If You Are What You Eat...

...Then I'm full of guts!

Hi all,
Sorry, couldn't help myself. If you inspect the reddish picture very carefully (and I wouldn't...) you may get to see little squigglies of the sheep intestine I ingested today. In fact, I probably have intestines in my intestines. Oh. I'm sorry, I should warn you, this post probably isn't for the weak of stomach. Better late than never, right?

My Second Eating Victory
Actually, it only involves me because now it doesn't. Clear, right? Well, let me back up. When I came here, I was surprised (shocked?) to find out that HM still feeds K, one spoonful at a time. I mean, 5 years of cold meals? Is that normal by American standards? However, she admits that it's a bad habit, and he obviously eats by himself at school, but she couldn't seem to break him of it. However, 2 weeks in, and I'm a little tired of it already. So, yesterday during his snack I did a little experiment. (My future child(ren?..urg) will thank God that I'm not actually a psychologist...) I loaded the spoon up (he was watching TV) and simply left it on the plate. After some goldfish impressions, he caught on that the spoon wasn't appearing. He looked down, picked up the spoon and fed himself! I did several more spoonfuls, and then let him take over the scooping part. Sure, he's a bit slower and a bit messier but he ate it all himself. I, in return got to gloat tonight when E. pantomined that she would feed K first tonight. After some awkward gesturing, I got her to just watch. Pretty soon we were waggling eyebrows like crazy.

I Finally Got a Bag:

HM took me to find the language school today. (After which I went and got the sheepwich - 2, as they cut one in half to see if I'd eat it. It was really spicy and so I concentrated on that and managed both halves. I think it bothers me more that it didn't really bother me...). It's rather simple: I'll take a minibus (HM will have U show me once or twice, since it finally sunk in today that I've lived in piddling towns in comparison to Istanbul my entire life), then the Metro to Taksim (15 minutes?) and then it's a 5-10 minute walk from the station. Go straight, hang a left from the mosque, another left across from the police station and then the first right. I also picked up my books:

And so yeah, that was pretty much my day (Just Hitit! : ).
Hope all is well,
Steph

Crabby McCrabster

Hi all,
As you may have already guessed, today was a rough one. Despite HM's best efforts to get the kids to go to bed earlier, it's turning into a nightly battle. Today both K and G were extremely crabby.

Special K
Couldn't help myself...Anyhow, K managed to "hurt" himself not once, not twice, but a grand total of three times. The first time we were having his afternoon snack and he told me "Wait...wait!" and walked off, around the corner towards the kitchen. 5 seconds later, wails. Both E and I came running, and though he obviously wasn't hurt he made a lot of noise. I later had him reenact what he'd done, and he'd walked into the door frame. Next he was rolling around on his bed and very gently bopped himself on the head...again with the waterworks. The 3rd incident is so minor that I don't even remember it. Plus there were a few random screaming fits. He was a real joy today.

Drama G.
Of course, this would've been a lot more manageable if G would've helped out in any way. However, he is also sleep deprived and so likes to aggravate any type of situation by being oh so helpful and pummeling his brother. K likes to goad him, and then immediately bursts into tears. Of course, G doesn't hold himself back much. You'd think with about 7 years between them he would. Oh well.

So, that was pretty much my day. To make it absolutely perfect, HM wasn't able to come home when she usually does (around 8:30) so the challenge of getting at least K to bed fell to us. Our communication of eyebrow action and facial expressions were pretty great.
Anyhow, hope your day went better than mine!
Steph

Strays

(Image not mine)
Hi all,
There's a pretty interesting stray animal/human dynamic here. I noticed right away that there were a large amount of dogs that stay on the sides on the roads (or sometimes in the middle of them, which scares the crap out of me). They all are usually a dirty of-white color, large dog of an indeterminate breed - although something related to a German shepherd would be my guess - and a large percentage have what seems to be a plastic tag stuck through their ears.

I also noticed several running around in the gated community, and so I asked HM about it. She said that there has been a huge controversy over their presence, because several attacks have taken place (them attacking people's pets as they walk them, as no one uses a leash here). However, people are very attached to the dogs (several like to feed them and most are rather affectionate) so an alternative was found - one that is used many other places here. There is a center which collects the stray animals and gets them updated on their shots, and then puts the plastic chips on their ears so people know that they aren't rabid. (Although I've noticed several different colors, so I'm not sure if this indicates a year or not?)

So it's a rather interesting dynamic. The dogs that live along side the road I often see getting fed or watered by people who stop at vegetable stands or by the parks. There's also some little structures, doghouses or stands that are covered (for water or food?) alongside the road as well. So, though it's sad to see the dogs, it's also reassuring that they are being treated relatively kindly and that people genuinely like them. I suppose they prefer their lives (I haven't seen any that look like they're starving or terribly diseased) than to the USA's kill centers. Food for thought.

Hope all is well,
Steph

Well, Hot Dog

Hi all,
Just a silly short post today as I spent a lot of the day trying not to be underfoot with older relatives around visiting.

Why a "Hot Dog"?
Is exactly the question HD put to me as he handed me what they like to call "sausages" after G's basketball training session today. Granted, this hotdog was topped not only with ketchup, but also with french fries and mayo (urg?), but was most definitely a hot dog. I proffered several explanations, my top two being perhaps that they were rumored to be made out of dog meat, or that they looked like Wiener dogs (with Wiener coming from Vienna just like frankfurters coming from Frankfurt!). But I honestly told him that I didn't know. So, I did what every post graduate knows will unduly aggravate their English teachers do: I looked it up on Wikipedia. (I have one Prof who is a Chaucer Goddess and likes to go on and mess around with facts about him, she despises the open domain format and the reliability that people assume comes from it!) It pretty much corresponded with my thought Wikipedia states that meat grinders were suspected of/ rumored to be putting dog meat into their sausages as early as 1845. Apparently there were also links to show the use of the phrase "hot dog" as early as the 1890's. So, there you have it! Maybe.

Hope all is well,
Steph