Nineteenth Post From Türkiye: Odds and Ends from this Winter

So I thought I would post a few of our pictures from our everyday/non-traveling lives.

Starting with way too many photos of the various views from our apartment,  taken at different times and weather conditions.

Exciting, no??

Foggy view of the grounds, other buildings & the mall.

Misty Valley

Snowy Valley & Road

Snowy Valley at Sunset and Sunrise.

Are you thrilled yet?

We had quite a fair amount of snow this winter. We took advantage of it with some sledding at the base.

Giant snowman at a tire shop.

Last time I will make a Valentine Craft for Truman's class. Sadly, middle schoolers don't make valentine mailboxes with the room parent.

So here is a little Hitchcockian scene for you. Throughout the winter giant flocks of birds would settle on the field and in the trees at the base. Freaky!

The Elementary school kids had a spring musical presentation and miracle of miracles, Jack and I remembered that it was happening and showed up (you would think with one kid we could remember when he has stuff happening at the school but you would be wrong.), Although it is always a joy to see our kid forced into any sort of public performance, it was a bit tortuous. I think most of the material and music were recycled from a 1980's DARE assembly. It reminded me of this SNL skit.

Oh-well as long as the kid knows we showed up, right?

I got 6 kids from my primary class all in one photo. Nice.

As Truman gets older he makes his own decisions and generally I don't check up on him. I mean how wrong can he go making his own lunch and picking out his clothes?

This clothing combo came to my attention after he came home from school having worn it all day.

Jack and I went out for dinner with our friends and since we didn't have a reservation we were relegated to a back corner at a not-in-service sushi bar. But they had fried ice-cream (by the way: sushi and fried ice-cream at a Chinese restaurant?) so what do we care?

Nevruz pageant with traditional dance 

and music from around Central Asia.

Afterward we noticed that there was a line and Jack made us get in it even though we didn't know what we were lining up for. He said that people from former Communist countries know that if you see a line you just get in it so you don't miss out on anything. I guess he was right because we got to some free Plov and Ayran. 

This is Jack debating on whether or not we will actually drink the Ayran (salty, cold yogurt drink).

We each had a small taste to see if we still don't like it. We don't.

The Atkins are serving as couple missionaries in our Branch and are from St. George, Utah. They came to town the day after we did. They are so great and we enjoy spending time with them. Weirdly I went to high school with there daughter-in-law. Anyway, Trum was telling them about how I need to make him some beef and just have it on hand for when he is hungry. Strangely, that is just not going on my to-do list. But they took pity on him and invited us over for a good ole western style Sunday dinner. Roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, rolls and a relish plate (among other delights). They even sent the leftovers home with him. He was in heaven!

Don't be too jealous of our fabulous lifestyle.

Eighteenth Post From Türkiye: An Afternoon in Beypazarı

Beypazrı is a town about an hour away from Ankara and is the perfect place to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Beypazrı is famous for it's...

Carrots! It's the carrot capitol of of Turkey!

We had some carrot Turkish Delight from this shop and it was quite nice! We bought some to take home with us. Jack also got some fresh carrot juice. To which he added pineapple juice when we got home. Still delightful though.

 Also famous for it's high quality natural mineral water. This is a spring where you can get some and a giant replica of the bottled stuff you can buy in stores.

 They have some famous foods from there. Jack got a kind of rice casserole and of course we had to have the famous 80 layer baklava.

 The town is also known for it's Ottoman style houses and textiles. We got a great table cloth and then later, I saw an old lady wearing one as a head scarf. Awesome! Dual purpose!!

We went to the Beypazarı Culture and History Museum. It is in a restored Ottoman style house and there are all kinds of fun activities you can take part in.

Get your fortune told with hot lead. Although I don't think it's really called getting your fortune told. Maybe it's more like warding against the evil eye. Anyway these people had a sheet over there heads at one point and I am pretty sure I didn't quite catch the significance of the whole procedure. 

 Do some Hittite style block printing. Truman made himself a most excellent T-shirt. However the ink will make your house smell like there is an old tire melting in it until the shirt gets ironed and washed. But still worth it!

 Make your own marbled paper. This is where I was taping the paint off the brush and not noticing that my face was getting as many spots as the dish. Jack and Truman found this to be hilarious. Even better was when Jack went to wipe away the spots and they just smeared so I had to walk around with blotches of paint on my face until I could find a bathroom. Love my boys so much.

 Here is my finished paper.

 On the first floor (second if we were in the US) they have it set up as a traditional house.

Sitting room with a little warming thing-ma-bob.

 And for your convenience a closet toilet right in the room. A fine example of an old fashioned squaty-potty.

 On the 2nd (aka 3rd) floor they have some looms set up with a lady weaving (see her head covering is kinda like our new table cloth!) and some traditional cloth you can buy.

It was a pretty awesome museum.

Other fun stuff from Beypazarı.

Jack found a map that highlights all of his favorite countries!!

 This is for you Trina. Plumbing store where you can get modern squaty-potties.

 And this is for my dad. Some Internationals on display.

 Some ladies making some Yufka. (Kind of like a giant tortilla)

 And Truman found a giant shoe.

I don't even have pictures of the silver shops and all the people giving us samples of the local candy. 

Just imagine if I did. This post would have been too awesome. Your mind would have been blown. So just count yourself lucky I was a lazy photographer that day.

Seventeenth Post From Türkiye: Bursa

Well, hello there! We took a couple of quick trips this winter. And it's about time for me to post our pictures.

First up is Bursa! We made this an overnight trip and it was well worth it. 

Bursa is a large city in Turkey, it lies in the northwestern part of Turkey near the Sea of Marmara. It is the fourth most populous city in Turkey and one of the most industrialized centers in the country.

 It served as the first capital city of the Ottoman Empire, from 1326, when it was captured from the Byzantines, to 1365.

As soon as we got checked into our hotel we headed out to get some  İskender kebap!

İskender kebap, is a dish that originated in Bursa. It consists of roasted, sliced lamb spread atop diced bread, topped with tomato sauce, served with yoghurt. It is super yummy and we went to one of the two places that claim to have invented it. There are no menus you just tell them how many portions you want and whether or not you want melted butter poured over it (who wouldn't?). This is a very popular dish here in Turkey and if you come for a visit it is almost guaranteed we will take you to get some.

The next morning with a stop for some warm rolls for breakfast we headed out to explore the city.

Our first stop was to see the Ulu Cami mosque. It was really interesting because it has a fountain and a sky light in the prayer room.

 Next we went to see the Muradiye Külliyesi mosque. 

It is part of a complex with tombs, baths and a school.

It had some really beautiful decoration.

 Jack and Trum resting from the arduous task of putting their shoes back on.

 Porch for saying prayers in warm weather.

 Some of the decorations.

In the midst of a rain storm we stopped to try and get an umbrella at this shop. Of course they didn't have any there but it gave Trum a chance to push a tiny cart around.

The tomb of Orhan Gazi. He was the second Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. 

We spent some time wandering around the old part of town within the old city walls.

Best Turkish house EVER!!!!!!

Cool old grave-yard.

Me by the walls.

 Jack by the walls and with his new kitty best friend.

Perhaps the best arranged fruit stand in all of Turkey.

 Honey shop with honey draining out of the honeycomb.

Then we headed down the hill to check out the many bazaars of Bursa.

Another reason Bursa is famous is because the shadow play characters Karagöz and Hacivat are based on historic personalities who lived and died in Bursa (think of them as the Turkish Punch and Judy). We totally wanted to get some and Jack used some kind of sixth sense to find this shop where not only do they sell the hand made puppets, but they also put on a show for us complete with musical accompaniment and some sweet apple tea!

Another Bursa claim to fame is their silk market. Bursa was famous for being the largest center of silk trade in the Byzantine and later the Ottoman empires, during the period of the lucrative Silk Road. 

 We all got something cool at the silk market, a new scarf for me, a tie for Jack and some silk worm cocoons for Trum.

Tomb of Mehmed I, who was the sultan from 1413 to 1421.

Irgandı Bridge, covered with fun little shops.

Bursa was a super groovy city to visit. I hope we get a chance to go back sometime before we have to leave Turkey.