A Day on the Bosphorous

A couple weeks ago, thanks to our tax dollars and our new friends Byron and Karen, we were invited to spend the day sailing up the Bosphorous to the Black Sea on the U.S. Consulate boat, the Hiawatha. We were celebrating Byron's finally becoming a man (he turned 27). It was a beautiful day to spend with friends.

We weren't quite the proud Americans we should've been sailing up the Bosphorous with an American flag flying for all to see. To put it lightly,
Americans aren't as loved as they once were in this part of the world.

Thanks to our friends who work for the Consulate we enjoyed Dr. Pepper...

and cheesecake made with real Philadelphia cream cheese.
It was delicious!

The guys showed their manliness by jumping into the cold Black Sea.

Welcome to Istanbul

Once again we have to apologize for the lack of posts on the blog. We arrived in Istanbul almost a month ago! Since then we’ve been busying ourselves finding our way around this city of 15 million people on public transportation, going to language class, hanging out with friends and family, having the occasional Starbucks and fast food, and surviving the heat. Hopefully the next few posts will help catch you up on life in Istanbul as we anxiously await our baby boy.

By the way, at the last doctor’s appointment the baby had dropped and weighed approximately 6 lbs 8 oz. We’re expecting a big boy!

What books don't teach you

I was sitting outside with my neighbors drinking tea yesterday and happened to be wearing my favorite maternity jeans that I ordered from the states. My neighbor who I call "Teyze" (which technically means aunt, but is also the name for any old lady) began to tell me that I was smashing my baby's head by wearing jeans. So I showed her the very soft and comfy band around my waist, but she said because the pants were pressing on my hips his head was in danger. Poor, poor baby Blan.

A little bit later another pregnant woman wearing pants came to sit with us, but she didn't get the speech. I guess it was my lucky day.

Baby Shower

Thanks to Sheryl and Stephanie, pictured below, who threw me the best baby shower on this side of the world, we're more ready than ever for the arrival of Baby Boy Blan. (Nope, still no name.) Thanks so much to all of you who sent gifts, and especially to Sheryl and Stephanie who so thoughtfully organized it. The shower really was so wonderful! Here are a few pictures.

Klaire had to nap through the shower,
but she woke up to a baby girl's dream.

Going on a picnic

To say that people here love picnics is a definite understatement. Once the weather is warm enough, you'll find people everyday at the lake or a park drinking tea and grilling chicken wings. We went on a picnic at the lake last week to celebrate a special occasion. Here are a few pictures of the beautiful day.

We can't resist dark-eyed, dark-skinned babies.

Locals can't resist blonde-haired, blue-eyed babies.

Jack and Klaire relaxing in the shade.

Chicken wings on the grill

Chicken wings on the "table"
(of course with coca-cola on the side)

What's a picnic without dancing?

That's not a smile on Stephen's face. It's the face of a guy who's trying
to get out of some very cold water. If you can take your eyes off
the shirtless hunk for a second, you'll notice the beautiful
snow-capped mountain in the background.

Road Trip

I recently had the opportunity to take four guys from Missouri around the southern part of our country. We were able to see some places rich in history and culture. As far as sightseeing goes, the highlight of the trip was going to Harran, where Abraham lived before moving to Palestine. There's no disputing that it is the ancient city that is spoken of in Genesis. Today, instead of being a major city located on a major trade route, it looks more like a village. Many of the people living there still live in "beehive" shaped houses that help keep the homes cool in the extremely hot summer.

As for the four guys in the picture below, each are over 50 years old, but they made me feel like the old guy in the group. While strolling through a park in a city called Urfa around 10:30 at night, one asked if we should climb a steep walkway to the castle overlooking the city. My answer was that we would have time in the morning. But, someone else quickly replied, "We might as well do it now." About an hour later we got back to the hotel and I had my best night's sleep of the whole trip.

Here's the crew at Mt. Nemrut standing beside Hercules and Apollos.

This place is literally called "Fishy Lake" or "Lake with Fish."
Whatever you call it, it looked like a fish pond to me.
Some people believe the fish in this pond are holy.

Women feeding the holy carp.

A local man lounges in the shade at a family park.
The purple headscarf that he's wearing is exclusive to the area around Urfa.
Both men and women wear them.

A scene from the famous Urfa Bazaar.

The "beehive" homes in Harran.

The museum in Harran that allows you to see inside the homes.

The sitting room where guests would be entertained.

A local woman prepares the family bed for the evening.
Because the temperatures are so hot, everyone sleeps outside.

Some say it was the first university in the world,
others say it was the second. Regardless it's pretty old.

Good News!!!

Based on the ultrasound, Baby Boy Blan doesn't have the Blan nose! We can't get too excited yet. Pictures of Stephen as a child showed no indication of having the "famous" shnaz. But we all know that changed.

It's A...

...Boy!! Or so we think. The doctor is 90% sure our child is a boy. So far every report on Baby Boy Blan (we are considering this as his name) has been good. The doctor has said more than once that he is "hareketli." That means he has ADD and won't sit still. Actually, it just means active, but if you ask Sarah at 10 pm every night, she'll tell you he has ADD or he's just trying to get some early practice in for his elementary school kickball team.

Mom is doing well. Even though she knows she's supposed to gain weight she's not gaining it happily. Now that the weather is beginning to warm up here, she's been able to get out and take walks, which is a nice stress reliever...for all of us.

The plan at the moment is to travel to Istanbul around the beginning of July. Baby Boy Blan's expected arrival date is August 13. If all goes well, we'll stay there for a month after he's born and then head back to our city. The facilities and doctors here aren't the best. So after considering having the baby here and talking with our leadership, we thought it would be best to go to Istanbul.

Hopefully soon we'll get a picture of Baby Boy Blan on the blog. Sarah will be going to Istanbul at the end of the month and get a 4D ultrasound. We'll try to put it on as well.

Feel free to send all the parenting advice you want. We don't know what the heck we're doing.

Does my face look fat to you?

The fun of being pregnant in a tactless culture began today
when I received my first pregnancy compliment:
"Your face looks fat. How much weight have you gained?"

Here's some other helpful "advice" I've received since being pregnant. Those of you who know the culture know why I said "advice".

• Don’t do anything that might qualify as work or exercise. It's harmful for the baby.
  
• Drink as much tea as possible. It turns straight into milk for the baby.
• Sit on the floor. It’s more comfortable for the baby.
• Don’t use your cell phone. It’ll give the baby cancer.
• Don't drink cold water. The baby will get cold.
  
• Don’t drive over any bumps on the road. It’s dangerous for the baby. (An impossible task here.)
• Don't wear blue jeans. They squash the baby . . .

I have no doubt that many, many more will follow.

Sarah: 15 weeks

My husband pushed me against the wall and made me take this picture.
He assured me I'll be glad later. I don't believe him.

Baby Shower

We recently traveled to another city for a few days of training. While there our incredibly wonderful teammates gave Sarah and fellow pregnant friend, Sheryl, a baby shower. As you can see from the pictures it was quite fun and most importantly we got lots of stuff. Wahooo! The shower wouldn't have taken as long as it did if we wouldn't have had to stop and explain what everything was to Stephen. He'll learn soon enough.

10 bucks says Sarah sleeps with the bear more than the baby does.

Realizing Stephen knows nothing about babies,
our friends gave him a "Dad's Essential Tool Kit"

Guess which local candy bar is melted in the diaper.

Jack eating the candy bar.
There's a reason why boys aren't invited to Baby Showers.

Unto us a Blan will be born

Some of you have heard from excited grandparents, aunts, and uncles-to-be. But for those who haven’t heard, we’re pregnant. Well, Sarah is. As of a couple weeks ago Baby Blan is doing well and was spotted relaxing and apparently sleeping on the sonogram.

Sarah is around 14 weeks and is beginning to gain her strength after a nap-filled first trimester. We’re very excited and look forward to learning the baby’s gender. Yes, we will be telling the gender. Sarah’s due date is around the middle of August.

Please remember Sarah and Baby Blan.

Does two lines mean what I think it means?

Like you, we're hoping our child looks like Sarah.

A nice getaway

Recently, we enjoyed spending a little over a week in the big city. Our company put on a retreat to help us recharge and refocus. The added bonus for us was that our fellowship in Texas helped facilitate the retreat. We were able to see several of our friends and three of them even traveled back to our city for a few days afterwards. Shane, his wife, Sylvia, and Carol stayed with us for about 48 hours before returning to the States. The last picture is us with "the Amy Nobles." We knew her before she was on iTunes.
Our time consisted of shopping in real malls, drinking Starbucks, eating fast food, speaking English, meetings with teammates, more shopping, seeing friends from Texas, and going to the movies. It was a great time and it will hopefully help us get through the long upcoming winter.

Scenes from the Spice Bazaar

One of our favorite things to do when we go to the big city
is to stroll through the Spice Bazaar and take in the rich
blend of smells while tasting free samples of "delightful" candy.

Eight bucks for crap cakes!?!

They were much better than you would have expected.
(Click on the picture if you have a hard time reading the joke.)

Turkey Day

Below is a small collage of our first Thanksgiving overseas. Many of you jokingly asked if there were turkeys here. Well, yes there are. And when you buy one you get the neck thrown in for free. We spent the day eating, chatting and playing games with another American family and a mutual local friend. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Cat Nappin'

After working all morning on language, Sarah was able to enjoy a short nap with her favorite IKEA blanket and floor pillows. But, then her husband got hungry and made her get up and fix him lunch. Before you send me hate emails, I'm just joking. These pictures were taken one Saturday afternoon. She sure is cute, isn't she?

Christmas Wish List

It’s time once again for the hap-happiest season of all and many of our friends and family have been asking what they can send us for Christmas. So, we decided to post our “Christmas Wish List” so that anyone who’s been dying to get us a Christmas gift can begin the process of sending it here.

Here it is:

• A three-way and cheese coney from Skyline Chili
• A McCallister’s Club Wrap from McCallister’s Deli
• Enchiladas from Joe T. Garcia’s
• Boneless buffalo wings from Applebees
• Mom’s homemade caramel popcorn and Christmas cookies
• Soup in a bread bowl from Panera
• Banana nut muffie from Panera
• Cinnamon Crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese from Panera
• Pepperoni Rolls from Chicago Pizza
• Day after Thanksgiving shopping
• Bengals to make it to the playoffs
• Christmas lights and nativity scenes
• Sand volleyball, or girls’ sports of any kind . . .

Okay, so maybe you can’t send these things. But we can wish.

We won’t be completely selfish. Here are some things we’d like to send you for Christmas:

• The best baklava you’ve ever had
• Our view of the snow-capped mountains
• The feeling you have when 100 people stare at you every time you leave the house
• Fresh produce
• Mercimek lentil soup (sounded gross to Steve too, but it's the best soup you'll ever taste)
  
• The most beautiful carpets in the world
  
• The feeling you have when 100 people stare at you every time you drive a car (for women only)

Fruits & Veggies

In America we can buy any kind of produce any time of year – apples and pears in the summer or cantaloupe and watermelon in the winter. Before moving overseas I didn’t know which fruit or vegetable grew in which season (besides tomatoes of course). There everything can either be imported or grown in a hot house. Well, they don’t do much importing here, and I’m not sure about the hot houses. One thing I’ve enjoyed during my first year here is learning which fruits and vegetables are winter, spring, summer, or fall fruits and vegetables.

I was sad when I couldn’t find broccoli anymore last spring, but it made me that much happier when it returned last month. I missed apples all summer, but now I can’t get my fill. Apples were replaced by the juiciest peaches I’ve ever tasted during the late summer and early fall. Watermelon never tasted as good as it did in the evenings after those hot summer days. I’ve learned how to cook and puree my own pumpkin since it arrived in stores a few weeks ago. Soon our refrigerator will be filled with grapefruit and oranges as we head into the winter.

Pumpkin Puree

Since we can’t get much ready-made food here, I’ve been pureeing my own pumpkin – my most recent successful food experiment. I’d always heard that real pumpkin tastes better than the canned stuff, and it really does! If you’re up for the adventure it’s not difficult at all, and your pie, bread, muffins, or whatever you’re baking, will taste better and fresher than ever before. Below are the instructions.

1. Buy precut and seeded pumpkin if possible. If not, cut pumpkin in half, remove the stringy fibers by scraping the insides with a metal spoon.
2. Place the pumpkin pieces, or two halves, cut side down in a baking dish, cover with lid or tin foil and bake at 350°F until tender (probably an hour or more depending on how thick your slices are).
3. Put them in a blender with just enough water to blend smooth.
4. Let cool and put pumpkin puree in plastic sacks of two cups each (or however much you want), label, and freeze. Many pumpkin recipes call for two cups of pumpkin puree.

Where are all the costumes?

Sunday was the last day of Ramadan and throughout the world Muslims are celebrating a three-day holiday. In our country, the holiday is a mixture of Halloween and Christmas known as Sugar Holiday. School is out and most stores and shops are closed while people spend the first day visiting family and the other days with friends and neighbors. It’s common to give gifts to family and close friends.

As for the kids, it’s basically three days of Halloween without the costumes and masks. The unspoken rule in the states on Halloween is that you only go to each house once, unless, of course, you received raisins or some other healthy alternative to candy. Then you would return with your own version of healthy food in the form of eggs. However, we found out before lunch on the first day that there is no such rule here. The kids in our neighborhood run up the stairs attempting to get to each door as fast as they can. Then they run outside and show each other all the candy they received, commence with trading, and then stuffing it in their mouths.

As soon as they're finished, it all happens again.

Little Drummer Boy

Ask the numerous guests that have stayed with us at least one night over the last thirty days and they’ll all have the same story. You don’t need an alarm clock when visiting the Blans during Ramadan. Around 3 o’clock in the morning, every morning, a guy comes around beating a drum in an Energizer Bunny’esk rhythm.

Though most mornings it seemed as though he was right outside the window (we live on the fourth floor) or standing beside your bed, he was actually out on the street walking up and down in a slow fingernails-on-the-chalk-board pace.

I wouldn’t even have mentioned this on the blog, but today on the first day of the Sugar Holiday our sickly pet bird, a.k.a the doorbell, rang. I grabbed the bowl of candy and opened the door thinking it was the group of boys who have already rang our bird-bell too many times. To my surprise it was our little drummer boy (who was actually not very little) and his friend. He held his drum proudly and said “Happy Holidays,” with a big smile. Instead of busting the drum over his head like I wanted to, I handed his friend some candy. His friend then said, “money.”

If our friends who have lived here for a few years had not warned us beforehand I might have actually been upset, but I knew it was coming. I smiled and said, “I’m sorry, we aren’t Muslims.” My answer satisfied drummer boy, but left his friend with far less than a smile on his face.

First Flight

My parents recently got up enough courage to get on a plane for the first time and come visit us. They must think we're real special to go and do something like that. But I guess when you compare me to my older brother it's pretty easy to be special.

"We're not in Lewisport anymore."

Dad's big head is covering up Mt. Ararat.

This cute, young couple was spotted having
a romantic moment at the local pier.