Did Somebody Call for a Nurse?

I thought I'd include this picture so that all of you who are thinking, was she ever a nurse...why is she not using her nursing now??? can see that I have been called to a different place for now, but I've just taken some of my skills with me! (some of them). I will definitely have to take a BIG refresher course upon returning to America next year, but I did get to hang my shingle at our hotel in August, when we met at the conference for people in our country who do what I do. I had a friend who needed some stitches removed from his ear and I was able to help. The stitches were no problem to take out. As for what lies ahead for him now...I can't speak for that. Really, J.M., you went to a free medical clinic in Turkey. Chris is assisting me in the pic. We had the operating room all set up. That's my serious 'this is life and death here people' face. Maybe this particular incident didn't quite call for it, but you know...It's been awhile, I had to get into character! Anyways, it was fun to be reminded that I am a nurse!
I was able to talk to some of the gals at my old clinic in Jackson this week and it made me miss them even more! We had some good times up at the Lakeland Surgical Clinic...
Speaking of good times, Melissa and I had a good time last night. We went to our neighbors house to watch my new addiction...Have I told you that I'm addicted to a Turkish soap opera? I think I have. It takes place in the east of our country and is very melodramatic. But, it's all in Turkish...so like I said before, good language practice, eh? Too bad, we could barely hear the t.v. over the sound of our neighbor's whole family in the mini-salon. Don't get me wrong. I love all of our neighbors. Especially these upstairs neighbors. They've kind of adopted us and the mother always treats us well, a bit motherly and I like that. But we'd already visited this week, and we talked during the 15 minute commercial breaks, and really, I wanted to know whether Sila was going to be rescued from her kidnappers (who were actually her in-laws who felt she needed to be punished) and go back to her husband who was just released from jail (whom she didn't love when their marriage was first arranged, but now does truly love...obviously unbeknownst to her in-laws) and her newborn son... I told you it was a bit melo-dramatic.
Our neighbor kept bragging on us being like, of course they understand everything that's going on...and Melissa and I are thinking, we can barely hear the t.v., much less understand it over the dull roar of every member of your family speaking in Turkish to us at the same time! But, one thing I did understand. We took some brownies up with us. The show is 2 hours, so we were settling in for a lengthy visit, (and of course we had to debrief after the show). But, they made sure to tell us that the brownies were good, but they would be better with something. They would be better with a big glass of olive oil. Everything's better here with olive oil...no precise measuring necessary, just about a big drinking glass of it. Add that to your recipe card, eh.