Turkey in Turkey

Holidays in a foreign country aren't quite the same, but we always do our best to make it feel like home. Thanksgiving, even though it is strictly an American holiday, was no different. Jayme, Jessica and Melissa (and Chris and John) went all out to prepare a feast the pilgrims and Squanto would have been proud of. With this being our first turkey we were a little apprehensive as we put the 14lb, $40 bird in the oven. However, three hours later, he was crispy and brown on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. After dinner we feasted on the usual pies and football. All and all it was a great day.

In keeping with tradition, Friday was a wonderful day of leftovers and more football. Fortunately, through a Thanksgiving miracle, we were able to see MSU create a miracle of their own and beat Ole Miss in the final seconds. Even though we weren't with our families at home, we enjoyed spending time with our Turkey family.

Christmas Came Early!

Well, it seems only fitting that Christmas has come early in the land where St. Nick was actually born. It is a little known fact that Father Christmas or St. Nicholaus was actually born in Turkey! Christmas has indeed come early here as you can see in the picture below. I know, I know it is not even Thanksgiving yet.. but hear me out. First, Jared's mom kindly played Santa this year and carried all of our gifts across the water. Second, it is always more fun to decorate with more people here to help. Third, we are leaving December 16th for our European Christmas vacation and in order to have the tree up at least a full month (which I believe is a requirement) the tree had to go up by the 16th of November. So up it went and we are so happy! Also, in Turkey Christmas is vastly misunderstood, even the commercial aspects are only celebrated at New Years. People even put up trees for New Years. So in order to help dispel that misunderstanding, we will take all of our Christmas decorations down before New Years. Jared and I will be celebrating our Christmas day on the 15th of December before we head out, but apparently that is not even early enough for some... Jared made us open one gift before his mom even left. I had to point out that it was only November 13th.. but that did not stop us! Thank you Mama Yates for bringing all the goodies and helping us put up the tree etc!

Fall Open House

With mom being here Jayme decided to take advantage of another cook in the kitchen and host a Fall open house for our American friends in Turkey. They worked hard all day Friday cooking delights such as ginger snaps, pumpkin dip, pumpkin cookies, quiche, vegetable and fruit trays and pesto pinwheels. Jared was only allowed to make the drinks and he whipped up some incredibly delicious teas and ready-made pink lemonade. The weather was a perfect 65* and so we were able to open all the windows and doors and make use of the balcony, which was needed to accomodate more than 30 friends in attendance. The party was a smashing success and everyone had loads of fun. We even had a crew from Istanbul come down and take part in the festivities.

Starting to Show

Well Jayme is finally starting to show a little and she is excited because she can begin wearing some of her maternity clothes that have been sent this way with the last few groups. We went to the doctor Thursday for her 4 month checkup. Everything looked good and we were thrilled to find out that the baby is...going to be tall! Not that we had any doubts about that, but its legs measured in the top percentile for its age so we are expecting a big one. Jared almost cracked under the pressure of his mom being there and told the doctor we could find out the sex. She thankfully couldn't tell and didn't really look too hard as she knew we really didn't want to know. One thing we do know is that it is an active baby already. It was waving its arms and kicking its legs all around while looking at us the whole time. It even sucked its thumb and put its hands over its ears because it didn't like the high frequency the ultrasound puts out. All in all it was a good visit and we are glad momma and baby are healthy.

Rugs, Caves and Brits

Underground City

We just returned from spending 3 days in one of the most interesting and unique places in the world - "Turkey". We couldn't have mom come all the way from home and not take her to see the incredible chimney-like rock formations that cover Cappadocia. On our way we stopped at an underground city where we got a guided tour of where and how people lived thousands of years ago when escaping enemies. From there we checked into our cave hotel and quickly embarked on finding the perfect rug. Over the next 3 days we looked at over 200 rugs from Afganistan, Iran, Iraq and Turkey before finding the right ones for the right price. We also spent time in a pottery shop where Jayme and I attempted to make our own pottery from scratch. We were unsuccessful and had to resort to buying someone else's creations. As our money became slim we decided to check out some of the free landscape Cappadocia had to offer. Neither rain, nor snow deterred us from our exploration through the caves where previous inhabitants lived and worshipped. It was amazing to see the beautiful frescoes that were still in great shape from the Byzantine Empire. One of the highlights of each day was the breakfast at the hotel where we were joined by a lovely British couple, Dez and Dot. They provided a great start to our days with their funny British words and accents, which became even funnier as Mom and Jayme, unknowlingly, began to talk like them as the meal wore on. Over all it was a wonderful trip and we were able to do and see everything we had hoped and more.

The Yates w/ Dez & Dot

Mama Has Arrived!

Well today is finally the day and Momma Yates has finally made it to Turkey. We didn't think today would ever come and here it is and here she is. She is such a trooper; due to her travel partner, Corinne needing to stay home and take care of her husband and his busted foot, she came all by herself and had no trouble. (We miss you Corinne, Get well John!) Mom didn't waste any time in getting unpacked and throwing us our first baby shower with the items she had recently purchased. She also brought goodies and surprises such as cake mixes, muffin mixes, pepperoni and my favorite, Beth's chocolate peanut butter balls. We have a lot of stuff planned for the next two weeks and we aren't wasting any time. We are headed to the vegetable and fruit bazaar right now and giving her the Adana tour tomorrow. We also look forward to making a few trips out of town along with introducing her to all our friends, Turks and Americans. We are so thankful that she is here and we appreciate all of you that send encouraging words and hugs with her.

Encouragement from Home!

Last week we had a visit from 7 friendly faces from, Pinelake, our home church. We had been looking forward to their visit for sometime and it definitely lived up to all of our expectations! The group arrived a little weary and worn from their trek across the water and time zones, but otherwise ready to get involved and see what our life looks like. We had a jam packed schedule for them as they came along side us and did some of our normal every day activities with us. We introduced them to as many friends as we could and we ran them ragged each and every day and then had wonderful times of fellowship each night. We can say that while we were tired when they left we were filled up with encouragement! Jared took the crew on one long day of seeing the sights along the coast, including the infamous Heaven and Hell (a cavern with over 350 steps down into it), a crusader castle, as well as Tarsus.

The group was also able to see Turkey show some of its 'Turk Kası" or Turkish Muscle as they put out their most patriotic/nationalistic foot on Sunday night. The night exploded with horns honking, flags waving, people in the streets, lots of chanting, lights flickering and general merriment that goes along with a rally. These 'parades' if you will, continued each night while the group was here (as you can see on the posts below). While at first a little intimidating, the group did great adjusting to our new schedule as we all learned to be flexible when some of our plans changed.

One of the highlights of the trip was when we took the group to our English class on Tuesday evening. The students loved having all of those English speakers to chat along with and they all hit it off right away. The night was filled with lots of laughter, a few minor miscommunications and several email addresses being exchanged.