Monday, September 24, 2007

Freaks of nature

Oh what a day what a day (long exhale). I don't post much now because turkish keyboards have a slightly different keyboard. If my i's don't have dots, please understand. Anyway, about today. We left the hotel at 11:30 and just got back around 9 pm. The kids did great. We took about every form of transportatıon you possıbly could except for a plane and a traın. We won't be taking an airplane for a while. We only had two appointments to get to and ıt took us all that time. Jonathan found a job at an Englısh school as a teacher but we aren't sure it's the one yet. He will check out another one tomorrow with a turkish friend. As we walk around this beautiful city together I can feel the stares from all sides. Are we that freaky? A man asked me today if these three children were mine. After the affirmative answer he asked how old I was. 28. I asked, 'How old are you?'. 28. I asked 'Where are your children?' That seems to be the norm here. Istanbul ıs much like the rest of Europe. People don't get married until their 30's and kids may or may not grace their lives. Jonathan and I have found that on this particular trip our children are both our heaviest burden and our greatest tool. We have not been here a week and we have received so much generosity on account of our children. A lady saw Cinci sittıng on the ground eating crackers with us and she couldn't bear to pass us by without pinching his round cheek. She did so and then caught up with her friend only to return again with a circle of special bread the Moslem people make during their fasting month of Ramazan (Ramadan ın other muslım countries). Today an old man who I knew was not well off, and toothless, bought us dinner from a restaurant and brought it to us in the park where we were parked for a break. These are the moments when I wish I could speak Turkish and thank them profusely. I hope our future apartment has an oven so we can make dozens and dozens of chocolate chip cookies for all these sweet people.

3 comments:

otherwise known as Sam said...

Oh my dear! I was SO happy to see this new post! What an adventure!Freaks? no,no..more like the most amazing people in the world! I'm so in awe of you and Johnathan. I'm glad the kids are well...pinch their cheeks from ME! I miss you like crazy.
much love,
Sonja

otherwise known as Sam said...

Oh my dear! It is SO good to hear from you! What an adventure! I'm so in awe of you and Johnathan. I'm glad the kids are well...pinch their cheeks from ME! I miss you like crazy.
much love,
Sonja

Jordan said...

Oh! I can tell I'm going to so enjoy these Turkish reports--this one was a delight. A Turkish Delight!!