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.