Children & Chocolate Chips

So, I'm back and I'm so glad to be. I actually called this home this week. I've come a long way in 4 months. We did spend part of the week in Istanbul, part of the week on the Seven Churches tour, and part of the week on the Black Sea. Who ever knew I'd get to be such a little world traveller! I'll tell you all about this week and how great it was to see familiar faces and talk to people from back home this past week in my next blog, but let me tell you about what we did last Monday before we left first, before i forget to. It's worth mentioning. Katie, Craig, & I met up with two of our friends from the University at...7:30a.m. Yes, now that is early where ya'll are reading this from, but here in Turkey, that's absurdly early. You can imagine what was in store if we had to leave at 7:30 to get a 'good seat'! We went downtown to the stadium for the Children's Holiday festivities. Monday was Cocuk Bayram. Children across Turkey got the day off of school to fill stadiums across the country with red balloons and colorful costumes. Children did dances on the field as the Turkish flag was proudly displayed from beginning to end. A few of the dances looked a bit like a step aerobics class I did once at the Y.M.C.A.--not sure where they got all their moves from, but they were fun to watch. I never did those moves at the Y. in a red and white jump suit quite like the stadium was filled with. We sang Turkish national anthems, did traditional Turkish dances, and heard Turkish poems. There was definitely a spirit of pride in attendance for this country we're living in. Children and their parents...and children at heart--much like ourselves-- crowded the stadium to be a part of the festivities. It was a really fun day. Then we went to visit our friend's uncle's cafe and refined our backgammon skills and drank banana milk shakes. Welcome to what we do for fun! It's been a great week and we're back feeling really refreshed and ready to live and love in this place...which is why I've spent most of the day attempting to bake my neighbors some homemade cookies. Who am i kidding, everything here is homemade! 4 hours later, a few dishes washed, one trip to my local bakal (mid-mixing fiasco) for baking soda, one burned batch in our trash, and way too many cookies that I pray are edible later...I'm ready to deliver! Hoping that this'll help me and Melissa get to know our neighbors. And just maybe, if the cookies aren't up to par, they'll feel sorry for me and we'll get an invite for a lesson or two on some Turkish cuisines and maybe just maybe a meal out of it... No ulterior motivation to how the cookies turned out, I'm learning. But, I wouldn't turn away any advice or Turkish delights!

The 'Youth Group'

Yes, one more post without pictures and I'm terribly sorry. But do not be dismayed, pics are coming very shortly because today was the Children's Holiday here and many colorful pics are on the way. First things first though, back to this 'youth group' meeting that I attended and I do use that term loosely--I think we were the youngest attenders and the eldest was about 45. Redefines your notion of the word, 'youth group', doesn't it now? So C-Love invited me and my new roommate Melissa to go to a youth group fellowship with his church last night. Yes, she is finally here and we are getting settled into our apartment! Hosgeldiniz!--That means 'Welcome'. Don't expect it to be written on our doormat,though. I bought the absolute cutest 'Hosgeldiniz' doormat when I was first moving in and it got stolen already. Yes, welcome to the neighborhood. Moving on up, aren't I now? Normally, though our landlady watches the door like a hawk. Maybe someone didn't realize we were living there yet, no matter, we are careful, and we are door-mat-less right now. Oh well. Now, back to the 'youth group' meeting. We were the only 3 Americans there, but don't worry, there were several Korean girls and a Mexican lady to throw into the melting pot of what is becoming my life, (smile). We had about a 5 hour language marathon, in which, I am understanding more and more, but required a debrief after. A friend was there who actually has been such an encouragement to me lately. She's getting to know the One that gives me hope, and this has been of great encouragement. So, we ate dinner, I had a new Turkish cuisine that I hadn't tried yet and it was very tasty. Kisir...i think is how it is spelled, probably no dots on the i's though. We have a few extra letters over here. Then we played a number game in which we played in Turkish, but the Americans dominated! I think it was the math skills that helped us out, not our language! Even my 2 day old roommate to Turkey won a round! It was hilarious! I haven't laughed that hard yet without speaking my own language since I've been here! Then we watched a made for t.v. mini-series--I am almost positive--on Joseph. It was only in Turkish and i couldn't quite read the lips, so I was looking words up right and left! Don't worry, we watched both parts. It was a long night, but it was so much fun! C-Love really did us a favor by inviting us! I'll redefine my definition of 'youth group' for this one!

Hopefully, I'll be posting later this week, but if not...it's because tomorrow we're winging our way to Istanbul for the week! So, if I don't post shortly, I'll be back real soon!

Prince Albert.

I can only say that it was about time for a compliment yesterday on my Turkish. This may be the hardest thing I've ever done, living in a place where I cannot totally communicate with those i came to do just that with. The Turkish language is so hard for me, but I'm pressing on. BUT...yesterday i hadn't met with my language helper in a couple weeks and she made a comment on how my language was improving! She had invited herself over for tea! So my first day in the apartment, i went and bought a tea pot and put on my hostess apron--not really, but i do have one, don't you worry. (smile.) The compliment was a treasure to me seeing as how the week had already gone as far as language was concerned.
Earlier this week, we were ordering food from a nearby restaurant (everyone has these little motor bikes--including McDonald's--that they will deliver to your house, if you can give them enough information to find your house, that is.). So we're ordering dinner. We saw the delivery man--i won't reduce him to a delivery boy--drive by the apartment and from where we were on the balcony, i couldn't tell but am quite sure he had a confused look on his face. He made a few doughnuts in the street, but then turned and headed back to the restaurant. I had to call them and figure out how to tell them our food had come and gone and never made it into our hands! I couldn't figure out quite how to get this out...so in the process, i ended up calling and hanging up on the restaurant twice. Yes, that's right. Not once, but twice. My mom or dad, i can't remember which, used to tell me stories about how in the olden days, they would call grocery stores and ask, "Do you have Prince Albert in a can" and the reply would be yes. Prince Albert was some kind of brand of food sold in a can, i assume. When the reply was yes, they would say, "well, let him out then." Yes, that's right. Because of my Turkish, i have been reduced to a prank caller. Go figure. I'm working on it.
While I've humbled myself to share these language blunders with you, I'll share another. This week, I got a new pair of shoes. Everyone here wears Converses, so i got a white low top pair. I'm convinced they make me look more Turkish. The first day i wore them, i was with my language teacher at the phone company and a lady came up and asked me to help her fill out her form because she had forgotten her glasses. My teacher kindly told her i was a yabanci (yuh-ban-jee) (a foreigner) and she would be glad to help her. Any who, back to how i got the Converses. I bought a size that i realized was too small earlier this week. I didn't realize they were too small until I got home; however. So i went back confused on whether a size 5 1/2 was a 36 or a 35 1/2. In Turkey, there is no size 35 1/2. I was sure there was. I was sure an American size 5 1/2 (yes my feet are miniature)= European size 35 1/2. There actually is no size 35 1/2. I learned this. I tried on a size that fit perfectly convinced i knew it was a 35 1/2. I went to the credit counter to do the exchange. My shopping vocabulary is not the best, i knew: "exchange...i want to do this". i went back to the man who was helping me and told him i wanted the 35 1/2. He kept telling me there wasn't one. I told him, i had just had them on my feet minutes before. Finally after little discussion and much pantomiming, I realized the obvious, that there is no size 35 1/2. I needed a size 36, I had tried on a size 36, and he had a size 36 that i could exchange for. I was so embarrassed. I had tried to very insistently in broken Turkish tell him that size 35 1/2 certainly did exist, I had just tried it on in front of him, and i wanted to buy it. Help! One day, there will be a day when I get it. So, you see, the compliments really were needed this week.

High Adventure Travel.

We visited Antakya last week which is known as the Biblical city of Antioch. The picture is of St. Peter's Grotto. This is a cave that people say Paul and Peter preached in! How amazing to see and stand in this place. Gives me a better appreciation for those first believers called Christians...but the others got an even greater appreciation. So, I am afraid of heights, you may refer back to my laundry blog in which i shared that I get nervous hanging my laundry up on the 3rd floor of my house. The others got a little crazy exploring on the bluffs above this cave where a church has been built onto. There are tons of pathways that the first Christians may have made and even used to escape if the need arose. I decided to sit out the rock climbing and come to find out...i missed the adventure of a lifetime! Between you and me, i don't know if i could have been as brave as they were climbing through this mountain and then scaling up a well with no footrests! They had some fun stories to tell me...one in particular in which a frog, Mr. Shelby army crawling I do believe with the frog in tow, and a very small cave involved that I am quite frankly, a little glad I was not a part of (smile)... when they met me back on solid ground, as you can imagine! Maybe I'll work up the courage for next time, but as for this visit, I appreciated the church from the vantage point of the ground!

We had some good Turkish food, doner to be exact, at a place called 'Liver burger'. Yes, you read that right, 'Liver burger'. We had some fun figuring out how to ask in a Turkish accent where 'Liver burger' was. Is it just 'Liver burger' or might it be (Lee-veyr-bear-geyr)...who knows. The doner was good, and had it boasted a little less mayonnaise, it might have as someone had forewarned us...changed our lives. My life is still intact, but it was good. It was a fun day of exploring the Grotto, an artifact filled museum, and the city of Antioch. We saw a Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox church all in one day, which was really interesting. The atmosphere was just a bit different in this city than ours.

But back to home this week, coming up, is the apartment move in day! My roommate comes Thursday, and hopefully I'll get to catch up with some of my Turkish friends now that things are back to routine, whatever that might be for me here! I can always guarantee it's not the same two days in a row...

A Big Bunny Cake & Green Beans with Bacon

What can these things mean? Yes, they mean that Sunday was Easter! We brought out some of the precious things we have been rationing out and may have come from our closest island (thanks to Katie & Craig...the other white meat) for our celebration. It was a really sweet weekend. We had a church service Sun. morning and then I dyed eggs with the kids at the house...my dad will be ecstatic. I know he missed me this year. I am 24 years old and for as long as I can remember we have shared this fun together and my mom has taken pictures! She has made me an Easter basket every year up till now, and even managed to slip one in (colored grass, and all) minus the basket into Mr. Shelby's suitcase to deliver to me, somehow! That U.S. postal service is becoming a dear friend! But, I missed my family this year. There's just some traditions that the tradition itself doesn't compare to the people you share it with and what you do it to remember. But that night, we had dinner at the Yates with Mr. Shelby and it was a fun time. I missed my family, but it was a good weekend.
We had an Easter brunch with the girls from Louisiana and some new friends for fun on Saturday. That's the pics. They had alot of fun. The traditions were new and different, but it was a heart-felt Easter away from home focusing on what we remember and why and that made it feel more like home.

and now i'm craving crawfish.

(Let me give you the picture comments...I know you're a bit curious, eh? and they're worth it...the first pic is the student group that joined us this past week. Next, Craig-o got to drive the mondo van and none other than Katie was his fearless sidekick riding shotgun...you can't tell in the pic, but isn't that van a beast! We had so much fun leading the team this past week! We are perched on top of a castle on the Med. Then, yes, Katie and I got to ride a camel! Don't worry, apparently Katie has a camel driver's license from a previous ride in about the 2nd grade maybe, but I was riding without a license. Shh...don't tell. Then we're in a cave you can crawl some 70 steps down into the ground to see a ton of stalactites and possibly if you are more superstitious than we are...which we are not at all, be cured of asthma. Or think you are b/c of how ready you are for fresh air by the time you exit the underground cavern.
So, I know that I've been kind of M.I.A. this past week on the blogging action...you have all been on pins and needles i'm sure...we've been busy here! Yes, you guys definitely deserve a shout-out if you're reading this down there in good old Louisiana...We had a student group come from LA to visit this past week and they were pretty awesome and definitely a blessing to us. We were daily surrounded by even more Southern accents...but, it was really a great week of fellowship and like mindedness. Hopefully, my hostess skills are improving! I had the four girls staying at my house. Yes, suitcases exploded and the house was one big sleepover, but it was alot of fun having the girls around every day. They rode the bus with me every day like pros. We were so glad to have them all, they really were an encouragement and a good challenge in places that I'd become numb inside. but, I do have to say, guys...I am tired!
But so many good things have happened, that I'll just have to take one thing at a time to update the home front on. We took the students to see several places that are here in our area...this could be a plug for you--whoever you may be reading this--to come and visit us here! We went to Mersin to see, again...heaven and hell (if you are confused and rightly so, see previous blog), to one of the beaches where we definitely got to hum the Indiana Jones theme song (at least Jayme, Katie, and I did...smile) while we explored in and on the ruins of what used to be a castle. We went to Tarsus and walked in the place Paul called home as we spent the day talking to our Father about the people I'm coming to love in this place. We spent Good Friday night in praise and thanks for our great gift from Him.
I'm about at the 3 month point, and I just have to be honest...I was in need of some fresh eyes and encouragement and these special visitors were such an answer to prayer for me in this way. To end their visit, we had another special visit in the form of none other than our good friend Mr. Shelby from sweet home Mississippi, a dear friend to all of us. He's been here this weekend and tomorrow we're going to visit the biblical city of Antioch with him. He has brought a breath of fresh air with him and has been full of encouragement and excitement (as always). God has been so good this week to renew me and I can't wait to update you on our first Easter abroad in my next blog. It's been an absolutely amazing weekend. Get ready... It's been an awesome time to celebrate and be more aware of God's gift to us in the form of Jesus' sacrifice and to be able to share it with my friends in this place who have never heard before. God has been faithful in so many ways this week, and I needed and craved it in ways He lovingly knew and provided for, all the while glorifying Himself. Worthy is the Lamb. I pray someday these friends we've shared Him with will see Him for what He is... Worthy.

The Road to Heaven...

Today, Craig, Katie, & I visited the 'Chasm of Heaven' and the 'Pit of Hell'. Here are some pictures from our day visiting these natural landmarks that have been named after eternal dwellings. A 2 hour drive later and a very long, careful hike later, and we were in a...well, a chasm in the ground looking up at this old church building. It was awesome to see, but the climb made it that much more to appreciate the beauty. My language teacher told me once that she didn't like visiting heaven, because it was so much work. It was actually more work leaving heaven than it was getting there. The hike back up the cliff was...exhausting. We were all a little out of breath, but really excited to have seen the cave below that bears the name of heaven. In Turkey, you can actually visit heaven and hell in the same day. A feat that actually, unless you come to Turkey, one will never actually be able to attain. It made me think...Really, you can choose whether to take the long hike down the cliff and back up to see the beauty found below in the chasm called heaven, or you can choose to simply lean over a gate and see the pit in the ground that is referred to as hell and miss out on the beauty hidden below in the chasm in the ground called heaven and miss out on the work to get there. Being in this place today for me was an object lesson. It made me in some small but greater way appreciate more the fact that Christ did all the work for me to attain endless life in Heaven. He lived flawlessly, and He died bearing my shame, and He rose victoriously offering me life in abundance here and endless life with Him and the Father in Heaven with a simple choice. Today, we chose to visit the 'Chasm of Heaven' and the 'Pit of Hell', but every day, I choose life in Christ and I praise Him that I made the choice to accept His sacrifice over my life years ago and the Road that He made to Heaven that has been made known to me. I walk in light of that life He gave me and gives me daily. Happy Easter week.