Sunday, October 26 "Merry-Go-Round"

I dragged the whole family to Arjantin Kebap for lunch and showed Brian and the girls the stores that Aeden and I had visited on 36 and 37 Cadde. The market was in full swing, and we stopped to buy some string, buttons, and yarn...the things you take for granted at home just being there with no known origin. A little bundle of black linen string for 1 YTL, a bundle of 6 buttons for 1 YTL, a skein of fancy yarn for 2 YTL. We were much smarter with the produce and indicated how many kilos by providing exact change. Watch us learn!

Mountain of Mandarins...Brian's in heaven!

Squash and peppery Turkish radishes on display

The girls and I stopped at a playground on the way home and they spun on the merry-go-round. A little too long. Lacey was quite sick to her stomach on the rest of the walk home...

There are see-saws at every playground here

Our own whirling dervishes
The other childrens' dad was spinning them...I think they were smiling, but maybe it was just the centripetal force pulling at their cheeks...
A simit seller walking by the park
The "shortcut" road we take on the walk to the local produce market on Sundays...a step into a local neighborhood instead of our high-rise pocket of cleanliness. The photo doesn't show the garbage in the corners and the tossed out couches on the porches. But it does show the umbrellas and flags on the balconies...Algida advertisements (essentially like seeing a Nestle or Dreyers umbrella or banners on your neighbor's balcony).

We had some new cozies to try out after our shopping...new fleece blankets today and bathrobes from yesterday. We had some fun with them, and Aeden rolled himself around in the soft blankets on the floor for quite a while. He loves the cuddly blankets!

Saturday, October 25 "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...or Dolmus, Bus, and Taxi"

Nancy dropped by this morning to see if we could go out shopping. The plumber was here fixing our hot water heater (finally, after 2 or 3 scheduling mishaps since we've been here), and we were expecting an electrician to come and fix an outlet, so we couldn't all go. We decided Lacey, Maren and I would hit the town with Nancy and off we went.

We took a dolmus ("dol-mush" is a shared taxi...a small blue bus that stops where you want it to, and is generally stuffed with people, stuffed is actually the literal translation for the word) to Kizilay, walked amongst the seemingly endless supply of buses that meet there, and then caught one to head off to Tenali for shopping. Kizilay is for another day, but it is a huge shopping area closed to cars, and is crowded and classic bazaar style craziness with modern stores thrown in as well. We were headed for a little more calm in the Tenali area and to a few specific stores Nancy wanted to show me.

Maren absolutely loved being jammed onto the dolmus and getting to stand up on the moving bus. Lacey took the first available seat on Nancy's lap. Even when we got onto the non-crowded bus Maren chose to stand. What a goofball.

While we were walking through the park and bus area at Kizilay the girls saw a simit vendor and got so excited and started yelling, "Simit! Simit!". So we got a few and continued on...simit are the "Turkish bagels" with sesame seeds all over them. And so far the girls still enjoy them. At 3 for 1 YTL, I can't argue!

When we rounded the corner onto the shopping strip I recognized that we were right at the D & R Bookstore that Mustafa had taken us to for birthday present shopping on our first trip with him. Of course I had no idea where we were on that trip, so that was fun to realize where we were, both today and on the previous visit.

We browsed a number of stores, but hit the jackpot at a store called Yesim/Made In Turkey. It carries a jumble of name brands, all manufactured in Turkey, and for whatever reason not in the shipments headed off to stores abroad. Old Navy, Gap, J. Jill's, Eddie Bauer, Williams-Sonoma, Hilfiger, pretty funny to see them all jumbled into the same racks. The girls got bathrobes, I found a set of 12 great cloth napkins, some baby washclothes, a T-shirt for me, and most importantly, a pair of jeans for me! Two big bags of stuff and it was only 95 YTL.

Lacey "holding the clothes" at the dressing room (she's underneath the pile!)

We ate a late lunch at Tapa Tapa Tapas. Leave it to us to go to another Mexican-style restaurant and have tapas for lunch (should be called meze here, not tapas!) It was great. I tried some of Nancy's anchovies on a type of bruschetta and bread (first time except in Caesar salad dressing!) and it was better than I was expecting! Maren had a hot dog and french fries, though the hot dog came with sauce and "stuff" on it, so we had to do some scraping. She did discover though, that french fries are very good with mayonnaise on them. She scraped the mayonnaise cup clean. Ketchup and mayo are very popular here, and are often mixed together as well. Even McDonald's serves ketchup and mayo in packets with your meal, and they're much larger than in the US. Lacey had "3 Cheese Pasta" which turned out to be cheese tortellini with a cream sauce, a good choice for her. Nancy had a pan-fried sole fillet with potatoes and a salad, and it looked so good and colorful. I had a Spanish omelet, which wasn't bad, it was just odd because the vegetables were a canned mix. It filled me up though, and I helped Lacey and Maren with their food and was stuffed by the end. We all had buz (booz), too! Ice, not liquor.

One store we visited had many traditional blue eye trinkets and porcelain animals, so the girls picked out some souvenirs/decorations for their rooms. We also saw first-hand the tradition of piling coins in the corner of the shop to bring good luck. A tripping hazard and liability in one country is a good luck charm in another. The owner gave both of the girls a small blue eye bead and wished them well. I'll have to do a separate entry on the blue eye thing to fill in the details.


We took a taxi home...the first taxi ride for the girls ever (if you leave out the 5 block taxi van in Puerta Vallarta). They were pretty excited and the driver was, too, after Nancy explained to him that it was their first ride in a taxi. He asked for a copy of the photo and he gave us a phone number to call for a man at the university that has "the internet". What a sweet guy.

---

Brian and Lacey went to see the premiere of the ballet "Giselle" tonight with Tim and his daughter Meggie, and Paul, Becky, Emma, and Catherine and a friend of theirs from the UK. Details are here: Article about the premiere. The report: the stage was small (5 marley floors wide) and the theatre just below the level of the Pantages in Tacoma. Besides it being way too hot in the balcony (every indoor place here is over-heated already, then add to that the upper balcony heat collecting and you get some sweaty ballet-watchers), they enjoyed the show and the outing. Lacey danced out Giselle's part for me at home, including explaining how every time a boy asked her for something she looked away and held up her hand (in a kind of "talk to the hand" gesture). She showed me with her usual dramatic flair and it was fun to watch the re-enactment. They have a rule here that no children under the age of 8 are allowed at shows in this theater after 8 PM, so Maren couldn't go. After hearing this she declared she didn't want to go anyway!
From Left, Tim and daughter Meggie, Becky, Friend from UK, Catherine (attends Oasis, too), Emma (attends TED), Paul, Lacey, and Brian.

Friday, October 24 "Fall Carnival"

The Fall Carnival was at Oasis this evening. Each grade came up with a game or activity, families brought foods from their "home countries" for an International Cafe, and it was general mayhem in the school as all the families piled in to eat and play. I baked chocolate chip cookies for the cafe after many deliberations about what to bring...and couldn't resist after I came across some chocolate chips at Migros the other day. They were good!


Brian and Lacey helped run the Bottle Knock-Down in the third grade classroom while Maren, Aeden and I tried some of the fare in the International Cafe. Maren found plenty of desserts to sample, and Aeden gave it his all trying to eat Turkish Lentil Balls. He took a bite, took another bite, and then tried another bite but stopped and just gave a shiver. I tasted it; it was pretty spicy hot! He then settled on a miniature herb omelet thing, and I ended up getting him two more, he liked them so much. It was cool to see all the dishes from around the world and know that they were representing students actually at the school.


Then I had a turn running the Bean Bag Toss for the K5 class. Maren didn't think much of helping, so it was mostly me. My legs were getting quite sore after walking up to the school and then squatting to pick up bean bags and talk to the kids as I marked off their ticket cards. Lacey and Maren were so excited for the carnival that I think they were a little disappointed, but they had fun. All it takes is a little face paint and it completes an event for those two.

Lacey at limbo and Aeden trying his hand at basketball

We found out today that Kim is going home to the US. Brian is very disappointed and frustrated that the exchange didn't work better for her. Kim's home district essentially fired the exchange teacher, so Kim is on her way back to teach at her home school. It makes me realize how tenuous a situation an exchange can be, and so grateful that Brian has been assigned to such a supportive department at TED. So many things seem to conspire against an exchange being successful it is a wonder that they even happen.

Thursday, October 23 "Explorations Down 36 Cadde and Copa with Kim"


Aeden and I ventured down 36 Cadde ("jah-deh" is street) today toward the local produce market area to look around more. We stopped at Arjantin Kebap for lunch on the way and had our first solo Turkish restaurant meal. We made it through! The waiter brought Aeden a highchair and set the tray with a paper placemat, fork and spoon, and brought him his own salad (on a porcelain plate). Aeden totally loved it, since he's having a good time experimenting with forks, the salad was mostly chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, and I think Aeden would live on tomatoes alone right now if he was allowed to do so.

I had a Doner Pide ("donair peedeh") (point and grunt method with the menu of course), and it was excellent, especially with the tomato salsa-like sauce they served along with it. So this brings me to the doner discussion I've thought about over and over! In Halifax and around Nova Scotia donairs were on signboards right along with sub sandwiches and donuts...that is, they were very popular and we didn't even know what they were. Mom and I went into a donair shop at some point and asked what a donair was. The response? A sandwich with meat and "donair sauce". Essentially a gyro after seeing them making them, and "donair sauce" similar (or the same as) tzatziki sauce. We've yet to spy any tzatziki sauce with the pide and doners here, but I felt so "ahead of the game" already knowing what a doner/donair was! And to think I learned it in Halifax, Nova Scotia first!


After we ate, we ventured on to the market area. I wanted to see if Thursday was a market day, and to see what the other stuff in the area was. I was pleased :-)

There is a Cagdas (Chah-dahsh) store just around the corner from the market (near the intersection of 36 and 37 Cadde...don't think that streets are numbered parallel to each other, or that it means any kind of East/West or North/South orientation...not much of a grid or intuitive naming of streets of any kind...). Without a Turkish keyboard I can't really spell things correctly, but the C and s have "tails" which make them like ch and sh and the g has the little u on top so it is silent. Anyway...

Cagdas had almost the same variety in groceries as Migros, but different things. And they had zipper plastic bags! They're not real ziplocs, but closer than produce bags. And they even have Mickey Mouse on them! Then we ventured across the street and found a Grocery Outlet-style store (Bim), a variety store (Tansas) which had alarm clock radios finally, and another grocery store (Meshur Peynirci). I see service buses for Meshur Peynirci all the time, so it was nice to see where they were coming from. Lots of stores, about the same distance as Migros but a much
calmer walk, plus the produce market and bazar on Sundays. A good find!

As I was getting dinner ready, Kim (a Fulbright Exchange teacher from near Chicago) stopped by and asked if I wanted to go to "Jah-pah" and get some Schlotsky's Deli food for dinner with her. Brian and I looked at each other and said, "I don't know what Jah-pah is or where, but sure." So I handed off dinner preparations to Brian and headed out the door with Kim just a few minutes later. If only I had taken a shower and washed my hair earlier today...

Copa ("Jah-pah") is yet another mall, and is fairly close, a 12-13 YTL cab ride. As we were driving off in the cab from the front of our building I admitted to Kim that this was the first time I was leaving the building without the stroller and Aeden! She was surprised at how I knew the streets in the area, but my walking has started to pay off. We ended up having Mexican food for dinner at the mall, at El Torito Express. Not too bad! I learned that chicken on a menu is tavuklu, but when you buy it at the grocery store it is pilic. One or two words at a time,
right?


And a Happy Mole Day to those who know the mole! (6.02 x 10 to the 23rd is the number of particles in a mole of a substance...so October 23rd, and especially 6:02 AM, is a very special day in chemistry classrooms around the world).

Wednesday, October 22 "Turk Telekom, continued"

The Turk Telekom guy showed up and hooked up the phone yesterday, so we're one step closer to our own internet connection. Today was a catch-up day from all the excitement of yesterday, with nothing really going on.

Tuesday, October 21 "Turk Telekom"

Our phone line (and DSL) is supposed to be installed today. I went out this morning to purchase a phone, and got a call at about 9:30 to make sure I would be home at noon. I had planned to be there from 1:00 to 5:00 as Brian had told me, but noon would be fine. I found a phone, some other goodies (I decided to walk over to Migros again), and got back at 10:00 or so to find a note from Turk Telekom on the door with the time marked as 9:45. Hmm. It is now 12:25, and I'm wondering if we missed our chance for today or what...it is not like I can understand what the note from the door says!

I have been struggling with what to do with all the school papers and things without any file drawers or boxes, so today I picked up a 3-tier plastic storage caddy thinking that Brian, Lacey, and Maren could at least have a basket each and their papers could accumulate there instead of on the coffee and dining room tables. Aeden was VERY interested in helping me to assemble it, and once there were two baskets stacked onto the casters he thought I had just assembled the best toy ever. He pushed it around the house for a good 20 minutes, and then I showed him how he could put toys in it and push those around and he went for another 20 minutes again! Here's the serious work (also known as Aeden training to be a mail clerk...):

Monday, October 20 "As yet unknown"

I think this was the worst day I've had here. I had no motivation to do anything. So I slept a long time and got frustrated with Aeden, and then took the kids to the playground after Lacey and Maren got home. The day had started with the girls almost missing the bus in the morning, Aeden wouldn't take his normal morning nap, and I was struggling through getting our Qwest account set up for online access so I can pay our home phone bill and internet (Ayse is paying us) from here. Let us just say that for an internet provider, Qwest has a long way to go in terms of being able to do things purely online, and I used almost an entire 100 credit phone card retrieving passcodes via my home voicemail and such and still do not have a functional account set up. Frustrating.

It was fun when we went to our building's playground (even closer than the one in the earlier photos...just on the other side of the building so we didn't see it earlier). I met Rosie's mom and chatted with her. She said that when Jenny saw Lacey and Maren at the playground that afternoon that she said, "Mommy, my friends are at the park!" I'm hopeful that the four of them will hit it off nicely.

The perk for the day is that Brian went to Turk Telekom with Mustafa this afternoon to arrange our phone and DSL service, and also brought back some very tasty Turkish foods for dinner. More to come on that, as I don't know the names of them yet!

Also, Lacey did a very thoughtful thing. She has Library on Mondays, and she brought home a book for me. She said that the books that she's allowed to check out are too long for her to read in one week while she's reading "Inkheart" (a long book she's been working on since just before we left for Ankara). So she got this for me...and handed me "Anne of The Island", book 3 in the Anne of Green Gables series I had started reading before I went to Prince Edward Island. It was perfect, as I had just finished "A Wrinkle In Time" the night before and was literally sitting there wishing I had something else to read (I've not completely exhausted our supply, but none seemed quite right to get started on).

**********
The details on our Turkish foods: They were from Cetinkaya Firini and included manti (very small tortellini-like stuffed pasta), su boregi (literally "water pastry", this is a savory layered pasta kind of like lasagna, but flakier on top and bottom, and with Turkish cheese in the middle and no red sauce--here's some info http://www.yogurtland.com/2006/02/22/su-boregi-water-pastry/), and karakoy boregi (pastry from Karakoy, two-bite sized, savory cheese-filled little pastries almost like baclava).

The bonus part was that Mustafa told Brian exactly what to do for the sauces for the manti. We had it for dinner on Tuesday, with the tomato paste sauce and garlic yogurt sauces, and all sprinkled with dried mint. I never would have used the mint on my own, but it was great. (And the fresh-made manti was so much better than the dried grocery-store brand we had tried already!)

Sunday, October 19 "Refrigerator Upgrade"
The refrigerator has been opening on the wrong side since we've been here, facing the wall and window instead of opening into the room and close to the counter. Brian and I had been talking about switching the doors and had scoped out the project but hadn't done it yet. Today was the day.

Afterward we each got to laugh at ourselves as we kept trying to open the doors on the wrong side. Over and over! Even Aeden when it was time to grunt and point was on the wrong side of the door. Amazing that the habit could be formed so quickly and so strongly.

Brian went off to the local market with Paul and found the key shop. We've only had one set of keys to the apartment and Brian's office so we were eager to have duplicates made. Brian came back and we all set off for more keys and to show me where the market is. It is surprisingly close and easy to get there, so that is very nice to know. Small change will be the key next time, because getting change back from a vendor is not that easy...even if you're only paying with a 10 YTL note. They'll urge you to buy more or other produce from them until you give in. This market has a lot of housewares and some clothing and things on the edges on Sundays, and looked like it could provide some good wandering time.

On the way home Lacey was very tired, so we stopped at Domino's Pizza for some "cheesy breadsticks" and "cheese 'n roll" (which was served with "Meksika sosla"--Mexican Sauce), complete with Fanta Portokal (Orange Fanta). Much better fare than any Domino's I've had in the US.

*****
And I forgot...we bought "the best" pistachio baklava from (no joke) Baklavaci Hacibaba at Armada on Saturday but left it in Mustafa's car on accident. He brought it to us on Sunday and we loved it. Now you have to know the pronunciation in Turkish in order to understand why I say "no joke", but the phonetic spelling in English would be Bak-luh-vah-chee Hah-chee-bah-bah. Anyway, we had fun with the tongue twister around the dinner table.

Some labeling on the box was also curious, "Please do not put your baklava in refrigerator. Warm it in cold weather, carry your parcel flat." I'm understanding more now why people go crazy for baklava...good baklava is great!

Saturday, October 18 "Art Show"

Mustafa took us to see his wife's art on display at an art show and cultural fair put on by the Junior Chamber International Ankara chapter at the TOBB Ekonomi Teknoloji Universitesi. There were booths outside from lots of different countries with sample foods and tourist information, as well as traditional Turkish foods and samples from different companies (like Cola Turka, Sutlac rice pudding cups, bottled water samples, etc.) and live music on the lawn in the center of the courtyard.

Lacey was very excited to see some pastries at the Iran booth that she had tried at school and wanted to have some of those, so Mustafa struck up a conversation with the attendants at the booth while Lacey and Maren sampled the pastries. After we were walking away, one of the attendants ran over to us with DVDs of tourist information about Iran, and ensured us that it was in English. He was very friendly and seemed eager to please. It was a nice encounter to remind us that people are people, even when politics at the international level are not in agreement.

Then the foods at the Moldavia booth caught the eyes of the girls and we tried some there too. It was a beautiful display on very low (18 inches or so) tables of different pastries and dishes. Brian and I agreed that it was wonderful for Mustafa to bring us to the event, as we would not have even known it was happening otherwise, let alone how to get there.

Belma (Mustafa's wife) had a number of paintings on display in an indoor area, along with another artist who does traditional ebru painting. Balma's paintings were very neat to look at from the various years, with different colors from different periods, and all of them engaging. Some sea- and city-scapes, a lighthouse, and many others with brilliant color combinations.
Ayse had told me about "marble painting" and how it was very popular here, so I was excited to see some finished pieces and even more excited to see that the artist was doing demonstrations of the method as well. Lacey and Maren were fascinated, and Aeden even watched on with interest as well. Some photos will best illustrate...

We also got to see a traditional Turkish dessert being prepared and then have some, too! Aeden looked on and played with his current favorite wheeled toy...a BMW SUV from the Carrefour near our house.

Künefe: very thin noodles in two layers, with a layer of cheese in the middle, served hot and drowning in sweet butter syrup. Very tasty!

We also toured the gym that we have membership to through TED (it is on the college campus where the art show was). It has a swimming pool and the kids area has miniature workout equipment that is the cutest ever...a rowing machine, a treadmill, everything, but in primary colors and about 1/3 size of the norm. So I'm pretty sure we'll be figuring out how to get here on our own.

From there we headed back to Office 1st for more supplies, and then to Real for groceries and shopping. Here we finally found some plastic bowls and cups (porcelain dishes and tile floors make moms nervous!), slippers for the girls, some glass mixing/serving bowls, and all kinds of that stuff. Halfway through, I asked Brian if he had given Aeden a mandarin orange...Aeden was about 1/4 of the way into eating one, peel and all. Well, no, but Aeden had just helped himself. What a crook! We filled our cart and got some produce and frozen foods and were tired out.

In the produce area you gathered the items you wanted and then took them to a scale area where one man tended three deli-style scales which printed the price tags. It was a pretty fluid process and I imagine that having one attendant memorizing PLU codes for produce and running three scales at once could make sense in keeping the checkout lanes (of which there were 30+) moving swiftly. He was very busy and usually had a mob of people gathered around to squeeze their melon or bag of tomatoes onto a scale, just as a Saturday afternoon at the grocery store should be.

Friday, October 17 "Blake and Eli's Birthday Party, The Atrium, and Pizza at Paul's"
Maren was invited to go to Blake and Eli's (a pair of friends in Maren's K5 class) Birthday party after school, so I met her and Lacey at Oasis, walked her to the party, and got some advice on finding "a group of stores somewhere up here on the hill" from Eli's mom. She assumed I meant the Atrium, and that seemed just as good as anything to fill the time for Lacey and me, so we headed off (back to the school, take a right on that road, then go left, then go right--I'm getting more used to those kind of directions and figured that we had to kill some time anyway...).

We found it, and had a ball browsing the aisles of our first MakroMarket. It is about the same size as the Carrefour Express right near our house, but had a better produce area and a different mix and prices on other things. And we found Turkish peanut butter for only 3.45 YTL per jar! I bought 3 jars :-) After paying 10 YTL for Jif I had to celebrate not needing to be so stingy with the peanut butter! Lacey recognized a drink, Link, that she had seen someone at school drinking with their lunch and wanted to try some. Doritos and Ruffles were cheaper here. It was great!

But then the real find of the day: pocket folders! I learned from Miss Newcomer on the walk to the party that the pocket folders that we had purchased were not even available in Turkey until last year, and that that is probably why there was the confusion. We had purchased what we know as pocket folders, but "pocket folders" here means a plastic envelope with a snap closure. So Lacey and Maren had the wrong type of folders and this was causing daily comments about when we would ever find real pocket folders.

We saw a little toy and "fotokopi" store and investigated and after the clerk sorted through just about everything he had, polled the customers for someone who spoke English (found one, but that still didn't help), and finally...he produced a pocket folder with Woody Woodpecker on it and we all celebrated. Lacey was ecstatic, but I then learned that she didn't know who Woody Woodpecker is. Whoa. We picked out 4 folders for Lacey and 2 for Maren, some envelopes ("zart"), and some Turkish flag pins to add to their pin collections. What a find for this tiny little store!
We waited back at Oasis for Maren to come back after the party...here she is with the other party-goers:



We walked home to meet up with Brian for pizza and movies at Paul and Becky's house. Paul and Becky (and their daughters Catherine, 8th grade, and Emma, 11th grade) arrived in Ankara the same day we did, but came from England. Paul is teaching English at TED, Catherine goes to Oasis, and Emma goes to TED. Tim and his wife (forgive me, the Turkish name and spelling are eluding me), along with their daughters, Meggie and Lizzie (about 8 and 5), were there for movie night too. Tim is from England as well, but they've lived here for years. It was fun to sit and chat and hear English expressions being used, like "Crikey".

Paul has an upstairs like we do, but instead of two bedrooms it is just a giant open space...so there is a 20 foot blank wall for the projector to make a pretty good movie night. The kids watched Monsters, Inc., the adults chatted and played Phase 10 (a card game), and I switched between the two with Aeden as he explored. Tim commented that Lizzie had never been to a cinema yet, and couldn't believe the movie on the wall. Let the hypnosis begin!

We had Domino's Pizza delivered and discovered a "typical" Turkish pizza: Mozzarella peyniri (mozzarella cheese), pepperoni, sosis (sausage), misir (corn), mantar (mushroom), and yesil biber (green pepper). We set a new record and stayed up until 9:45 PM!

Thursday, October 16 "Rosie and Jenny"
We met Rosie and Jenny today at the play area between our two buildings after school. They attend TED, their mom's Turkish, and their dad's English and teaches at TED. They are just the cutest...listening to the British accent coming out of 6 and 8 year olds is quite entertaining. Jenny found a "ladybird" on the slide and was utterly engaged by it and by protecting it from the other girls. It was adorable. I hope to see them again and to meet their parents soon.

While the kids were playing another little boy, about kindergarten-age, came over as if to play also. But he only pulled out his notebook and drew, using the bench as a table, then packed up his notebook and left. I wonder if he was too scared or too intimidated by the screaming pack of little girls, or if they excluded him somehow without even doing anything obvious enough for me to catch.

Maren created an "Americal Girl" style pajama ensemble this evening and set up the couch for a pose:

Wednesday, October 15 "Exploring"
Aeden and I had a big day exploring today. We walked back over the freeway bridge to go to Migros, but it wasn't open yet (opens at 9 AM apparently), so we HAD to stop next door at McDonald's for some hotcakes. While we were there eating, I heard a group of 3 people talking amongst themselves in English, so I interrupted and asked if they knew where a cash machine was in the area. Indeed they did, so I followed their directions (which included crossing one of the giant, crazy roundabouts) and wandered around a bit in search of a cash machine. I found lots all in a row, and the first one I tried worked, so I was feeling much better about things. (Brian's card had some fraudulent use on it and his card wouldn't work on Saturday when we had tried it...because the bank canceled the card and we hadn't gotten in touch with them yet to know the whole story).

I wandered a little further just to see what was there and stopped in a linens store to see if they had any padded mattress covers (the bed still feels like a floor to me...). After going to the display bed, pulling up the sheets and pantomiming a thick cover on the mattress, no luck. But the older man who was working seemed to enjoy having visited Aeden. Nearly everyone oohs and aahs over him and gives him a little rub under the chin. He's a great ice breaker to have around :-)

I crossed back over the crazy roundabout and decided to keep exploring a bit before heading back to Migros. There is a street with boutique stores along both sides running out behind Migros, so I kept walking and walking and just observing things. I think I'll need a guide if I decide to actually purchase any clothing at any of those stores, as there is a window, a dressed mannequin, couches, and a salesperson. No racks of clothes, no other models to browse. Very intimidating for a scavenger shopper like me, who would prefer to look through the boxes of shoes over having a person fitting me, thank you.

We headed back over to Migros and I found socks for the girls, towels for the dining room chairs, and all kinds of carefully chosen junk that just filled, but didn't overflow, the basket on the stroller. And we found peanut butter! Good old Jif. I choked on the price, but couldn't leave it on the shelf. We headed home with our spoils and I was so proud that I had found an ATM, explored on my own, and made it back all in one piece. And the walk felt great.

We got home and I picked through my finds, cutting tags off towels and putting things away. This part of my shopping I think is my favorite, but it never seems to last long enough. I laid out the socks on the stairs for the girls to choose which ones they wanted, and had six pairs. Then I was putting the stroller back under the stairs and saw another pair of socks in the seat. I had paid for six pairs. Six is an even number, 3 pairs for each. Seven is an odd number. I didn't buy 7 pairs. That would make one kid get 4 and one only 3. Aeden apparently had a pair in the stroller with him and it didn't make it onto the checkout belt. He's a thief! I instantly remembered his pickpocket tendencies while we were waiting to board the Disney Cruise. He was in the stroller and just the right height to unzip and otherwise mess with people's suitcases and bags as they wheeled them along unsuspectingly...as far as I know he didn't make off with anything with those attempts though.

I'm SO GLAD we brought these...

• Cortaid...don't leave home without it! A mosquito has been harassing Lacey at night. And the only thing more annoying than an itchy bite is your kid complaining about an itchy bite!
  
• Commercial power transformer and US-plug power strip (thank you, David, for the power strip suggestion!)
  
• Drip water filter. Even though we aren't consuming the water, it is really nice to have clean water from a spigot for tooth brush rinsing and fruit/veggie cleaning. I don't know if I'd bring it again, but I sure do like having it here.
  
• Bamboo tongs
  
• Maple syrup
  

New additions to the list after further reflection (as of 2010-04-11):

• US measuring cups and spoons and a 2-cup liquid measuring cup (I never cooked so much from scratch as last year, and even though we were in Turkey--land of measuring with tea cups and coffee spoons--I was often using US recipes from the cookbook we brought (Joy of Cooking), meant-for-Americans Turkish cookbooks, or online recipes using standard US measures.)
  
• prescription medications for the year. You can get lots of stuff in the pharmacy over-the-counter, but they don't carry all the same medications as they do here. One of mine just happened to be available nearby...in Germany.
  
• Kids chewable Tylenol and Benadryl. No chewables there, only powder to mix with water or pills to swallow. No thanks.
  
• real Band-Aids. Their "plasters" are awful.
  
• pie plate. I think we could have found one, or something that could have semi-worked, but they don't make pies and we knew we'd want to share some with our new friends.
  

**Real sponges for cleaning are few and far between. The norm is the acrylic kind that just move stuff around without picking anything up and that slop water all over. Real ones were carried by Carrefour when we there, but I never saw any at Migros or Real.
**Soaps and lotions are all highly fragranced. We ended up using baby clothes detergent to get away from some of the heavy perfumes, but even that was scented.
**Neutrogena products are pretty readily available, even if they are expensive since they're imported. They're a good brand to use while learning which Turkish products you want to try or how to tell the difference between shampoo and conditioner, or depilatory cream. Hand Cream. Get some. At least if you're in Ankara. Everything outside (and often inside) is dusty and dirty and you're constantly washing your hands. Add to that the dry and cold weather and your hands are happy to have the hand cream.
**Second day we were there I bought a high-end Tefal nonstick frying pan and nice spatula at the Tefal store at the "fancy" mall. Best 100 YTL we spent in terms of keeping us in food without frustration. The lower end pans are the worst of the worst available here.
**Gloria Jeans is the best "Turkish" coffee chain, and they'll grind your coffee for a french press and bag it to take home (en paket). There's Starbucks, too, of course. But ground coffee in the grocery store is Turkish style, meant to be brewed loose in the coffee pot to make Turkish coffee. I don't know the flavor comparisons; I don't drink enough coffee to be able to compare. But Starbucks Frappucinos were nearly identical to US-born Frappucinos, except for the whipped cream, which simply tasted like Turkish milk/cream--which is not bad, just takes some getting used to.

We should have brought with us...

Things we realized we "should've" brought:
(Too long to really record, but nothing catastrophic so far)

• A good kitchen knife
  
• Vanilla
  
• School clothes for the girls (maybe if we would've received answers to my inquiries about uniforms this would've been possible...)
  
• More undershirts for Brian (hard to find clothes to fit Brian unless we went to Marks & Spencer, a British department store)
  
  Additions after our return:
  
• Dried basil, or any other spices or herbs you love and that will make you be able to prepare some "normal" meals sometimes. Pretty much could only get oregano, cumin, mint, cinnamon, hot red pepper (cayenne here), sweet red pepper (paprika here, but not the same at all), salt, black pepper, shredded dried coconut, maybe a few others. Whole nutmeg was available once at a full-size Carrefour. Fresh basil was available as plants sometimes, but that was the only time we had it.
  
• Brown sugar. The brown sugar in Turkey is hard and crystalline, not soft and melty like in the US. Brown sugar, good oatmeal (the standard is REALLY mushy like instant), vanilla extract, canned pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice were hot items at the commisary on base since you couldn't get them in the Turkish groceries.
  
• Anything special for birthday or holiday traditions. I really wanted to make some rye bread with my grandma's recipe and had to have the anise and fennel brought from California with Mustafa's daughter after her trip and package swap with Greg.
  

Tuesday, October 14 "Brian's Birthday"
We're mostly ready for the big day...the girls have chosen a gift at the grocery store, I know where to go for a cake, and Brian has left for school for the day. Let the preparations begin!

I went down the street to Seda Pasta & Bistro, a place Brian reported as being great for birthday cakes (in case I might need one) and which Mustafa pointed out as one of the best bakeries in Turkey. Sounds like a winner to me! (Though every time I see the sign all I can think of is Jack's Bistro on Three's Company...) It is very close to our apartment, but I didn't actually realize just how close until I walked there. Dangerously close it turns out. No English speakers were working, so I did some look-ups in my Turkish Dictionary and managed to request a "whole" birthday cake for "today" and ask the clerk to choose his "favorite". He pointed and tried to explain what was in it, and I finally just gave him my dictionary. "Pistachios." OK, sounds good.

I left my information with them, and agreed that I'd return at 2:00 to pick it up. Aeden was sleeping, and just as I was getting ready to wake him to go pick up the cake, our door bell rang and it was a delivery driver with the cake. I would've missed him if I had left on time! So the cake was here, so far, so good.

When the girls got home we made a banner for Brian, hung it in the doorway to the living room, wrapped his present, and Lacey concocted a surprise greeting plan for when Brian arrived. Again, having that entry buzzer and then an elevator ride warning is pretty handy!

We had our first big walk out of the neighborhood to go to McDonald's to celebrate, which includes a walk over a freeway overpass and crossing some busier roads. We had talked to the girls about it and they decided the wanted to try it (oh, the allure of McDonald's...), so off we went. Lacey got pretty scared on the overpass and Brian carried her part of the way, but we made it and it will be much easier next time now that we've done it.

So we celebrated with Ronald, Brian tried a McTurco sandwich, and the peach iced tea passed Maren's sweet tea test. Success!




We made the trek back home, it was so windy the trees were leaning sideways, and it started raining. But we had cake to get home to, so it was all worth it! Here's Brian with his "pasta" from Seda (a chocolate-but-not-too-chocolatey pistachio layered cake), and again with his present...a Heroes comic book in Turkish! Heroes "bolum 1" straight from our grocery store, wrapped in racing motorcycle bookcover paper. The girls were so excited to find it.




Happy 17-Month Birthday to Aeden, too!"

Monday, October 13 Monday, Monday...
The school bus was late this morning. I had literally said to the girls, "We'll wait one more minute," and then it pulled up. Seems it had a fender bender earlier in the route. Just keep it to fender benders only, and I'll be glad.

Aeden and I cleaned up the apartment from the weekend and that's about it. I surfed again for recipes to try and decided to give Vegetarian Eggplant Stew a try. It was pretty tasty, though none of the kids liked it this time. Oh well.

Sunday, October 12 "What did we do today?"
We went grocery shopping, played at the park, and just hung out for a weekend day. Brian worked on slides for school.

I made rice pilaf from memory of my mom's version with butter browned spaghetti pieces, but they have vermicelli pasta here (Tel Sehriye %100 durum bugdayindan uretilmistir), so I used that. The girls loved it (who wouldn't like butter-laden pasta and rice?). Aeden. He pulled his usual carb-avoidance and didn't touch it until he had eaten every other slice of tomato or pomegranate seed within view first. But then he ate some.

And I finished my first book here, one Kaye had sent along with me. "So Many Enemies, So Little Time" by Elinor Burkett. I never would've read it without her suggesting it, and certainly never would have made the time to read it at home. I enjoyed it a lot. And I think it has been at least 5 years since I've read an entire (grown up) book in only 2 weeks! I started reading "A Wrinkle In Time" (Nancy loaned it to Lacey, but I've never read it either!). I like reading books :-) Maybe I can make a new habit that lasts when we come back to Washington, too. Feels good.

Hangers!

And, I forgot the big news from Saturday morning! The Tekzen (hardware and household store) in our neighborhood received a shipment of plastic hangers! Yay! Maren and I snatched up 4 packages for my room and two packages of pretty purple ones for Lacey and her, and were on our way. I had been looking and watching since we arrived and there were only wooden hangers at 9 YTL per 3 hangers...and I wanted 4 dozen, so I wasn't going to pay that.

I had no idea how good it would feel to hang up my clothes and finally be completely unpacked. Hangers. Something I definitely took for granted at home.

Saturday, October 11 "Produce Market and Cherry's Birthday Party"

Mustafa took us shopping today, and we arranged our excursion to include the birthday party time so Lacey would have a ride to and from the party place. What a day!

First Mustafa came up to our apartment to see it. He said he was glad to see it and that it was much better than other teachers had had in the past. I'm glad there's an entry buzzer and a long elevator ride up to the 11th floor...gives warning to clean up a bit before a visitor can pop in! He brought us a bottle of Turkish wine and apologized that he hadn't been able to welcome us earlier but he had been out of town in Antalya. He is quite the gentleman.

We piled into his car and headed off to a produce market. Honestly, we'd been hearing all about the wonderful, cheap produce in Turkey and only seen overpriced, not-top-quality produce at our grocery store. Well, the market changed our impressions completely. Gigantic mushrooms, cabbages, melons, pomegranates, and things we'd never seen before. Mustafa insisted we taste anything before buying, so Brian and the kids got lots of samples of our choices, which all turned out to be wonderful (except one kind of beautiful Turkish turnip that ended up being so spicy that I had to give Lacey a cracker from my stash to clear her palette). Some photos will help illustrate:






We loaded up the stroller basket as heavy as ever with a couple kilograms of this and a kilo of that. We got broccoli, tomatoes (the best I've ever had), tiny green oranges, Turkish bananas, pomegranates (at 1 YTL per kilo!), a big melon similar to canteloupe (best name I've found so far is "Turkish melon"), and the big discovery of the day: quinces. The kids all loved the samples and wanted more, so we brought home 2 kilograms of them and they've been munching on them since. Brian baked some as well, so I was able to taste them, and they've become the "new thing" to spot at the grocery store. The baked ones were quite tasty with some vanilla ice cream. Yum!

After the produce market we went to D & R Bookstore to find some birthday presents (for Cherry today, and then Maren has a birthday party to go to on the 16th!). We found some books and stopped for tea and a rest with Mustafa. Aeden enjoyed some lemon slices, and for any of you who remember "the lemon photos" of Lacey at Red Robin from long ago, these might just strike a chord:




We dropped Lacey off for the party, and went to Meshur Konyali Kebap for lunch. Mustafa had prepped us that he would choose the meat so it wasn't too fatty, and that we would order by the gram, so 110-175 grams was good for Brian to order. I ordered 100 grams and it was just about right. Again, I was so hungry and glad to be sitting down to a meal someone else had made that it was delicious. But it really was delicious. The meat was prepared in a tandir oven and was very moist and tasty, much like pulled pork without sauce, or pot roast. Later on I learned it was lamb: another "first" to add to my list. This is Mustafa's favorite kebap restaurant and they knew him well...no menus, just lots of food! It was wonderful, and Aeden ate so much he was about ready to pop. Even Maren gave it a try and discovered that the meat was pretty tasty, though not as tasty as the desserts Mustafa ordered for her :-)

---

And of course there was Cherry's birthday party, at YA-PA Oyunevi (http://www.ya-pa-oyunevi.com), a cross between Chuck E. Cheese's and Hands On Children's Museum.

Cherry is the princess with pink eyeshadow in the middle, and to her right is Annie, in the floral print shirt. Looks like the kids all had a good time! Lacey brought home a light blue balloon on a stick, which was fun. It said "welcome baby boy" in Turkish on it. Best to pass those extra ones off on the foreigners :-)

Friday, October 10 "Water Delivery"
Big adventure for today so far has been having water delivered. I was going to call yesterday but realized I didn't even know what to tell them for my address, let alone to communicate that I wanted 3 jugs instead of 2. So Brian brought our magnet with the phone number to school and has someone call for us. At 8:30 the buzzer rang and I let the water delivery guy in. He brought 3!

The people are nearly insane about having clean shoes and not wearing their shoes inside homes. The water delivery guy puts on little blue shower cap baggies over his shoes before coming into the apartment. Everyone's shoes are sparkling and shiny, and appear to be brand new. Except the foreigners of course. Look at the shoes and you can tell if they're from here or Europe/America. We're so sloppy in comparison.

The other thing about the shoes is that they are super pointy. Even the men's shoes narrow themselves into tiny points, so much so that they extend in front of the foot and don't even touch the ground in many cases. Brian just laughed and said, "never me."

We brought a big drip water filter with a spigot, but it turns out that we shouldn't even use that to cook with because of the heavy metals in the water that the filter does not remove. So we have it in the bathroom as our "faucet" for brushing teeth and washing fruits and vegetables, and then use bottled water for everything else. Aeden has already discovered what good drums the empty jugs make and to bring a cup from the cupboard over to the water ug when he's thirsty, with a little 17-month-old "point and grunt" request for some water. What a smarty pants!

Maren had Egg Day at school today and she had to bring a hard-boiled egg to class. They did some relays and activities, and then colored them. Here she is showing off her egg, outside and inside, too!




Last night I got the TV bug and tried to hook up our TV (Kim--another Fulbright exchange teacher--had loaned us a Turkish DVD of Season 1 of The Office, in English with Turkish subtitles). Aeden found the remotes in no time flat, and had the TV on all afternoon today on the single channel we receive. It was some kind of talk show with cued laughter and applause...somewhat Northwest Afternoon-like. Once our residence permits are approved we can apply for phone service, internet, and cable. One step at a time still.

Thursday, October 9 "Maren's Broken Nose"
7:55 Waiting for the school bus
8:05 Wave goodbye to the girls and head upstairs
8:25 Answer my phone, "Hello Mrs. Wright, this is Mrs. Martin at Oasis. Maren has managed to fall down and land on her nose first, and it is pretty swollen, you might want to have her looked at in case anything is broken. She's starting to calm down a bit now."
8:30 Walking up the hill as fast as I can to go check out Maren. Where do I take her to be "looked at"? How do I get there? Oh my.
9:00 Maren sitting calmly in the office with a big purple fat lip. She's doing pretty good, not crying anymore at all, but there's dried blood on her nose and a little on her shirt and sweater. I push on her nose all over the place and she doesn't scream, so I figure she's going to be OK (it is not noticeably crooked or anything). Her teeth and gums don't hurt. So I sit with her a little bit, then we clean her up the rest of the way and I bring her back to her classroom.

I went back home wondering if I'd get another call to come pick up Maren, but it never came. She showed up in the afternoon on the bus as usual and was fine. Later on I had Brian check out her nose and we agreed that it might be broken, but it was not crooked, she was breathing fine through both sides, and her eyes were not black, so it was doubtful that a visit to the doctor would result in anything. Brian's broken his nose a few times in martial arts sparring, so he's been through the drill.

Lacey came home with a birthday party invitation for Saturday for "Cherry", a little girl from South Korea. That should be interesting.

I ironed. I haven't ironed in a few years. On the rare occassions that Brian has had to wear a tie, he's just worn a freshly laundered and pressed shirt, and I've just had them laundered again to avoid the cleaning and pressing myself. Few clothes of mine need to be ironed, and if they do, I just don't wear them. So anyway, I reintroduced myself to "up for steam" "cotton" and "de-mineralized water only" notations in Turkish and got Brian squared away with a shirt and undershirt for Friday straight from our drying rack. How handy I am! Maybe the maid will come sooner than later...

Brian committed his first known Turkish faux pas with his department head. Mustafa invited us to go shopping on Saturday and see some of the city, and Brian responded back that it sounded great, let him check with his wife and get back to him. Mustafa said, "No, let's get this decided now". Asli said something to Mustafa in Turkish, and then he said to Brian, "OK, you let me know tomorrow." Brian and I both wondered exactly what Asli said, and we had to chuckle. Imagine, a husband conferring with his wife before making plans!

Wednesday, October 8 "Armenian Lentils"
The morning routine is more routine and we got everyone off to the buses without drama. Aeden and I went back to the police station with the same man from TED as Monday, and we spent 2 hours waiting around, signing something, waiting around more, signing something else, and then finally we left.

Aeden has been enjoying wearing the scarf Ayse's mother made and that Ayse gave to me before leaving for Turkey. It has little coins on the edges that jingle when he runs around. He completed his ensemble today with Lacey's swim goggles. Oh my.



I spent the rest of the day surfing recipes online to figure out something to make with lentils besides lentil soup with tomatoes. I laughed when I realized that I should just go to a Pullman "Lentil Capital of the World" website, or remember back to the lentil festival and remember the lentil chili, pancakes, cakes, and burritos that people were selling. Hmm. I found a recipe for Armenian Lentils and chose that. When Brian got home it was cooking and I felt pretty on top of things. We liked it; Aeden liked it (ate 3 servings of it!); but the girls wouldn't touch it. It was basically lentils and bulgur with caramelized onions and toppings of lemon juice, plain yogurt, and green onions. Pretty tasty after plain white rice the night before.

And finally, some pictures of our apartment. More to come, but here are the highlights (after the cleaners came of course :-)
Entry stairs

Dining Area

Kitchen (yep, that's the whole thing!)

Living Room
(we've rearranged furniture now,
but this is off to the right of the dining area
in one large space)

Tuesday, October 7 "The Cleaners"
First day to catch the bus in the morning and ride without mom and dad. They told us to be in front of our building at 7:55, but the bus shows up pretty regularly at 8:10. No big deal. When I say "bus", it really is a glorified van with "Okul Transiti" on the back, "school bus". And a big red stop sign, "Dur". I got them onto the right one and headed inside, perpetually in fear that I've lost the key to our apartment, or dropped it down the elevator shaft since there's a good two inch gap between the car and the shaft when we get in on the 11th floor.

Anyway, Tuesday the cleaners came. Five people with TED uniform shirts on came into the apartment and cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned. They were here for 3 hours! First Aeden and I stayed in the living room while they cleaned upstairs, then we stayed in Lacey's room while they cleaned downstairs. It felt like forever. But they did all the floors, fixtures, dusted everything, and cleaned the windows inside and out and scrubbed the balcony floors. At one point one of the men was balancing hanging out of our window to wash the outside of the neighboring windows. I couldn't watch. I figure it is as clean as it is ever going to be unless we hire a maid...maybe later :-)

Brian got his teaching assignment and schedule today. He will be teaching 4 classes of 10th grade pre-IB and 1 class of 11th grade IB. At a first glance, it appears that the 10th grade pre-IB curriculum is analogous to his first semester and the 11th grade IB class is analogous to his second semester curriculum. Students take about 10 classes per semester, and each meets 4 times per week (two 45 minute classes and one 90 minute lab or test period). There are 1965 students in the high school at TED, and 180 teachers. I haven't visited the school yet, but I will at some point I'm sure. It is a 20 YTL cab ride to get there. (YTL is "New Turkish Lira" and is roughly 1.00-1.40 USD right now).

Monday, October 6 "First Day of School"
Time for school! We all got dressed, ate breakfast (odd little beef sausage patties (some kind of Kofte) and eggs, with bread and raspberry jam), and got ready to go. We sent Brian off to his bus stop looking handsome in a tie and sportcoat (a shirt and pants, too) and his briefcase. I loaded up all the supplies into the stroller, got Aeden loaded up too, and handed the girls their own bags to carry with the paper towels and tissue boxes to carry. We set off on our walk up the hill. The stroller was a bit too heavy to be easy to maneuver on the cracked sidewalks and enormous curbs, so it was quite a challenge pushing it. But we made it, and it was cool outside since it was still morning.

When we arrived at the school there were already many children playing on the basketball court (the meeting area for the K-5 kids in the morning). I found a teacher and introduced the girls and a little blond and blue-eyed girl exclaimed, "You're Lacey? You're in my class!" and then the chattering took off from there. She's Annie from Kentucky, with a little sister, Emma, in kindergarten. She started running off to bring other girls back to meet Lacey, and then some boys too. It was pretty cute. I stayed with the girls until it was time to line up, snapped some pictures, and headed off back down the hill to our apartment, exhausted.

Maren's officially in kindergarten! Her class is called "K5" and her teacher is Miss Newcomer. We laughed. Lacey's teacher is Miss Sneed. I got home and played with Aeden for a while, and he took a nap, so I did too. I got a call that I would be picked up to go to the police station to file our paperwork for our Residency Permits ("they want to see the wife") and that they'd be here in about 20 minutes. So in a daze I grabbed a brochure from Oasis so we could be dropped off there after the trip, our passports, some snacks for Aeden, and we headed downstairs.

Brian showed up in a car with three other men in suits and I commented about how odd it was. He said, "Yeah, you'd think I was hanging out with my brother." I squeezed into the backseat with Aeden on my lap and we drove to the police station. A man from TED accompanied us, but he did not speak much English at all. So we grunted our way through and Brian got his paperwork squared away, but they wanted 4 pictures of each of us and to see birth certificates for the rest of us, and a marriage certificate for me. I hadn't brought my binder of all that stuff, so we'd have to come back.


We had them drop us off at Oasis, and waited the 15 minutes for school to get out so we could ride the bus home with the girls and show them how it worked for the next day. Here's Aeden waiting with us and going for a "ride" on the Oasis Lion Mascot outside the front door of the school. We made it home on the bus!
Miss Newcomer and Maren after school

Ms. Sneed and Lacey after school

Aeden discovered that he could find his nose and if he squeezes it, I say "honk!". The first time he tried it, he was patting his way down his face from his forehead on down to his nose, almost like a sobriety test. It was pretty funny. So we practiced squeezing each other's noses a lot today.
"Honk!" "Honk!"
Funny, but Daddy's nose honks when you squeeze it at dinner time, too!

Lacey's class had made her welcome cards, so she showed them all to me. They were very sweet. We talked through their adventures at lunch (there's not a "No Trading" policy like at Pioneer Elementary!), wearing slippers in class, and it being E week in K5. All was good for them.

Brian seemed to hit it off well with his department head, Mustafa (MOOS-tuh-fuh). He got him all excited about the prospect of bringing another ASM teacher here to do a materials science training for the TED teachers. ASM is the group that Brian has been working with the last two summers, so that would be really neat to bring the program here also. One of ASM's more senior titles is "Chemical Ambassador"...which seems like a title that could be within reach after setting up an international relationship for training. They're off to a good start, so that's a relief.

Mustafa (and Asli, who is his assistant) is the chemistry department head and also the head of the IB program here. He seems to be in the camp of always looking for improvemenets and reaching for more...which is good since it seems he may be receptive to Brian's different ways of doing things instead of expecting Brian to just become one of the herd.