Sort of Random

Sorry for the lack of posts. It's a busy time here. We've had a big school event (post to come), a busy few weekends, and now have the last week of the quarter. It's hectic!

               First of all: We have heard from lots of people in the past few weeks who were expressing concern for our safety and anxious to hear about the earthquake. Let me officially set your mind at ease. We are fine. More than fine. The earthquake was in Van, which is pretty far from here.

There is lots of work to be done following the earthquake. (Not my picture). 

            However, the effects are being felt here. I want to post more on the earthquake relief later, but it has been cool to see our kids step up and care for the people of this county. Our Principal at Oasis decided that we should show our love and support for this country by throwing together a huge relief effort. We decided to send a truck across the country with some worker groups who were going to distribute aid in Van. The school offered a dress down day and a day of no homework in any class for any kid who brought in aid items. The items were: blankets, coats, 1kg of beans or lentils, or 5 TL for food.

          I took this as an opportunity to talk to my kids about character, and about how leadership is most needed when adversity is high. We had very fruitful talks in the days following the earthquake about what empathy is, and our moral obligation to respond to those in need and less fortunate than us. It was great. They responded incredibly: As a school we calculated roughly 200% participation. Meaning, that for every kid we received 2 of the items asked for. When they took the cash to local market and bought extra blankets and food, the general manager was so moved the the generosity of the kids that he donated four extra boxes of blankets to our drive. We sent an entire moving truck full of blankets and winter coats, with enough food to sustain a soup kitchen for about a month. It was awesome.

         Other than that, we'e really just been living and working. We went to a really cool Tapas restaurant downtown a few weeks ago with some good friends. It was nice to just get away and do something nicer. We had great food and watched as some guys played classical guitar, and what sounded like Spanish music with middle-eastern flair. They had a microphone under the dance floor and a woman came out and danced, providing the beat. It was really cool.

         We also had dinner last week with a couple we had never met before. One of Kendall's family members has a good friend here in Ankara (Korey) who is a professor at Bilkent University. He and his wife treated us to an incredible dinner at an old Turkish restaurant in Kizilay (an area of the city here). We had tiny grilled fish that you eat whole, and then about every type of finger food imaginable. Devrim (Korey's wife) and her family have been eating at this restaurant since she was young. Her father was a bigwig in the military here and all the waiters slaved over us. (As a side note, Turkish hospitality and service is world renowned and we will forever be spoiled or jaded against anything different now). They took for a walk to parts of the city that we have never seen and truly enjoyed their company. We feel that we made a new set of friends and hope to go out with them again sometime soon.

       We had a funny excursion to IKEA the other week. It seems hilarious that we have one (I don't know why, but I think it is really funny). This was my first time to IKEA world, and I was admittedly pretty blown away / smitten. It is so neat, cool, and tidy. It is such a satisfactory sensory experience to walk through all of the pre-made rooms and look at all the cool stuff. We enjoyed our trip.

 The view on the drive to IKEA. 

 Me gusta. 

It gets overwhelming after a while. 

       Our assistant principal at the school was nice enough to drive us there and back. 

 Here she is in the back of a rented fiat with a chair she bought. Rented to you say? Why did she rent a car? Just to buy a chair? Well, her parents are coming to Turkey for a few weeks and she wanted to get some things for her apartment (so did we). However, this is a segue to state that some free things come with a price. Part of the reason she offered us a free ride, and part of the reason she rented a car, was to practice driving. She had not driven in something like 6 years and wanted to practice since she is taking her parents on a trip. First, let me tell you - this is not the place to learn. The cars are all standard here, and the roads are all like 45 degree inclines with lights everywhere and cars doing whatever they want all the time. I couldn't imagine driving here. This is not a bash on her: She was so, so kind to drive us across town to IKEA. That being said - when I got out of that car in front of our apartment I felt like a sailor kissing land he had not seen for months. I've never been more terrified in my life. It felt like I had survived a plane crash. We got lost on the way home and ended up swerving across the entire city through traffic. A half hour trip became an hour and half or white-knuckled anxiety. At one point the car stalled at a light in a huge intersection, facing a steep incline. We stalled through two more lights as cars zipped around us and we were treated to the sign language of disapproval, which needs no translation. That two minutes of helplessness was one of the most stressful times in my life. BUT, eventually we got home safe and sound and I found out the only thing more stressful than that ride...

making things from IKEA. 

I mean, the directions don't even have words. 

So we now have a nice little reading / sitting room that faces out over our balcony towards the hills. It's quite nice, and once we get a little more decoration in there we will post some photos. More to come in the next 24 hours.