditional meatballs and salad.

A Slice of Life in Our City -- From Mike

I was struck recently by how many different layers of culture and civilization I see during my 45 minute walk to the church for language lessons. I’ll give you some highlights:

I set out and pass a row of shops, many of which sell only one thing. There’s the shop that sells honey, the shop that sells vacuum cleaner bags, the shops that sell tires, and several shops that sell lamb parts (the lamb heads are set neatly in a row on the counter). I pass a grocery store, which has on its sidewalk a large assortment of fresh produce and a large aquarium of fresh fish for sale. A pair of American-built fighter jets race overhead.

After the grocery store I walk on a narrow but crowded sidewalk and see lots of different people. There are “modern” looking people with tight jeans and spiked hair (both male and female). I see ladies from villages with layers of clothing and white lace head scarves. I see men wearing sport jackets and ties and men wearing village pants which hang baggy from the waist to the knees and then narrow to the ankles. I see women dressed in all black, some with their entire face and hands covered. Some youth go by pushing a wheel barrow with a decent looking television set inside.

After the busy sidewalk I see a small but very modern mall. Inside the mall you can eat at McDonalds and then pay 5 dollars for a cup of filtered coffee at a coffee shop—truly a Western experience.

After the mall there is a large dirt field. The middle of the field is a popular place to sit and talk. Some ladies from the village roast mushrooms over open fires.

I cut through a large park with green trees, a fountain, and well-watered grass. After the park I enter the major shopping district. The large windows are splattered with neon signs advertising jeans, shirts, computer equipment, cell phones, and photo developing. I hear a mix of local music and 80’s Michael Jackson pop. To avoid crossing a busy street I cut through an underground mall that is has a higher class of shops. A man walks around selling hot tea.

After the shopping district I pass a school where children play soccer on the sidewalk in their bright blue uniforms, using their school books as goals. The school is on a road filled with cars. Gas is $8 a gallon, but the cars whiz by. There are also a lot of small busses, called dolmushes, which literally means “stuffed,” an accurate description. I see army vehicles. There are also a lot of motorcycles with side cars. One man is escorting his entire family in the side compartment, another man his entire living room set--consisting of a sofa, loveseat, and two chairs--another has live animals.

I come to a large wall that surrounds the oldest part of the city. The wall is thick enough to house soldiers inside. It looks like something straight out of the middle ages. I walk along the inside of the wall and watch children play in the park and climb on the ruins.

I turn into what feels like a small alley. It is a cobblestone street built long before they conceived of cars. I pass a series of old apartment buildings and concrete compounds. Children play in the street. Wheelbarrows push produce to a store. I see a woman negotiate the price of a live chicken. I get the feeling that life here hasn’t changed much in the last 200 years—well..except for the satellite dishes that decorate the buildings and the cell phones in people’s hands.

To my left I come upon the outside wall of a compound that houses a Syrian Orthodox church. The building, originally a Zoroastrian temple, dates from a few hundred years before Christ. It was converted to a church around 300 AD. Services continue, but in a language similar to Aramaic, which no one speaks now. My destination is the church on the right. It, too, looks old, but it was actually built about 3 years ago. It was given the appearance of age so it would blend in with the community. I ring the bell and am greeted by a familiar voice and warm smile.

My friend serves me Starbucks coffee from a French press as I warm my hands by a coal-burning stove. As get ready to start the lesson, two more fighter jets pass overhead.

Theology with a Three-Year-Old

Matthew: Where’s Hope Abla going to? She’s going to America?
Me: Hope Abla is in --. Paula Abla is in America. Grammy is in America too.
Matthew: Maybe we should go there.
Me: After the baby comes we will go and visit Grammy in America.
Matthew: There is a dog there.
Me: Yeah, Grandmom has two dogs.
Matthew: What’s it’s name?
Me: There’s Charlie, remember Charlie?
Matthew: Yeah.
Me: … and Ty.
Matthew: But Grammy has one dog.
Me: (appropriate change of tone) Yeah, well, Grammy’s dog died.
(Matthew thinks for a few seconds, almost a minute)
Matthew: On a cross like Jesus died on the cross?
Me: No. Jesus died on a cross, but now He’s alive again. Grammy’s dog got sick and it was a really back sickness so it died. Sometimes animals die.

Another time…

Matthew: Look Mommy, Tigger’s having a baby. His name is Jesus. Like Mary had a baby. (Oh, and I should mention Tigger was having this baby in the back of a toy dump truck.)

I'm a Foreigner.

I know I’ve gotten used to this country when I consider it a treat to get coffee at McDonalds. McDonalds is one of two places in the city where I can get buy filtered coffee. And at McDonalds it is only two dollars. Everywhere else sells instant. Here’s what happened when I tried to order ice cream for my family and get myself a coffee.

Me: I would like two Sundays, one chocolate and one caramel and two ice cream cones. Could you put the...

McDonalds worker (MW):..ice cream in a cup. Yes I remember the last time you ordered.

Me: Thanks. Oh, can I get a cup of filtered coffee too.

MW: I’ll bring you the ice cream and then the coffee, okay?

Me: No, I’ll take both of them together.

MW: (With a look of complete amazement) You want both something cold and something hot, together?!?

Me: Yes. [pause] I’m a foreigner.

MW: That will make your teeth hurt.

Me: I do that all the time, I’m a foreigner.

MW: you can’t do that.

Me: In American it is very normal

MW: Okay. The coffee is on me. It is a gift.

(He gets the ice cream and coffee, and gives me a lot of sugar.)

Me: I don’t need sugar. I take it black.

MW: [aghast] No sugar! That’s right, you are a foreigner.

There are sometimes when it is just really fun to be a foreigner.

Christmas package

I got a call from a phone number I didn’t recognize last Tuesday. It was a man, and about all I could make out was that it was something about “posta” (ie, post, mail) and he wanted my address. Well, since I couldn’t understand exactly what he wanted, and I wasn’t going to give my address to a strange man even if I did, I offered to come to the post office. He asked if I knew where the mail work center is. He gave me all sorts of directions, the only part of which I understood was what major road it was on. So after lunch Mike and I head off to find it. We are driving along the specified main road, stopping to ask random people where this place is. The first guy’s answer is, after a long pause, “I don’t know, I’m a stranger here too.” The second guy’s answer was “I don’t know, it’s my first time on this road.” What’s amazing about the two answers is that this culture is notorious for giving vague, useless, or incorrect directions rather than disappoint the asker with an “I don’t know.”
We found the mail center at the place where Mike thought it might be, and convinced the security guard that we were here for a package. He told us to pull around back of the building. Mike gets out and starts somewhat tentatively into the building. Watching from the car I see him through the windows walk by one way, and then the other way. Then I see a guy pass with a tray full of tea glasses. Then Mike goes by again. After about 20 minutes he comes out and says that although he thinks he’s talked to everyone in the building, and although he was offered packages destined for other foreigners in the city, no one seems to know anything about the phone call or our package. So he looks up the incoming calls on my cell phone and calls the original guy back. In seconds, literally seconds, the guy comes out on the concrete porch with a mail bag.
The package was my Christmas present to Mike—two books (if you want to know what they were about you’ll have to ask him.) Apparently the box the books were in (which didn’t have my phone number) was falling apart so the thing was bundled up in a mail bag and the phone number and our name were all that was on the bag. So now Mike has met and had tea with all the guys down at the mail distribution center. And although they probably still don’t know where we live, we at least know how to retrieve our lost packages!

Ramah

For most of our neighbors, Christmas is called “Noel” and it means decorating a mini fake pine tree, having a party, and getting drunk on January 1. December 25 is just another winter day. No cantatas, no frontyards full of lights, no special church services, no holiday traffic, no packages of Christmas cookies being baked to the sound of special holiday music and delivered to every imaginable friend or relative. Living here where Christmas is smaller, different, has made it easier to look at it from new perspectives. I was re-reading Andrée Sue’s book of essays, Won’t Let You Go Unless You Bless Me, when I happened upon this meditation on the second chapter of Matthew.

From Matthew:

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

From Seu:

“The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.”… ….Dec. 25 will surely come, with presents galore and songs of the sweet baby of Bethlehem. Carefully quarantined from this heart-warming tale will be images of those other babies hacked to death in neighboring Ramah: “Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” Hatred. Jealousy. Selfish ambition. Death.

But the Lord, who is not so sentimental, has placed Matthew 2 after Matthew 1, for the reason, I presume, that we should make connections. If there are no Ramahs there is no need for Jesus. If there are no young women who fall of bridges, no middle-aged women with calloused hearts, then what is the point? If Jesus’ incarnation was not “to destroy the devil” (1 John 3:8), then what was it for? The baby in the manger is a scene without a plot, good news without the bad, nonsensical. Jesus is cute, ornamental, warm and fuzzy—and ultimately irrelevant.

Our Four-Day Holiday

We just finished a four-day holiday that is about as big here as Christmas or Easter in America. The holiday is intended to commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, it translates locally into a great family and friends time off from work. Although we weren’t off the hook for language study, the week did bring us some variety.

Day One:
While our friends and neighbors were off sacrificing their sheep and cooking and distributing the meat, I cleaned. That’s a holiday tradition, but unlike my neighbors who cleaned every nook and cranny all week last week in preparation, I just spent a few hours Monday morning. And unlike last year, we didn’t witness any of the sacrificing part of the tradition. Throughout the day we answered the doorbell to hand out candy to the groups of children who came around wishing us “may your holiday be blessed.” In the afternoon, some friends came over for tea and sweets. We had a great visit (and the kids did fine with no nap).

Day Two:
We pretty much hung out and did normal stuff all day. Then in the evening we decided to go out and find something interesting to do. There’s this word in this language that means “to go about, to walk about; to visit, to tour (round)…to go for a walk.” It’s a nifty little word, and we’ve anglicized it—“to gez.” So we decided to gez. After driving around for a bit we determined that this city after dark on a holiday night is about like Bel Air (MD) during Thanksgiving dinner—there’s not much to do. We ended up walking the mall and getting ice cream at McD’s. Not a bad gez if you ask me!

Day Three:
Daytime day three we decided to take Matthew to the park, one of his favorite activities. Although the sun was trying to shine when we set out, we got just about the weather you Maryland readers would expect for mid-December—cold and mizzly. Matthew didn’t care on bit. That evening we went to a gathering of believers at a friend’s home. We spent awhile singing praise music. Then they started a sort of hot potato game where the penalty for getting caught was singing a solo or dancing. It was hilarious to see this multi-generational group playing. Then they split into groups and improvised/performed skits from the book of Luke. So Mike and I had our debut acting in the local language.

Day Four:
We finished out the holiday with an engagement party. Engagements here are a big deal, with a party not to different from a wedding reception at times. The ceremony involves trading rings that are connected with a red ribbon, which is then cut to finalize the engagement. Red is the traditional color for the formal dress the bride-to-be wears. This young lady and gentleman are believers, so their event had some special twists including prayer and a brief speech by the pastor. Typically any local party lasts well into the night with music and dancing; loss of electricity cut this one a little short. But we still had a chance to eat baklava and cake, and Mike had a chance to participate in some traditional dancing (sorry, no picture of that one).

(tea-glass picture credit: http://workingthesilkroad.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html)

Some Christmas Spirit

Chestnuts and stuff

I've come half-way around the world to experience a tradition I've only ever heard in a song--roasting chestnuts. The fellowship room at the church we attend is heated by a barrel shaped stove right in the middle of the room. Last night at the meal we share before prayer meeting, the youth were enjoying roasting chestnuts on top of the stove. I can't say I was impressed; I don't know if it was the technique or just the fact that I've never been a huge fan of nuts. But it was a nostalgic moment.

It will be interesting celebrating the holidays here, where we are involved with a group of believers. Last year it was as if we and our American friends were the only ones celebrating Christmas. Now it's like we're almost the only ones. All our neighbors are gearing up to celebrate a Muslim holiday that commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son. Practically, the holiday means a four-day vacation and lots of cleaning, guests, and special food. We're hoping to put up our Christmas tree this weekend.

Since it's been quite awhile since I've blogged, I should fill in a few random details. First, we moved. We like our new home, and are started to feel settled in finally. Our neighbors across the hall are super friendly. We are involved in the church here in this city and making new friends there too.

Second, new baby Christ is growing fine, everything normal as far as we can tell. She's due May 4. Yes, the doctor did say at the last visit that he thinks it's a girl (that was at 16.5 weeks). She better be a smart, active little baby, since she sure is sucking up alot of my energy!

Finally, I'm going to upload some pics to the slideshow. You'll notice several shots of Matthew and Duploes. He and Anna have been on quite the creative spree, with their blocks, playdough, and other toys. If I remember correctly, the pic featured below is a building created for Uncle Jonathan. Other than buildings, he specializes in planes and camels made from Duploes, and playdough sculptures of (unidentifiable) friends and family. Anna is a very diligent little Mother, and I discovered the other day that her baby's name is "Baby."

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One Election Perspective

Over here the US election has been big news. Every time I turn around people are giving me their (generally positive) opinions and asking me what I think. Here’s a translation of one conversation:

Store owner (SO): Obama won. Is he good?

Me: We will see.

SO: Will he be better than Bush?

Me: We will see.

SO: Obama’s father is a Muslim, right?

Me: I think so.

SO: Obama is a Muslim.

Me: He says that he is not a Muslim.

SO: But does he do the Muslim prayers.

Me: Probably he does not.

SO: He is a Christian. He isn’t Catholic is he?

Me: No, not Catholic.

SO: So Obama is a protestant like you?

Me: He says he is a protestant, but I don’t think he is like me.

SO: What does Obama think of us?

Me: I really don’t know.

SO: What is he going to do?

Me: I don’t know, but after I leave I’ll call him and let you know.

SO: (laughter) I talked to him last week. Tell him I said hi.

Me: Okay. Good bye.

Matthew's Birthday

We've had two very interesting days. I got up Monday planning to clean up the house from the weekend, walk over and check email and facebook, frost Matthew's cake, and have dinner and cake at our house at six. I made seven minute frosting for Matthew's chocolate cake, while Mike went over to the store to check email/news etc. Well, while he was there, he mentioned to one of the girls who worked there (R) that it was Matthew's birthday and she asked if she was coming. Since the party was combined with an already scheduled meeting, he couldn't say "yes," so he invented another party for Tuesday night on the spot. He invited R and her newly engaged fiance E. He almost had the whole youth group coming too, but apparently they couldn't come Tuesday and we couldn't do it Friday.

Matthew enjoyed his party, spaghetti (aka "noodles and cheese) and cake. He took five minutes to figure out how to blow out the candles, between it being a whole year since he did it last and his natural shyness. He was so cute!

Tuesday I got up and made another cake (a box mix this time--thank you Aunt Ginny!). We gave Matthew a play-dough toy; a thing you squeeze to make play-dough ribbons. He's really into play-dough right now, he'll say "we should do play-dough" and then sit at the table for hours making fish, or bugs, or whatever he's into at the moment. Then we took Matthew to the park for his birthday as we'd promised. While they napped I cleaned the house and frosted the cake for our next party. This time we invited our neighbors from across the hall who we've talked to several times. They came! So did R and E, and our American friends.

Overall the time was a success. I made tea, but R "fixed" it (I still haven't mastered getting it right every time). Everyone enjoyed the cake and icing, and the kids played well. Their kids loved our toys--locals don't like their kids to have too many toys because of the mess; even if they have the money to buy them they just don't. So our Duploes and play animals were a big hit for the 4 and 9 year old. The conversation went well, I think. There were a few nervous moments. The conversation went a little political, and you've got a room full of 1. us foreigners 2. R and E and 3. neighbors who I had no idea what they thought or where they were coming from. But everyone seemed to have a good time. "Mrs. Neighbor" wants me to show her how to make the icing I made for her daughter's birthday cake next month. R and E left a little earlier. They were happy; R's brother just let her get engaged so they just glow whenever you see them. The neighbors left after about 2 hours, and they seemed relaxed and happy. Actually, Mr. Neighbor stayed and helped Mike with the TV, cause it turns out our building has free cable. Altogether the night was a success and Matthew enjoyed his two birthday cakes!

For any of my readers who have thought about what it means to be a TCK or parent one--here's an interesting quote from WORLD Magazine (Online):

Both presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are adult third culture kids, spending developmental years outside their passport cultures. Obama lived in Indonesia with his stepfather and mother. McCain was born in the Canal Zone and grew up as a military child in the Pacific...

...Third culture kids, like many homeschoolers, [Van Reken] writes, often have stronger relationships with adults. They can be perceived as arrogant—a charge slapped against both Obama and McCain. The world usually looks different to them because of their multicultural experiences. Many third culture kids develop a sense of a both/and identity rather than the traditional either/or identity common to those growing up in one culture.

"Obama is one of the millions of people across our globe who grew up among many different cultural worlds," Van Reken argues. "Ironically, among the common characteristics of these third culture kids is the capacity to be cultural bridges, to be able to see both sides of a situation."

And McCain? "He is seen as a maverick," she says, "because he frequently won't stay in his assigned box and has often voted across party lines."

reference: http://www.worldmag.com/articles/14398

First Sentence

Both kids are growing by leaps and bounds in their communicative ability. Anna has a pile of words, a few in the local language, and a few phrases she uses (mostly ones Matthew has taught her.) Matthew narrates our life and shares suprisingly deep and insightful thoughts with us. But today is a new celebration: Matthew said a sentence in his second language. He wanted to get our helper's attention to show her something he made with duploes, so he said, "bak bana, bana bak," which is, "look at me, look at me."

Quick question

As you can tell, I've been playing with technology. But I dont' know if it's working. It's complicated, youtube being blocked over here. So could someone in the US tell me if the embedded video a few posts below shows up at all? Thanks!

Oh, and I'm also kinda curious who's out there reading this, if anyone (other than Grammy and Grumpy). "Hellooo out there....??"

But no honey...

So I was hanging out with two of the ladies from our apartment building outside, and we were talking about food. The conversation started out with questions about what I eat. (Weight and food are favorite topics anytime here). I said we eat alot of chicken. A while later, one of the ladies brought out a baked/sauteed (how do I spell that?) vegetable dish. I tend to eat slower than the average local, so of course the topic of conversation was about me eating more and faster.

Finally, an hour later, I said I had to go in and fix dinner. The obvious question: "What are you making?" In my head I thought, "Oh no, how do I explain this one?" You see, I'd had a heads-up from a friend that the locals don't really like or understand putting sweet and salty things together, and I was making crunchy honey mustard chicken. So I said "I'm making chicken." "What kind of chicken?" "Chicken with...sauce...and um, you know that stuff kids eat for breakfast that's, um, corn?" (Luckily they guessed CornFlakes and I recognized the word.) "I [mime "crush"] those and put it on the chicken. Kinda like Burger King, but alot different." "Tomato and pepper sauce?" "No..." "Then what's in the sauce?" (Here goes...) "Mayonez, mustard, honey." In the next ten minutes both ladies insisted that 1. it's ok to like Mayo, but not on chicken. Only on certain kinds of salad. 2. I should make chicken tava (baked with veggies, very yummy, by the way). 3. Honey olmaz. That means something like "impossible," "can't be," "doesn't exist."

The next thing I knew, I was having both ladies up to my kitchen to show me how to make it their way. Cut up chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, onion, etc. Season with a little tomato paste and black and red pepper. Cook 'till done. But absolutely don't use honey!

If the video below doesn't work, check out the video here

A blog post by Mike

I was helped by C.J.’s blog on how to think about vacations. He said that the temptation as a guy is to want to plan a vacation so that I can relax. (When I read that I thought, yup, I can identify with that). But that’s not really serving my family, nor is it the makings for a great vacation. (Don’t worry, I did actually get a lot of relaxing in). One goal we need to think about is building memories. I think we did that. I’ll give you a few things that I think I’ll always remember. Becky would probably give you another set, and Matthew and Anna would have yet another.

The age old question in vacations (at lest for me) is do we do the ocean or the mountains. Well, we decided to do both. In this country driving only 4 hours can take you to radically different terrains and different experiences, not to mention very different people.

First we went to the Mediterranean sea for two days. You’ll see in the pictures sand, surf, and a castle in the background, not a sand castle, but a real castle. What stands out to me from our time at the beach is being really exhausted, having tired kids, but still going to the beach and playing with the kids in the water. We went back to our hotel and crashed. partly because we were so tired and partly because the power kept going out randomly and we couldn’t see anything. But I had fun with my family. My wife has a lot of memories of the beach growing up. I began to understand those memories and we began to make some of our own.

We then took a 4 hour drive north to Capadoccia. Being in Capadoccia is kind of like being on the moon because the landscape is so different. There are these things called fairy chimneys, which are 5-6 story cone-shaped rocks sticking up everywhere. The place we stayed and the scenery was fantastic. But what I remember most are the things that didn’t go as planned. We were told that the “open air museum” was ½ a mile a way. Should we take the car or walk? We decided to take the car, only to discover that it had a flat. So, we walked. It was ½ a mile away, but not from the hotel, from the center of town. And the hotel was almost 1 mile from the center of town down a very step hill. During the walk our kids fell asleep—Matthew in my arms. He was very adorable, but also very heavy. We finally made it to the open air museum, but we found out that it was $15 per person, and we weren’t sure we’d get much out of it with tired kids. So, we played in some caves for a while, and walked back very tired, somewhat sunburnt, but very happy.

The drive home was an adventure. There is so much to see in the area. We decided to try to circle around and see some sights on the way back. We got away from the normal tourist sights and found some spectacular views and interesting history. But in going there meant going on the “road less traveled.” One road in particular was pretty much sand and rock. All the while I was hoping and praying that we didn’t get a flat tire. Why? because we were already using the spare. We thought about what would happen if we did get a flat. We saw several people riding on donkeys. I wondered if we could borrow a donkey, put our family on it, ride into town, and get a tire. I wondered if the guy riding the donkey and pulling a cart would give me a ride to the center of town to get a tire. We wondered about calling our supervisor 4 hours away and telling him that we got a flat in the middle of nowhere. He would ask, don’t you have a spare, and I would inform him that it actually was the spare that was flat. We ran through all those situations in our minds and laughed together. Thankfully, we didn’t get a flat.

Those are some things that I’ll remember from our vacation. I hope you enjoy the pictures and my wife’s witty comments.

For pics click here

To read CJ's blog click here


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Where were you five years ago today?


Special Day!


In 2002 Mike proposed
In 2003 We got married
In 2004 We bought our first house
In 2005 We had Matthew
In 2006 We had Anna
In 2007 We moved to the other side of the world
In 2008… what’s next?

My Two Kids

Odds describe one kid, Evens the other, can you guess which is which?

1. Likes to find Daddy’s backpack and buckle the chest strap closed.

2. Kicks the ball and then falls (on purpose) to the ground since that’s what the kids on the movie do during their soccer game.

3. Refuses to eat half the cookie because Mommy didn’t give the whole cookie. Still refuses even if offered the other half, presumably since it’s now broken?

4. Intentionally taps head on elevator wall and then says, “Ooww. Look Mommy, I bonkin my ‘ead!”

5. Pushes umbrella stroller around the house until it gets wedged somewhere, then cries until Mommy rescues.

6. Points out every bus and categorizes it as big or little.

7. Barks to indicate a dog has been sighted. Or a cat. Or a cow. Or anything vaguely fuzzy (except horses, who have their own word.)

8. Seriously likes routines… “Now it time for Matthew and Anna to go get a diaper change and get some juice and go… to…” “Naps” “Yes!” Diaper, juice, kiss on forehead, and say “Night, night, no talking, no standing, no spitting [there’s a reason for that last one]”.

9. Insists on picking out own clothes. Likes to wear underwear on top of diaper.

A Little of our Life

It’s hard to make generalizations about our daily life--once I say something it changes--but I thought I should update blog readers on what’s up with us (other than the cute pics and stories).

Language learning is still a big part of life, but it is slowly morphing. We now have fewer hours with our grammar tutor. Each of us spends some time each week with a helper for conversation practice. What can we say? Last time I blogged language, we were at mostly pleasantries and introducing our family. Now we can talk about a lot more subjects in our daily life, although our grammar and usage is still pretty rough. Put us in a group of native speakers, and we’re lost. But face to face with a sympathetic communicator, we can carry on a conversation even about abstract or spiritual ideas. A big challenge is trying to think like a native speaker—since this language is structurally pretty different from English, thinking in English and then translating isn’t very practical.

We’re getting to know more people around our neighborhood. Some of the ladies sit outside in the evenings, so I go out and sit with them while the kids kick a ball or generally look for things to get into. I got to have Doritos and Coke with a family at a store we visited recently, and Mike visits the owners of a little family restaurant around the corner. We trade dishes full of food with our neighbors in our building.

Being sick has been a big part of our life, unfortunately. We’ve been getting Amoebas pretty regularly. They’re treatable, but the medicine makes me feel (to be honest) pregnant—that is, vaguely hungry and fairly nauseous at the same time randomly throughout the day. God has been good in that both Matthew’s and Anna’s weight/height is normal—they’re both at the 50th percentile. We’ve also been looking into some possible issues with Matthew’s coordination and balance. We’ve met some really nice doctors who speak pretty good English at the hospital downtown.

And of course, to keep things from becoming routine, we keep traveling. You can see some pics in the sidebar of places we’ve been so far. We have a vacation coming up and a little after that another trip, this one to the Big City with some friends. The kids are great travelers, they recently did a six hour car ride. There were moments that they didn’t love it, but over all they did great.

I did two significant things today: I watched a chick-flick and made brownies.

Neither of those things are significant on their own; you have too see them from a certain perspective. While the kids took their afternoon nap, instead of cleaning, cooking, studying, or doing paperwork, I watched a movie. The house didn't fall apart, I wasn't stranded at dinner time, I'll do fine at lessons tomorrow, in short, it was ok. This says to me that we've achieved some slight level of stability in our routine after months and months of transition during which one little less-than-ideally-spent moment could throw the whole day or week into "catching up" mode. Life is getting more livable.

The significant thing about the brownies was that I made them from a box. Real American brownies (some cake mixes are slowly showing up here, but they just aren't the same). Not that I have anything against making brownies from scratch--I have a promising recipe waiting to be tried out. But you see, I never made brownies from scratch back home. The box mix is so easy and yummy. So after months and months of learning new recipies or re-learning old ones with new ingredients and substitutions for everything I cook, there was something satisfyingly familiar about tearing that box top off. I made brownies my way.

Oh, and I caught myself talking to myself (in my head, not aloud) in two different languages at the same time. How weird is that?

Mother's Day

I finally got my hands on the digital files for the pics Mike, er, that is, My Two Kids gave me for Mother's Day. He took these, edited them, and had them printed all while I was at lessons so it would be a surprise.

Olympic Sports

...are on my mind. I'm thinking of working out for the olympic sport of sunflower-seed-eating. I was never a big fan, but around here, it's a social thing to sit around and eat sunflower seeds. You snap the shell open with your teeth, wriggle that little bitty seed out with your tongue, throw away the leftovers, and pick up another all in one smooth motions that takes about the same (or less) time as it takes to pop a Planter's peanut in. But while my neighbors each have steadily growing piles of shells (husks, whatever are they called?) I'm still trying to fish that little piece of non-seed stuff out from under my tongue. Would it be too strange to go buy a bag and sit in my kitchen and practice?

If I can't qualify for the speed sport, I'll go for the strength sport--refrigerator door opening. It has a great air-tight seal. Every time I close it, it gurgles and clamps shut--I suppose it's attempting to re-create that chilly atmosphere we so appreciate. But now that it's hot outside, for a 3-4 minute period after I close it, it clamps down so tightly that rather than opening, it slides across the floor when I pull.

Of course, I may just take up toddler referee. It's the sneaky vs. the fiesty. The bigger vs. the littler. The verbal vs. the non-verbal. And of course, justice must prevail!

I love my kids!!!

The Beach

It was a beautiful 4th of July... Hot... Sunny... the sand was soft...

A great place to kick a beach ball around with Dad. The waves were perfect too, tiny little ones and shallow way out. Ok, not much fun for body surfing, but great for a 2 year old.

We rented an umbrella and lounge chairs and made sand castles.

Oh, and did I mention the real castle just off shore?

And of course, what would a day at the beach be without fresh hot nescafe served as you sunbathe?

My two adorable children were playing out on the balcony, and I was keeping an eye on them to make sure that heads were staying above water. They enjoy playing with cups and buckets in the pool, and it's an easy way to stay cool when temps are getting close to 100. But then I noticed that Anna was very carefully pouring the water out the balcony "window"...

....fortunately managing to miss the neighbor's laundry. I've actually never met this neighbor, and having to explain Anna's "rain" is not the way I want to start!

Spring Cleaning -- Rugs

Around here when summer comes it's time to clean the rugs and roll them up 'till fall. For smaller rugs, you take them outside, hose them down, squirt shampoo on them, scrub with a broom or brush, and then rinse well--pushing the sudsy water away with a squeegy. Our rug-cleaning party degenerated into a hose party when Anna got interested--first in helping, later in playing with the water. The lady in the picture is Yeter. She comes on Wednesdays to help around the house and we do everything from housecleaning to cooking to playing with the kids or talking about life. I love getting her perspective on how a house ought to be managed and the kids both love her chasing them around.




This is some serious rug cleaning... The large living room rug can't be cleaned on a balcony, so you can have a cleaning service take it away and bring it back clean and dry in a few days for about 10$. We'll probably do that in the fall. Although the locals take up all their carpets in the summer, we like our living room one for the kids to play on, so we'll leave it for now.

Father's Day

For Father's Day last Saturday the kids and I took Mike to a park to cook out. I found this place on the internet, but the site didn't include directions. I did however, find it on a map, so we took off to see if we could actually find it. We did; there's a beautiful lake a little over an hour an a half from our house. Just beyond the lake there are mountains, and the park is my a little creek. We overshot the park the first time, so some of the pictures in our slideshow (left sidebar) are from our wandering in the mountains enjoying the view. We had grilled chicken sandwiches, Rice Krispie treats (thanks to Grammy), and Coke. Of course Matthew and Anna's goal was to throw every stone on the shore into the creek before we left :). On the way there we drove through miles of farmland--lots of sunflower fields, some corn, lot of citrus orchards and other fields.

Anna's Words

eat, chair, juice, wet, hurt, head, hat, shoes, "fork," "woof," "hsss," turn, Bible, book, wash, ball, night-night, help-you, thank-you, Anna, Daddy, car, truck, more, yogurt, up, bye, hi, diaper, shirt, off, abla, watch, cookie, candy, cup, come, yes, trash...and my personal favorites, Bob and Larry (yes, that's from VeggieTales).

Just a few cute shots...

Riding horses:


Goofing off:


Dancing with Bob & Larry:

Watching VeggieTales:

McD's playworld:

Another Day in the Life

Monday May 26

Woke up 7:10. Got up, dressed and all that. Had the last of the muffins, kiwi, and yogurt for breakfast. Hung out the laundry and swept the kitchen, made the kids' beds. Got shoes on the kids and took them to the bazaar. Matthew walked the whole time. We were there about an hour, bought peaches, tomatoes, melon, green onion, parsley, bananas, sesame seeds, raisins, green beans, and cucumbers. Forgot lettuce, oops. Walked home for a potty/drink break and then headed back out. Let Anna walk as far as the pharmacy and then headed up to Bim (food store, reminds me of Aldi). Kids love Bim, they always get a cookie and I let them roam quite a bit. No chicken today, but I found something like apple cinnamon cheerios. Walked back, stroller loaded with groceries. Found a package from Aunt Ginny at the front door! Matthew’s watching VeggieTales and Anna is roaming…it’s 11:33.
After lunch played with the kids in their room for a bit, then put them down for naps. They slept from 1:30-3:30 while I did Turkish. I started disinfecting the veggies I bought this morning too. When they got up we folded the laundry together, finished cleaning the veggies, cleaned up the storage closet, colored, and started dinner. We had burgers, fries, brocolli, and carrots for dinner. After dinner I cleaned up while Mike read books and played with the kids. They went to bed and we watched the movie “Holes” in Turkish, with a break to Skype with Mom and Dad. Movie over, lights out, 10:47.

A Day in the Life

Thursday May 22

Got up, showered dressed, made bed etc, got kids up and dressed. Fed everyone breakfast--yogurt, scrambled eggs, peaches, and “raisin-prune-bran cookies“. Did Bible time with Mike and the kids. Straightened up the bedrooms, put away some clothes, emptied the dishwasher. Spent the rest of the morning juggling kids and language. Managed to get done a page and a half of grammar exercises, listen to my recordings several times, and write a brief paragraph about the truth that is so valuable to me. Kids colored, played toys, built a house together the big blocks, and watched VeggieTales. Had soup and pilav for lunch--yummy soup my helper made yesterday. Both kids liked it, yay! Tutor got here a few minutes early, so we chatted while the kids finished up. She brought her usual candy treat, and we started lessons when Mike got home to play with the kids. He put them down for a nap and left again, while I had a two-hour lesson. Talked about how to use the ability tense, “I can do it,” “I can’t do it,” and the hardest one, “won’t you be able to do it?” Kids woke up about 15 minutes after the tutor left, just enough time to check email and the news. But they were still tired, so I gave them drinks and let them lay down a while longer while I listened to my recordings and cleaned up from lunch. Got them up about a half hour later-4:00. Worked on putting some things away in the office that have been sitting around for awhile, found an extension cord for the fan in the bedroom (it’s in the 90’s now during the day.) Took the trash out, talked to the doorman--he’s going on vacation so we’ll be taking the trash out to the pick-up spot ourselves. I think we owe him money too--got to ask Mike about that one. Got some video of the kids doing a cute “show for Grammy.” Solved about a gazillion squabbles and said “Be gentle with Matthew” or “Be gentle with Anna” about a gazillion times. Had a peaches and yogurt and chocolate cookies snack. Gave the kids baths and fresh outfits. Called mom. Mike got home (about 7:00) and we went out to the big mall for a little fun and to get some real “filter” coffee--bought whole beans. Bought a potty chair! (Wishful thinking?) Brought the kids home and put them to bed, checked email and wrote this journal while Mike got his shower. Time now: 11:07

Mike Cooking

Twenty points for the one who can tell what it used to be...

Becky studying language

Two are better than One

Why two toddlers are better than one:

They make faces at each other across the dinner table.
They keep each other happy if they wake up before mommy.
They think it's fun to hold hands and run around the airport singing silly songs.
They play peek-a-boo on long plane or bus rides.
They learn each other’s mispronounced English.
They give each other hugs and kisses
They like playing the same kind of games, watching the same kind of movies, eating the same snacks.

Of course they also pull hair, grab toys, wake each other up, fill more diapers, splash more bathwater, and figure out how to climb places neither would have discovered alone—but I’ll take two any day.

Hair Cut

This country is a great place to get a hair cut. For about 6 dollars I got an hour long hair cut, enjoyed some lunch, and got the hair in my ears burned off with fire.

Food...

I'm having some random food thoughts today. Part of that is because I tried a new recipe, a local dish of green beans and rice. Check it out here. It didn't work, but it had promise! I think it needed more water and more time. Rice and I are kind of at war. Around here you can get -- and they use -- pasta. But it seems like it's a second class citizen to rice and bulgur, which are what all the favorite dishes are made of. I figured out how to steam rice till it's good and dead, but that gets old quick. They do lots of neat stuff with pilav. But so far, everything I've tried has either been crunchy, sticky, or burnt.

But I have found a neat recipe idea that does work--although there's nothing local about except that I can make it here. You dip chicken breast slices in honey mustard dressing, and then roll them in crushed cornflakes and bake 425F for 15 minutes. We like it with/on salad. I make my own honeymustard dressing with 1 cup mayo, 1/2 cup honey, 1/4 cup mustard, and I line the pan with foil if I want easy clean up.

Today I discovered a new food at the pazar. There were these things that looked like a small, pale canteloupe. I figured they were probably some type of melons, something like honeydew, but in the interesting of being a life-long learner, I asked the seller "what's this?" He responded almost automatically with the fruit's name, but my favorite part was the look on his face when I asked him to repeat it and he realized I didn't know what it was. He found it quite amusing when I told him I had never seen one before, and he told me it was sweet like honey and really good. I bought one for a little over 2 dollars, which I doubt was a good deal since he knew I was pretty clueless. I came home and cut it open, and it's basically just like honeydew. The word he gave me just means generic "melon."

My guys are back! Matthew had a trip to the big city this week for medical reasons. Monday he got a fever (not that unusual) and Tuesday we took him to the doctor (again, standard procedure). But the doctor couldn't find a reason for his infection, and when he did a blood test Matthew's white blood cell count was pretty high, so he started him on antiobiotic injections. In addition, Matthew was complaining of stomach pain. So Wednesday he and Mike got on a plane and went to see another doctor for further evaluation. That doctor determined that Matthew had strep, said that Matthew should continue the 6 days of antiobiotic injections (poor guy) and could come home when his fever came down. When they got back home, one last test by the local pediatrician showed that he also has amebiosis. Now he's worn out and tired of "icky medicine", but happy and fever-free. He has two more days of antiobiotic, a week of Flagyl, and we'll go back to the second doctor for follow up and another blood test in two weeks.

Spring Sprung

Well, we got a little taste of summer the last two weeks. For a bit the temps were getting into the 90's with sunny days and beautiful evenings. The days are getting longer, and people are getting out and about more. In the evenings friends and neighbors like to sit out in the courtyard/garden and watch their kids play ball in the back parking lot. On the weekends it's popular to take your little box grill and camp out on the grass by the lake or river for an afternoon or evening. It feels like alot is going on! We've had alot of firsts lately too. I took both kids to the bazaar recently--Matthew did a great job walking all the way. We also walked to a friends house for the first time (1/2 hour each way Matthew speed). I drove the stick in traffic--a whole new adventure in coordination! The kids and I rode a bus for the first timeWe've met several new neighbors for the first time (I suppose the warm weather had something to do with that.) Anna had her first pony tail. And we got lost downtown for the first time.

Linguistically we are all progressing. Anna's words have doubled (the latest, chair, hair, head, hat, car, come) and I think I even caught a two-word phrase the other day. Matthew is stringing together sententences that are making more and more sense. He got ahold of the word "cute" the other day, and was declaring everything he liked to be "ute." He also can say a handful of words in his second language already! Our teacher told me she noticed Mike is speaking more "smoothly" now, to which I responded thats because he is doing so much listening...where Mike goes, the MP3 player goes. And I am finally learning how to use infinitives (I'm planning to go... I asked her to stop, etc). I love learning language, although it makes my brain hurt.

The other day my language tutor took the kids and I for a field trip to have lunch at her home and then walk the "river path" together. Here is Matthew and his "big sister" Turkay, and Anna trying to see if Mommy will let her fall in the water. I'm loading some more shots from the day onto Flickr, check out the slideshow on the left or click on the link.

Two Pics

For Autumn:

For Grammy and Grandmom (and everyone else too):

From my creative bro...

Matthew

Writing Matthew’s blog fell to me (see Jan 08 for Becky’s blog about Anna). Why me? Well, partly because I haven’t written much (which might be the reason why you’ve kept reading), partly because I really want to. But also I find myself more and more thinking, “I bet I was like that as a kid.” So there’s some sense of common understanding. This is good, but at times not a little frightening. How would you like to see the oddities of your personality played out in a two year old body with two year old concerns?

I re-read Becky’s blog about Anna to see what she said. It went something like, Anna is doing this, saying that, going here, coming there. Whatever is in her little head comes out, at times loudly. The uniqueness of Matthew, however, is that it is not so much what he does, but what he thinks. But the thing is, we’re not really sure exactly what he thinks. Things just come out from time to time. We’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

For instance, at dusk today we were walking down a side street that overlooked the lake, when Matthew blurted out, “all dogs go to sleep,” from the book Go Dogs. Go! We haven’t read that book recently, but the going to sleep seems to have stuck. Anytime anything reminds him of night time, he says recites from the book, followed by pretending to go to sleep and pretending to snore (It’s really cute). We just got past the, blue-car-crashed-but-the-red-car-helped-him stage, which seemed to have lasted for months. At the dinner table while Becky and I were sharing our thoughts for the day, Matthew would blurt out in complete seriousness his plot summary from the movie Cars. He would continue to repeat this summary until we acknowledged his contribution and responded appropriately. So we wonder, how much during the day is he thinking about the red car and the blue car? Apparently a lot, because I’d open the door to his room to get him in the morning to be greeted by the plot of the movie Cars.

But he’s not just absorbing things and then spitting them out. It seems he’s really interacting with his world. Matthew has been sick intermittently since we’ve arrived, most recently with an ear infection. Matthew had fallen asleep on the couch while watching Cars (for the 87^th time), when he was awoken suddenly by a giant fly landing on the side of his face. I suspect that during his nap his ear infection had reached a pain threshold that it really bothered him. He thusly drew the (wrong) conclusion that the fly—which he called a bee—had caused the pain in his ear.

So Matthew was terrified of bees, the sight of bees, or the thought of bees. He would respond by holding his ear and saying, “no bee, no bee.” Becky, who has a lot of wisdom in this area, taught him what has come to be know as the Matthew catechism. It goes like this:

Question 1:

Q: Who made bees?

A: God made bees.

Question 2:

Q: Who takes care of Matthew?

A: God takes care of Matthew.

Amazingly, this really seemed to work. Our language teacher was greeted one day by Matthew running out of the bedroom saying, “No bee, no bee, God made bees.”

Matthew also interacts with his world with a healthy dose of creativity. He rides his plastic tricycle all over the house. One day when we told him it was time for nap, he suggested, “nap on bike.” (I’m probably one of the few fathers who could honestly tell him that I’ve tried taking a nap on a bike and it doesn’t work very well). Matthew loves to play blocks. He’ll make something which he will call an animal (his pronunciation: mamel). When we ask him what animal it is he thinks for a minute and then gives an answer (Zebra, horse, and dog are his favorite). We have a book about Noah and the Ark. I’ve never read it because it is in Spanish (the last thing I need is another langue), but it has a picture of Noah on the front with a white curly beard that hangs off his chin. Matthew knows the whole Noah story. But there are two things that he’s really focused on. First, God told Noah to build a big boat (That’s our cue to add, “And Noah obeyed God.”). Second, apparently Noah has a beard. Out of the blue Matthew will put something on his chin and inform us that he is Noah, “Look, I Noah.”

Speaking of stories, Matthew has a very high capacity for repetition (or at least a good bit higher than Becky’s). He will ask for the same story over and over and over again. We started with the Baby Jesus story, to which we’ve added several others. In light of Easter, we told Him about Jesus’ death and resurrection. Matthew labeled this story the, “Jesus hurt story.” It is interesting when we get to the part about Jesus dying on the cross and that it really hurt Jesus, Matthew identifies something that hurts him.

Add to this a strong emotional intensity (okay, so he’s not entirely like me). Matthew gives big hugs or little hugs, no in-between. The animals are big or small. Even if he knew the world for middle, I doubt he would use it. Lately, Matthew has either laughed hysterically or cried—and maybe even both at the same time.

That’s our Matthew, and we love him.

Easter Sunday

Here are some pics of our first Easter overseas.

I managed to keep the tradition of dying eggs thanks to a friend passing along a dye kit (I totally overlooked liquid food coloring when packing.) Matthew enjoyed watching me dye the eggs while he stuck the stickers that came with the dye all up and down his arms.

We had a special time remembering what Christ did for us through His death and resurrection. Matthew has been learning Bible stories one by one, and now the "Jesus hurt story" is part of his collection. We worshipped together with some friends, and shared a meal together (BBQ, chips, deviled eggs, etc.)

Of course, it wouldn't be Easter without the dress, right? During our photo shoot we learned that Matthew is able to smile on demand....

...when bribed with candy!

Have It Your Way...

We went to Burger King two days a go and I observed an interesting economic phenomenon: the price is a little more expensive than what we would find in the states, but as our kids roam around the tables people give them free french fries. So we pretty much break even.

My new hobby--laundry. Actually, I've really grown to enjoy hanging out our laundry. It's warm and sunny on the back balcony in the morning. The kids love to play out there while I do it, so it is usually a peaceful and content moment (a valuable thing in life with two toddlers). It looks so orderly, especially if I hang the socks in matching pairs. And when it's dry, if I have time, I like to fold it as I take it down, watching all the goings on of the city from the balcony. I wasn't so enthusiastic about the whole process in the fall, though, when cold, wet weather meant it could take days for some things to dry... but now that it's spring, it's wonderful.

Mike's been really focusing on vocabulary recently, and he's reaping good results. One of the words he's picked up is the word for twins, and it seems like now I constantly am asked if my kids are twins. Of course I say that they aren't. But it's gotten me thinking, and I think that for the last several months I've often mistaken the question "are they twins" for "is [child] a girl?" Oops. I thought it seemed odd that so many people thought Matthew might be a girl.

Shopping

We went to a new Pazar today. It reminded me that a few people have asked how shopping is different here. Well, I’d say there are three basic types of shopping I’ve done. The first is in stores that are fairly similar to stores we would find back in Harford County. There are two malls with stores that are a lot like WalMart or Target. Ok, there are a few differences. The Walmart-like store has a full-service fish department (that you can sometimes smell from the front of the store). Its employees wear rollerskates—it’s quite a sight to see them whizzing down the aisle. It’s a busy, crowded place with loud music, kids everywhere, and people very willing to cut in line. There are also smaller grocery stores and convenience stores, and in the mall there are a few department stores, a Toys R Us, and other similar mall stores. All these stores have prices labeled, cash registers, sales—all that stuff that you might expect.
Then there are the local specialty stores. These are large, medium, and small shops that line the streets selling everything from tea sets to furniture to hardware to clothes to curtains to DVDs… There are little stores that specialize in everything school-related, books, paper, pencils, photocopies. There are stores that are just kitchen things, just painting supplies, just dairy products, just plasticware and household stuff. A few of these specialty stores you wouldn’t find in the states. One is the bakkal. That’s a little one room store that sells, well, stuff. The closest thing would be a gas station’s store. They have cigarettes, sodas, beer, candy and snacks, charcoal, newspapers, bread, lottery, and other random things. Another specialty is the firin, or bakery, where you can pick up fresh brick-oven-baked flat breads. You also have the manav, or fruit and vegetable store. For the most part, things at these stores are fixed prices, often labeled, and still not unlike what is familiar to us. One big difference that I’ve noticed is that sales people are omnipresent and helpful (too helpful?). You walk into the store, and someone says, “can I help you?” and then follows you around the whole time you are there, suggesting what you might like, pointing out the many virtues of any product you give a second glance…. Great chance to practice language, but I sometimes find the omnipresent salespeople a little overwhelming.
The last way of shopping is at the bazaar. We have one that sets up Sunday around lunch time a block away from our apartment. The vendors stay until after lunch on Monday. If you go on Sunday afternoon it’s a busy place with all the cars trying to park or drop off shoppers. If you go closer to the end on Monday, it’s a crazy place with every seller trying to out-yell the next guy and point out the virtues of his own good bargains. You can get all sorts of fruits and veggies, cheese and dairy products, fish, eggs, and some clothing and household things. Mostly people shop for veggies there. Frankly, I’m still a little iffy about buying non-refridgerated fish or eggs, but we get the most awesome oranges, sweet and cheap (+- .10$/lb). Theoretically you can bargain, although I usually head for a stall where the prices are written on a sign and pay what’s asked. I don’t see a whole lot of people bargaining anyway—if the price is too high they just go to a different stall. Ladies pull their shopping baskets behind them and stock up on everything for the week. Other guys wander around with trays of bagel-like things for sale on their head or carrying boxes of little sewing notions or gum. All in all it is quite a busy place! Yesterday we also went to a bazaar that is temporarily in the area that had all sorts of clothing, linens, toys, etc, rather than food.

It's been quite awhile since I've posted anything. We were out of town for a week, and then since we've gotten back I've been working on implementing a new language schedule and strategy and Matthew's been sick. But, in case you're looking for something interesting to browse, I've added quite a few photos from our trip to our flickr--including some impressive mountain scenery as seen from the van window. Click on the "Many Adventures..." link for the slideshow.