Star of the Week

Nehir had a great week. He brought home his first official report card and it was excellent. There are three categories, excellent, good, and needs improvement. There are thirty to forty sepparate skills that they grade, and Nehir was excellent in all except about five where he was good. The ones where he was only good were all related to organization and tidiness skills, so, no surprises there. He was very proud of himself and we were thrilled.

He was also very happy because he was finally chosen to be the "Star of the Week" in English class. Once a week the English teacher chooses a student who has done the best in English and puts their picture up for a week. Nehir has wanted this BADLY since school started. Now, given that he is fluent in English and actually helps the teacher with translation during class, İ would have thought he should have earned this honor earlier, but İ guess he either goofs off during class or else the teacher is using this to motivate learning and Nehir didn't seem to need motivation. Anyway, he got pretty discouraged so İ told him to tell the teacher how he felt. A couple weeks later, he finally got selected. Last night, while İ was reading to him, he quietly said with a smile on his face "İ'm the Star of the Week." You could tell he was so proud that his picture would be up all week. He is so cute.

Taylan is learning and growing too. He understands English and Turkish but still says very little. Last night he started saying "bak" meaning "look" for the first time. He loves attention and knows how to get it. He dances, makes funny faces, shows off all his "tricks" and, if all else fails, screams. He and Nehir are playing together more. They like to run around and make weird noises - which İ am sure the lady downstairs is thrilled about.

Selcuk has made the second round of cuts for the W.T. grant and so did his friend so he is very happy. İ am happy too.

JOY!

America has elected an amazing, brilliant and inspiring leader, and we have made it clear that we reject racism!

Selcuk and I started watching at 1:30 am, and at 6:00 am, Barack Obama was declared the winner.  I cried as I watched the crowds on TV cheer.  Then Taylan came in, pointed to the screen and said "Obama."  Nehir woke up and drew a picture of Obama.  We are all so happy on this historical day.  

Turkish Holiday

Taylan and Nehir eating breakfast.

Taylan snoozing with Baba.

Nehir took this picture of Taylan.

Nehir sleeping with his new transformer on his pillow.

Nehir's birthday party.

On Wednesday we celebrated the day that Turkey became a Republic (as opposed to a kingdom).  Nehir's school had an assembly in the morning, and a march at night.  The assembly was disorganized and Nehir's class didn't do anything.  The march, however, was quite fun.  We met at the High School and were given torches.  We then marched down the road -with the marching band leading the way- heading towards Ataturk's house.  Before the marching band kicked in I really felt like we were in one of those scenes from an old monster movie - the angry villiagers bearing torches and pitch forks.  It made me laugh. Our little march soon merged into a much larger crowd.  The torches started to seem dangerous and I got a little claustrophobic, but it was still fun.  We walked down to Ortakoy where we caught most of the fireworks.  On the way people sang patriotic songs and chanted "Turkey is secular and secular it will stay!"  It was fun.

Halloween came and went without any party, they don't celebrate it here, obviously.  I bought Nehir a couple candies and that was it.  We went to a lovely park today.  It was a forest tucked inside the city and overlooking the Bosphorus.  It was a great place to walk.  

Taylan has learned to say Obama and really knows who he is.  I am so proud : )

GO OBAMA!

Chess Master

Now that I am working I am finding it very difficult to write regularly, but my goal is at least once a week.  This week Selcuk was in the U.S. attending to various research responsibilities so it was just me, the kids and the grandparents.

Nehir can now read.  His teacher is teaching a few letter sounds at a time so right now he can read words that are made up of the letters a, i, e, l, and t.  He is very good and he really seems to enjoy it.  He has also learned to play chess and he loves it.  He plays whenever he can.  He taught BabaAnne and Dede to play so they can play with him when Baba and I cannot.  Tomorrow they are having a celebration for Turkey's Independence Day.  His class will be singing the national anthem and his teacher told them they must stand still to show respect to Ataturk.  He has been practicing singing and standing still all week.  He is very cute.

Taylan has been super fussy.  He has a cold and cries a lot.  He also gets mad when I play with Nehir.  Nehir gets mad when I stop playing with him to attend to Taylan.  When Nehir and I are playing lego, the baby can't come into Nehir's room because he will smash all the parts.  Usually Baba watches Taylan while I help Nehir with homework and then legos, but because he was out of town, BabaAnee was watching him.  Taylan howled miserably until I gave up and went and picked up the baby.  This made Nehir howl and I ended up holding a howling Taylan while a howling Nehir was clinging to my leg trying to keep me from leaving the bedroom.  Ay ay ay.  This is the first time I have really seen them that jealous of one another.

For the most part I am enjoying teaching the little kids at the day-care/kindergarten, but I also find it difficult and awful sometimes.  Today I almost cried while I was teaching the six year olds because they are SOOOOOOO HYPER.  There is one child that I think has a real behavioral problem and should probably be receiving special interventions.  He is completely disruptive ALL THE TIME.  I think he needs to be evaluated and apparently the other teachers do too but the parents refuse.  Oh well.  It makes teaching that class a nightmare.  There are two other boys in that class who clearly have ADHD, but I find that easier to deal with.  The problem is all three of these kids are in the same class so when the very troubled boy is acting out (which is always) the other two boys go berserk.  The other kids are getting more hyper too, I think because that is the only way they can get any attention.  It is really hard.  Oh well.

Happy Turkish Independence day.  I will post pictures this evening, right now the kids want to go to the park.

Taylan's Big Adventure

I am posting some pictures of Taylan's trip to the US.  I don't have pictures of Nehir to post right now because we loaded the Bayram pictures onto the wrong computer.  I will get them later this week and post some.

Taylan coloring at Grandma's house.

Grandma reading to the boys

Derya reading to Taylan

Taylan walking with his hands behind his back, exactly the way Nehir used to!

Hugging Aunt Laura

Yes, I am finally writing an entry.

Sorry to all of you who have been wondering how my kids are.  We were in Ankara for a week without internet access, and then last week I went on a whirlwind trip to the US to change my visa from tourist to work.  Taylan and I flew Tuesday morning, arrived Tuesday at 1:30 (because of the time differences), then Derya drove us to Mom's for one night, then we went to NYC the next morning to fix my visa, back to Mom's for one more night, then back to the airport on Thursday afternoon.  We arrived back in Turkey Friday morning.  It was a very bazaar experience to be home for such a short time, but it was great to see Derya, my parents, Laura, Mandy and the boys.  

I lied and told Nehir I was going on a business trip in Turkey because I thought it would be emotionally difficult for him to go an only stay one day, or to have to stay in Turkey knowing I was going to the US.  I have only been away from Nehir one night before this, when he was three.  I was afraid he would be really upset, but I gave him a little necklace and told him it represented that I love him and am thinking about him even if I can't be near him.  I also promised to bring him Legos.  He liked the necklace, but it was really the Legos that made my leaving OK, the first thing he said when I got back was "Which Legos did you bring me?"  The boy loves Legos.

He is doing great in school.  His teacher thinks he will be the first in his class to learn to read. He is also getting better at writing.  He started staying late on Thursdays for soccer practice and he enjoys that.  He had fun during Bayram too.  Seker Bayram (sugar festival) is the biggest holiday in Turkey, and I think the whole Muslim world.  It marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.  For three days people visit relatives and eat yummy food, especially sweets. The kids go from door to door saying "Bayram kutlu olson!" (happy bayram) and people give them candies.  The kids also receive money, new clothes, and sometimes other gifts from parents and close relatives.  It is a bit like halloween, a bit like Thanksgiving, and a bit like Christmas.  Schools are off for the whole week.  Nehir spent a lot of time playing with cousins. His older cousin, Jonbek, was particularly nice to Nehir.  He was such a wonderful friend to Nehir despite the age difference, I was so grateful to him.

Taylan had his lower back molars come in and one of his incisors.  He was pretty cranky and at one point his gums were bleeding. Poor guy.  He likes to run away after while we are changing his diaper.  He also likes to grab things he knows he is not supposed to touch and run away.  He laughs while we chase him through the house.  He clearly remembered everyone in the US and after the initial shock, he was very happy playing with all his relatives.  

Selcuk and I are well.  Teaching is going fine.  Selcuk's parents are doing well too.

BabaAnna and Dede Arrive

Taylan wants to go out.

           Taylan crawling on me while I take a picture.

   Nehir playing Cheetah Man at the park
   More Cheetah Man.
   Taylan inspecting his stomach.

BabaAnne and Dede arrived in Istanbul this morning.  This means the kids will have lots of time with them, which is good for everyone.  A side benefit is that Selcuk and I can sometimes get out on our own to explore the city.  What we have been able to do has been limited because of the kids, although I have to say, Nehir has been very cooperative and has been willing to walk quite a bit through museums etc.  

Nehir continues to do well in school.  He is not keen on homework, even though there is so little of it and it is so simple.  I don't blame him, he really only has three hours between coming home and going to bed.  It is an intense schedule for a five year-old.  

Taylan and I go walking most days.  We walk Selcuk down to Ortakoy and then he takes the bus to work.  Taylan and I stop at the park for awhile, watch the boats, maybe buy a pastry, and then make the long, steep walk back.  It is a great workout, especially with the baby in the backpack.  Starting tomorrow, I will have to leave Taylan with BabaAnne and go with Selcuk on the bus for my first day of teaching.  I will be at Bahcesehir two days a week, and it looks like I will be working at BJK nursury school three mornings a week.  That is a bit more than I wanted to work, but it will help a lot financially and I will still have three afternoons with Taylan, and of course the weekends with the kids.  We'll see.  If I hate it I can quit, but I think I will enjoy it.

Lots Going On

We have been very busy settling into our life in Istanbul and getting used to new jobs and school.  On the weekend we did some sight seeing and went to see Topkapi palace on Saturday and Dolma Bahce on Sunday.  They are both residences of Sultans, Topkapi is older, and Dolma Bahce is more jaw-dropplingly luxorious.  Both places are beautiful and historic and we had a great time at both.  Nehir was especially jazzed about the armory at Topkapi.  

   An example of the spectacular tiles at Topkapi

                         Family Photo at Topkapi, overlooking the Bosphorous

   Nehir, thrilled, next to a gun display

  Me and Taylan

Taylan inspecting a box

Nehir is doing great in school so far.  He now takes the bus to and from and after some initial nervousness about this he now enjoys it.  He had his first homework ever yesterday and he did it well.  He reports having made many friends and he likes his teacher very much.

Nothing else to report.

Yildiz Park

First graders only had a four-day school week this week, so today was free.  I took Nehir and Taylan to a nice little park down a very steep hill from our house.  This meant a very slow, difficult climb up and enormous staircase to get back home.  Nehir was really cooperative and didn't whine much at all (as opposed to my internal dialogue which was whining away). 

Later that day the whole family went to a beautiful, huge park called Yildiz Park (Star park).  The kids played in a play-area, and then we took a tour of a Mansion built in the late 1800s by the Ottoman Emperor, Abdul Ahmet.  It is incredibly luxurious, full of gorgeous furniture, chandeliers, vases, paintings, etc. etc. etc.  It was very impressive.  We then drove around to see how big the park is, and it is giant.  We stopped again at this odd and fun outdoor gym area. There are a whole bunch of glide-motion machines out in the open where anyone can use them.  We all had fun trying the different machines, and Nehir was especially entertained by them.  

We popped into a little grocery store on the way home and I met an American who is married to a German who is living in Turkey for the next three years.  She seemed really nice and had some good information for us about the neighborhood, like where and when the Bazaars are.  I fought the urge to launch into politics but I was dying to ask what she thought of Obama.  I want an American friend to share my enthusiasm with!

School!

Well, we are here in Istanbul, in our new apartment.  Selcuk found a really nice place for us to live.  It is in a section of town called Levent, and our area is called Levensim.  It is in the European side of the city, very close to the Bosphorous.  We are up on a hill with a nice view and our apartment gets good light and there is a nice breeze blowing most of the time.  We can walk to the sea and walk along a fun area with little shops, cafes and restaurants.  We have decided, however, never to take the children to a restaurant again, or at least until they are both over the age of 10.  We keep thinking eating out would be either easier or more fun than eating at home, and then spend the time being horrified by Nehir's table manners and frustrated by having to chase Taylan around or watch as he throws food on the floor. We end up bolting our food so we can end the misery.

The big news, however, is not the move to Istanbul, it is Nehir's first day of school!  He is going to a great school with a wonderful teacher.  Selcuk and I were both carrying some fears about how Nehir would do in school, but we are both heaving sighs of relief after meeting Hulya Oregtmen (her last name is not Oregtmen, that is how they refer to their teachers).  She has been teaching for over 30 years and has taught at the best schools in Turkey.  This is her first year at Nehir's school.  Surprisingly, she knows Ebru (our dear friend) very well!  Ebru was the assistant principal at a school where she used to work.  She was very fond of Ebru and was sad when she left.

We got the drop off time wrong and took him in for his first day a half hour early, so he got to have special time getting to know her.  He told her he likes science (how cute!) and so she read from a science book and showed him some activities they have in the classroom related to science.  We told her about our fears and she reassured us that she is very experienced with all different kinds of kids and loves children very much.  When we picked him up he had had a great time and she told us he had done really well, he was very well behaved and seemed to really enjoy himself.

It is hard to imagine our little guy is starting the long journey of school.  I think having such a wonderful teacher will help him decide that school and learning is enjoyable.  Selcuk and I felt so relieved and enthused about his school and teacher we both were secretly wondering if we should move here for good.  Like Waldorf schools, teachers stay with a class through fifth grade. Despite this, we also realized that is not realistic and we can find excellent teachers in the US as well, but giving Nehir a great experience in school is very important to both of us.  

This week, only the first graders go to school, so they can get used to it and not feel overwhelmed.  They go from 9:30 to 12:00.  Next week regular school starts and the schedule is 8:30 to 4:30.  A long day for little dudes, but that includes their sports and other extracurriculars.  From what I gather, they do different extracurriculars every day, and all the students do them.  

RAIN! Plus, BabaAnne's Cooking Marathon

Wow, it is raining here!  In coming here for five years I have seen it rain twice, today is the second.  It is only a very, very light sprinkle, but man, it is unusual in these parts.  Yesterday was cloudy and breezy but insanely hot.  I guess we are not used to humidity.  So that's the weather update.

Oh I am so bummed to be missing the convention coverage!  I can't get a live-stream here and so I can only read other people's reaction to the speeches.  From what I have read it has been fabulous.  I have to say I really wish I could feel more a part of this historic election.  I think Barack Obama is an amazing candidate and I wish I could be involved.  I keep getting emails asking me to host or attend events or to get involved with voter registration and I am sad that I can't.  I have to find a way to watch Obama's speech today, I JUST HAVE TO!  Derya is sending my Obama T-shirt that arrived after I left.  I am hoping to find other ex-pat Obama supporters in Istanbul so we can have an election night party.

We have sickness going through the house.  Selcuk was sick for several days, then Taylan was sick and ran a fever all night and most of the next day before we took him to the Doctor.  He was put on an antibiotic.  Now I have a cold.  Oh well we are all recovering.

BabaAnne is nearing the end of a cooking marathon, which she began Monday afternoon.  She bought vast amounts of tomatoes and red peppers so she could make salca (pronounced salcha, meaning tomato or pepper paste) and a kind of dried soup base called tarhani.  First, she washed all the peppers, split them and took the seeds out, and then laid them to dry on newspaper on the roof.  Then she cut up the tomatoes, put them into big buckets of water, put lids on them, and let them soak for a day.  Then she borrowed the neighbors food processor (how she and others managed to make these things before food processors is beyond me) and spent at least an hour mincing up the peppers.  Then she spread them out in pans and put them on the roof.  Then she started smashing the tomatoes through a pan with holes in it, sort of like a sieve, and then cooked many pots of smashed tomatoes, and tomato water on the stove for hours.  Then she spread out the smashed tomatoes and the reduced tomato water in pans and put them on the roof to dry.  Meanwhile, she also put some smashed peppers and tomatoes in a huge bucket, added some other stuff including flour and yeast, and let it sit with a lid for several days.  The orangey mixture rose to fill the bucket, and then she and Nehir dropped blobs of it all over a tablecloth so it can dry.  She was careful not to mush it down while putting it on the table cloth.  After this dries I am assuming she will grind it up and put it in jars.  I have had tarhini soup and it is made from a crumbly powder.  So I guess when all this stuff dries she will have crossed the finish line.  It seems like the hardest part of the work is over, and she did it all in tremendous, oppressive heat.  She is pretty amazing.  I have been told the reason for doing all this work as opposed to just purchasing Salca is that it is tastier and healthier.  BabaAnne is clearly much more industrious than me.  Put another way, I would have been kicked out of my village for sloth if I was born where and when she was.

Happy Kids

Today we went to the beach in Guzelcamli and had a great time.  Nehir has left his fears behind and has discovered his inner fish.  He loves to swim and as his confidence grows so do his skills. Earlier this summer trips to the beach involved essentially forcing him to go, and then Selcuk and I would take turns being the one who had to take a break from swimming to follow Nehir around while he rolled around in the sand, getting completely covered in the stuff.  When we were ready to go, one of us would have to force him to take a shower to get the bulk of the grit off of him, and this would involve much shrieking.  

Now he can barely wait for us to get our beach stuff set up before he plunges into the water. He has learned to take a breath and keep going and to dive under to pick stuff up.  He was really happy today, which makes all of us happy too.

Taylan too had a great time, but he always does.  He loves the water and only complains when we try to take him out before he is ready.  There were no waves today so he could walk along in waist-high water and he thought that was cool. He also enjoyed running up the beach into the sand and then doing a belly-flop into the sand.  This meant another trip back into the water to rinse off the sand, followed by another belly-flop, etc. etc.  It was great to see both kids so happy.

Nehir's giant drip-sand castle.

Taylan taking a dip in a little bucket.

A Young Photographer's Debute

A couple of days ago Selcuk let Nehir wander around the neighborhood with our camera.  He really enjoyed taking pictures and he seemed so pleased when I downloaded them that we decided to have a little party to show his pictures.  We took him to the store where he picked out the treats: Chocolate milk for the kids, soda for the grown-ups, chips, cookies and fruit.  He invited two of the neighborhood kids that he plays with the most, but when we asked about grownups he said "I am NOT dealing with grownups! If YOU want to invite the grownups, then YOU do it."  Selcuk and I cracked up noting how much he sounds like me sometimes. We did end up inviting several grownups that are always kind to Nehir, and we had a splendid time. Nehir and his buddies were very excited about the snacks and the idea of a party.  After everyone had some snacks I showed Nehir's pictures plus a few I had taken of the neighborhood kids.  Nehir received lots of praise and I could tell he felt great.  Below are some of the photos he took.

Most of his shots are of flowers.

He also likes taking shots of trees and I thought this one turned out nice with the sun shining through the leaves.
This is a cute little vine BabaAnne planted in the veggie garden.
This is our house from across the common area.
Self portrait.  Note the missing tooth. It finally fell out a couple nights ago.

This and That

We have been having a heat wave, which means we haven't been doing a lot, just hanging out on the balcony until the heat breaks in the evening. A couple days ago there was an eclipse of the moon, here are the pictures.

Yesterday we had breakfast at a village restaurant.  It is very pretty and it has delicious, organic food grown and prepared in the local village.  This kind of restaurant has become popular in Turkey, but the one we went to is the first of its kind and started the trend.  The owner is a friend of Selcuk's friend.
This is Taylan out for his morning stroll.  

This is Nehir's new haircut.  This morning Taylan started to moo and Nehir, noting that Taylan moos quite a bit, speculated that perhaps he is a werecow.  He has a great sense of humor.

Here is BabaAnne helping Taylan beat the heat.

This is where I will be buying all of your Christmas presents.

Thank You Derya!

Thanks to Derya we now have our camera battery recharger which means I can post pictures. Here is a little taste of life on a typical day:

In the morning, Taylan begs to go out in the garden.  Here he is with Babaanne, inspecting the flowers.
Nehir with his "pet" grasshopper.
Nehir in the hammock.
Here is one side of our house.
And this is the front.  The line going down the middle marks where our house ends and the neighbors house begins.  Each building has two houses.
This is us playing Okay, something that we do frequently in the evenings.  The neighbors play non-stop, all day long.  I enjoy it up to a point, but many people here are crazy for the game.

Zeus Magarasi

The weather here has turned HOT.  I guess it must be a "dry heat," as the say, because if we don't do anything and sit in a shady spot we are fine, but any exertion at all leaves us dripping with sweat.  To beat the heat Selcuk and I went to Zeus Magarasi, a cave with a giant cold-water spring in it.  It is maybe 1.5 miles away, right before the Mili Park entrance.  The opening is large, and a few yards down from the entrance is the cold water.  The water reaches to all the walls and is quite deep.  The rumor is that there are under-water passages that go for miles.  There are a few rock islands that you can swim to and sit for awhile.  The water is wonderfully cold and fresh and clear.  When I first get in I have trouble breathing normally because it is so cold.  Last year we brought Nehir with us but this year he is feeling more fearful about swimming in general and said the water was too cold so he stayed home. 

Nehir has been playing with an older boy all day.  I think their play goes smoother because the older boy understands that Nehir is little and sort of looks out for him.  He gets kind of manipulative sometimes, like telling Nehir that he should be able to ride Nehir's bike all night instead of taking turns or else he will not invite him over to watch cartoons.  Nehir has learned, however, to get adult help in such situations instead of screaming or hitting, so we just tell the older kid to play nice and then he does.

Taylan has scrapes on his knees from tripping repeatedly while walking around the neighborhood paths.  He loves to be out in the garden area and gets really upset when we make him stay on the balcony.  The only reason we make him stay in is to avoid the beastly hot, midday sun.  He has taken a shine to Dede and is constantly begging him to take him out in the garden.  He calls out some gibberish to get his attention, arches his back and puts his hands in the air.  If Dede doesn't pick him up right away, he resorts to his angry cry/scream.  Dede loves being favored in this way, but I think he gets weary of carrying Taylan around much of the day.  He also takes him over to see the cows.  Taylan moos by putting his head back and humming loudly. 

Selcuk found out he made the first cut for an important grant award.  He was one of 58 applicants, and they selected 17, including him as finalists.  They will pick 4-5 to receive grants.  He is very happy to have made the first cut and I am happy too, it is a really good proposal.

Stars and Bars

Two nights ago there was a meteor shower so Selcuk, Nehir, Anne and I went up to our roof-top balcony and watched falling stars.  Nehir saw the first one, and then fell asleep.  I saw about ten. At one point I saw what I thought was a falling star enter my field of vision but as it passed overhead it morphed into a huge flying animal and scared me half to death.  It was two bats that were probably only about five or six inches across but they looked bigger because they were lit from underneath and flew a few yards overhead.  It was a nice night but I noticed I became pretty superstitious about the wishes.  I kept thinking of more things I needed wish for and so I would stay up a little longer so I could make the next wish.  I did eventually go to bed.

Last night Selcuk and I went to a bar on the beach to watch a Galatasaray football (soccer) game.  It was really fun but at times frustrating because there was also a Fenerbahce game on (a rival team) and the owner kept switching to that game even though we had paid to watch the Galatasaray game.  I had fun anyway, I like being in a crowd of fans sometimes.  The game was a tie.

I read in my book that one of the few consistent correlates between childhood variables and adult depression is whether or not children have chores.  Children who have chores are less likely to develop depression.  I suspect it has to do with "flow" or the experience of loosing a sense of time.  Flow is not necessarily a "happy" experience, more a meditative experience that happens when we are immersed in something and it is strongly connected to a sense of well-being.  A weird finding is that very wealthy kids experience less flow, and I am guessing it is because they do not have as many responsibilities that offer the chance to get immersed in something.  So at any rate, I asked Nehir what chore he wanted and after hearing a list of age-appropriate chores, he came up with the not age-appropriate chore of doing the dishes.  I agreed that we could do the morning dishes together (less of them) from now on.  He LOVES doing the dishes and he is a really hard worker.  He reminds me he should do the dishes when I forget.  I am really proud of him.  

Taylan is doing his thing; smiling, mooing at the cows, chatting nonsensically with the neighbors.  He is a delight.

Super Nehir Eats Sticks!

That is what Nehir declared as he was eating a parsley stem at Breakfast this morning.  He loves to eat fresh dill and Parsley and he is impressed with himself when he eats the stems or "sticks." He considers it a superpower.  

Yesterday we went on an outing to Priene and Miletos, two ancient Greek cities that are fairly close to our house.  Nehir started the day with complaining about having to go, but his mood changed rapidly when he and I got to ride in our neighbor's fancy care.  We lucked out and got a cool, breezy day.  Priene is on the other side of the mountains from our house and it is was a large port city with a theater, complete with an alter to Demeter, the god of theater.  There was also a large temple to Athena overlooking the city center area. Alexander the great visited this city. The view from the hill used to be the sea, but the sea is now 7km away due to silt from the mountains accumulating over the years.  It is now very fertile land.  The site has many large pine trees growing all around the ruins, so whenever we would get hot in the sun, we could duck into the shade for a few minutes and cool down in the nice breeze.  Nehir really enjoyed exploring and Taylan seemed content in the backpack (thanks Mom!).

We then crossed the valley to the ancient city of Miletos, which was also an important port city and is now several km from the sea.  Thales was from Miletos, as was Bias, and the original "tyrants" (nice claim to fame eh?).  I hadn't realized that there was a guy named Bias, I wonder if the word bias comes from his name?  This is a spectacular site.  We went into the amphitheater first which is enormous and well preserved.  There are huge, stone tunnels and staircases behind the theater benches so the people could get up to the higher levels (just like baseball stadiums today.  It is very cool inside the tunnels which makes one realize how useful the stone buildings are and were for such a hot land.  It is truly awe inspiring to think that ordinary people built these massive stone cities without modern machines.  After leaving the theater we were at the top of a hill and the remains of the city stretched out below.  There were remains of temples, houses, the senate meeting hall, the town square, bath houses, and much more.  It was very impressive and Nehir, despite a nasty fall, was a great little explorer and enjoyed imagining the city as it might have been all those years ago.  "Imagine this is where the kings came in and maybe the guards stood there..."

In other news, I found my book and it had some good suggestions for fostering positive thinking in children.   

Theater at Priene
Temple for Athena
Melitos Ampitheater
Priene ruins and valley
Bath house ruins at Miletos