G graduated this week (today would be the ceremony on campus) with his M.Div from Southeastern. He put in four and half years into this degree on campus and some of the coursework overseas. He started his degree just two months after returning from two years of service in South America and during his studies, he: worked nearly full-time with a full load of classes, got adjusted to America again, got married mere months later, lost a child, became a sole breadwinner, had a child born, lost his job, remained jobless for 6 months before getting his job back, endured a major upheaval of pulling up roots and moving across the Atlantic to another continent, adjusted to life overseas and learning the language while taking classes all along. What perseverance in face of all the crazy life events.
My husband is pretty amazing.
Another important man in my life is my dad. He's also graduating today! He is getting his Ph.D from Southern. My dad had a pretty radical call about ten or eleven years ago and following the call, he gave up a comfortable life in sunny Florida and moved to Louisville, KY to endure the icy, dreary winters there. He worked hard, excelling in his classes, completing his M.Div, then his Th.M, and now, after four years of Ph.D work, he will walk across the stage to get his hood just a few hours as I write this and will now have "Doctor" in front of his name. Did I mention that my dad aced in every category in his oral defense of his dissertation, which is rare?
When I say my dad is brilliant, he. is. brilliant.
Congratulations, G and Daddy!
Friday, May 18, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
My Sewing Corner
Lots of people are like me: they like to sew and have no space so they sew on the dining room table and put away the machine and supplies in a closet. When we moved here, G kept asking if I would like to set up a corner for sewing in the living room since it's a very spacious living room (it basically has three areas: dining area, a conversation area, and a TV corner with a couple of armchairs). I didn't want my sewing paraphernalia in sight so I kept the usual custom of storing in a closet and used the dining room table.
Then, it became a chore, after putting A to bed at 8pm every night and cleaning up dinner, to get my machine and tools out, set up the machine, running back to the closet every time I forgot something while sewing, and to put all the stuff away by bedtime. It was a hassle and I was losing interest. I was going long bouts without sewing. I began to feel starved of a creative, productive outlet.
I finally unbent and said I was willing to part with some money to set up a sewing corner in our bedroom. It's also a pretty spacious room. The original bedroom furniture arrangement left a lot of inefficient, dead space so we rearranged our bed and wardrobes to free up a great deal of space along an entire wall.
Then, we went to Ikea to get a cheap but sturdy table, a chair, seat cushion, and a desk lamp for less than a hundred dollars. I needed my table to double as the sewing table and cutting table so we got the perfect size. The table is unfinished pine and I plan to paint it white as a noncompeting backdrop for fabric and matching colors together.
So, I claimed a corner of our bedroom by the window for my sewing space. The desk lamp clamps onto the table so I don't need to use any surface space for the lamp base. I love the natural light from the window but it's most likely I will be sewing at night.
We had an unused TV stand that we'd inherited as part of the household of furniture and appliances we bought from another family to set up our home last summer. I turned it into a shelf of sorts to hold my fabric, supplies, tools, rulers, etc. within easy reach of my sewing machine, perpendicular to the sewing table.
I'm pleased with my sewing corner and I hope to add some shelves on the wall or a pretty board to tack things onto.
(We plan to paint all the bedrooms. They're a dreadful dark, gold/mustard color that I've tried to get used to but after 9 months, I still hate it.)
Then, it became a chore, after putting A to bed at 8pm every night and cleaning up dinner, to get my machine and tools out, set up the machine, running back to the closet every time I forgot something while sewing, and to put all the stuff away by bedtime. It was a hassle and I was losing interest. I was going long bouts without sewing. I began to feel starved of a creative, productive outlet.
I finally unbent and said I was willing to part with some money to set up a sewing corner in our bedroom. It's also a pretty spacious room. The original bedroom furniture arrangement left a lot of inefficient, dead space so we rearranged our bed and wardrobes to free up a great deal of space along an entire wall.
Then, we went to Ikea to get a cheap but sturdy table, a chair, seat cushion, and a desk lamp for less than a hundred dollars. I needed my table to double as the sewing table and cutting table so we got the perfect size. The table is unfinished pine and I plan to paint it white as a noncompeting backdrop for fabric and matching colors together.
So, I claimed a corner of our bedroom by the window for my sewing space. The desk lamp clamps onto the table so I don't need to use any surface space for the lamp base. I love the natural light from the window but it's most likely I will be sewing at night.
We had an unused TV stand that we'd inherited as part of the household of furniture and appliances we bought from another family to set up our home last summer. I turned it into a shelf of sorts to hold my fabric, supplies, tools, rulers, etc. within easy reach of my sewing machine, perpendicular to the sewing table.
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| Yes, my seat cushion is hot pink :-) I love it! |
I'm pleased with my sewing corner and I hope to add some shelves on the wall or a pretty board to tack things onto.
(We plan to paint all the bedrooms. They're a dreadful dark, gold/mustard color that I've tried to get used to but after 9 months, I still hate it.)
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Children's Day
Yesterday was a big holiday. It was Sovereignty and Children's Day. I've pulled some tidbits of information from various websites for a quick summary of this holiday. Turkey was previously Ottoman Empire and went to war to gain independence from occupation. It was April 23, 1920 when they laid down the foundations of an "independent, secular, modern republic." Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, "dedicated sovereignty day to the children and entrusted in the hands of the youth the protection of this sovereignty and independence." They do a big celebration every year.
Aside from this celebration, there is a pilgrimage on Children's Day every year. I am not sure why it's on Children's Day or even if they are related. Thousands (I've heard anywhere between 20,000 to 50,000) pilgrims travel from Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, etc to make the trip to the island and up a big hill (small mountain?) to a Greek monastery perched at the top. The island is a 30-min ferry ride away the city. There are no motor vehicles allowed on the island and residents and tourists travel by foot, bike, or horse and carriage.
This pilgrimage has some traditions entwined into it. Pilgrims run spools of thread starting at the bottom of the hill that monastery is perched on, all the way up the monastery itself. Why? No one knows. Maybe people think it brings them good luck. People also buy different colored candles (each color represent something you need prayer for like house, destiny, marriage, children, protection, etc) to light up at the monastery. They go there to pray for whatever they want/need - protection, healing, etc. And it isn't just the Greek Orthodox believers that go - there are also Muslims and people of other faiths. We saw a great many foreigners there. In addition to candles and threads, we also saw people buying small boxes of cubed sugar to pass out for free. Why? Maybe it's to curry favor from the Supreme Being above. We also saw cheap pins, coins, rings tied with different color ribbons representing the same things as the candles for sale. I'm not sure what they do those. Other things we saw were small piles of rocks on top of a rock wall leading up to the monastery which was also covered with candles. We saw strips of cloth tied on branches and trees for...good luck?
My language teacher makes this pilgrimage every year. She invited myself, G, and A to go with her, her husband, and two friends. On this perfectly gorgeous day, our little band met at the ferry and took it across to the island. Getting off the ferry, we were instantly met with an immense crowd. We got into line to wait for a horse and carriage to ride up to the top -- it ended up being a hour and half wait in the bright sunshine. The long wait and the jostling crowd began testing our patience a bit. We finally got onto a horse and carriage and enjoyed a ride through the picturesque island to the bottom of a big hill where the monastery was. We were met again with a crowd when we got out of the carriage.
We pushed A in a stroller up the rough, cobblestone road (it was ROUGH) amid the crowd coming down and the crowd going up. It was getting hot and our patience was wearing thinner and thinner. It felt like a mile up the hill. Poor A was such a trooper the entire day, hardly fussing except when she was bored with waiting or when she wanted out of the stroller. Even then, it was minimal. Then she was jostled up the road in a stroller, which was probably an uncomfortable ride. The stroller kept getting snagged in the millions of threads laid down by pilgrims. We were getting tangled in them and were snapping the threads to release ourselves.
By the time we made it to the top, the crowds outside the monastery were so dense that we didn't think we could get through to the monastery itself with the stroller. It was past A's nap time and she hadn't been to the potty yet. I was allowing for some irritability from fatigue (even though she was doing amazingly well) but I knew forcing her to endure the heat in a crowd, standing stock-still, waiting just to see a building would be too hard on her. We decided to part ways with our national friends and head back down the hill. By the time we arrived at the bottom and broke free of the crowds, we enjoyed the island breezes, the surroundings, and the sunshine. A enjoyed seeing all the horses. We walked the rest of the way down the island to the ferry. We didn't know the ferry made stops at all the islands on the way back to mainland so it was an hour-long ferry ride. Not a bad ending to a long day.
Despite the crowds, we enjoyed the island. It is beautiful with the surrounding sea, pine trees, old-fashioned houses, scenic overlooks, etc. We would love to return to the island on a normal day (in other words, without the crowds) and explore.
(If you are currently on the blog website itself, you can click on a picture and get a slideshow of the pictures in the post, with a bigger and better view of the pictures.)
Aside from this celebration, there is a pilgrimage on Children's Day every year. I am not sure why it's on Children's Day or even if they are related. Thousands (I've heard anywhere between 20,000 to 50,000) pilgrims travel from Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, etc to make the trip to the island and up a big hill (small mountain?) to a Greek monastery perched at the top. The island is a 30-min ferry ride away the city. There are no motor vehicles allowed on the island and residents and tourists travel by foot, bike, or horse and carriage.
This pilgrimage has some traditions entwined into it. Pilgrims run spools of thread starting at the bottom of the hill that monastery is perched on, all the way up the monastery itself. Why? No one knows. Maybe people think it brings them good luck. People also buy different colored candles (each color represent something you need prayer for like house, destiny, marriage, children, protection, etc) to light up at the monastery. They go there to pray for whatever they want/need - protection, healing, etc. And it isn't just the Greek Orthodox believers that go - there are also Muslims and people of other faiths. We saw a great many foreigners there. In addition to candles and threads, we also saw people buying small boxes of cubed sugar to pass out for free. Why? Maybe it's to curry favor from the Supreme Being above. We also saw cheap pins, coins, rings tied with different color ribbons representing the same things as the candles for sale. I'm not sure what they do those. Other things we saw were small piles of rocks on top of a rock wall leading up to the monastery which was also covered with candles. We saw strips of cloth tied on branches and trees for...good luck?
My language teacher makes this pilgrimage every year. She invited myself, G, and A to go with her, her husband, and two friends. On this perfectly gorgeous day, our little band met at the ferry and took it across to the island. Getting off the ferry, we were instantly met with an immense crowd. We got into line to wait for a horse and carriage to ride up to the top -- it ended up being a hour and half wait in the bright sunshine. The long wait and the jostling crowd began testing our patience a bit. We finally got onto a horse and carriage and enjoyed a ride through the picturesque island to the bottom of a big hill where the monastery was. We were met again with a crowd when we got out of the carriage.
We pushed A in a stroller up the rough, cobblestone road (it was ROUGH) amid the crowd coming down and the crowd going up. It was getting hot and our patience was wearing thinner and thinner. It felt like a mile up the hill. Poor A was such a trooper the entire day, hardly fussing except when she was bored with waiting or when she wanted out of the stroller. Even then, it was minimal. Then she was jostled up the road in a stroller, which was probably an uncomfortable ride. The stroller kept getting snagged in the millions of threads laid down by pilgrims. We were getting tangled in them and were snapping the threads to release ourselves.
By the time we made it to the top, the crowds outside the monastery were so dense that we didn't think we could get through to the monastery itself with the stroller. It was past A's nap time and she hadn't been to the potty yet. I was allowing for some irritability from fatigue (even though she was doing amazingly well) but I knew forcing her to endure the heat in a crowd, standing stock-still, waiting just to see a building would be too hard on her. We decided to part ways with our national friends and head back down the hill. By the time we arrived at the bottom and broke free of the crowds, we enjoyed the island breezes, the surroundings, and the sunshine. A enjoyed seeing all the horses. We walked the rest of the way down the island to the ferry. We didn't know the ferry made stops at all the islands on the way back to mainland so it was an hour-long ferry ride. Not a bad ending to a long day.
Despite the crowds, we enjoyed the island. It is beautiful with the surrounding sea, pine trees, old-fashioned houses, scenic overlooks, etc. We would love to return to the island on a normal day (in other words, without the crowds) and explore.
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| On the ferry to the island |
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| My language teacher's husband on right, his friend on left - hilarious guys |
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| My sweet language teacher |
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| Morning boat out to sea |
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| Rusted bike |
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| Fun ride |
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| Note how crowded it is |
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| Love the rich detailing |
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| Horse/carriage and biking |
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| Road up the hill to monastery, covered in threads |
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| Found a break in the crowd to snap the threads on the ground |
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| Scenic view of seagull and neighboring island |
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| One of the many neat houses with Ottoman era architecture |
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| Ferry stop at another island; a mosque by the sea |
(If you are currently on the blog website itself, you can click on a picture and get a slideshow of the pictures in the post, with a bigger and better view of the pictures.)
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Tulip Festival
It's Tulip Festival in the city right now. It's not a gathering with food, music, vendors, etc. It just means that tulips are blooming everywhere. There are several city parks that have tulips on display and even one park, on the other side of the water from us, has quite extensively designed gardens of tulips. I have mentioned that I love tulips on this blog and was looking forward to seeing them this spring.
On Saturday morning, G and I dropped A off for a playdate (thanks for watching her, dear friends!) and headed to a smaller park that borders the Bosphorous River. There were enormous tulips in bloom and some tulips weren't blooming quite yet. It was a smaller display of tulips than I'd expected but I hope to make it to the other side to that park with more extensive gardens of tulips next weekend. Nevertheless, the park was gorgeous, woodsy and natural that you could easily forget that you were smack dab in the middle of a gigantic, densely crowded city. It also had a couple of scenic views of the river with benches. I admired the tulips, G snapped pictures, and we enjoyed an early lunch in the park before picking up A and taking her home for her nap. It was fortunate because it started raining on our way home.
Some pictures of tulips:
Some other pictures:
On Saturday morning, G and I dropped A off for a playdate (thanks for watching her, dear friends!) and headed to a smaller park that borders the Bosphorous River. There were enormous tulips in bloom and some tulips weren't blooming quite yet. It was a smaller display of tulips than I'd expected but I hope to make it to the other side to that park with more extensive gardens of tulips next weekend. Nevertheless, the park was gorgeous, woodsy and natural that you could easily forget that you were smack dab in the middle of a gigantic, densely crowded city. It also had a couple of scenic views of the river with benches. I admired the tulips, G snapped pictures, and we enjoyed an early lunch in the park before picking up A and taking her home for her nap. It was fortunate because it started raining on our way home.
Some pictures of tulips:
Some other pictures:
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| There were other varieties of flowers |
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| Park's scenic overlook of the river and city |
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| There were clusters of them, never solitary |
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| The city is home to millions upon millions of stray cats |
Friday, April 13, 2012
Easter: A First
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| Testing the water |
Easter this year was our first in two ways: our first in this country and first at a beach. Our small group took outdoor grills, meat, side dishes, and desserts for a potluck picnic to the beach in a long caravan of cars. The beach was about an hour away on the Black Sea. It was quiet and we had the beach to ourselves. It was an absolutely gorgeous day - sunny and warm with a strong, cool wind. The water was bitterly cold and no one could keep their feet in the water for more than a few seconds without pain setting in. It didn't deter A from wading in and out all day long.
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| One end of the beach, fun rocks with little pools to explore |
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| Exploring |
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| Grilling out: hamburgers, kebabs, BBQ chicken, etc |
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| D on left, tossing a frisbee in high wind, pregnant and awkward on beach sand |
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| Other end of the beach, rock cliffs |
The kids played in the sand, the older ones went climbing and exploring. After the guys were done grilling out, we gathered together to eat and then we had our Easter service, sitting in beach chairs and on blankets. After that, we had an egg hunt for the little kids.
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| It was weird hiding eggs in sand and rocks - no bushes, grass, leaves, branches... |
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| Egg hunts get more fun as A gets older |
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| A's loot |
I'd post cute pictures of the other kids hunting for eggs but I don't feel comfortable doing so without their parents' permission. Not every parent wants their kid's face plastered on the internet, believe it or not.
It was an altogether best day ever. We got away from the city, A had a blast playing and hunting for eggs, the weather was perfect, we hung out with awesome people, we remembered the Son and honored Him, and we were pleasantly pooped by the end of the day. We couldn't have asked for better.
Here's a cool picture to close this post:
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Saturday, April 7, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Lately
Think it's about time for a good comprehensive update? I did a post with this format below back in November so maybe now's a good time.
Work: Yep, language is still going on strong. We were traveling a lot for work but recently made a decision not to let A travel anymore since we could tell it was stressing her so much.
Culture: I'll do a pregnancy theme. When I am asked what I am having, I say another girl. They always respond with "Aw, shoot, sorry" and then something like "Allah has willed it." Um, maybe I'm perfectly fine with having another girl? I've had one little old lady admonish me for sitting with my legs crossed. She said it will crush the baby's head. I've been told not to eat chicken skin or it will make my baby hairy. My language teacher gets on to me for walking around barefooted at home - she said the cold floor's bad for the baby. I've been told that if you stare at the love of your life the entire time you're pregnant, the baby will be born looking like him. They hold to some of the same superstitions that Americans have about pregnancy (e.g. don't reach above your head or the umbilical cord will wrap about the baby's neck). They try to guess the gender by looking at my belly button.
A: She turned three just two days ago. It was a fun, relaxed celebration (www.kidrobinett.blogspot.com) if you want to read about it. She's currently going through a girly phase of wearing several dresses throughout the day, changing outfits like a diva at a concert. It's fun but makes for a mess of clothes to hang back up.
Hearth and Home:
- I think I'm nesting big time because we've rearranged our living room. The TV cabinet is no longer center but in a nook with two armchairs. We don't have cable or an antenna so we rarely use it except for the occasional movie. A conversation area is in center of the living room with couches, rug, and a chair which we recently acquired from Ikea. It is like a rocking chair that we will use with the baby (and no, we will not be rocking the baby to sleep; I used to rock A to relax her for naptime but never til she fell asleep). It's not a real rocking chair but it kind of sways and bounces. It's incredibly comfortable and we sit in it all the time. More changes to come in the living room...
- While in the States, I bought an oven thermometer and boy, it has make a difference in my baking. The temperature is off but now I can adjust the control to get what I want. I'm still trying new recipes as always. I recently tried making strawberry cupcakes with real strawberries and icing with real strawberries. Yummy but I will need to tweak the recipe for the cake portion to taste less gluten-free. Currently, a crustless pizza is baking in the oven. The "crust" is made up of cream cheese, parmesan cheese (left over from basil pesto), and eggs. No pizza sauce, but olive oil instead with spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, and...more cheese. It was incredibly quick and easy to make. I'll be interested to see how it tastes without a real crust.
- We recently scored a dresser for the baby's room for what amounts to $30. Very happy with that. We may paint it since it's natural, varnished pine but has some signs of wear. Or not. We're tired these days and so overwhelmingly busy. The baby's room (which is also the guest room) will slowly come together in the next four months.
Free Time: I still read at bedtime mostly and am reading The Age of Innocence which took several false starts but I managed to plow through the first couple of boring chapters and it has become interesting. I don't get to sew as much as I would like. G watches Top Gear on the computer which is his favorite TV show. It's a pretty funny British show about cars. Now that warm weather is well on its way, we will be finding more to do with our free weekends.
Upcoming Holidays: Easter, yay! Easter is my favorite holiday. We will be heading to the beach on Sunday for a potluck picnic, message, and singing with my small group. We will also do an egg hunt. Today, I suddenly started missing Easter candy and wished that I'd asked for someone to send some. G found a chocolate egg at the store today and some brightly wrapped candy for A's Easter basket so it's close enough. We shredded some construction paper for "grass" in her basket.
Weather: We are very glad that spring has arrived here. Temperatures hover in the 50s and 60s and on sunny days, it feels as warm as 70 degrees. I was so ready for winter to be over with and the bright sunshine is a welcome sight after months of dreary, cloudy, snowy weather. Trees are blooming everywhere and planters around the city are being filled with petunias and tulips.
Visitors: G's parents are coming next week for a week-long visit!
(Update on the pizza - it was delicious but it basically tasted like a garlicky cheese omelet with spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, on top. Next attempt: cauliflower as a pizza crust...)