Addendum

This is an addendum to the last blog. I got so tickled when my roommate came home the same day that I wrote my previous blog and told me this...She went to visit a friend who helps her with language and friend had a backache. She told Melissa that she had taken a hot shower that day, but that she had also felt some cold water trickle down her back while the water was heating up...no doubt the cause of her backache she explained.
Any who, culture, culture, culture! Other news...I have enrolled in driving school over here. Yes, it has been almost a year since I've driven an automobile. Public transportation, what can I say. I'm a bus riding girl. But even in America I have never driven a standard, always an automatic. But, when my parents come, I'm driving us and a Turkish friend to Kapadokya and the only company cars we have are standards. So, everyone on my team has pulled together to give me driving lessons! So far, I've had three. And Jayme even says I've graduated up to the Intermediate class which means I got to drive home from the grocery store the other day! Look out Turkey, Here I come. Seriously, I need to be the one looking out. Driving is crazy here! But one gear at a time, I'm learning. Hills...I'm going to need some practice, but driving school is in session and I've yet to stall out on the real road! Only in the parking lot once or twice...or really, who's counting?

Old Man Winter

...and all that he brings. Be warned, this blog will change the way you think about modern medicine and the ways of the world. You heard it first here. You may have to disregard the fact, or remember and be even more humored as you read, that I was a nurse in America before coming to my present home.
Have you ever wondered the reasons behind what ails you? Maybe you have and maybe you've actually visited the doctor and you know the answer. Modern medicine and science do still leave some to the imagination because of the incredible greatness of our Creator, but usually, you are ill...you may go to the doctor and take a test...and receive medicine for the illness. But, do they always tell you what the cause of the thus aforementioned illness is? Or are you ever unsatisfied with the answer you get?
The other day we were visiting our neighbors and somehow it came up in conversation that one morning I had woken up very early because I was ill. Stomach illness, if you must know. Naturally, their first question was: What did you wear to bed? Do you sleep with a heavy blanket or a thin blanket? Did you have your radiator on? Whatever does this have to do with me waking up unsettled and needing to use the toilet at 5a.m., you are asking? Everything. Everything can be attributed to coldness, if you ask my fine friends and neighbors. A couple days later, again I was unsettled--remember where I live, there are amoebas and other friendly things floating around...you pick stuff up, you learn to use Imodium, Pepto, and Tums...alot more than you did in America--and my neighbors response was...it's the weather. Of course, why didn't I think of that. (I must note that I love these people, I am not making fun--well, am I?--I am just amused). Winter is here, so of course there is going to be more nausea, more stomach cramping, and lest I say it here on blogging, sorry, but we're all adults, there will be more diarrhea. Because old man winter is come and the Turkish culture is convinced that he brings with him cold weather and yes, stomach ailments.
Let me share some more with you, so you can see if there may be simpler solutions to what ails you and save you a trip to the doctor or two or three! These are all statements we have heard while living here... Have a backache? Did you sleep under a fan or breeze? Having trouble sleeping? Do you have plants in your bedroom? It's harmful to your health, they release carbon dioxide that is poisonous to you during the night. ??? Are you coming down with a cold? Did you drive with the windows rolled down in your car this summer? Do you drink ice in your soft drinks? Be warned, you heard it here first!

Happy Thanksgiving...

...from a country it seems fitting to eat turkey in on this particular day, now doesn't it? Turkey was Jayme's duty though, and I think it actually ended up being a bit difficult to locate a turkey to eat in this country on Thanksgiving! They all thought we were eating them too soon! And our friends had some trouble...one grocery store wouldn't sell them a turkey until New Years! Because of course, that's when you eat turkey in Turkey. Not on Thanksgiving Day! But, I think they eventually persuaded them to sell them a turkey! Different people celebrating in different ways! But, let us have our tradition people! We want turkey!

And don't we look happy eating our pie! Pumpkin, chocolate chess, and apple...Mmm! Thanks to Jayme's and my mom, we even got to eat our pie with Thanksgiving plates and napkins! Moms are so thoughtful. We had a great Thanksgiving. But, I do have to confess that I've never made half of Thanksgiving dinner before! I appreciated my mom more than EVER this year! But, I do have so much to be thankful for. I spent the day with good friends and we even got a visit from Craig and Katie and their parents! That was a special visit for us. I'm glad they got to be with us on the holiday! I even got a few well wishes from my Turkish friends who knew about the holiday but didn't celebrate! Doesn't that make Turkey day a little more authentic having Turkish friends wish you well? We did have discussion with some of them about why we celebrate Thanksgiving. Living here has made me so thankful for the country I come from and all the blessings that we have there and the freedom we experience in so many aspects of life.

I got to skype with my parents and wouldn't you know, that my neighbors paid us a surprise visit while I was skyping with my parents and they got to meet each other via the web cam! Welcome to my life. So, we, of course, put a pot of tea on and spent Thanksgiving night with our neighbors. Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving wherever it found you and whoever you celebrated with!

Welcome to Global Cafe

Our city just did not know what hit it last week when we brought Starbucks to town! We hosted an English club at our company for the first time last week and served Starbucks and good English conversation practice. We're going to try to make it a monthly occasion. My roommate, let me tell you, is quite the barista. As we all should be after our extensive 'training night'! We met the night before and made pots of coffee and added a bit of sugar, a bit more of sugar, a bit of cocoa and some more sugar until we got our recipes just right. We drank coffee and rearranged furniture and tried more coffee and didn't sleep! We put alot of hard work into the cafe and it was so worth it. I think alot of people will come back next time and bring some friends. Tea is the drink of Turks, so we did have to do some advertising--which consisted of walking around carrying a mocha, saying, 'Mmmm, this is delicious' to get people to branch out past the usual cup of tea...But when they did branch out, they were pleasantly surprised. Word on the street is that we may have a Starbucks coming to a street near us soon, but until then we're giving them a run for their money at the Global Cafe! It was a great night and we were able to meet some new friends and give some old ones a place to gather, have some fun, meet some new people, and have some good conversation.

Scrabbled

Have you ever just had a day when you just want to crawl back under the covers? I should have known today might be one of those days because the first thing I did when I woke up was drop my toothbrush in the toilet... nice start, eh? I actually had a pretty incredible week. I made some new friends and we had our first English cafe at our company that was a success that we had put alot of time and energy into, but leave it to Scrabble to unravel me.
I went to dinner with some friends tonight and had a terrible Turkish night. We played Scrabble and my dictionary and I did not do too well. I kept staring at the board trying to piece together my tiles into Turkish words and thought, this is exactly how I feel about my life here sometimes. Like I have all these words floating around in my head and I'm trying to piece them into coherent thoughts to actually communicate with people and it just doesn't always happen. I didn't understand a stinking thing tonight. It's actually like I went backwards in strides in the course of one game of Scrabble. My mind just let go and I stopped understanding the words coming out of my friends' mouths... And I kept thinking, yesterday, I would have been able to understand this. It's like the messages were not getting through to my brain. I think it has something to do with neurons and receptors and such, but oh well. I have learned that you just can't wear your feelings on your sleeves here, but I think I must have been tonight...because i told one of the girls that i would speak better Turkish next time I saw her and she said that she hoped so. I hope something got lost in translation there.
Things had actually been going pretty well lately...I'd even been on the receiving end of quite a few compliments regarding my Turkish, even from a few Turks! Don't worry, I'm way over that. This blog should be enough to let you know that I'm back to realizing exactly where I am! Humbleness: check. Then, to top things off, I didn't read the sign when I got on the bus and I actually got on the wrong bus. I almost rode it to wherever it was going just to spite myself because I was so embarrassed to have to get off five minutes after I'd gotten on, with a bewildered look on my face that said, 'Yes, I am a foreigner and I did get on the wrong bus even though I have almost lived here a year'. I didn't have to say anything because the man who takes the money shouted it to the driver and all other listening passengers anyways when I asked him to let me off 4 stops after I got on and 1 stop after we turned the opposite way that I needed to go. I was actually listening to the words to a U2 song when it happened...'sometimes you can't make it on your own'...and I have, thanks to some fans over here in Turkey, developed a love for Bono, but still thought, who is he kidding? When can I ever make it on my own? No sometimes about it. I'm glad that on nights like tonight, I really can crawl under the covers and remember that the last blog that I posted wasn't just in my imagination and regardless of how I feel tonight, my God is in control, He is good, He lives, He is perfecting this amazing thing going on inside of me, I'm blessed because of all of the above, and tomorrow is a new day with new mercy. And those truths will never get lost in translation from the Voice--be it like thunder or a still small whisper-- that speaks to my heart and makes itself heard above all others.

Make New Friends...

But keep the old. Isn't funny, how all of a sudden you can look back and think, how in the world did I get here. I'm at this good place and I have to think to remember the lonely lonely road that led to here. I used to sing this song in Girl Scouts. I was a die hard Girl Scout. Long past when it was cool. But the first line of the song is, 'Make new friends, but keep the old'... I am finally at the point here that I have older friends and I am still making new friends. My older friends are introducing me to their friends and actually they are introducing me to their friends. I am just kind of overwhelmed at how good God has been. I'm overwhelmed because at one point in this foreign place surrounded by people speaking this foreign language, I didn't think I'd ever have people that I'd actually call 'friends'. And I'm overwhelmed because I can actually tell Him how good He is in mine and this foreign language and mean it from the heart. There will be more hard times ahead and it's still hard now. But, I was just reminded as I saw this picture and as I've been reflecting this week on just how much I love these people. I have precious friends that I love sharing my life with here and I hope that I get to keep sharing my heart with. All this thankfulness with no specific reason. No huge event that changed my world this week. No, it's not Thanksgiving Day, I'm just thankful. I've been reflecting because Sunday I listened to a friend talk from the Word to a group of people an ocean away and He used it to touch my heart and encourage me to show my gratitude to the Lord. And don't you know that as I've been more thankful this week, He has just been so faithful to keep reminding me of more things that I have to be thankful for! Today, I had lunch with one of my first friends here, a girl she introduced me to, and a girl that the second girl introduced me to today. And tomorrow, Melissa and I will go to the university and have lunch--hopefully not the hot lunch line from the cafeteria...it left much to be desired last week-- and spend some time with more friends. And Saturday, I will go study the Word with different friends. All of these Turkish, and then this weekend, I'll get to see American friends from Istanbul that are coming to visit. And so on... I mean, how did I get from last January to here? He's been so good to me. I am daily reminded (as I open my mouth) that it has nothing to do with me, but that He's so faithful to bless my friends through me because through me, they are getting to know Him. And who doesn't want that? I'm just overwhelmed at how I get to be so blessed in the process.

Battle Wounds

Don't be scared. This story has a happy ending. I know, you're thinking one more blog about Little Caesar's...we foreigners are pretty excited. It's all the blogging rage. Little Caesar's has graced us with it's glorious presence. But, this blog has a twist to it. There was much pain, agony, and heartbreak that the road to Little Caesar's was paved with. I know you are a bit disappointed that my battle wound wasn't due to a grander cause, but from where I'm sitting...there isn't one. Little Caesars has come and it is every bit like it is in America. 'ayna' (this means the same in Turkish) is what I have been telling all my Turkish friends. It really is. The pepperoni--though I hope not really pepperoni because my teacher partook which would be a sin for her, I feel they might have to advertise that in Turkey of all places--still tasted just like the real thing. But, back to how I got there. So, quite a few of us foreigners decided we should commemorate this momentous occasion by having an impromptu luncheon at our new regular dining establishment (I ate there 3 times in their first week...this cannot be a trend, my jeans can absolutely not handle it). I am crossing the finish line, or the street if you will and I turn my ankle. I think my face scared my roommate more than the oncoming cars--which there were not alot. She helped me across to the restaurant where we promptly appreciated that they were a foreign establishment because they had ice! They gave us some ice to help with the pain and then I headed on home in the V's van. I did have some pizza delivered later though to help ease the pain in my heart from missing out on Little Caesar's...not that it was the end of the world because as you read I did have it three times that first week. The ankle kept me down a bit, but it's not broken. Thank goodness. I do have to say that I am not a hypochondriac, but I'm convinced that the 3rd night after much walking, I had 3 plus pitting edema. Not good. But I've complied with all the R.I.C.E. directions. Rest, ice, compress, and elevate. Check, check. A week later and it's still blue, but feeling better. And I made it to Little Caesars... they made it to me...etc. The world's a better place now.
And, welcome back to the world of fringe. I have to rely on pictures, because I don't quite trust the mirror so I generally shoot one of these photos as I'm heading out the door and delete it later. I know. But, any who the bangs are back in town...at least for now.

South Side Story

To finish off my trip to Cyprus, we decided to take a trip to the mall on the Greek side after Craig's football practice on Saturday. A western dinner is motivation for 'one for all and all for one' mentality. So we head over for an evening in Greek Cyprus...I do have to admit that I was pretty pumped. Starbucks and T.G.I.Fridays in one evening is enough to make my mouth water even now. At home, there are a million places I'd rather eat than Fridays (pardon my strong opinions on this blog, keep on eating at Fridays if you are), but over here, a girl will take what she can get and last week it was Fridays! I do have to admit that the hot dog I had at Ikea before the mall was actually the highlight of the trip. Don't look down on me, Oh, I miss a hot dog! I am getting ahead of myself, I still haven't told you how we managed to get across the border...
So, it is a little nerve racking having to whip your passport out and drive past all these guards generally not smiling at you. Any who, we got past this one point and this grouchy man decided that we should not be allowed to cross the border because their license plate had been hit and well...a letter had been knocked off...but really, a girl only gets to see pork over here a couple times a year, DON'T STEAL MY JOY, MAN! So, sweet Katie gets out of the car (after grouchy man refused to bend, face down in a frown pointing for us to turn our car around and go back to Turkish Cyprus...(there are some tensions between the two sides, which I have not enough room or time to go into on this blog--I am really giving you some motivation lately to check up on your politics and history, eh?), where was I? Oh yes, sweet Katie is getting out of the car utilizing flattery on the other guard. Please sir, our friend came all the way from America (originally I did come from there) to see your country (or really, just Starbucks), please let us show her your side of the island...
Flattery, who doesn't appreciate a little bit, here and there? It worked. Grouchy man made sure to tell us that he was not the one helping us, thank you very much, but friendly guard brought out his artsy friend who promptly took out a Sharpie and drew an extra letter on our license plate--because this looks so much more legit, now doesn't it? One Sharpie later (see above picture), we were heading to the Mall of Cyprus. She was a beauty, but you just never know how things are going to work over here. We walked into the mall about 7:15 or so and the stores promptly started closing about well, 7:45...which makes perfect sense because the mall doesn't close until, 8:30. Just getting a head start. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a bizarre world. You just never know what's going to happen and sometimes, really anything goes. Didn't tear up the mall quite like I had planned to, but we made a delicious trip across the border on Sunday for a few groceries (see the bounty above) that solved any delusions on pork that had been disappointed by the grocery store at the Mall of Cyprus. And Fridays and Starbucks were right on because they stayed open till 11 and 12 respectively. Have your coffee in the mall until midnight, just make sure you're done shopping by 7:45...