We were lost, but now we're found!

Hello dear friends! We didn't die, there wasn't a national ban on internet usage in Turkey, nor did we forget how to read and write in English.  I wouldn't blame you for thinking such things, but as it turns out we are alive and literate in a country with relatively good freedom of internet. But I have some groveling to do...

Have you ever gotten a really lovely Reindeer sweater from your grandmother, and happily worn it every day for two months before realizing you NEVER WROTE THE THANK YOU LETTER!!? And then you know you should, and "better late than never," and all that, but you just can't write it now, because if you did she would notice that you were late, and maybe she forgot, maybe she thinks you already sent it, if you send it now she'll realize that you didn't and she'll be ashamed of you? Sigh. Really, she wouldn't, and really who doesn't love Thank Yous in February, or July, early next December? But for some reason you just keep putting it off, and with each passing day it becomes more and more impossible for you to express your simple gratitude for the kick-ass Christmas sweater...

Well this blog post is our 3 month late Thank You. We love the sweater.  It's so fluffy. And beautiful.  It's not at all itchy.  And twinkly lights and the Rudloph song?!?! It's amazing that the battery pack fits in this relatively-small-attached-fanny-pack.  Thanks so much.

But in all seriousness.  I know for some of you this blog was a reason to get out of bed in the morning.  A shining beacon of hope in a dark sea of hum-drum.  A way to feel connected to your most awesome friends.  (Ok, at least give us the last one.)  But somewhere around May, we kind of lost our blogging spirit.  Maybe we didn't have that much to write about, or maybe we were tired, definitely we were lazy.  And after a while it was easy to tell my self that you had forgotten all about our blog, and we shouldn't remind you of our neglect by writing something new. Truthfully, a lot of super wonderful, and blog-worthy things have happened since our disappearance. I plan on filling you in on all of them soon.  Maybe one event per day... or week.  We'll see how it goes.  I shouldn't make any promises.  But know that some of them are pretty fab.



Instead today I'll share a little bit of the happiness we're finding now that we're back in our home.  We have been SUPER good about not buying anything for this apartment that we don't NEED, or can't put in our suit case to bring home with us.  This has meant very few personal touches in our pre-furnished apartment. But our most recent trip home afforded a small amount of room in our luggage for some free but lovely personal touches.

A very pushy dear friend of mine literally forced miniature snap top jars on us as we were leaving my 10 year high school reunion.  Even when I told him we didn't have room for them, and that they would likely end up in the trash.  Even when I gave in and took two.  He still made me take armloads to the car with me. Pusher. As it turned out, we did have room, and they truly make the most lovely spice jars.  So thank you Emanuel.  I think of you every time I go in my kitchen and see that spicy little spectrum.

Also, thank you Danielle, for the "Gallery Wall" inspiration.  And for the LOVELY wedding gift.  Once we had this piece, and still MORE room in our luggage, we decided to take all of the frames from our wedding (found and rehabilitated by my lovely sister) back to Turkey with us (sans the super heavy and fragile glass).  One of the frames holds my "something old" a hankie from Grandma Stehli, and one holds Alan's too-cute-for-one-day-airplane-pin. The others hold some extra lovely (and perfectly coordinated to our wedding colors) wedding cards.  Some day we hope to replace some of those cards with some of the SUPERGORGEOUS photos from our favorite day ever, but today isn't the day.

So here it is.  Scouts honor.  I'll get back to this blogging thing on the regular.  At least one post a week. Promise. 

Although you should know, I was never a scout. And my fingers were crossed. 

Side trip

Don't fret my friends! Amidst what seems to be never ending turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa our lives have continued as normal and this adventure has slowly become normal life. This time of year for any teacher is filled with end of the year performances, portfolios, testing and mostly exhaustion. These are some of the reasons our posts have become less frequent. Soon we will be heading back to America to celebrate weddings (yes there are many) and get to see all of you lovely people again.

Last week we were lucky enough to get a small break from the madness with a 4 day weekend. This meant that Erin and I were able to escape for a small trip. Some of you may be thinking oh they took a little side trip from their overall trip to Turkey. Actually last weekend we took a trip to a town near us called Side (sea-day). It is a great resort town on a small peninsula that was once a walled in City. It also has some great old ruins dating back to many of the different eras and empires that have gone through Turkey. We also stayed at a cool little hotel with a great garden. This is a recommended trip for anyone coming to visit us from this point on. I have posted a few pictures below and I have created a link to the whole album for those of you who may want to see them all.

Some Logistical Problems

It seems as though there are some legal issues between Blogspot and the Turkish Government. It seems as though someone made some remarks that didn't settle well with the current government so they have blocked blogspot for now. This means we may not be posting so often. We will try and update using proxy servers, but that is challenging. Don't worry we are just fine.

American's are so touchy about their weight

The legend of the freshman 15 is a horror story known by so many first year college students. I was unaware that there is a similar phenomenon for people moving to a new country. I have deemed this the "Welcome to Turkey kilos." For those of you who know Erin ( and probably loathe this about her) you will not be surprised to hear that she wasn't susceptible to the gaining of the weight, but I was. I don't have a scale but it was quickly obvious to me for many reasons. Of course there were the normal ones like my shirts were a little tighter, I no longer needed a belt for many of pants, my belly was catching crumbs...Oh yeah and

ALL OF THE TURKISH TEACHERS FELT THE NEED TO TELL ME!!!

It has quickly become obvious that one huge cultural difference is that Turkish people are honest. I wasn't sure how to take it when the first comment came. It was from my boss who spent 9 years in Missouri. He was quite tactful saying that he had noticed I had gained a few pounds and that the same happened to him when each time he moved. Others are not so tactful treating my extra pounds like Buddha's belly, rubbing away. To be fair they are also very honest about their own weight. I have witnessed so many conversations between teachers in which they stick out their belly and talk about the kilos they have gained.

As Erin quickly points out in America honesty about weight is not acceptable. Even if your friend could stand to lose a few your job as a friend is to respond with some sort of placating response to the effect of "No you look great..." Perhaps that is part of America's weight problem, maybe a little honesty would help. I know it has helped me get back to my exercise routine. We have been in Turkey too long to call these the "Welcome to Turkey Kilos."

On the other hand Erin doesn't get away without her fair share of the comments. The Turkish ideal of a healthy woman is one that I think most of the world values. They all look for a woman with some meat on her bones. The term they use is "balık etli" literally translated it means "Fish Meat." The woman all want to strive for that middle ground between too heavy and too thin. So Erin has now received many offers of food and suggestions that she gain a few kilos. So the honesty goes both ways.

My Friends Are WINNERS!

Alan and I thought the rock on the right looked like a fish.  Sitting on a rock.  Little Mermaid style.  There is no Turkish name for this one.  5 points to Stephen.  Very poetic.

 

 

No Turkish name for these, but come on! Chris, Hilarious.  5 points. 

Turkish people call this a rock family.  Father, mother, and child in between. Points to Stephen for accuracy, and extra points for a great idea.  I will make sure to suggest to the tour guides that they play "Circle of Life" from their tour bus, while tourists gaze at this one.   

Points all around.  Your euphemisms were so entertaining. And a special shout out to delinquent nephew Oliver for "God's happy moment." 

Turkish Cultural Experiences

Now that we have been here for a while, we are beginning to feel what we really wanted to feel from this experience. We wanted to experience different cultures and build relationships with different people. In the past few months I have been able to participate in a few events that really gave me a flavor for the culture.

First of all I got a haircut. I know what you're think "whoopty doo Alan." I didn't expect it to be that different either, but it was. Because unlike my normal trips to Supercuts in America this is full service care for less than a simple cut at Supercuts. Full service includes a wash, dry (usually with a blow dryer which makes my hair look similar to a 70's Disco star), and a fire show. Check it out...

Then after that they did this:

That wasn't it, because then the guy massaged my arms and shoulders, not knowing this was coming did make me a little uncomfortable. All I could think was "Dude is rubbin' me, Dude is rubbin' me!!! Did I go to the wrong place? Was something lost in the translation? Do I have to pay more for this service?" Luckily after the shoulder rub he was done and I had to need to worry. When it was all done it totaled up to about $10 American!!! One of the many reason I love Turkey.

The second event was Culture Day (Kültür günü). Like most schools the schools here love to put their children on display and show what they can do. This show was a Cultural show so the children had worked for months with the folklore teacher ( How cool is it that they have a teacher who only teaches the children the traditional dances, songs and stories of their culture) on several different types of shows ranging from groups of children clapping while another takes a solo to an entire play depicting the traditional Turkish wedding party. As always the day was filled with great moments of seeing your kids perform and have a great time. Dance is a very important part of the Turkish culture. From belly dancing to something that looks similar to the River dance, everyone knows about the dances and where they originated. You can see at an early age that children have incorporated the styles of dance into their child like moves. So many of my young girls shake their hips and move their bellies like the girls I have seen at the Turkish night shows, moves that Erin has difficulty doing because she hasn't been doing them from birth.

When approached by the Turkish teacher at the kindergarten with the idea of dancing on the stage I was dead set on avoiding that by any means possible. The means of avoidance turned out to be a compromise in the form of singing in a chorus of teachers, which I figured provided a little more anonymity for the only male on the staff (boy was I wrong). As we started our practices they were all giddily excited about how quickly I was learning some of the songs and they decided Wouldn't it be great if he had a solo!?! It has happened several times in my time here that I am not being told anything in English but am somehow agreeing to things, like having a Turkish solo in front of every single Kindergarten parent at Culture Day. So we practiced for months and I was very comfortable with the songs and ready for the show. During one of our rehearsals just before the show it was decided that the music in the auditorium was too loud to hear us so a microphone was needed. Guess who got to hold that microphone. So now not only was I singing a solo in Turkish, but I was now singing into a microphone...so much for hiding in the crowd. To top it all, not only did we do this show, we did it in costume, I had a traditional Alanya villager costume on including a hat borrowed from the school owner's father. Somewhat unfortunately there were no pictures of me taken in my outfit that show it all, but when Erin came to watch the show she did happen to take this video, Enjoy:

All in all it was a great experience and I have enjoyed wowing some of our Turkish friends with the songs I know. And I did slightly regret not learning the dance moves, but I'm sure there will be another opportunity for that. Many of the parents commented on how they expect even more from me next time... Next time Shakespeare in Turkish.

Time is running out!!!

Thank you to all of you who participated in the contest so far. With only 3 contestants so far it is a close battle. For those of you who can't post on this page for some reason we will also accept email submissions. So you still have one day left because honestly I don't know what time is 11:59 GMT in Turkey and I don't want to google it. Hope to see a late rush of contestants.