Battling Dust

For everyone keeping a home clean, dusting is a required chore.  Some places in the world are more dusty than others.  My mother-in-law winters in Arizona, a desert region, and she claims she dusts more than in Kansas.  Well, I don't know where Istanbul ranks for amount of dust, but it is pretty bad.  I can dry mop our laminate floors every other day and get a visible pile of dust bunnies.  Nearly every visit with neighbor women here includes at least a two-minute conversation blurb on how the home cleaning chores are endless.  A large part of that is due to dust. 

This morning I saw my across the kitchen window neighbor lady battling dust.  She first shook her bedspread out the window,  then her pillows, her towel and lastly, her pajamas.  I don't know how much dust settles on pajamas but she must have thought it was worth it because she vigorously shook them out the window. 

Last week while having tea with some neighbor women, my friend lamented at the amount of dust kids kick up when they are playing inside.  I wonder if that is part of the problem.  Our children bounce around on the couches for a few hours every day.  What can you do but let them kick up the dust--there is no where to play outside in the winter rain. 

So, I keep sweeping and mopping (probably more than I ever dreamed I would do in my life) and try to think of all the positives that come from it like. . . . helping Aaron's allergies, being able to relate to my neighbors and add to that redundant two minute cleaning conversation blurb, having something to keep my hands busy and yet my mind is free to think, the opportunity to shake things out the window (it's kind-of fun--something we don't do in the States).  This morning I was shaking the hall rug out the window and the strong wind nearly ripped it from my hands.  I have always thought what a bummer that would be to drop a rug out the window and have to go and retrieve it.  Just a side thought.

An Evening in Our Neighhorhood

When the weather is nice our neighborhood teams with life in the evenings.  Sometimes it's just the kids out riding bike or scooters and sometimes it's both kids and moms hanging out.  The kids fill the street with their playing and the moms congregate on the wall to visit.

Tonight was an extra full night.  First it started with just our kids going down.  I brought my knitting but had to abandon it when Malachi ran up to get Monopoly Deal to teach his friend.  So, three boys had a card game going with me helping and during that time when I was distracted Sonora and her little friend set up house on the nice marble steps and were making really dusty food.  They made a mess!!  They had gathered leaves from the plants nearby and dirt from under the trees and were mixing it all around on their little rug on the steps.  The mess I didn't mind, only it was right in front of the door so I had to kick them out of that home and send them to cook on the street.  Meanwhile two ladies with their babies in strollers strolled by.  They stopped and we visited a long while.  Then my downstairs neighbor came up with her little boy and we were four.  Then my across the hall neighbor came home from somewhere and she went up to make tea and brought it down for all of us to drink.  Some people left, others came, the front of our building being the hang out for this evening.  The kids had a good game of "traffic" going, sharing bikes and scooters and more or less getting along really well.  We carried on like that  for 2 1/2 hours.  Tonight for all of us, one at time, the hungry tummies of our children drew us inside to cook an evening meal.  And even though we are inside for the evening, with our windows open, I can still hear all those sounds of the neighborhood outside.  The sound of silverware on plates, a child's cry, a group of young people chatting as they walk by, and crickets in the night.  

The benefits of the season. . . .

 I can do more laundry with more sun to dry it faster!

We can use our terrace more!

Fresh strawberries!

Shelling peas with the kids!

That wonderful splash of green outside our windows is perhaps my favorite!

Life Adjustments

Well, I'm getting my first taste of an empty nest.  Last week Sonora started going to Turkish preschool for half days.  The school is close, right on our block, so it is very convenient.  There were a few days of tears, but now she is going with a smile and anticipation of a fun time with her new friends.  She has a great teacher that I am really impressed with so far.  And all this excitement of her starting school and it going well has left me with a few hours to myself for the first time in a long long time.  As an introvert I've always enjoyed time by myself so I have been a little surprised to find myself feeling lonely in my empty house and even more strange, sometimes at a loss for what to do without someone there to interrupt things and change it up a bit.  It's clear that Sonora isn't the only one is transition and I too will get accustomed to this new schedule.  I am very pleased that she is happy in her school.  That brings me peace.  I look forward to getting back into studying Turkish more seriously.  There is a whole list of things I hope to accomplish with this time, now it's a matter of putting the first things first!

Of Course, it had to rain today. . . .

Yesterday was Saturday, our chore day.  The kids got to work doing their little chores (with much coaxing and persuading) and I was going about mine when I saw my sixty-something year old neighbor from our kitchen window.  She was, in typical window cleaning fashion, out on the ledge, hanging out of her window. . . cleaning. . . . five stories off the ground.  I don't like cleaning windows because of this fact.  If you live four or five stories off the ground, well, to get your windows clean you have to hang out of them four or five stories off the ground.  For that reason my windows have been very dirty for a long long time.  I was telling myself I would wait until Spring.  Then I had to see my older neighbor facing the same job I was avoiding, and because it was so sunny and at that moment my windows looked soooooo grimy (and they were), I decided to do it.  I got out my bucket, my wash rags, and got to work!  It felt good to be cleaning, to see clearly out of the glass once again, and to feel like I too could keep a clean home by Turkish standards.

At one point, as I was cleaning my kitchen window and was squatting out on the ledge, hanging on with one hand and reaching as far as I could with the other, that same neighbor woman opened her clean window and after greeting me proceeded to give me a few tips.  She was suggesting I use newspaper to give it a shine and I wished I had some, but mainly I was hoping the conversation wouldn't go on so that I could get my scary job done and get my feet back inside where I was safe from falling.

And so I enjoyed my clean windows yesterday.  And today it rained.  Of course, it had to!

Caffeine

Lately I'm having the problem of not being able to go to sleep at night because I've had too much caffeine to drink during the day.  The problem isn't just too much caffeine but that the whole social network of life here is centered around drinking tea or coffee.  Being in friendship probably means that you are living with a caffeine buzz.  Now I can't blame the culture on this because I love a good cup of coffee or cup of tea as well.  The thing is that I'm getting older and the caffeine is really starting to affect me.  So, I'm having to drink slower, to count how many cups of tea I'm drinking, to choose decaf coffee over caffeinated and even to sometimes say "no thank you, I've had enough." I think as I figure this out I'll be needing some light reading material for when I'm wide awake at night.

Our Bayram Week

This last Tuesday was the start of the four day Muslim "Kurban Bayram" holiday.  The schools and many businesses were closed for the week.  Aaron has written more about it here at his blog so I won't double what he has said.  Turks celebrate together with their family and by visiting friends and neighbors.  Just like Thanksgiving is a big travel day in America, lots of people have been on the road traveling to see family as well here these last few days.

For our family it has meant a week of lots of get togethers with old neighbors and friends, new neighbors and freinds and other expats as well.  It has meant later nights, too much caffine (lots of tea at these visits!), and too many sweets for Sonora (as it is tradition to celebrate with chocolates and other candy).  So, we've had a great week but we sure are tired out, or at least I am.  I think we got together with eight different families this week!  That is a lot of tea, chocolate and fun!

Fun with Marbles and Trash

A few weeks ago we went crazy building a marble maze.  It was definitely adult directed but the kids had fun helping put it together and especially trying it out.  I have this big box full of recyclables that I save for projects like this and so I brought it down and we went crazy.  I know this isn't going to be hard for you to imagine, but Aaron was probably the most excited and when he came home things really got cool.  We took the maze down our stairs as you can see in the pictures.  We had the best gravity advantage that way.      

      

This is the end of the maze shown here.

The over sized bear simply kept the string from touching the wall.  You can also see what looks like a Kleenex on the floor.  When the marble dumped from the long clear tube into the toilet paper tube cup above this neat little pulley (made from Legos) dropped the marble to the ground and pulled the Kleenex up to the top.  

Here is a view of the maze from the top.

And here is our neighbor kid who thought this was the coolest thing in the world.  He dropped the marbles in and Malachi waited with a sheet of paper to record the number of successful drops versus the unsuccessful ones. 

Neighborhood Snapshot

The weather has been beautiful here with temps in the low sixties for the last week.  Because of that I've been trying to get outside with Sonora.  We went out for tea with a neighbor friend yesterday and today we were going to go to the park but didn't make it that far.  Sonora decided to take her scooter outside but since it was in the trunk of the car we took Malachi's instead.  She scooted around awhile, just her and I.  Our front street was empty but when we turned the corner we saw some kids further on sitting on the sidewalk and since we recognized one of the boys we went over to see what they were up to.

They had an old small rug spread out and were sitting on it, shoes off, as if it were their house and they had checked their shoes at the door.  On the rug one boy was roughly cutting leaves with a stick and handing them to a little girl who put them in their plastic box.  They said to Sonora in Turkish, "we're making food, do you want to too?"  She replied, "I know.  I don't want to."  But she stood there and watched and after awhile joined in to find things to add to the soup.  The first couple things she found were rejected by the little girl with a sharp upward snap of her eyebrows (which means no) until finally she found some little seeds pulled off a weed that were accepted.  They added, stirred, fought over who would stir, with the little girl holding her territory as the head chef.  Then someone thought of water and they trudged to the back of someones yard and came back with their plastic box now full of leaves and water.  They stirred some more, careful not to get water on the rug and always checking their shoes on the outside of the rug.  It was fun until someone dumped it and then it was over.  The plastic box was kicked by one boy, then another, until it was demolished and the little girl was in tears on the curb.  Sonora wanted me to go and comfort her but by that time she was on her way home.  All this time, I should mention, the kids were taking turns riding Malachi's scooter and Sonora was a good sport in giving it up for them.

Also at this time, I noticed another group of young ones ages three to five had set up their rugs and were sitting there, shoes off, playing with an assortment of toys.  One boy had a marker and was drawing some interesting designs on the forehead of someones baby doll.  We congregated there for awhile negotiating who would ride the scooter next.  It was finally resolved.  I say "we" because my daughter was also involved and she still asks me how to say things.  I become a negotiator as well.  Everyone dispersed for a moment as a boy called out that he had found something.  It was a dead, very dead, bird.  When I got there they were gathered around poking at it until I broke it up by saying that birds are really dirty and carry disease.  I think it is what their mothers would also say if they had been there.  That settled it and they moved on as did we back to our house.  And that is a snapshot afternoon around here.

I must say I really love the way the kids play in this neighborhood.  They are always outside, always finding something to do whether it is playing soccer or setting out their rugs and playing house.  Their games are creative and overall wholesome.  However, the thing I do not prefer, or maybe am just not used to, is the lack of supervision.  So when our kids go out, we go out with them.  It is good for us to be out too and get to know the kids and for them to get to know us.  It's fun to see them make friends and learn how to speak the language and just work out problems with kids.  Usually it works out :)!

I'm Back

We are finally connected to the web again after two weeks or so of no internet and a week without a phone.  It feels good to be able to Skype with my family again.  Yeah!  That is the main reason I haven't posted in so long and so I'll hopefully be catching up with some of that this week.  Stay posted!

Stormy Skies

For the past few days
I woke to deep blue
In the skies
By the forest.
The deep color
And cooler wind
Are not of summer
So out come
The crates of fall attire.
The first day
I did no wash
Though neighbors still
Hung their blankets
From open windows
And balconies
Just like always
As if they didn't see the dark blue skies.
The second day
I saw their blankets
And pillows
And laundry
Again.
So despite the threatening skies
I too am washing
And hanging it out
For the wind to whip off the rack.
Though there is no sun
Fast like a dryer
The wind is good.
I know too soon
The rain will really come
And stay. . .
And one load of laundry
Will dry inside
For days.

Re-learning the Limit

The other day Sonora and I went to the store with our list of things to buy. I used to know exactly how much I should get, meaning I was always mindful of what I could actually carry home. However, after three months in the States and not walking with groceries any further than to the car in the parking lot, I seem to have forgotten the limit and made the grave mistake of buying more than I could comfortably carry home walking. Now, the walk home wasn't too far but at a four year old pace it was about 15 minutes. I had luckily brought a backpack, thus carrying the brunt of the weight on my back but I was in pain by the time we made it home. Sonora even helped me by carrying a 12-pack roll of toilet paper all by herself the whole way. Out of curiosity I weighed my load and all in all I was carrying 45 lbs! Now to some of you that might not seem like much, and maybe in my younger days I could have born it better, but for my 100 lb. frame it was too much. I literally had a headache when I got home because the pressure on my shoulders was too much. So, the lesson has been learned. I won't make that mistake twice, instead I will go to the store twice!

Rug Cleaning Pictures

Pazar Day

Yesterday was Pazar day.  You might more familiar with the word "Bazaar" which is like a local market.  They have pazars that sell mostly produce and others like the "Grand Pazar" that sell everything, mostly household goods and textiles, etc.  Tuesday is our closest pazar. Every week I go there to get all of our produce.  It is the freshest and the cheapest and I also just love the atmosphere. So, Sonora and I headed out.  We walk about 10 minutes to get there and it was fun to run into many of our neighbors on their way or way back.  I'm getting used to the lay out of this pazar.  It's basically like a farmer's market with certain streets closed off and tarps strung out overhead and tables full of vegetables and fruit and some household goods set up on both sides of the street.  It can get pretty crowded in the evening and so you are brushing shoulders with people as you walk through and sometimes have to push yourself up to a stand if there is a crowd.  Sonora did a great job holding my hand and sticking close by when I was picking through veggies, and with that job she was even quite helpful.  The sweetest thing was hearing her faint little voice amidst the crowd singing--just sauntering, following her mommy and singing to herself.

Some of the produce that everyone has on hand that Americans might not is:  lemons and parsley and of course tomatoes and cukes for breakfast.  I'll list what I got and some of the prices.  The exchange is 1.5 lira to the dollar.  I'll let you do the math is you are really curious about the exact prices.  Everything is sold by the kilo, which is 2.2 lbs. 

potatoes:  1 TL (turkish lira) for 2.2 lbs. (1 kilo)
tomatoes:  same price (these were the cheap price so I really had to carefully pick through these, we'll see if it is worth it)
green grapes:  2 TL for 2.2 lbs.
carrots:  1 TL for 2.2 lbs.
cucumbers:  1.50 TL for 2.2 lbs.
bananas:  2 TL for 2.2 lbs. (Exported bananas like the ones you get in America are more like 3.5 TL, the ones I got were the little native bananas)
peaches:  2 TL for 2.2 lbs. (they ended up being bad--I think the season for this fruit is over!)
parsley: 1 TL a bunch
eggplant:  2 TL for 2.2 lbs.
green beans:  3.5 TL for 2.2 lbs.

I think that is most of what I got.  We love the fresh produce here.  I can't tell you how great the quality is!!

Rug Cleaning Pictures

Rug Cleaning

I have finally had the opportunity to wash my rugs by hand. In our old neighborhood most people took their rugs to a professional cleaner. I hate to admit that for the last two years I only vacuumed them and never had them washed. I wanted to do it myself like I would see women do in certain parts of the city, but I didn't have the space or someone to teach me. Well, our first week back, my downstairs neighbor was washing her rugs and so while the kids played outside I sat on the wall and visited with her while she washed her rugs. I asked her what she used and how it was to be done and where you can buy a hose for the job, etc. She told me how she first uses dish soap, rinses, then uses detergent, rinses and finally uses watered down bleach for stains and then rinses. Then she rolls up the rug and stands it up for the water to drain out. She said I could use her hose. So, the next day she came over, helped me hook up the hose and walked me through the process again. It was a fun job for a hot day. The kids jumped in to help right away and so we got the job done in no time with everyone fairly wet. I did get carpet burn on my knuckles from scrubbing with the my hand brush. The following day I did my hall rug (which was getting pretty nasty) and now it looks great! I can't tell you how excited I am about this rug washing possibility here!

Our Street

Well, this is where most of the action happens around here.  This is our street, our apartment is the tan with white trim one to the right.  This is where the kids mostly gather to play. They ride scooters up and down this street, race cars, play tag and  soccer.  Sonora and her little friend are often out with their dolls and strollers.  If you can see, there is a short wall around our apartment.  That is where the moms and dads sit and talk or in front of others' buildings.  Today when we came back from Mal's school one of our neighbors was carrying out her rugs to wash on the sidewalk.  If they don't have a balcony or terrace for washing their rugs they roll out a big sheet of plastic on the sidewalk and then wash their rugs on top of that.  It's a very friendly community.  The kids are out right now with Aaron and I can hear them from our opened windows.  It's a nice day so we are enjoying the shade of our building and the company of others.