Something tasty

So, tomorrow morning I'm heading off to Istanbul for a week. But before I go, I thought I'd leave you with your mouth watering. I'm learning to cook Turkish food. My friend is teaching me and we cook together every week. It's become quite a feat this summer because the kitchen can get a bit toasty, but it's been worth it to learn how to make my beloved Turkish culture's food. I'm coming home with some new skills.
So, after my cooking lesson, we had another friend over this week to taste the dolma (stuffed anything you want, basically...mine was stuffed peppers, eggplant, and zucchini) and let me know how authentic mine turned out. She was so ecstatic and assured me that my cooking was better than hers (sadly not a hard feat though), and that it was de-licious. I thought it could stand a few moderations. It didn't taste nearly as delicious as my neighbors dolma which is out of this world. But, it's a work in progress. My 'cooking teacher' is becoming a pro at fixing errors that she has never encountered before, than I tend to make when we cook. I don't do it on purpose, but bless her heart, if there is something I can do while she's not looking to cause a disruption to the recipe, all be it meaning well, I usually do... and then she has to figure out how to fix it. She dares not turn her back on me! She just laughs at me though because I tell her, these are necessary skills. I'm very likely to run into these very same situations when I'm making this on my own, so I need these problem solving skills! I think that she fully expects me to skype her every time that I make a Turkish dish...and I very well may need to!

Something for the Bus Driver

I've decided that maybe I need to change my bus route a bit. I'll explain. I don't have a car here, as most of you know. I take public transportation, which means I usually take the bus. It's no big deal, I'm used to it. If you don't know, I live in a city of 2 million people and I cannot even imagine how many buses there are in this city, but you know...after time you tend to see some of the same bus drivers around. Well, let me go back and give you a small transportation orientation. Okay, in Adana, there are blue buses and there are red buses.

The blue buses are in general not air conditioned and they're smaller and not as nice. The beauty of the red buses in summer is that they are air conditioned, but they are less frequent than the blue. So, in general you roll up your sleeves and let the warm breeze cool you off on the good old blue bus. And then--I'm not totally sure why, possibly because there are a large number of illiterate people in my city, or maybe just because there is a lot of unemployment in my city, or maybe for some reason that I have no clue about-- but there are bus helpers on all of the blue buses. It is an official job. They collect your coins and then at every stop, they get off the bus and holler (yes holler) out where the bus is going. If you look like you're unsure of where you want to go, they'll try to convince you to get on the bus and go where they're going. It's very amusing, but nice if you actually don't know where you're going (like I tend not to at moments). You can tell them where you're going and they'll help you get off at the right stop. On these blue buses, you can press a button above the door to signal your stop or you can just call out that you're getting off at the next stop or say the stop's name. That's what I generally do. Remember those key words, way back from the first month of my blogging..."Durakta!"

I'd say you're oriented to the buses now. So, the other day I was riding on a blue bus. On the small blue buses, there is a row of seats that sits facing the driver. So, I was sitting in this seat and before we got to my stop, and before I'd even had a chance to realize that I needed to be getting my things together to get up and call out my stop, mind you, the bus driver looked at me and said, "the next stop is yours, isn't it...". Well, I'm a foreigner and I do tend to stick out, but apparently people keep tabs on us a bit more than we realize!! I hadn't done anything to let him know I'd be needing to get off. I think he just purely recognized me and knew my stop was coming up. Now, let me tell you in a city of 2 million, full of hundreds of buses, this is not a service they offer to everyone...memorizing your stop and all! Despite my cover of sunglasses and poor Turkish accent, alas, my comings and goings still tend to draw a bit of attention. What do you do?! The day he veers off his route to turn down my street to drop me off, that's the day I'll worry! Until, then I just laughed at his efforts and said, yes, my stop is next.

Something 'bana rağmen'

So, recently I was preparing a short devotional thought for my bible study (in Turkish) and my language helper was helping me...err...well we'll call it refine my sentences. I must have said something to the effect of, 'I hope He can use my Turkish', to which she responded, He can work even in spite of you. Exact translation. (All of our conversations are in Turkish.) Hmmm, well at first I was almost offended and thought, He'll work in spite of me? Well, thanks for the vote of confidence. (so my flesh thinks.)
But, the more I've thought about it lately, the more her words have resonated in me and I've found Him drilling them into my head. They've become His words which has led me to be reminded to praise Him that He has and is working here through me and in spite of me, because He is in me. I praise Him that He works here IN SPITE OF ME...especially after some of the humble pie that I ate last week. I am telling you, the summer heat makes my attitude crummy. And I can do that fine on my own without the heat here! But, I'm working on it. He is worthy, oh so worthy of my good attitude because of all He's done, because of WHO HE IS, even when it's 95 degrees, 85% humidity, and I've had no air conditioning all day for many days in a row. He's always worthy of it and I'm trying to be better about desiring to give Him a portion of the glory He's due here in this place this summer, even in my melting moments.
I've been reminded several times this week that I am so grateful that He works in spite of me. I saw one of our neighbors in a store downtown on Monday. Her husband has been out of work for most of the summer now. We exchanged pleasantries and before I left, I made sure to tell her that we will continue to pray for her husband. We'd mentioned that we would pray for him and their family when we learned about his job loss. I tend to pray more for his soul than his job, but who knows what the Lord might use to draw them to Himself. So, when I told her we'd continue to pray for them, she said that she knew, she always knew that we were praying for them. hmmm. Praise You Father, that here in this place in spite of me, you have given me a testimony that speaks of You in this place. Praise You that You work in spite of me.

Something loud

To watch this video, scroll down to the right side of my blog to the music player and push pause. It's just a little snippet, but my Internet won't let me attach any of the longer videos. Last night, our neighbors got engaged-mış mış. There's a whole verb tense in Turkish for things that you have heard or are almost certain of, but don't know for sure because you don't have first-hand information. You add this "mış" ending on to the end of your verb to clarify that well...you weren't there, but you heard... or you didn't see it, but you know that... and so on and so on. I hardly ever use it, because well...I can't totally figure out how to use it correctly most times. The hearsay tense, if you will. I don't know for sure, I wasn't invited, and I didn't go... but guessing from what I saw and heard outside of our windows last night for a very long time, I'm assuming one of our neighbors might have gotten engaged. There are no noise ordinances in our city. Your neighbors can decide to have a raucous loud party across the street from you that doesn't start until 8:30 or 9 and might go until...who really knows when because at some point, your ears adjust and you just fall asleep in spite of the noise--thank goodness--and there is nothing wrong with it. Actually it's perfectly acceptable. And you quite expect it. So, there was lots of loud pop music and lots of dancing--some traditional, and some maybe not so traditional! Some people are dressed up and some not, some maybe a little too dressed up for a party in a parking lot, but it's still a special occasion. The noise started about 7:30 when we heard this drum banging outside our window. The sound check had begun. We knew we were in for a loud night.

I mean, really, if you have a party that we can feel like we are attending in spite of the fact that all of our windows are closed, our air conditioner is on, and we are watching a movie at full volume, then you'll have to indulge us because we are going to spy on you and take pictures! My apologies. But hanging out the window listening to Turkish pop music and trying to get a good night picture did entertain us for probably...too long. It's loud, but it's fun to watch and sometimes be a part of their traditions. If it wasn't loud and over the top, it wouldn't be right somehow!

And then sometimes, there are things that they do that aren't quite the way we would do it, and I think...that really worked in our favor. Last night, (pre-very loud lively party) I called Melissa and asked her to bring home a salad to go with our leftover lasagna. Everywhere you eat here will serve delicious salads before the meal, many times more than one, so sometimes we'll stop and pick one up for really super cheap from a restaurant we like close by and eat it as a side. Last night, she was coming home from a different direction so she stopped somewhere new. This ordering a salad-to-go and no meal is very strange to them. Why wouldn't we just make our own salad at home. We're lazy. Inconceivable. So, of course, they do not make Melissa only one salad, they make her the traditional lettuce salad, the onion salad, the roasted red peppers, and a tomato salad and wrap them all up for her. Delicious. Why would we want to make our own when we can pick up such delicious sides, I ask you. So, she gets ready to pay and they don't want any money from her. She hasn't actually ordered a real meal, so why would they charge her? I mean, she came home with a lot of vegetables! But, they wouldn't let her pay for any of them! Perhaps they felt sorry for the foreign girl who they thought possibly couldn't find her way to the grocery store? We just laughed about it. We're so strange here. We can't help but not fit in, but sometimes it just works in our favor!