Through the Looking Glass...

Sometimes life over here just doesn't go as you'd expect. You learn to deal. Sometimes you're pleasantly surprised and sometimes, well sometimes you are not. I will include examples of both.

The other day I was in our local neighborhood grocery store and ran into the post man stopping for something and I didn't know him and he didn't know me, but he eyed the pile of mail in his bag, fished it out, dug through it, and pulled out a card for my roommate and a package for me from my mom. He points to the name on the envelope --which is obviously not a Turkish name--'Do these belong to you', he asks me. Yeah, actually they do, thanks!

I was driving, these are actually pictures from my first standard car driving lesson. We're driving around the modern mall in our city and what do you know I should encounter, but a herd of sheep crossing the road that goes around the mall. Not something you'd expect, but there they are out the back window!
Last week, no not last week, actually 2 weeks ago, our landlady came up to tell us that the water depot was coming the next day to do something to the water and our water would be turned off for 3 days. Okay, we can deal with that. The water never went off, but for three days, every day we filled the bathtub up and any buckets and pots that we had to conserve water for dish washing, toilet flushing, etc. Then we arranged to take showers at various friends' houses. We would let the water out of the tub every night, shower, and then wait in anticipation for it to go off the next morning. But, yes, the water never went off. Today (approximately 2 weeks later), I woke up and there was no water. I feel bad for the workman who came by while I was making the water discovery, because I have just enough Turkish now to get a little sassy and need to watch myself. He wanted to know if he could turn the hot water thing off because he was doing some work around it. Well, why should I care, it doesn't matter to me. We don't even have water so really I can't do anything. Go ahead, yes please, turn the hot water thingy off...I tell him. Yes, I know. I have since adjusted my attitude. So, I pack my bag and then go to Jayme and Jared's for a shower. Then I go to the mall where I am going to do a bit of Christmas shopping. The power in the mall goes out, the whole mall--no rain, no thunder, no lightning, no wind--and stays off the entire time I'm there.
Then tonight, I'm baking and apparently I can't use the oven, the Vonage phone, and the heater in the next room all at the same time because I blew the breaker three times and had to continually flip the switch, reset the Internet, and redial Tracy because I kept hanging up on her! All a day in the life. Take a deep breath, be happy, and flip that breaker joyfully.