Happy Birthday Bre!!!! When you entered my life:-) it rocked my boat and life has been better ever since! Shoot the nine months in mom’s belly without you were terrible…
We, Christine, Tressa, and I, started today out with a re attempt of our meeting with Andrew. This time around it went much better and he was able to fill us in on a lot of information.
We then went back to the Bultema’s and hung out until Renata came home. After lunch we jumped head first into camp prep. It was a full and accomplished day of preparing for camp.
We finished the evening with dinner and then Katie, Andrew’s wife, came over and started teaching us ladies, Christine, Talya, Rhema, and I, a dance for camp. Yeah I still can’t dance but it is more music video style which I can do pretty good once I figure out the motions. But get this it is a high School musical song and I have not moved my hips that much ever! Oh well it is a good challenge and lots of fun to do.
We then watched an Alias episode to cool off after the work out.
As you have all possibly guessed the lines on the road here are mere suggestions. The same strip of pavement can go from 2-4 lanes, or one way to two way. It is real fascinating to watch the flow of traffic.
Friday, June 10, 2011
June 8th
Wednesday is the produce Bazaar (pronounced with a p instead of the b) it was the plan for Christine and I to meet Belgin over there to buy the necessary supplies to make a good dinner for Wednesday because we were having a lot of guests. Well plans never quite work out :-)
Tressa came over in the morning and we started to work on what we were going to teach at the English Speaking camp in Duden village for the Turkish youth. We decided that because Christine and my names are so similar that needed knick names. Yesterday while we were at Old Town when people would ask what our names were we would tell them and they would go “oh same name!” Also the double constant at the start of my name is hard for them to pronounce so my name is usual pronounced Karista (soft s).
After this Christine decided she would like to stay home and get the house ready for the evening festivities. Tressa volunteered to go with me to the Bazaar and the grocery store.
We first went to the post office and mailed a lot of postcards and a letter. It is always a little funny to go to the post office because the guy that is normally working there makes funny (exasperated to have to deal with me) faces. Well today it was a lady and instead of making faces and taking my stuff she handed us a pile of stamps and a wet sponge. So Tressa and I spent the next 10 minutes adding all the postage to the mail.
We then headed to the big bazaar and Migros. You all should be proud we found it without getting lost and with no adventures! We looked around for a few minutes and then met Belgin. She does not speak English and as you are all aware Tressa and I don’t speak Turkish, but we were still able to communicate fairly well. After our shopping Tressa and I had a few more items we needed to get, Belgin was just helping us shop for dinner supplies. So we waved bye to Belgin and she then gave us a weird look and signaled we were to go with her. Since we did not know how to communicate the need for her to take what we had so we could get some more stuff, also no way to transport what we got if she took the cart, we went with her.
So we walked home and dropped off all of the stuff and then we were saying good bye when she stopped us because we were out of Margarine. After Tressa further investigated, hand motions and pointing, we learned she needed it right then. We were walking out of the kitchen to go to the corner store and get the margarine when she noticed we were out of eggs, one of the items we had planned on getting already. So we headed to the corner market and picked up those items. Then we were off again to the bazaar and Migros. We picked up a lot of really good fruit and the rest of our missing items and headed home. Tressa took her leave after dropping all of this stuff off at our house.
Christine and Belgin in the mean time had made a really good tart with olives, dried tomatoes, and cheese. I was rather tired and went and took a quick nap, since they did not want me in the kitchen. When I came down they just discovered we were out of cream and a certain type of cheese. Off I went again, after some great detective work I figured out which of the white cheeses Belgin was referring to and found the cream. I got a thumbs up when I arrived home! Although I think the cheese would work but was not her first pick…
After this Reneta and James arrived home and they had also picked up some fruit at the bazaar. We all finished setting the table and then had a great evening of fellowship with some real yummy food.
Oh something interesting about the Turkish green salads is that they shop everything up into tiny pieces even the lettuce so it is more like s coleslaw than a salad. They also add a TON of green onions, dill, and parsley.
Tressa came over in the morning and we started to work on what we were going to teach at the English Speaking camp in Duden village for the Turkish youth. We decided that because Christine and my names are so similar that needed knick names. Yesterday while we were at Old Town when people would ask what our names were we would tell them and they would go “oh same name!” Also the double constant at the start of my name is hard for them to pronounce so my name is usual pronounced Karista (soft s).
After this Christine decided she would like to stay home and get the house ready for the evening festivities. Tressa volunteered to go with me to the Bazaar and the grocery store.
We first went to the post office and mailed a lot of postcards and a letter. It is always a little funny to go to the post office because the guy that is normally working there makes funny (exasperated to have to deal with me) faces. Well today it was a lady and instead of making faces and taking my stuff she handed us a pile of stamps and a wet sponge. So Tressa and I spent the next 10 minutes adding all the postage to the mail.
We then headed to the big bazaar and Migros. You all should be proud we found it without getting lost and with no adventures! We looked around for a few minutes and then met Belgin. She does not speak English and as you are all aware Tressa and I don’t speak Turkish, but we were still able to communicate fairly well. After our shopping Tressa and I had a few more items we needed to get, Belgin was just helping us shop for dinner supplies. So we waved bye to Belgin and she then gave us a weird look and signaled we were to go with her. Since we did not know how to communicate the need for her to take what we had so we could get some more stuff, also no way to transport what we got if she took the cart, we went with her.
So we walked home and dropped off all of the stuff and then we were saying good bye when she stopped us because we were out of Margarine. After Tressa further investigated, hand motions and pointing, we learned she needed it right then. We were walking out of the kitchen to go to the corner store and get the margarine when she noticed we were out of eggs, one of the items we had planned on getting already. So we headed to the corner market and picked up those items. Then we were off again to the bazaar and Migros. We picked up a lot of really good fruit and the rest of our missing items and headed home. Tressa took her leave after dropping all of this stuff off at our house.
Christine and Belgin in the mean time had made a really good tart with olives, dried tomatoes, and cheese. I was rather tired and went and took a quick nap, since they did not want me in the kitchen. When I came down they just discovered we were out of cream and a certain type of cheese. Off I went again, after some great detective work I figured out which of the white cheeses Belgin was referring to and found the cream. I got a thumbs up when I arrived home! Although I think the cheese would work but was not her first pick…
After this Reneta and James arrived home and they had also picked up some fruit at the bazaar. We all finished setting the table and then had a great evening of fellowship with some real yummy food.
Oh something interesting about the Turkish green salads is that they shop everything up into tiny pieces even the lettuce so it is more like s coleslaw than a salad. They also add a TON of green onions, dill, and parsley.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
June 7th
Christine and I went out of our way to make sure we had finished everything that needed to be done so we would have the afternoon free. We had planned a nice excursion into Old Town and planned on a Doner for lunch. We had been advised to take bus 15 to Old Town, but it did not take the expected turn and we became nervous so when we thought we were in roughly the right spot we got off. After about a half hour of asking nice people we found Old Town and then after an additional 15 minutes we made our way to the Doner place.
Doner’s are this bread which is a cross between Naama bread and pita bread filled with shaved meat, tomatoes, onion, and some seasoning. The meat is a big chunk of meat that is upright on a rotating spit by some heat source. They shave the meat off there and put it in your bread. It seems to be the equivalent of Burrito Boy; cheap, good, and convenient.
We took our Doner’s to a nearby park and ate them while watching the Mediterranean and listening to Turkish music some guy nearby was playing. It was really relaxing, but rather hot.
We then went and looked around a few of the small shops in Old Town. I purchased a lot of postcards and some other things that y'all will have to wait and see what they are.
We then went to catch the 15 to meet with Andrew to discuss the English speaking camps for Russian/Turkish kids. The bus did not turn when it was suppose to so we never made it to our meeting and it took about 40 minutes to complete the circuit and get back home.
We finished the evening with writing in postcards, dinner, and Alias. We have officially gotten Talya hooked on Alias.
Doner’s are this bread which is a cross between Naama bread and pita bread filled with shaved meat, tomatoes, onion, and some seasoning. The meat is a big chunk of meat that is upright on a rotating spit by some heat source. They shave the meat off there and put it in your bread. It seems to be the equivalent of Burrito Boy; cheap, good, and convenient.
We took our Doner’s to a nearby park and ate them while watching the Mediterranean and listening to Turkish music some guy nearby was playing. It was really relaxing, but rather hot.
We then went and looked around a few of the small shops in Old Town. I purchased a lot of postcards and some other things that y'all will have to wait and see what they are.
We then went to catch the 15 to meet with Andrew to discuss the English speaking camps for Russian/Turkish kids. The bus did not turn when it was suppose to so we never made it to our meeting and it took about 40 minutes to complete the circuit and get back home.
We finished the evening with writing in postcards, dinner, and Alias. We have officially gotten Talya hooked on Alias.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
June 6th
Hmm... not much happened today to write home about…
We worked on Olive Grove stuff and ran an errand.
Oh, this evening we made brownies! Once again parents left this afternoon, and it was just us in the house… This time Christine was also with us and the fun was even more intense. We tied our ankles together making a four legged person. Then the two people on the outside edges were blindfolded and could use their outside arm. The person in the middle could see, but could not use any arms.
I really have to say food made in this fashion does taste better than food made in the normal way. We have such a sense of accomplishment when we are done.
We finished up the evening by watching another episode of Alias and eating our must AMAZING brownies.
Another interesting Turkish tidbit: a law has been passed that all have to have the same type of sewage system. Everyone has had to install new plumbing. This has led to a LOT of random holes in the sidewalks where people have torn it up to connect the plumbing to the main lines. Sidewalks are made of bricks instead of slabs of cement so they can tear it out to do their work and then relay it...
We worked on Olive Grove stuff and ran an errand.
Oh, this evening we made brownies! Once again parents left this afternoon, and it was just us in the house… This time Christine was also with us and the fun was even more intense. We tied our ankles together making a four legged person. Then the two people on the outside edges were blindfolded and could use their outside arm. The person in the middle could see, but could not use any arms.
I really have to say food made in this fashion does taste better than food made in the normal way. We have such a sense of accomplishment when we are done.
We finished up the evening by watching another episode of Alias and eating our must AMAZING brownies.
Another interesting Turkish tidbit: a law has been passed that all have to have the same type of sewage system. Everyone has had to install new plumbing. This has led to a LOT of random holes in the sidewalks where people have torn it up to connect the plumbing to the main lines. Sidewalks are made of bricks instead of slabs of cement so they can tear it out to do their work and then relay it...
June 5th
Another Sunday has rolled around. I don’t think I can fully express how amazing it is to meet in Old City. The place is full of so much history and is very special.
Tressa and I had Sunday school today with the little children. As always kids are a joy to work with. One of the special challenges with leading this group was that two of the kids did not speak English. One of the boys translated into Turkish for the girl and the girl translated into Russian for her brother. I don’t know how much of the story they actually got, but all seemed to enjoy the game and craft. We finished with extra time so we played games with the kids. We lost our translator … but you don’t need to speak the same language to build a relationship. By the end of the time I would say we were friends, though the only words we could exchange was names.
After the service related festivities wrapped up we went home and had dinner. Dinner was about five different types of salads. Then, Talya, her friend, Tressa, Christine, and I went down to the real swimming hole. We had a lot of fun! Have I mentioned how much I love the water? There is a good jumping rock that is a lot of fun.
We finished the day with an amazing waffle dinner and an episode of Alias.
Tressa and I had Sunday school today with the little children. As always kids are a joy to work with. One of the special challenges with leading this group was that two of the kids did not speak English. One of the boys translated into Turkish for the girl and the girl translated into Russian for her brother. I don’t know how much of the story they actually got, but all seemed to enjoy the game and craft. We finished with extra time so we played games with the kids. We lost our translator … but you don’t need to speak the same language to build a relationship. By the end of the time I would say we were friends, though the only words we could exchange was names.
After the service related festivities wrapped up we went home and had dinner. Dinner was about five different types of salads. Then, Talya, her friend, Tressa, Christine, and I went down to the real swimming hole. We had a lot of fun! Have I mentioned how much I love the water? There is a good jumping rock that is a lot of fun.
We finished the day with an amazing waffle dinner and an episode of Alias.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
June 4th
We started the day off with strawberry crepes and rushing to get all the girls ready and out the door. We then caught a bus from where we had all stayed the night to Old City for the Shakespeare Festival.
The Shakespeare Festival is a end of the year talent show for the kids here. Talya did a couple of different songs and she is really talented. There were quite a few other talented children as well.
After the talent show we had a bar b q in the court yard of the St. Paul Cultural Center. This was fun and a great opportunity to get to know more of the workers here. The interns and Cherann planned on going to the beach and hanging out, followed by staying the night at Cherann’s. But the weather started to turn bad and by the time we went back the Bultema’s to get swimsuits and then back to Cherann’s it was not really beach weather.
The doorman was upset. It is complicated to explain, so let’s just say after the four of us ate dinner. Cherann put us all back on a bus to go home. We prayed that the bus we would be on would have available seats and nobody would get on that we had to give our seats to. Well God answered our prayers and it was a very enjoyable bus ride.
Chrsitine and I stopped at the grocery store by our house to get some Ice Cream, because I am well programmed and crave Ice Cream on my birthday. Christine bought it for me which was really nice. We then went to the Bultema’s and enjoyed a relaxed evening of talking, Ice Cream, and High School Musical 3.
Something odd about walking in Turkey is that you have to watch for electric bikes on the sidewalks as well as cars. It is a odd thing to be walking down the sidewalk and to see a car driving towards you…
The Shakespeare Festival is a end of the year talent show for the kids here. Talya did a couple of different songs and she is really talented. There were quite a few other talented children as well.
After the talent show we had a bar b q in the court yard of the St. Paul Cultural Center. This was fun and a great opportunity to get to know more of the workers here. The interns and Cherann planned on going to the beach and hanging out, followed by staying the night at Cherann’s. But the weather started to turn bad and by the time we went back the Bultema’s to get swimsuits and then back to Cherann’s it was not really beach weather.
The doorman was upset. It is complicated to explain, so let’s just say after the four of us ate dinner. Cherann put us all back on a bus to go home. We prayed that the bus we would be on would have available seats and nobody would get on that we had to give our seats to. Well God answered our prayers and it was a very enjoyable bus ride.
Chrsitine and I stopped at the grocery store by our house to get some Ice Cream, because I am well programmed and crave Ice Cream on my birthday. Christine bought it for me which was really nice. We then went to the Bultema’s and enjoyed a relaxed evening of talking, Ice Cream, and High School Musical 3.
Something odd about walking in Turkey is that you have to watch for electric bikes on the sidewalks as well as cars. It is a odd thing to be walking down the sidewalk and to see a car driving towards you…
June 3rd
So yes as ya all know the third is my birthday, I had a really good birthday for all who were concerned. We had a more laid back morning at the Bultema’s then Renata and I jumped into camp planning. We then had lunch and ran to the shirt place to order shirts. The sizing here is different so I would say here I am a large, even though I am still average compared to all the other ladies. When we got back Renata had a different project she needed to work on so I laid down and relaxed.
In the evening Talya, Danny, Rhema, Tressa, and I all went to a youth girl sleep over at Cherann’s (a teacher for the kids of some of the workers here) there was eight of us total. We all made dinner, danced (yes I still can’t dance), cleaned up, worshipped, and watched a movie. It was a fun night and a good birthday full of birthday wishes. I have to say I am excited to get back to Eugene and be able to do this with my girls.
It is election season here so there are vans that drive by with the different candidates pictures blaring loud music. They drive by at least 15 times a day. Also something interesting I was told is that all the business are required to have a Turkish flag and a picture of Ataturk who is like the founder of modern Turkey.
And last but not least Christine arrived in Turkey!
In the evening Talya, Danny, Rhema, Tressa, and I all went to a youth girl sleep over at Cherann’s (a teacher for the kids of some of the workers here) there was eight of us total. We all made dinner, danced (yes I still can’t dance), cleaned up, worshipped, and watched a movie. It was a fun night and a good birthday full of birthday wishes. I have to say I am excited to get back to Eugene and be able to do this with my girls.
It is election season here so there are vans that drive by with the different candidates pictures blaring loud music. They drive by at least 15 times a day. Also something interesting I was told is that all the business are required to have a Turkish flag and a picture of Ataturk who is like the founder of modern Turkey.
And last but not least Christine arrived in Turkey!
Friday, June 03, 2011
June 2nd
We had the final ladies study of the summer today at the Bultema’s. Renata had asked me to prepare and Lee had asked Tressa to prepare so we were really prepared :-). The study seemed to have gone well and I wanted to take a second and ssay thanks to all of you who served as Guiney pigs this last year. We finished with a ladies pot luck.
After all the festivities died down Renata and I jumped into camp planning. There is not much to say about this other than we got a lot done and I finished the day feeling accomplished.
So a fact about Turkey that I have found interesting is not only does the traffic lights go green, yellow, red but it also goes red, yellow, green. So you can tell when the light is about to turn green.
After all the festivities died down Renata and I jumped into camp planning. There is not much to say about this other than we got a lot done and I finished the day feeling accomplished.
So a fact about Turkey that I have found interesting is not only does the traffic lights go green, yellow, red but it also goes red, yellow, green. So you can tell when the light is about to turn green.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
June 1st
I started by doing a typical not so bright Krista thing… I dropped my contact into the soap dish I then picked it up and cleaned it off briefly and put it into my eye. Yeah if you have not tried putting a soap covered contact in your eye then you should not try it.
I then went to the produce bazaar with Renata to get more produce. We also did some shopping. We also had a meeting about camp, which resulted in a list of things to do. When we got home I started working the list.
Tressa came over for dinner and to help with camp stuff. We made a fair amount of progress on the list of stuff.
It was about 8:30PM and the big new mall Terracity had just opened and Tayla really wanted us to go see it. We all set out and the new mall is huge and it was extremely kall-a bett (crowded). We had a good time and Talya and Renata found some needed cloths for good prices. While they were trying on clothes, Tressa and I were standing in one of the hall areas watching the different ways people got their strollers up and down. When a couple of French men approached us and wanted to go get some drinks… hmm this seems to be a universal problem :-)
I then went to the produce bazaar with Renata to get more produce. We also did some shopping. We also had a meeting about camp, which resulted in a list of things to do. When we got home I started working the list.
Tressa came over for dinner and to help with camp stuff. We made a fair amount of progress on the list of stuff.
It was about 8:30PM and the big new mall Terracity had just opened and Tayla really wanted us to go see it. We all set out and the new mall is huge and it was extremely kall-a bett (crowded). We had a good time and Talya and Renata found some needed cloths for good prices. While they were trying on clothes, Tressa and I were standing in one of the hall areas watching the different ways people got their strollers up and down. When a couple of French men approached us and wanted to go get some drinks… hmm this seems to be a universal problem :-)
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
May 31st
Today was a bit more busy than yesterday which was nice. I created a few spread sheets for the Sunday Services. Then worked on trying to fix Skype on the Bultema’s computers, no luck L. Then I worked on sorting cards for camp.
I was suppose to me a bunch of ladies at the Eldridges at 2:30 to go to the Haman. I left my house before 1:30 to stop at the post office and catch the bus over there. Well after the post office I decided to walk straight to the next big intersection that was only a block ahead and then follow it down to the main street and then catch the bus instead of back tracking. The street I got on did not go straight and intersect though it looped. By the time it intercepted I was at the She Mall, I will write later about the name. which is half way there. I knew we passed the She Mall on the way to the Bultema’s on the bus the other night so I knew I was in the right area but there were two possible streets that could be correct, the windows were hard to see out because of the rain last time. But I saw a bus and hopped on. It became clear that I was not on the right street. After signaling a couple of times the bus driver stopped to let me off. I then walked up a couple of streets till I was on the right street but at this point I was not sure if I had gone too far or not, I had a map but there is not a lot of street signs. I called and was able to get directions and showed up just on time. I think it would have been quicker to just walk the whole thing J All the streets I was on were well traveled by tourist and I did not stand out for those concerned.
Warning I am going to discuss the Haman, Turkish Bath, now so if you don’t want to hear skip to the next paragraph.
The Haman is a Turkish Bath, keeping with my mother’s tradition of course I had to try it out. You start out in this room that is all marble with little basins with plastic bowls. There are faucets at each basin and you douse yourself with water. Once you are soaked you then lay on this big marble slab that is in the middle of the room. The marble is hot. After a while a lady came in and said something in Turkish and one of the ladies in our party left. Then a little later another came and another left. Well eventually it was just Tressa and I, the two non Turkish speakers, We waited and waited for someone to come and get us but nobody was coming and we were getting extremely hot, I felt like a lobster and I was red enough to look like one. Tressa poked her head out and they said we could move to the other room which was cooler, we had been forgotten. A few minutes later one of the ladies that worked there had me lay back down on the marble slab. She then using a mitt scrubbed all the dead skin off. It was kind of gross how much dead skin there was. Then they use this pillow thing to put bubble all over you and give you a quick massage. I felt really clean and was very red afterwards. I think the Japanese Onsen is more relaxing, I enjoy their tubs of water you sit in, but I did enjoy the massage that comes with the Haman they should combine the two and it would be great!
We finished the evening by going to a good bye dinner, where I met up with Renata and Talya. After the dinner the three of us went home. I worked some more with Skype still with no luck other than to determine that the problem is probably the actually mic jack and not the mic itself. I then added names to the housing chart for camp, now everyone has a bed!
I was suppose to me a bunch of ladies at the Eldridges at 2:30 to go to the Haman. I left my house before 1:30 to stop at the post office and catch the bus over there. Well after the post office I decided to walk straight to the next big intersection that was only a block ahead and then follow it down to the main street and then catch the bus instead of back tracking. The street I got on did not go straight and intersect though it looped. By the time it intercepted I was at the She Mall, I will write later about the name. which is half way there. I knew we passed the She Mall on the way to the Bultema’s on the bus the other night so I knew I was in the right area but there were two possible streets that could be correct, the windows were hard to see out because of the rain last time. But I saw a bus and hopped on. It became clear that I was not on the right street. After signaling a couple of times the bus driver stopped to let me off. I then walked up a couple of streets till I was on the right street but at this point I was not sure if I had gone too far or not, I had a map but there is not a lot of street signs. I called and was able to get directions and showed up just on time. I think it would have been quicker to just walk the whole thing J All the streets I was on were well traveled by tourist and I did not stand out for those concerned.
Warning I am going to discuss the Haman, Turkish Bath, now so if you don’t want to hear skip to the next paragraph.
The Haman is a Turkish Bath, keeping with my mother’s tradition of course I had to try it out. You start out in this room that is all marble with little basins with plastic bowls. There are faucets at each basin and you douse yourself with water. Once you are soaked you then lay on this big marble slab that is in the middle of the room. The marble is hot. After a while a lady came in and said something in Turkish and one of the ladies in our party left. Then a little later another came and another left. Well eventually it was just Tressa and I, the two non Turkish speakers, We waited and waited for someone to come and get us but nobody was coming and we were getting extremely hot, I felt like a lobster and I was red enough to look like one. Tressa poked her head out and they said we could move to the other room which was cooler, we had been forgotten. A few minutes later one of the ladies that worked there had me lay back down on the marble slab. She then using a mitt scrubbed all the dead skin off. It was kind of gross how much dead skin there was. Then they use this pillow thing to put bubble all over you and give you a quick massage. I felt really clean and was very red afterwards. I think the Japanese Onsen is more relaxing, I enjoy their tubs of water you sit in, but I did enjoy the massage that comes with the Haman they should combine the two and it would be great!
We finished the evening by going to a good bye dinner, where I met up with Renata and Talya. After the dinner the three of us went home. I worked some more with Skype still with no luck other than to determine that the problem is probably the actually mic jack and not the mic itself. I then added names to the housing chart for camp, now everyone has a bed!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
May 30th
Nothing much happened today. I wrote some letters and postcards and made a couple of trips to the post office. Yep that is about it.
Oh but a fun thing about Turkey, I also used this today, is that they have exercise parks spread throughout the city. These parks have all the basic workout equipment but it is set up to use your body weight as the weight… I will have to take pictures to better explain. But they are everywhere! There are two of these parks within a three minute walk from my place.
Oh but a fun thing about Turkey, I also used this today, is that they have exercise parks spread throughout the city. These parks have all the basic workout equipment but it is set up to use your body weight as the weight… I will have to take pictures to better explain. But they are everywhere! There are two of these parks within a three minute walk from my place.
Monday, May 30, 2011
May 29th
I went to the International Church today. They normally meet in the St. Paul Cultural Center. It has been closed for the last year and they have been renting the upper room of a café. The room is built kind of like a cross, so that you can’t see the people in the other area because of a wall. It was a good service.
Afterwards we had lunch and I met a ton of people. They had been passing around a birthday card for me so when I was meeting people they kept saying, “Oh, you're Krista with the birthday card.”
I then came home and chilled for the rest of the day.
I have a lot more I would like to say but well now is not the most appropriate time.May 28th
Tayla and I started the day off my going to the produce bazaar and buying produce to last us till Wed. The produce here is rather cheap. You can buy a kilo of lemons for 1 Lira and a kilo of Strawberries for 4 Liras. That is about 2lb of lemons for $0.60 and 2lb of strawberries for $2.50.
Tayla then went to spend the night with a friend and I went over to the Eldridge’s house. Tressa and I walked to the Tele (ATM) and then to Macro (small Wal Mart). Then we went back to the Eldridge played some card games and had dinner.
We took the ottobus for the first time back to the Bultema’s. It rained rather hard off and on all day and it was difficult to see out the windows to see where we were suppose to get off. I eventually saw our stop and we signaled we needed off and went to stand by the door. Most bus doors open outward; these opened inward. Tressa had been standing next to the door and her leg got pinned. It was hilarious and everyone was trying to help us get unstuck and off before the ottobus took off again.
Friday, May 27, 2011
May 27th
I started out the day thinking I had until 2:15 p.m. before I had to be anywhere. I took care of some chores, started my laundry, read some Proverbs and letter from Paul, and then sat down to update the blog. I received a phone call shortly later saying I was going to be picked up in 15 minutes to go see the village. We are going to be having an English speaking camp in one of the villages in this area. I raced to hang my laundry up to dry and get shoes. I made it with a few minutes to spare. I am a little more time oriented than the rest of this society.
First we went to the airport and picked Gloria up. She is 72 and has been here for the last 12 years. We went to her place in the village and had a pleasant talk about her life and work. Nancy was also with us. She is visiting this lovely country for a few weeks. She has worked abroad for the last 30 odd years. We went to “Gloria’s” restaurant for lunch, it is not actually her place but she has been eating there ever since she first arrived. It was beautiful, right at the base of a small waterfall. Our table hung over the river and you could feel the mist from the water. It was great food.
I thought we had our first Turkish lesson today. We plan to take some lessons and learn at least some basic Turkish while here, but it was cancelled. We ran an errand for camp and then were shown around the old city. We saw many Roman and Ottoman walls and towers and unique shops. I will write more about this on a later date.
I then went home and Talya and I decided to make cookies. It would have been too easy to do this the normal way. So I was blindfolded and her hands were tied behind her back, we switched half way through. It was a lot of fun and all things considered, we did not make much of a mess. Also the cookies were superb!
We ended the evening with some card games and a movie.May 26th
I started the day by going to a ladies study. We discussed Esther and did other things you do at these studies :-). After the study Mrs. Eldred suggested that Tressa and I go hang out. We decided to go to the swimming hole. It took us about two hours to walk to both our places and get swimming suits. But it was worth it! The Mediterranean is beautiful. There must be a lot of salt in the water because we were quite buoyant.
The swimming hole is on the back side of a big resort and on the way back we took their outside elevator instead of walking up all the stairs. I started to drop my towel, went to adjust it, and the house keys that were around my finger fell off. As I mentioned a few posts ago there is no inner door in these elevators. You can drag your finger along the wall, so there is an inch gap between the elevator and the wall. The keys fell through this gap.
We went back to the bottom and discovered a way to get under the elevator. I tried asking a gentleman that worked there to help get the keys, but he did not understand my English and I don’t speak Turkish. A gentleman that was a guest at the resort interpreted for me, he asked if I was from Europe. When I said, "America," he said, “that explains the funny accent, he (Turkish man) could not understand your accent.”
Tressa headed back to my place to meet Talya when she got home from school and let her know what was going on, she does not keep house keys on her. While I waited, I think the first Turkish gentleman was hoping I would leave. Eventually he telephoned for help and told me to come with him. I followed and through signs showed him the problem. I had to explain it was not a room key to the resort but a house key.
When we went to go up in the elevator it locked us in and would not go up. After about a minute he got it to let us out, we tried again with the same results. After another couple of attempts we got it to work and made it to the top. He indicated I was to wait with another Turkish gentleman for the technician. When the technician arrived we all got back in the elevator and eventually made it to the ground floor again. He was able to get my keys back, but the elevator was still not working. After many thank you’s I left and took the stairs…
Something else that made these whole scenario even more interesting is you are not suppose to make eye contact or smile at people here. It would be like saying you're available. Tressa and I had been trying really hard all day not to smile and make eye contact. It was rather difficult not to smile at the irony of being locked in the elevator while trying to get my keys that were stuck at the bottom. Also have you every tried not to make eye contact while stuck in a small place and trying to communicate through gestures? Then I was in a bathing suit and towel! Mom our bathing suit plan works great and I was glad for the extra modesty.
The rest of the evening was less eventful.
I have been reading about Solomon and it has been making me wonder how a man that was so wise could be so foolish. I am thinking he must have thought it was okay he could control that one sin and not let it turn his heart. But he was wrong.May 25th
Today was a laid back day. Renata, James, and James left for Eastern Turkey to complete the tour with the people from Denver. Talya and I have been holding down the fort. I went and purchased cards and postcards. Apparently these things, especially the postcards, are not common in Turkish culture.
I went to orientation with the Eldred’s and Tressa, an intern from Wisconsin who will be here all summer with us. They taught us the dos and don’ts of working in the Turkish culture.
Something of interest that came out of this orientation was the respect with which you are suppose to treat your Holy Book. If you do not show respect to the Holy Book, then how can you respect the God behind the Holy Book? This is a different way of thinking and I think it is true that we should treat our Holy Book with much more respect.
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