Songs Heard in Migros

This addition to the blog may be more for our sake than yours, but we needed a way to log one of our favorite treats. So we are keeping a list of the songs we hear in our favorite grocery store. We are not sure if they turn this music on when we come in as a way to keep the foreigners in the store or if it's a staple. Don't laugh, they do this at some of the restaurants. The best thing is that no one in the store knows what they are singing about except us. So it's really funny when a song from the likes of Mariah Carey, Madonna, or Michael Jackson comes on. (See list on right)

Ball of Fire!

What a day! On Saturday morning Jared went with Matt, Craig and the bankers to Çukurova University to play basketball. We had a great time and hope to make it a weekly event. In the meantime, Jayme and Katie were busy buying material to make curtains. The traditional curtain here is not much more than a thin sheet, quite similar to a shower curtain. However, that doesn't do much to keep out the sun, which is necessary if the summers are as warm as expected. So, needless to say, the store owner found it somewhat confusing when Jayme insisted on buying upholstery fabric instead of the sheer curtains. The fabric is approximately $3 a meter, so she should be able to cover the windows for next to nothing.

After ball, Craig and I found the girls at our favorite Saturday restaurant, Hamiyet's Kitchen, where we met her son as he waited on our table. With Craig and I both needing haircuts, we asked the son, who had a sweet do, where he got his done. It just happened to be next door, so we gave it a shot. It was possibly the first time any ladies had set foot into their barber shop, but they didn't seem to mind. It was quite an experience with several laughs as well as a scare or two as we were introduced to the"ball of fire." The "ball of fire" actually resembles a long Q-tip dipped into a flammable liquid, then set on fire. The barber then proceeds to bop you on the side of the head or under the nose, carefully singeing any hairs that don't belong. It's a little scary the first time, but I hear it gets better and might be something we should introduce at home.

Saturday night we had another late night with the neighbors as dinner didn't even start until 8:30. It was an interesting mix as they also invited their Swedish friends who also brought along their Mongolian friend. So here we are, seven friends speaking; Turkish, English, Swedish and Mongolian - with only one couple able to understand all four. We came home more than a little exhausted.

Bazaar

Today we made our first visit to our neighborhood's fruit and vegetable bazaar. Each neighborhood has their own bazaar, one or two days a week. There was every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable, and the prices are the best in town. We came away with 6.5 lbs of potatoes, 4.5 lbs of tangerines, 2 lbs of tomatoes, 1 lb of strawberries and 18 eggs, all for 9 YTL ($6.50)! This is definitely the way to shop!

Comfort Food

Well TVU Player came through for us, but unfortunately the Saints did not. However, we are quickly recuperating thanks to yesterday's grand opening of the new Burger King about 8 blocks from our apt. Jared and the boys checked it out last night and Jayme and the girls are going for lunch today. Between all of us, we will do our best to keep them in business! We continue to explore around and outside of our neighborhood. Below are some pictures of the sites. Yesterday afternoon Jayme went with the ladies to a baby shower for one of the girls from our church. While she was gone Jared managed to find a basketball court with some teenagers that were eager to play with the American. A good time was had and plans were made to meet up again today. At least I think that's what they said.

Go Saints!

We are hopeful that TVUPlayer will come through and we will be able to watch the Saints vs Bears tonight. We're having a party with lots of food, so it will be a big disappointment if it doesn't work out. It starts at 10pm here so we hope NO puts them away in the 1st half allowing us to get some sleep.

Here's a few pictures from our balcony. In the first one you can see the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. Not seen is in the picture is a large lake in between the houses and the mountains that provides incredible scenery. On top of the houses you can see the solar panels which are used to heat the water inside the house. We are currently using an electric water heater, but would like to figure out the solar thing as our water heater provides just enough hot water for one 5 minute shower. This shouldn't be a problem in the summer as our apartment will be 90 degrees inside instead of 50. The next picture shows the park, which is full of kids on Saturdays and Sundays and next to the park is our fruit vendor, who jayme likes to call the "van man".

Hamiyet's Kitchen

Jared and I headed out for some lunch today and went back to a restaurant we had been to once before. It is sort of like a Two Sister's in Adana, homecooking if you will. It is a little hole in the wall where you just sit in this little Turkish lady's kitchen and eat her good homecooked food. We were the only ones in there since it was late for lunch. We both had full plates of stuffed eggplant, green beans, rice and bread. It was delicious, and it was topped off with a hot cup of Turkish Tea. When we got home, I went over to spend some time with my neighbor, Imer. She had another friend over so we all sat around visiting, laughing and getting to know each other. Of course there was food involved and tea and lots of Turkish! A good time was definitely had. We also wanted to add a few pictures of some local sights. The mosque you see is the mosque that is closest to our house. We hear the call to prayer 5 times a day from this mosque. They are called Camii's here (pronounced Jah-Mee). Also, just down the road from us is a fabulous fresh bread store, each day they make all types of bread. As we were walking out today we saw them passing large piles of Pide (pita bread) out the window - it was not wrapped up or anything, they would just lay it out the window and the delivery man would pick it up and put it in his car.

Guys Night Out - Ladies Night In

So Craig and I show up at the bank at 7 to hang out with the banker (Celal) and his friend (Evren), who just happens to be a stock broker with the same bank and speaks great English. We headed to a nice area of downtown where we met up with another one of Celal's friends. She didn't speak any English, but felt like she had seen Craig before. They ordered for us and it was the best meal we've had since we've been here. We talked about sports, some politics, Turkish history and inner peace. Towards the end of the dinner, the lady realized why Craig looked so familiar. She had a dream last night were she meet two foreigners, one of whom looked just like Craig. Interesting! I believe a good time was had by all and we made plans to meet up again, hopefully for basketball next Saturday. Meanwhile back at the house, the ladies were cooking up a storm. They made chicken tetrazzini, salad, and a wonderful strawberry shortcake, which they shared with the guys upon their return. Enjoy the pic of the 3 cooks in their uniforms.

New Bank, New Friends

Congrats to Jared on his big accomplishment yesterday; he opened our first Turkish bank account. It may not seem like that much of a big deal, but when the account representative speaks broken English and Jared speaks less than broken Turkish, It's a real big deal! (baby steps) It also generated a new friendship as Jared and Craig are hanging out with the banker and some of his friends Friday night. In the meantime, Jayme, Katie and Jessica are using guys-night-out as an opportunity to have some ladies time and share cooking secrets and favorite recipes. No, they aren't grandmothers! Hospitality is just a big part of the culture here, so it never hurts to brush up.

Word of the Week

Thanks to a recommendation from our friend Scott Taylor, we have added a word for the week so that you can learn some Turkish words and phrases along with us. Check back often and we will quiz you when we get home.

New Sleeping Schedule

As many of you know we were early to bed people back home. Usually by 9pm we were moving in that direction. Well in Turkey, many people don't even get off work until 9, so we are quickly realizing that we are in trouble. Last night our neighbors invited us over for tea at 9:00. Everything was going great; we were eating good food, practicing our Turkish and meeting family members that came by to "see the Americans." But we ran out of Turkish words by 10pm and started yawning around 10:30. Unfortunately they were just getting warmed up. We continued to converse in the fairly good english that the wife knew until we were able to slip out at midnight. That's only after accepting an invitation to go to the movies with them on Thursday. And of course it starts at 9:30pm. So, now that we are finally over jet lag, we have to make another adjustment with our sleeping schedule which may be even harder than jet lag. But we are thankful for their friendship and know that we will have to make many more adjustments as we learn to live in another culture.

"24" Party

Language is going as well as can be expected. We are starting to get adjusted to the jet lag thanks to our newest purchase. An electric matress pad!! The temperature in the house hovers around 50 degrees so we can now sleep through the night without waking up to fight off hypothermia. And the best thing about it is that it was only 20 lira, which is roughly $14. We also made another "necessary" purchase in a dvd player. I don't how much it will help with ministry, but it will certainly help us stay sane and connected to some of our favorite shows and movies. Tonight we had our first "24" party. Jayme cooked pancakes and Craig, Katie, Jessica, Chris (a teammate of ours) and his friend from out of town, John, came over and we ate and watched Season 1, Episode 1. We hope to make it a weekly, family gathering, so don't tell us what happens b/c none of us have seen it. Have a good weekend and Happy MLK day, we don't get that holiday in Turkey.

Week Bir

Well we have been here one week now and we are getting settled in. We have enjoyed going to all the stores and grocers in our neighborhood to get things for the apartment. We started language class Monday morning and will meet M, W, Th and F from 9-11am. Then we use the afternoons to go out and practice what we've learned. We have learned some "getting around" words that certainly help in basic intoductions and greetings. Turks are quick to correct us if we get it wrong but they are also impressed that we are trying to learn their language. We met our neighbors the other day as we were trying to figure out our washing machine. They couldn't fix it but did invite us over for dinner that night, which was incredible. They are a young, cute couple with a 1.5 year old and we look forward to spending many more meals with them. Check back soon as cultural mistakes are beginning to happen the more we think we know the language. Here's a pic with our language teacher.

We are here!

Just a quick post to say that we arrived safely and without incident. We had a great trip over and all of our bags made it - miraculously! Our new home is great and we will have pictures as soon as we finish unpacking. We will not have internet at our house for a bout a week or more so we will be coming up to the office to check email and skype. We went out and got cell phones today, cable, and applied for a landline phone. We also spent about 3 hours at a huge store called Carrefour which is a french version of wal-mart. Slightly overwhelming! Our apartment is just off one of the main roads and is very close to a movie theater, a grocery store and a... mexican restaurant! that is right - a mexican restaurant. We are not holding our breaths that it will be all that we expect - but still it is a start! We just wanted to let everyone know we are here, safe but tired! we will send pictures out very soon! love to all - Jared and Jayme

And We're Off!

We leave at tomorrow morning at 9:30 for our 24 hour trek across the world! We will arrive at 3pm on Thursday (7a.m. cst)! We just managed to squeeze everything into 8 suitcases and action packers, locks and duct tape are on hand for any emergencies! Please remember us as we travel. We have enjoyed our time at home so much and are so glad that we got to visit with so many of you. Bethany's wedding was a highlight of our time at home, she was a beautiful bride and we are so glad to have David in our family! We ate way too much, slept way too little, but all in all had a great 3 weeks at home. The next time you hear from us we will be set up in our new apartment and we should have much to tell.