get the door, its dominos

bonus pic- ahmet snuck home with us unawares and took this photo from above as we made alphabet art and chilled with tigra the cat

i have a house crush on this apartment, it's betul's, zeynep's sister, and it has the coolest, kitschyist stuff

we had domino's, i was thrilled

betul has a dog which flaps its ears and sings shania twain, ece put on my boots in order to dance with it

we moved the table down to the garden and had a picnic!

me at a coffeeshop in bebek, the next photo is from the same place

same as before, but this is my table, on the end of the dock, overlooking the marmara sea

we tried to go swimming today but it was super cold, so we went home and had a pool bath instead, hilarity and goggles ensued...

*i have now started a web album which has complete pictures, should anyone be interestered, here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/atripp05/Istanbul#

so this week was trying, the kids and i battled for dominance, the winner has yet to be determined, tomorrow we leave for bodrum (the coast) for two weeks so i will be unconnected for a while. vacation with the kids is easier then being at home at the end of the summer, they are restless

1. we finally made the popcorn balls today and i was not completely sure how to make popcorn not in a bag or popcorn machine, so i googled it (ain't technology great?), it told me to put oil in a 4 qt. sauce pan, add 1/2 cup kernels and move continuously, no where did it say to put a lid on the pot, i thought perhaps the corn did not pop that high, but it does, much to the kids and i's delight, although melahat (the maid) was not thrilled, we cleaned it up however and the rest of the popcorn balling went smoothly

2. i have "perfected" the hard boiled egg. it's harder then you'd think, it can't be too cooked and it can't be "watery". five year olds know best

3. i am really excited to go to bodrum, because the rest of the nanny brigade is already on holiday, and it will be nice to join them

4. i met some more english speaking turks through my friend suha and they seemed nice, i am also really ready for university to be in session because it is supposedly alot easier to find young, non-creepy males, i just say males because i have seen almost no females my age, i think they don't exist.

5. i passed my mytholgy class!!!!!!!! not really turkish news, but we'll make this a blanket life blog with a strong turkish twist.

6. we have adopted a second cat, there has always been two cats that hung around but when we would go at night, only lily was brave enough to come see us, tigra is now brave enough and really enjoys being in my lap, in others news, i think i'm allergic to cats, and lily might be male.

7. we are officially moving into a new, bigger loft in istinia come december, i'm looking forward to the space but not to the move. also istinia is home to the istinia park mall, full of dior, armani any top name designer with the actual designs, not the watered down bloomingdales version. and thus completely out of both my style and price range. i will miss my little starbucks (which i'm currently sitting in)

8. ahmet (the dad) just got back from russia and he brought the kids each back a matryoshka doll, and he got one for me to :) it looks like a blond princess leia, or me, depending on who you ask

9. it was my dad's birthday yesterday, for the family members following this, you should send a shout out his way

10. i meet up with some turkish people at a bar which was show casing a turkish rapper, i dont like rap any better when i dont know the words, especially if they rip off american tunes *ahem, cry me a river* and don't bother to take to american lyrics out, true story

11. ece offered to pay for my wedding, but then told me she only had lira, to which alp piped in and said he had lots of american money, the money i had given him, (.79 in assorted change), ece also drew a picture of me and my boyfriend wearing tiaras with happy faced balloons and our car. i don't know who my boyfriend is, or if he is the same fellow i'm getting married to, but our wedding is apparently sparing no expense

12. alp-indian people have dots on there heads
me-yes, thats right they do
alp-do you like india?
me-i've never been to india, i suppose i like it just fine
alp-i hate india
me-have you ever been?
alp-no, but i hate it
me-why?
alp-india has lots of mosques
*at this point i tell him that istanbul actually has the highest number of mosques of any city, in any country, and ask if he hears the man in the background*
alp-yes, that is the man jammbi, he is praying
me-kinda, he is a man, in a mosque, praying from the jambi, see? istanbul has mosques to
alp-no, he is not from a mosque, he just prays a lot

13. did i mention the popcorn went EVERYWHERE?!

14. melahat and i got in a fight, i was unaware we were in a fight but she called zeynep and told her that i had made her cry, then the kids and i had to have a sit down with her and i and them as the translators, it was fun, really

15. ece can swim without floaties!!!! this is very big news

ooooobama

view if you look directly down from the balcony

actual view from the balcony

caresse and i at a restaurant that may or may not be owned by the turkish mob

my wall art made for me by my wonderfully artistic children

alp trying really hard not to smile for the camera while climbing a tree trunk at the park

lily the cat

turkish coffee with a piece of chocolate covered turkish delight (not made by me)

one of the pictures from ece and i's photo shoot

so i'm finally getting around to writing a post, the pictures are remaining captionless because i don't feel like going back and identifying them, but they're pretty, so enjoy. i really like this website called 11points.com, where this guy makes funny lists of eleven points (go figure). i am totally ripping off this idea and writing a top fifteen list per week of amusing, interesting, things i find of importance and/or useless facts when i run out of the others. pictures from the week will be posted at the top (because i can't figure out how to put them at the bottom and don't really care that much) and i'm going to try to take at least a picture a day so ideally, i will have fifteen facts, seven pictures a blog and around 30 posts by next april. i'm giving myself eight free weeks for the vacation times scheduled in.

here we go:

1. turkish people a little over protective:
-wet hair gives you headaches
- ice gives you stomachaches
- sitting on the bare floor gives you stomachaches
- too cold of juice will make your food come up
- stairs are dangerous and hands must be held up and down them (their five)

2. turkish people eat an incredible amount of food, they will feed you long after you've said you were full.

3. we are making popcorn balls tomorrow.
alp-do you like popcorn
me-yes i do
alp-we like popcorn balls
me-you've had popcorn balls before?
alp-no, but we saw them on hannah montana

4. if you speak turkish with an english accent, people will look at you and tell you they "don't speak english", what do you mean you don't speak english, i was speaking turkish! these are turkish words and places i'm talking about.

5. the two cds i have heard of and borrowed from the parents are "the cream of clapton" (one of my favorites) and mariah carey's number one hits (i like to think i have eclectic taste in music, and limated options)

6. i've adopted a stray cat outside the loft, alp and ece named her lily, not quite scout but the closest i've got here, and she is a freaking awesome cat.

7. i am now a member of a group we've dubbed the nanny brigade. the only english speaking people i've met are the family i live with, their friends, and their friends au pairs. we are all now best friends because we all speak english, and share an affinity for wet wipes

8. there are more starbucks in istanbul then in east cobb, athens and atlanta combined. i've seen three within a five block radius before

9. just as a heads up: my family eats dessert every night, expect me to have gained 100 lbs by the time i come back

10. i saw harry potter, twice, and thought it was disappointing both of them

11. we like to go to this hookah/restaurant/bar where the owners son likes vanessa, we're starting to think they might be in the mob

12. there is a chili's in istanbul, but apperantly not one in canada.

13. alot of times, when i try to buy things from the many dessert shops i get it for free, i attribute this to the fact that i am one of the probably 50 natural blondes in istanbul (let's go with 115lbs)

14. you don't need a prescription to buy pretty much any drug here, i think this is a bad idea but i do appreciate that the prices aren't inflated three hundred percent (actual percentage, learned it in sociology)

15. i learned how to make turkish coffee, it's really easy but i am super proud of my self any ways

p.s.-turkish people really like obama

Marhaba