Sneeze

My allergies are KILLING me!

Everything here is covered in dust, dirt, grime, and pollen.  POLLEN... it's not like we have grass or hardly anything green really.  Where does the pollen come from?

A-A-A-chooooo!

9

Don't get me wrong... I love my son and age 9 has some really great things going for it.

But...

it's hard to remember those things amongst the potty humor, spastic behavior, constant noise (and smells) and sheer ridiculousness that have taken over my boy.

Do I fight the losing battle against fart jokes or join in the laughs?

UGH!!

Tell me 10 is different.

A Poem

loud obnoxious noise

looked out the window

they are paving the bad part of the street

the part where the guys dug up the plumbing for the new building next to us

at least three times

it's 11:18 PM

Justin's home... sigh of happiness.

Sunday Sneak Peek

Gunshots and the Two Scoop Special

Yall, I know, I know, I know it's stupid, but every time I hear gunshots I am first one out on the balcony to see what's going on.  Usually someone's favorite team has scored a point or won a game, or some boys are going off to do their military service, or someone is getting married.  Shots fired in the air.  It's not like I'm hanging my head over the balcony or anything!


What can I say?  I love a little action.


Also, I secretly want a gun, too!


Speaking of gunshots, Justin comes home from Egypt tomorrow.  He saw lots of areas that were just ruined from the violence and unrest that has overwhelmed that country- burned out buildings, and places that look like a war-zone.


(I promise he went there to work.  And, he assures me that he is, in fact, working.  It's only after hours that he tours bomb-sites!)


Aside from the ruined and desolate places he has seen, he has also spotted and partaken of Baskin-Robbins.


BASKIN ROBBINS!!!!!


Now, yall, I could tell you about the time, just after we were married when I worked at a copy shop right next to a Baskin Robbins.  I tell you what, 13 years later and I am still trying to get rid of the evidence of my love for the double scoop sundae!  This big girl loves her some ice cream!!


So, anyhow, Baskin Robbins.  Can you believe it?  Even better, still, is that Baskin Robbins was also in Thailand.


It really does beg the question...


Why on earth don't we have Baskin Robbins here?  


I mean really, the folks in this country LOVE ice cream.  I have even heard that they are the world's #2 consumer of ice cream behind the United States.  That may be an urban legend, but I am choosing to believe it!


So, does anyone know the phone number for the BR franchise hotline?


And, does anyone want to make an investment in an overseas development project?  It's a sure-fire return!

Around Town: Street Food and People

This is the final post of a little photo tour I've been sharing.  The first post was on buildings.  The second post was on shopping.  And the third post was on transportation.

Today's post has a few shots of street food and people.

I love to take pictures of people, but try really hard not to be obnoxious about it.  I am so glad that my camera came with a lens kit that included a long-range lens.  I am learning how to use this one and really like that I can set myself somewhere and zoom in on folks without bothering them.

Here are a few shots:

This is local fast food.
There are stands and little shops like this everywhere.

They serve this vertically cooked meat (chicken or beef) on sandwiches,
hamburgers with sauce, hot dogs with sauce, french fry sandwiches,
grilled cheese, rice, fresh squeezed orange juice, and all sorts of
other drinks.  The vertically cooked meat is shaved off onto
bread and topped with lettuce,tomatoes, pickles (sometimes),
french fries,  ketchup, and mayo.  It is SOOO good!

These are the local version of bagels- thin circle shaped bread
topped with sesame seeds.

Here's another popular one.
Along with the vertically cooked meat they also have the
horizontally cooked kokoreç.  They chop up the meat with onions and
put it on a sandwich.Just in case you are wondering...
kokoreç is grilled sheep's intestines.
Never tried it!

This lady was looking at the photo exhibit.

These old men were relaxing in the park.
You may notice that the man in the gray jacket is holding a string of
beads called a tespih.They are like rosary beads.  There are usually
33 beads and you go through them 3 times to recite the 99 names
of God.  Almost every man here carries these in their hand and
flips through the beads constantly.

Resting

Shoe Shiners

Nice clean shiny shoes are very important here.

You can find shoe shiners everywhere.

I hope you've enjoyed this little tour through some various aspects of our lives here.  It is a blessing to serve in this land.  Thank you for walking this path with us!

"I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing: 

   Salvation to our God on his Throne! 
   Salvation to the Lamb!
All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals— fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing: 

   Oh, Yes! 
   The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, 
   The honor and power and strength, 
   To our God forever and ever and ever! 
   Oh, Yes!"


Revelation 7:9-12

Around Town: Transportation

This is the third part of a little photo tour of an interesting part of town right down by the water.  The first part was about buildings, and the second part was about shopping.

Today I wanted to show you just a very few forms of transportation around the city.

The city bus

This is like a shared taxi.  They have a set route and you can get
on and off where ever you want within that route.  They don't usually
smash folks into these, so everyone gets to sit down.

A tiny fishing boat.  You always know where the fish are biting out
on the sea because you will see a ton of these little boats gathered
together in one spot.

One of the medium size water ferries that constantly take passengers
back and forth to Straight.

Taxis.   Believe it or not, often times I've needed a taxi and this
line is completely gone!

Normal traffic.  You should see it at rush-hour!!

An example of all the forms- including the light blue minibus.
The minibuses also go on a set route and you can get on and off
where ever you want.  But, they pack you in like sardines.
People are standing, sitting,and squished into every nook!

Tomorrow is my "Around Town" finale.  I am featuring street food and people.

Around Town: Shopping

I started this little photo tour with buildings.  Today I am going to show you how we shop.  If you read my blog, you know that there are grocery stores here that range in size from tiny to pretty big.  There are also all sorts of markets, stands, and bazaars.

Everyone does something different- some people hate grocery stores and do all their shopping at little individual markets.  Some people do just the opposite.

And then there's me.  I do a bit of both.  About once a week I do a big shop and get most of the things we need.  I try to get my meat from the butcher because it is fresher and cheaper.  Then on Tuesdays I go to our outdoor bazaar.  (It is only in our area once a week.)  This is a great place to find fresh fruit and vegetables, scarves, kitchen stuff, home textiles, vacuum parts, clothes, and whatever else is in season.

Yesterday there were folks selling baby chickens and ducks (don't ask me why- we all live in apartments- so who knows what they are going to do with them), plants, pots, and potting soil.  I bought three pairs of lightweight cotton pants yesterday.

As usual, I have digressed...

So, in the old part of town down by the water, there are all sorts of beautiful little shops and stands that sell everything you could want.  Here are some shopping photos:

The luggage market.

Fresh fruit and vegetables

Unloading the strawberries.

Still unloading the strawberries.

A wider angle of the fruit and veggie market.

The fish market 

Fresh seabass

All sorts of olives, tomato paste, pickled items, and peppers

Bread store

Sock, underwear, undershirt, and scarf store.

Spice, dried herb, seasonings, and natural food products store.

Nut and dried fruit shop.

Nuts

Dried fruits

The best place to buy cut flowers is right down by the water.

The gypsies set up tons beautiful flowers every morning.

Next up... transportation!

Around Town: Buildings

Noah and Callie take guitar lessons.  They started in February with a high-schooler, but he moved in April.  We found a new guitar teacher.  He is a local believer and has a little music shop down by the water.  The kids have really learned a lot from him, and we are all pleased with their progress.

Usually Lucy and I go to a cafe, explore the shops, or play at the park while the Noah and Callie have their lesson.  But, last week, Lucy had a field trip with her preschool and had to be there early.  So we dropped her off at school before we went down to guitar.  That gave me the perfect opportunity to practice taking pictures all by myself.

I had such a fun time walking around playing tourist.  Here's the first part of what I shot:

Little park with fountain.
Lots of old men sitting around talking and drinking tea.

Man repairing the sidewalk.
The good thing about cobblestone is that they come up and go down easily.

An old han (translation: public house or inn) that is now full of little shops.

Another park with a fountain.
They were having a photo exhibition because the next day was a holiday.

You can easily find these springs throughout the city.
They are even thoughtful enough to provide a drinking cup!

One of the big old mosques down by the water.

Same mosque- wider angle.

Same mosque- even wider angle.

Another big old mosque right down by the water.
These two are about a block away from each other.

Looking up at the mosque.

A bigger, fancier spring.

It is sort of in the center of a round-a-bout down by the water.

Just in case you didn't believe me that people drink from them.

The little mosque close to the guitar shop where
the kids take lessons.

Same mosque- wider angle- with a cute old man
hobbling in to pray.

Tomorrow I'll be back with places to shop!