Milk gone bad

One thing that is taking some getting used to, is seeing milk on a grocery shelf. NOT the refrigerated section. Now there is some milk next to the cream and yogurt. More expensive, and from what I can tell taste no different. I really wasn't as prepared for how differently things taste here. Dairy has been the hardest. Everything taste like its gone bad. And they really like their stinky cheese here. As long as I can get over the smell and get it into whatever I am cooking, it taste great. But smells really effect me. So today, I ran out of Coffeemate. My fault because I didn't go down the coffee aisle to remember. We have a left over box of Krema from making butter in Elly's class. So I thought that might work but I need to check out if its still good. It's been two weeks since I bought it. ] So Cream last for a year here? No wonder it taste um "different".

Istanbul Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone in the Beckerman Household. And sadly it past without the big to do I am used to. We held off our feast until Saturday, because an 8pm dinner just seemed pointless. We got up Saturday morning and made our quick trip to the grocery. We had looked last weekend, but they didn't have any full turkeys, so we opted for a boneless breast. We don't need a whole one with the 5 of us. Of course, when we went that Saturday, there were 5 sitting there. Next year, I know to wait. I had seen fresh green beans (the kind we are used to) in the produce section two weeks ago. None to be found. So we got what we thought was a larger version. There were NO sweet potatoes or yams to be found. Boo... but they did have the other parts... marshmallows and pineapple. We finished up shopping and headed home to get started. I had actually started cooking the day before. I made the cornbread and biscuits and put together the stuffing. And I made pumpkin bread. I had my game plan together! This shouldn't be too bad. Kitchen was cleaned and everything was organized and ready to go. I was making my pumpkin pie and the power went out. No big deal. That's what the generator is for. I hear it fire up outside my kitchen window. It sounds like a Semi truck but it gets the job done. I put my pie in. About 15 minutes later.... power is out. Hmm... what's the point of the generator. I have my green bean casserole prepped, except I had to make the fried onions and really everything else was last minute. Good time for a nap. Well when I woke up it was getting dark. I went to flip on the light in the bathroom... nothing. Are you freakin kidding me? After all said and done, the power outage or whatever, flipped the main circuit to our apartment. Who knew there was a whole other board in the storage room? So I franticly get back to work. Thankfully, we didn't buy that whole turkey! Everything came together and we sat down for dinner about 7pm.
 Nate and Elly weren't a big fan of dinner. Which I was surprised. Jocy had her usually 3 helping. Pretty much only have some stuffing left over. After dinner, the kids decided it was time for some sliding.
 Not a bad first Thanksgiving in our new home. Now to find us a tree and hopefully get my internet so I can stream some Christmas music from Pandora!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Understanding

I have always had a hard time with foreign language. I always seem to get so flustered. And being here hasn't been much different. Everyone tells me to just use body language. Pointing seems to work for the most part but communicating anything beyond that.... I just plain suck. Well today, the electricians were back to finish installing the lights. For the most part we did ok. Then around noon, one of the guys came up to me and babbled something in Turkish. I was thinking hard because I knew the words that came out of his mouth! When he repeated it, I couldn't believe that I actually understood what he said! He said he was going downstairs to eat bread and have tea! Woo Hoo! But that was the beginning of my down fall. Blame it on being tired, since I have cleaning and cooking all day. But by the time he left, we weren't communicating well at all. I understood he wanted his $$ even though he didn't fix my ceiling fan. I don't think he tried hard because he just told me the controller was broke (well replace it!) But whatever. I told him my husband would give the manager the money. That didn't go over well, until I told the manager and he was like sounds good! Maybe if I hadn't had to wait two months for them to get back out here..... The landlord also came by today. We are getting railing for our stairs. They are a bit dangerous and with the Grandparents coming.... we don't need anymore injuries. Sami is very nice and speak good English. He takes great pride in his apartments. He also informed that today they were hooking the telephones up to the complex and that from what I understood, someone in the next week would be here to hook us up! I am PRAYING that it includes internet. I can't take it much longer without watching GLEE! And I thank my friends for not sharing too much on FB.... I'm so reaady for HULU!!!

Today I am Thankful….

As I was preparing the Thankful Turkey craft for Elly’s class, I got to thinking that this year we truly have a lot to be thankful for.  Maybe I need to make myself a Thankful Turkey.  But I don’t think there is enough room to include everything that I am thankful for.  This year we will not celebrate Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day.  We will not have any family or friends (who have been our KC family) to celebrate with.  In fact, Joel will go to work and the girls will go to school.  When we do have our Thanksgiving dinner, we won’t have sweet potato casserole and the green beans taste different.  We won’t have a full Turkey.  But truthfully I don’t care.  This Thanksgiving, we will be sharing just us, and the happiest we have been.

So to honor Thanksgiving, this is my list of what I am thankful for this year.

1. I don’t share my problems much, but Missouri was smothering me.  I loved our friends but I just don’t belong there.  Joel’s frustration at work and my unhappiness really took a toll on things.  So I am beyond happy with our move.  I am so over the house and stupid drama.  Joel busting his butt 12 plus hours a day 6/7 days a week for 4 years with little overtime pay and other BS.  Being in Istanbul has completely removed all the stress and unhappiness.
2. For old bosses that remember how hard Joel worked and sacrifice for the company.  That they just offered him the job.
3. My wonderful, amazing kids!  They have done such a great job adjusting to our new life.  The girls are thriving at their new school and have many new friends.  Nate is happy as long has he’s got his sisters with him.
4. That my biggest stress is no internet.  Can I tell you how nice it is to not pay bills every month! 
5. Finding how welcoming the Turkish and Expat Community is.   One of my biggest worries was establishing a network here, it still has far to go but I am relieved how easy it has been
6. Potty Training my son earlier than the girls!  LOL
7. Being able to take our families to France for Christmas this year.  Our parents have done so much for us over the years.  It just feels good to return the favor.
8. Getting to experience a city and area that I studied as a kid.  Really getting to know how the Turkish enjoy their city.  Our driver said that he sees many expats come here and miss the best parts of the city.  I refuse to be stuck in my complex behind a guarded wall for the next three years.
9. For a wonderful husband!  His commute is killer.  About 3 hours a day.  But he rarely complains about it.  Many people said that moving here would hurt our marriage.  But I think it has just made it stronger.  We can just be us and be completely happy.
10. Being an American.  Even though quite a few of you suck at the moment, living in Istanbul has showed me how very lucky we are.  We are paid good wages, have inexpensive cost of living (for the most part) and easy access to anything you want.  There are things about Turkey that I would love to see in the US, but for now….. I am grateful to be an American
11. Our driver Murat.  We really thought we would end up with a Turkish speaking driver.  There were very few English speaking ones and the higher up got them.  So we were very relieved when Joel interviewed Murat.  He is overqualified for us, but he accepted it.  He used to drive for Holden in Australia.  All the high ups in GM, he’s driven for them all.  He also grew up down the street from us.  So he knows every little thing about our area.  He and his family have been a wonderful addition to this trip.
12. Our parents.  For not freaking out that we were moving their grandkids to another continent.  And my parents for transporting and storage our junk.
13. The education the girls are receiving at the British International School.  And that Ford covers most of the cost!  Never in MO would Jocy have two BFF’s from India and Columbia (not MO) and Elly’s from England and Korea.  They spent a whole week learning about all the nationalities in their school. 
14. For my friends at home.  Its good to know they are worried when there is an earthquake in Turkey.  Maybe the other side but still.  And getting notes checking in and seeing how we are doing.  The comments on FB that they are enjoying following our adventures. Getting to call friends every so often.  And that I get to talk to Jenny Dressler at least once every other week!  Makes it feel like I’m not sure far away.
15. Being able to have a cell phone, computer with internet, and a car.  After living with out them for three months, I know I could do without.  But I’d prefer to not do it again!

I am sure that I could go on and on.  But I am truly thankful for wonderful family and friends that I love and miss dearly.  I’m am so very thankful for our new adventure!  I wish each and every one of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!  Stay safe and pig out for me!

Things I miss..

Ok…. so I am not homesick or anything.  And I am still very happy here but it’s such a different country and I need to get it out there. LOL

 

I miss pretzels.  I really miss any kind of snack food.  What they do have here is not too tasty, comes is small packages and costs a ton!  One of my goals is to start making some of that stuff myself.  I do enjoy buying pistachios and other nuts from the nut counter.  But they are a bit pricey.  And I really am adjusting to eating an apple or something for snack.

Cheddar Cheese.  I have always been a big fan of Cheddar Cheese.  And I was too consumed by the idea of the lack of bacon in my diet for the next three years to even realize no cheddar.  We have been buying different cheeses each week to try.  They are not bad and found one that worked in our fav dishes.  But, the craving for cheddar started.  So it went on the list of things to look for at the Carrefour.  Low and behold, Joel yells across the cheese section, he had found cheddar.  It was about the size of a small pack of Velveeta slices and cost twice what we paid for a HUGE block of cheddar at Sam’s Club.  Yikes!  But every penny was worth it!!! 

 

Kool-Aid   We have been big Kool-Aid drinkers of the years.  Especially, since I gave up Sweet Tea and Cokes years ago.  I still have a coke here and there but it’s been 8 years since I broke the addiction.   And I prefer a fountain drink if I bother having one.  I am currently in a bind of what to drink.  Coke and Sprite are available everywhere.  They have Fanta here but it’s different.  Less orangy and fake tasting.  And because the water is undrinkable, we are buying about 50L a week.  And probably could buy more.  So as I was sorting out the cabinet two weeks ago, I was utterly shocked to find three packets of Kool-Aid.  WooHoo!!   I immediately made a Strawberry and GREATLY enjoyed over two days.  Even shared with the kids.  Now a few weeks later, I sit here typing greatly enjoying my glass of Strawberry Kool-Aid with my tiny ice cubes.  Haven’t found full size ice trays yet.

 

Being able to read my appliances.  One thing I NEVER thought of when moving.  I knew I couldn’t read the signs, the newspaper or anything.  But it never dawned on me that I would have to sit with an English-Turkish book to figure out how to wash my clothes!  Thankfully the dishwasher has pictures.  But I still have now idea how to use the dryer.  I know my clothes are mostly getting dry…. so I’m good with it.  And it only took me about an hour to figure out how to change my car to English!

 

The other thing to follow the above – reading directions.   I am all about trying to live the Turkish life.  Eat there food and try new foods.  But when you are grocery shopping, you are standing there trying to translate your grocery list.  Then you figure it out and decide to try it…… you can’t figure out how the heck to cook it because you can’t read the directions!!!!   I am getting better.  I can read measurements and some ingredients.  And I can get the cooking time, but it would probably be so much better if I know what it said.  I really need Google Translate!  You have no idea!

 

Now, most people will find this a thing to miss and I did a first – how long things take to get done here.  Multitasking is not in their vocabulary.  Getting a cell phone registered is a nightmare unless you find someone who knows how to do.  Which is a task in itself.  Cell phones are EXTREMELY expensive.  Joel will never complain about a $200 phone again!   Waiting on our apartment contract took 6 weeks.  Internet, phone, and cable – we are now at 43 days without it.  I finally got  a cheap pay as you go cell just to be able to call someone when Joel’s out of the country.  It will go to Jocy later.  I’m ok without internet most days, but I miss school stuff, homework is thru email, I can’t talk to most of my friends, and can’t plan vacations, of get the weather or news!!!  I joined the International Women of Istanbul, but all Mum’s Groups and events are all thru email and their website.   I completely missed Gaddafi was dead or that there was an Earthquake and everyone was worried about us.  I had to call Kentucky to find out from very worried parents.  Now on the other side of this…. Americans are seen as an instant gratification society.  Not saying we are the only ones, but we are probably considered the worst.  I have succumbed to it and I have seen my kiddos too.  So, I am finding that dealing with all this slowness, I am coming to terms with it and gaining quite a bit more patience.  And for those of you that have known me for years, knows patience is not my thing. 

Best job in the World

I have always know how lucky I am to be able to stay at home and raise my kids.  I have also made the choice to commit myself to being home for them.   And thru the hard times and the good, there is one moment that really stands out with my kids.  I love that first smile.  I love when I get my first hug or kiss.  But to this day, nothing makes being a mom the best job in the world than the first time you here those 4 little words, I love you Mommy.And Nate has finally uttered those sweet sweet words. 

That boy already knows how to work his Mommy.  He is just such a sweetheart.  Every night when I tuck him into bed, I say Night Nate and give him a hug and kiss and then I tell him I love him.  It started with a “Night Momma”.  Then last week, he uttered those amazing words.  I said, “Goodnight Nate”. “Nite Momma”  Then I said my usually, “ I love you Nate Nate.   And the first time  I wasn’t sure.  But the second night it was clear. He said, “ Love you Momma”.   God, do I love that boy.  I think God gave me the hardest first.  He knew he just needed to throw me head on in, get over my fear of kids.    And he continues to bless me with such amazing kids that I don’t think I want #3 to be it.

What could be a better end to the day then hearing three beautiful children telling you they love you?  Absolutely, NOTHING! 

Recovering shoe addict relapses

 

Sunday, I bought the most expensive shoes I have bought in my life.  I’m still having that hyperventilating, OMG I bought those shoes.  But at the same time, I LOVE my new shoes.  Normal, I am a laid back, comfy sort of girl.  I like jeans and Cords.  T-shirts and sweaters.  Fall is my favorite time of years and my closet has always reflected that.  Plus I am a mom and where am I going to wear 350 TL shoes??  Ok I didn’t pay that much for them but that was the original price!  And they will look killer with the new Herringbone trousers I got from Banana Republic!

So what do you think??   Have I gone crazy immersed in the fashion of Istanbul??

 

We have cars!!!!

When we got to Turkey, Joel ordered our cars ASAP.  We were using a Pool car from their fleet.  An unidentifiable year Focus Station wagon.  We couldn’t fit all three car seats across.  So Jocy has to sit in the middle without one.  FREAKED me out!  But, its not a law here and we never drove faster the 40mph.  Joel hated it.  The clutch was about gone and it needed new tires… 2 or the 4 managed to get replaced.  Poor Joel had to drive to Izmit on a spare one morning.  Adding an extra 30 minutes to a crazy drive.

 

At home, you are responsible for ordering your own lease car.  That job had been passed to me since it was my car.  Here, HR does it thru Avis rental cars.  They don’t give you many choices and they didn’t bother to explain how to add extras on.  Heck they couldn’t even tell us our monthly payments!  We were told my car was ordered but Joel was delayed because they were doing model year changeover.

 

That was in August.  We are now well into October and Joel is still on HR to find him a driver.  The first two months they gave him a complete run around about it.  Then they came back and changed everything they told hime.  Then one morning he gets a phone call that a drive is here for an interview… NOW.  The guy claimed he understood English but Joel didn’t really like the guy.  So Joel told HR he wanted more options.  There was supposedly another guy and he spoke English.  They told Joel they didn’t know when he could be interviewed.  Then the next day, he was there for the interview!  So Murat is our new driver.  He lived in Australia for 16 years and speaks excellent English with a funny Australian/Turkish accent.  And he knows everything about Istanbul so we have our own private tour guide!  LOL. 

 

The next weekend, Joel’s boss and some coworkers where flying into Istanbul for a week of training.  One of the guys, Joel had launched in KC with.  So, tours were set up and our family got to tag along.  Joel and I had already been to Hagia Sophie and the Blue Mosque but not the Palace or the Spice Bazaar.  They kids hadn’t been too any yet.  Work didn’t have a Transit big enough for us and the Focus wouldn’t fit us with Murat.  Parking in a nightmare here so I really wanted to use Murat.  I told Joel that he could go and me and the kids would stay home.  He said he’d work it out.

 

He never told me how….but that we were going on Sunday.  Saturday morning after breakfast, we were talking about our grocery trip.  Joel told me to grab my coat and come with him.  We went down to the garage and what do I see?????   An orange Grand C-Max that is my car!!!!  I have the mini-van of Europe.  I have given in!  LOL.  Not that it was much of a choice and it has been great with all the tight spaces.   I love it.  It’s smaller than what I would ever pick but perfect size for here.  It’s a 6 speed MT with a Turbo Diesel Engine. Still getting used to not only driving the car but driving in Istanbul.  I haven’t driven a car since July 30th!  That is a record for me.  Joel got a pretty Dark Blue Fiesta.  MT and Turbo Diesel too.  But he doesn’t drive it and our driver keeps.  The only time I saw it was when Murat was driving my car.   Such craziness!  We have a driver!  So what had happened with the cars, was Joel had started asking daily questions about when we’d get out cars.  He finally was told they were both being built that day.  The would have been highly unlikely event.  Since they were order a few weeks apart.  not that we were told when.  So a few days later, they explained they were being billed together on the day.  Which was later explained, they were in port!!!  Woo Hoo!  But not to get too excited because it can take a month to get it out then get it licensed and registered.  But Joel’s admin said he was on it.   We got the cars a week later.  LOL.  I need to get Erman to do more stuff for me!

 

So it was an extremely interesting time, our first two month here.  The last time I was without a car, cell phone and internet,  I was 15.

 

My New Ride!

Moving Day in Istanbul

On September 17, 2011, we began the end of our more to Istanbul.  I was so ready to be out of the hotel!  I was ready to have my stuff again!  I have learned that there are so many things you can live without, but it still nice to be surrounded by your family pictures and being able to make food when ever you want.  I missed my shoes!  LOL.

We were meeting the moving truck at 10:30am, which in Turkey is sometime before noon.  We arrived a little early so we could open the house up and get the kids settled in.  Surprisingly, the movers showed on time.  Only the lead guy spoke English.  We discussed the game plan and then got rolling.  Joel would stand at the door and direct. First floor was his job and he would send everything else down to me, where I would tell them which room.  We had decided, with the girls, that they would share the biggest secondary bedroom.  But they wanted twin beds and some way to create their own space.  And yes, that was Jocy’s wording.  We figured a wardrobe would work great to make it two small rooms.  So the spare bedroom would be the “We really brought that?” room.

The movers began bring stuff off the truck and had to unwrap it  outside the building.  These guys were unbelievable!  They were fast and efficient!  They got thru the first truck in about an hour.  The next truck arrived and I’m thinking that we packed WAY too much for this place.  It’s bigger than our house minus the basement and garage.  And we only have a small storage room.  This is never going to fit!  I was  having a bit of a panic attack, but then it was back to work!  I got to watch one guy carry down Joel’s dresser that took three guys in the States to carry!!  they could toss around our stuff like it was full of paper!!  Once everything was sorted to rooms, they started to put together furniture.  They were done by 3pm and we had them call it a day.  We were exhausted.  The kids were getting into trouble and I just needed a nap!  LOL.  Plus we had the movers one more day to help.  We had already planned on spending Saturday night in the Hilton.  But I was surprised that with the little bit done, the apartment was already feeling like home. 

Sunday, they came to the hotel to pick up everything and move it to the house.  With the air shipment and 8 bags of luggage (and all the stuff we had bought), it would have been 20 trips in the Focus Wagon.  The day was spent unpacking as many boxes as possible to get the garbage out.  But we couldn't”t unpack quite a bit because we didn’t have any wardrobes!  The lovely people of Otosan hadn’t handed over our moving in allowance yet.  And we were annoyed already that we were paying everything out of our own pockets and they would reimbursed us.  Yea, that doesn’t happened in the US.  Thankfully!!!  Or we’d been poor!  So after a few hours, we told them we were done.  They would come back and pick up the rest of the boxes when we were ready.  The head guy and his crew were really great!  They played with the kids but still kicked butt!  I thought the crew in MO was great, but these guys put them to shame!  He told us that they were the best company in Turkey and that’s why Ford contracted them.  You could definitely see the pride they took in their work.  One thing I have noticed in our short time here and wish you saw at home!

You have no idea how much I enjoyed sleeping in my own bed that night.  I kind of think we all did.  And the kids were happy to have their toys back.  I even enjoyed make dinner that night and cleaning up!  Now the big job was reorganizing and finding homes for everything.  Can’t say I will be bored for a while!  And surprisingly, it all fit with plenty of room to s pare!

Moving Day in Istinye VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Joys of city life

When we first looked at our apartment, our road seemed like a little back road that had some traffic.  Well, compared to Creekwood and the extreme lack of any vehicles beside the one that lived past us on our street, it’s heavy traffic!  LOL.  But the street seems pretty quiet.  People walking down the hill to the grocery, one of the three cafes and the bakery and dogs barking here and there.  Of course, I expected there to be noise with living in the city.  Not the quiet of Liberty, that was only interrupted by the sound of the train whistle and the thudding basketball outside my bedroom window. 

 

The day we moved in it was like a different world out there!  Our moving trucks where causing some traffic issues but I couldn’t get over the number of cars (most of them honking) that when past my kitchen windows.  It was like rush hour on 152 thru Liberty.  And then all the yelling over the loud speaker.  I couldn’t figure out if it was the police or the Mosque having announcements or what. * Side Note - the Police don’t pull you over to talk to you, they just yell at your over their loudspeakers.  Not that we ever know what they are saying.*  It drove me crazy that weekend!  But at night, it was nice and quiet.

 

After a week, I finally, FINALLY figured out what all the yelling was about!  There is shopping right out side my door!!!  All day long, trucks drive up and down the street with fresh product, laundry baskets, mops, buckets, chairs and who knows what else.  I have even seen some guys selling shoes and sweaters out of the back of their vans!  I have yet tried out this wonderful service but I have seen my Turkish neighbors do their shopping.   It’s pretty entertaining to watch.  Mom is on the balcony yelling at their kids and the seller.  Then the kid runs up and comes down with money as the seller is weighing and packing their stuff up.  Then dad comes out and yells down, then the kid runs up and back down with more money and then lugs 50lbs worth of product up 47 cobbled stairs.  Now mind you, during the whole thing, cars are whizzing by at 60 Kmh.  And it’s a very narrow road.  Joel thinks it’s a great idea to send the kids to do the shopping.  He even thinks he’s going to send Jocy down to the bakery to pick up bread.  I don’t think so.  My kids aren’t anywhere near as street smart as these kids are.  Heck I don’t feel that comfortable walking down that road!  And I won’t go in to walking up it! 

 

But hopefully, soon I will be shopping like the locals.  I’m still working on communicating with the maintenance man (it’s a disaster) but I’m doing well the security guards.  Maybe I can get them to help me haggle!

I'm back!!!

As of today, I will start posting some of the blogs I have written while offline.  They will totally be out of order because that's how I typed them!  I still need to type up the big update with pictures and stuff.  Hopefully, we will finish the apartment next week and I can post the official tour.  It's been a crazy month but still loving it.