day by day

Well, life has taken on a sort of rhythm here and we are having less to post about. We go to class, we go home and study, we lay on the couch and watch Micah be cute, and we go to bed.

We have been reflecting on some of the readings in our texts....I can't remember if I posted about them or not. It seems like most readings talk about a person who is a doctor and has a busy life but lives for the weekends. The weekends always include dancing and eating out with friends until early in the morning. It is interesting to have the opportunity to look at a culture from the outside as it helps look at your own. Rick and I have wondered, is that what most Americans do too? Just waiting for the weekends and the chance to let loose and party? Wouldn't it be so much better if each day was exciting in and of itself because it was a gift given with its own treasures? So, we're trying to keep our eyes more open to see what delights happen in between the weekends. And funnily enough, we seem to get our own dance party with Moo most nights. His best dance moves include endless circles that make him fall on his bum and quick stomping of the feet. A future on the stomp circuit?

One of our classmates from our first language class came to church with us today. What a special gift to discover that she has a similar background to us though she comes from Finland! I actually learned last week that there are many Michiganders with Finnish roots...similar climate I guess. It was great fun to reconnect with her and share stories of exploring the city. She will only be here through June, but how fun to have met her and developed a friendship in these early stages of getting rooted here.

I survived my first Turkish presentation and I have celebrated by reading 200 pages of an English novel by Clive Cussler, Shockwave. It is nice to read something fun in English to ease the language headaches. ;-)

Have a great week!

çok ödev var

This is the daily chorus for our language class, "Much homework we have!" This week I am to give a 20-30 minute presentation in Turkish about Michigan. Yikes! Searching the internet for appropriate photos has made me miss the gorgeous scenery of Michigan's coastline and forests. We will need to find more places like that. We did go to the Belgrade Forest a couple weeks ago and it was very pretty. Our friends claim it to be beautiful in the fall with the leaves changing. We have yet to see if it will match Michigan's grandeur. ;-) There was a beautiful lake that we walked around. More nature adventures needed!

Micah discovers the I-pod

Rumeli Palace

Well, this is my third time trying to post this message...so I may keep it short and add more later. We went and visited this castle last weekend. It was a beautiful day and the panorama was awesome. Micah tried to climb all the steps, but his nervous parents drew the line at the outer wall stairs. Too scary without railings! This was built in the late 1400s. Wild!

Tulip Festival

Wow...a river made out of tulips and grape hyacinth!

Beautiful flowers

Micah getting tickle time...the only way to guarantee a smile in front of flowers.

Easter comes late

It came a week late, but Micah got his Easter eggs in the mail and Mom and Dad ate all his candy. (choking hazards, you know). He played for an hour straight without even looking at us. It is amazing how big he is getting and independent. We can't believe it.

In our language class, we have 2 teachers-in-training. All three teachers love Micah....they dream about him and have photos of him on their cell phones that they show to their friends. It is crazy. (We took him to class on Tuesday for 10 minutes.) It is a borderline obsession. I'm sure our classmates are tired of hearing examples with Micah in them.

Today our teachers surprised one of our classmates with a birthday cake! Her b-day is on Sunday and they pooled together to get a cake and chai for the whole class. Wow! The cake had a sparkler and candles on it. Very fun. We all enjoyed a delicious reward to the end of a long week of cramming grammar. This week we had to learn 120+ adjectives and 150 verbs. Our minds are melting. Next week, we will have to start writing compositions. We've only been in class 10 days! It is exciting that we are recognizing more and more words on store signs and billboards. It is also impossible to fathom what else we could learn in the next 12 months! We've learned so much in 2 weeks....surely we'll run out of new things to learn in 5 months??? Or is there that much to learn? We are scared of the complicatedness! ;-)

çok kısa saçlı

Rick got his first Turkish haircut today! Pictures to come.

We figured out how to add Turkish letters to our keyboard...so we can type in Turkish! It takes some getting used to as some of the English keys get shifted over, but it is all in all a great thing. We have officially survived one full week (20 hours) of language and we are ready for bed at 8pm on a Friday night. Sad! This is supposedly the easy stuff? I'm trying to envision a whole year of this studious life. With daylight savings time adjusted now, Micah is ready to play for another 5 hours after we get home from our 6 hours of school and commuting. It makes for a loooong day. But, we are having fun. Tomorrow, we will attempt to find this amazing hill full of tulips. We have to find it before all the tulips lose their petals! Yikes! Time crunch.

Answers to yesterday's adjective quiz:

mutsuz ve mutlu (sad and happy)

çalışkan ve tembel (hardworking and lazy)