Oh the Places You'll Go...

Imagine my surprise and amusement when I found myself stuffed into a small car with five women and three babies. One of the women was about 673 years old, and I could swear that she is Yoda's twin (albeit slightly less green) sister. DELIGHTFUL!!

Rabbit trail alert!! Have I ever told you that the grammar structure of the language we are learning is backwards from English. Now that we are in the thick of language learning, sometimes our English gets a little "interesting!" This usually comes in the form of words we can only think of in the new language or English words in the new language's structure. So, we often end up speaking like Yoda. Get back I think on subject I will.

Anyhow, I think I have told you about my regular Tuesday afternoon date. I am part of a tea club. The same ladies get together each Tuesday afternoon for tea (and lots of food and talking). I am just getting to know some of these women, and I get quite confused when trying to figure out at who's house we will meet at and exactly where that house is.

Today it is rainy, YUCK. The motorists take much personal pleasure in trying to hit the puddles just as pedestrians are passing by. The kids and I totally got nailed on the way to school. FUN! But, I digress... Anyhow, it is rainy. My friend from downstairs said I could go with her to today's flat. I thought that they said it was just in the building next to ours. Lucy takes a nap in the afternoon, so I didn't put her raincoat on, I just had her all wrapped up in her blankie hoping she'd be asleep before we arrived at the lady's house. Imagine my surprise when I found myself standing next to the road, in the rain, waiting for a different friend to pick us up. Hmmm... where are we going?

After a few minutes and cell phone calls Arzu arrives. We pile in, and head up the street a little bit and stop again. That is when Yoda-ette was loaded into the car by her great grandsons. It was no small feat, as in the end, they just sort of picked her up and placed her in the car. Oh my, how I wanted to stroke those adorable little facial wrinkles. But, not exactly proper upon first meeting!! Believe you me, they were awesome- crinkle-ly goodness!

The boys got Granny loaded in and shut the door. Off Arzu goes! She turned up the music full blast- presumably so Yoda-ette can hear it and lays rubber. My favorite part of the short ride, besides the fact that I had no clue where we were going and how long we'd be there, was when Arzu hit a speed bump at full speed and Fatma, Osman, Lucy, Yoda-ette, and I hit the roof of the car. I would bet money that we made sparks on the street and possibly left our bumper there as well.

Once we got there, and it really wasn't very far, I guess they were just protecting us from the rain, I realized that today we'd be visiting with the weirdest member of our tea club. Oh good! I needed some excitement in my life today!! One of my friends called this lady "Crazy Head" (roughly translated) to her face. Well, that caught me off guard and I got to laughing so hard that I cried. This made everyone else laugh. In the end, we (Crazy head included) decided that maybe we'd call her broccoli instead because she has very curly puffy hair. OH. MY. WORD. This was the first time I have laughed that had since I've been here.

This may not quite be it, but it's the closest picture I could find on Google Images. I wish I could fully describe this woman to you. She bursts in and out of the room adding to the conversation. No one really understands her or knows what she is talking about. Her hair is huge and wild. She is hilarious. The best comparison I can make is that she is just like the grandmother character in the movie "There's Something About Mary." Needless to say, she adds much humor to our time together!

It was a good day!