Asure

It's that time again. You know the time when the Turks mix up a big ol' batch of asure and then pass it out to their neighbors. What? You say you've never heard of it? Okay then, let me fill you in.

The legend regarding the origins of asure goes as follows: "When the Flood finally subsided and Noah's Ark settled on Mount Ararat in Agri, those on the vessel wanted to hold a celebration as an expression of the gratitute they felt towards God. But alas, the food storages of the ship were practically empty and so they made a soup with all the remaining ingredients they could find and thus ended up with asure".

I must admit...I copied and pasted that last paragraph from a website on Turkish desserts. Okay...now that I have confessed let me give you my version of the holiday.

Asure is pronounced Ah-shur-ay....making sure to roll the 'r' in the word. One month ago we had a holiday called Kurban Bayram. This is the sacrificing holiday. Muslims believe that Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael and God stepped up and provided a ram in the thicket. Basically, our Abraham and Isaac story. Anyway, the month afterwards is asure month. I'm not sure how many of our neighbors make asure, but only one gives it to us...thankfully. What is in asure you ask? Good question. Brian says that Noah swept out the ark and made asure with what was in the dust pan. I picture every kind of animal poop imaginable when he describes it this way! Actually the ingredients are as follows....copying from website again...
Dövme (dehusked wheat for asure), Chickpeas, Dry white beans, Rice, Water, Dried apricots, Dried figs, Raisins, Orange, Sugar, Rose water, Walnuts (not crushed), Pomegranate, and the possiblities are endless. Our latest batch had hazelnuts, dried currants, and cinnamon on top. I would say that it is a lot like glorified oatmeal. That is what it tastes like to me. And I don't like oatmeal so I am not crazy about this "dessert" either.

On Sunday night we were having house church at our house. We had just finished dinner and were all sitting around the table when the doorbell rang. When I say all I mean 5 adults. There were also 6 kids running around so I'm sure it seemed really crowded to the nice little man from downstairs who was delivering his wife's homemade asure. He brought one bowl, but quickly ran back downstairs to get more since we had company. We ended up with the three bowls you see pictured above. One bowl was given to the single guy on our team. I'm not sure how well he eats being a single guy and all, and he said he loved desserts so he got to take home a hearty bowl of goodness to help him get by for a couple of days. Another bowl was given to friend who claims to love asure. Brian ate a little out of the last of the bowls and what is left is still in my refrigerator. Oh, Anna Grace also claimed to love it and asked for a bowl. Anna Grace doesn't love anything so I gave her a small amount to taste and I was right. She didn't like it.

I am thankful that God took care of Noah and his family on the ark. I am also thankful that only one of my neighbors shares asure with us. As they say in Turkey...afiyet olsun...or bon appetit!

For Paula

While I was in the states a friend of mine heard me talk about using a squatty potty. With the help of a couple of other friends who had been fortunate enough to have used one before I tried to describe what one looked like. This week Brian and I had the opportunity to visit a restroom that had squattys, and fortunately for Paula I had my camera!

How to use: Stand on the foot treads and squat all the way down keeping your balance without holding on to anything or touching the nasty floor. At the same time you must hold on to the tissue that you brought with you since most restrooms don't have any. If you are carrying a purse or have a jacket often you must hold onto them as well since the possiblity of there not being a hook is pretty good. And if you are wearing pants you will want to roll them up a bit so that they don't touch the floor which is usually wet and could have running water flowing over it. To flush: Pour a small pitcher of water (located under the faucet that won't turn off all the way...hence the wet floor... which is just outside of my picture near the stall door) in the toilet, or press a button on the wall making sure to stand at the extreme side of the stall so that your shoes don't get wet with the spray coming from the two small holes at the back of the toilet. Fun times!

Come visit and you, too, can try your hand at this extreme sport! I'll even hold your purse and coat for you although it will take away from the experience!

Another request.

After 44 reads only 14 comments or emails from people saying they are reading. Very interesting. I wonder who the other 30 people are! Anyway...I was thinking. Do any of you have blogs? I know of a couple, but if you have one I would love to know it's address. I would love to read your ramblings! If you have a blog either leave me a comment with the address or send me the address through email. Then I can comment on yours!

Curious...

I wanted to make a request. I put a site counter on my blog not too long ago. It was designed to help me see if anyone is actually reading this blog. I know some people are reading it because they are commenting. I am also seeing that 1500 people have looked at this blog since I put the counter on it. So I am wondering...where are all my blog readers from? Who is reading this besides the people who comment regularly? If you wouldn't mind posting a comment just so I can see who is reading this I would really appreciate it. All I want is your name, where you are from, and how you found my blog. I know some people are looking at this blog because they have clicked a link from someone else's blog. And others have a remember us card with the address on it. There may even be other ways that I am not even thinking of. So if you will give me a shout out I would appreciate it!

Translation?

Yesterday Brian went to the store to get some sodas. He came back with Diet Coke (of course!), lemon soda and apple soda. We had never tried the apple, and he thought it might taste a little like sparkling cider which we love. He was looking at the bottle and noticed it said "Elmali gazli icecek." That basically translates Apple Gassy drink. I just about died...mainly because he kept talking about what might happen to a person drinking apple gassy drink. For those of you who know Brian you can imagine what kinds of things he said and what kinds of faces he made. Now I'm sure if the drink was sold in America the translation would be more along the lines of "Apple Soda" or "Apple carbonated beverage" but it was funny translating it literally.

Anyway, it made me think about how many times things here are translated into English. Sometimes the translations are really good, and many times they are really funny! And then there are the times that they make absolutely no sense. The following paragraph is one of those times. These are the actual words written on a package for a loofa sponge. All spelling and punctuation errors are theirs - not mine! Some of you may have received this in an email from me not long after we moved to Turkey, but I think it is worth repeating! Read on!

Fiber Pumkin
Fiber pumkin is coming from cucurbite it's grouving up middle east of Turkey. If piell's up all poision bacterial after that you can use all fiber pumkin clean all bodies. It'll be marvellous for clean bodies it's finally end for celluite after that all bodies taking a breath. All of them making diffrent syle and sizes.
Use:
You'll use it with hot water and bath soap if you'll take a special pocket after push under the water it'll very naturel soft fiber pumkin. It's wont hurt all bodies. You can use all for faces cleaning. After all take bath you'll have to take very good bath.
Have a nice smooth and healthy life.

Are you kidding me? This makes no sense. You would think that if a person was going to try to sell something and wanted to use an English translation to tell how their product works or how wonderful the product is they would find a native English speaker to at least proofread the translation!

Surprised

I can't believe it. Yesterday I wrote an amazingly long blog about me. I know...not exactly what you want to read about, but hey, it is my blog after all. And then at the end I asked for feedback. I humbled myself...again, about me...took a learners posture and asked for people to critique me. I can't believe that out of the 60 people who looked at my blog over the last two days nobody said anything smart. And I don't mean brilliantly smart...I seriously expected someone to talk about how "messed up" I am or something. Maybe people saw how long the blog was and chose not to read it. Amy commented (and I appreciate it!) and I got one email about it, but that was it. Nobody took advantage of my invitation to say something ugly! Wow, you people are too nice!

Description change.

I was looking at the description I had for this blog. It said "what goes on and what's up on this side of the world." Then I was thinking about what I actually blog about. There are some pictures of life wherever we happen to be. There are stories about things that happen to us and around us. And then there are my random thoughts. I don't think my blog description really describes my blog. It isn't just about life on this side of the world. So in order to more accurately reflect the content of the blog I have changed the description. I am also going to create folders so that those of you who really only care to read about life here can find those posts more easily. Don't worry though, my reflections on life and my ramblings will still be available to all who dare to read them! Not all posts will have a category. Some are so random they would be in a category by themselves!

Personality Profile

About a month ago I got an email from a friend who has known me for almost 20 years. (Wait...am I really that old...yes we met freshman year of college...probably fall of 1987. Wow!) Anyway she read back through some of my old blogs and came upon the "Are there any questions?" blog of November 2. After reading it she had this to ask...

"What ways have you changed since your time in Turkey -- meaning, in character or spiritually?"

I told her that I would post the answer in a blog instead of in an email back to her, but have had trouble coming up with an easy answer. I feel like I have changed dramatically, but I can't really explain it. Before receiving her email our family went to California for Christmas and had a chance to spend some time with one of Brian's mentors. He challenged us to take a personality profile test to see how we scored. This personality test is the one that types you as a popular sanguine, powerful choleric, peaceful phlegmatic or perfect melancholy. I took this same test my senior year of high school and was a popular sanguine. I wondered how I would rate this time. Had I changed? So here is a partial answer to Karen's question and some other random thoughts I have about myself!

I had a lot of trouble taking the test this time. I don't remember how I felt when I took it in high school. Was it easier to know who I was when I was younger? It sure seemed to be! On this test I had to read each of four words on a line. I was supposed to select the word that most accurately described who I was naturally. If I had learned a behavior from a class, book, or for a job it is not considered a natural behavior for me. The test encouraged me to ask my friends or family if I had trouble choosing a word to describe me. It said that people often have a lot of baggage tied up in who they think they are so input from others can be insightful. If I was unsure of what a word meant there were definitions to help me make a choice. After reading all of those directions I got started.

Strengths-
1. adventurous, adaptable, animated, analytical
whew...this isn't so bad...definitely adaptable

2. persistant, playful, persuasive, peaceful
hmmm...persuasive...wait...is that a good thing or not....definition - convinces through logic and fact rather than charm or power...okay yes persuasive

3. refreshing, respectful, reserved, resourceful
Oh my ...I need definitions for these...
refreshing - renews and stimulates or makes others feel good
respectful - treats others with deference, honor and esteem
reserved - self-restrained in expression of emotion or enthusiasm
resourceful - able to act quickly and effectively in virtually all situations
Well, I would like to be refreshing, but I think reserved is a better description

And on it went. The strengths weren't too hard, but the weaknesses were another story!

Weaknesses

1. brassy, bossy, bashful, blank
okay...I guess of these I am bossy.

2. interrupts, impatient, insecure, indecisive
definitely indecisive, but wait, let me see a definition...
indecisive - finds it difficult to make any decision at all
Well, that's not me. I am not indecisive in the important things...just in deciding what I want to eat or what fun thing I want to do. And then it's just because there are so many good options! Okay, then what about insecure...
insecure - is apprehensive or lacks confidence
Well good grief...none of these are me. What does Brian think...interrupts - is more of a talker than a listener, starts speaking without even realizing someone else is already speaking...what? That isn't right. What does Abby say...definitely not interrupts...insecure. Okay...insecure.

3. unpredictable, unaffectionate, unpopular, uninvolved
What....this is crazy. I mean I know I have weaknesses, but I don't think any of these are me either! After consulting my "friends and family" I decided on unaffectionate - finds it difficult to verbally or physically demonstrate tenderness openly....although I don't think that is a "natural" personality trait for me.

And on it went. I tried to take the test by myself, but had too much trouble. When I finally finished I looked at my results.

Sanguine - 8
Choleric - 16
Melancholy - 4
Phlegmatic - 15

So what does this mean? I am a combination Choleric/Phlegmatic. Then I read on about normal healthy patterns, and it didn't mention this combination. So I continued reading. "There are two combinations that are not natural: Sanguine/Melancholy and Choleric/Phlegmatic." Well, that would be me. Not natural. Basically the test said that if your types don't go together you are masking your true personality and to retake the test making sure to consult the definitions. I tried this, and although I changed a few answers the results were still the same. I did see answers that I thought used to be more my personality...like in the strength examples above...I probably would have picked adventurous and playful when I was in high school, but I don't think I am those things as much anymore. Basically I am messed up!

I thought about this and what it means. I think that after reading about each personality I am more sanguine/phlegmatic, but I have learned a few things since I have been overseas. This is where I am finally answering Karen's question.(Sorry it has taken so long!) Since I have been in Turkey I have learned how to be more assertive. It is not natural for me, but I can do it. I have learned how to confront my problems instead of ignoring them hoping them they will go away. I am more unemotional, independent, and confident than I was before I arrived. I have some choleric traits naturally, but not enough for this to be my dominant personality type. After being on a small team and having to work through problems with people I have learned a lot about how to relate to others. I don't think I am messed up. I am just more well-rounded in my thoughts and personality.

So that didn't really touch how I have changed spiritually, but I do feel like it is all related. God has taught me great things about who He is through my personality trials! As I learned to step out of what was natural for me I had to depend on God to work it out. Before coming overseas I didn't know what it meant to depend on God! Now I realize that I can't do this on my own! Not at all! And there is so much more I could say, but this is already way longer than most people want to read so I'll stop with this question. If you knew me before I went to Turkey and then saw me again while we were in the states or converse with me regularly through email do you think I changed? Do you see any differences in me? I want the good, the bad, and the ugly!

Neighborhood pictures

I always seem to take pictures of the scenery from my balcony, but I never have pictures of the outside of my building so here it is. Our apartment is the third gray balcony from the top (looking at the shorter side of the building). This balcony can be reached from our kitchen, Erica's room and the salon. We also have the small pink balcony (2nd from top) on the longer side of the building. This looks fancy from the picture, but is too small to actually use for anything other than storage. The white building in the background has been built in the last year and a half. It was an empty lot that had quite a bit of trash in it. The kids used to play there and collect stuff for pretend houses they built. They were sad when they started to build a real house there!


This is the mosque located just down from our building. We hear the call to prayer 5 times a day from the speakers at the top of the minaret. Very few people go to pray when the call is heard most days. The exception is Fridays at noon. That is when they have their "sermon" and then the cars are lining the streets.

An obsession!

As many of you know I was so excited to be able to eat some of my favorite foods while we were in America. And now that I am back in Turkey I am enjoying some of my favorite foods here. One of my favorite snacks in Turkey is something called a simit. It is basically like a unsalted pretzel covered in sesame seeds. I think they are yummy!


You can buy simits at the grocery store, local bakery, from a simit stand, or from a simitci who carries them on a tray balanced on his head. They cost about 30 cents each early in the day, but as the day goes on the price gets cheaper. I guess they want to make sure they sell them all!


One of my friends came over the other day to teach me how to make one of my favorite asian dishes...California rolls! I love them!

We put all the ingredients on a plate so we could mix and match. My favorite was avocado, crab, cucumber! This is not a Turkish dish but I learned to love it here because there is quite a large Korean population at our school.


And finally I just had to show everyone what I requested for my last meal in America! A vegetable plate. Most people thought that was strange, but it was filled with all the veggies we can't get in Turkey. Sweet potatoes, cream-style corn, yellow squash and black-eyed peas with cornbread! It was so good, and I was so full when I finished this meal!

This language!

Yesterday, Brian went to the grocery store to pick up several things. I had already ordered groceries online, but these were things that I had forgotten and needed for dinner and over the next couple of days. He was able to find everything on the list except beef bouillon.. He wasn't sure where to look or what it was called in Turkish so he proceeded to try to explain to the helpful little man at the market what he was looking for.

Brian - "I'm looking these things that are beef flavored. They are shaped like cubes."
Grocer - "sugar cubes?"
Brian - "No, it is beef flavored and sometimes you put it in soups. There are also chicken flavored cubes that can go in soup."
Grocer - "bulyon?"
Brian - (feeling really stupid) "yes, bouillon."

I have also had that same experience. Right before we went back to the states I went to Starbucks with a friend. My drink was really hot so I tried to ask for the little cardboard thing that helps to insulate your hand. I tried explaining it to the nice lady, and she looked at me and said, "you would like a sleeve?" Yes, a sleeve. I didn't know what they were called in English, so I had no idea what to call them in Turkish!

I think this is why I try to plan out what I am going to say before I have to say it! When we first arrived back in America I even found myself planning conversations there so that I wouldn't have to figure out how to say something! Then I realized that my eye doctor speaks English! So did the hairdresser and the cashier at the grocery store! Now I have to remember that I am back in Turkey. Today at the mall I beeped when I went through the metal detector at the entrance. I turned and looked at the lady and said, "Am I okay?" in English. She just looked at me and waved me on. Turkish, Natalie, Turkish. One day my brain will catch up with my body!

Clarification

While we were in the states several people mentioned that they enjoyed reading our blog and getting our updates. This made me feel a little guilty because it has been a while since I have sent an email update! After starting this blog about a year ago I have sent very few updates thinking that this blog could serve that purpose. But, I am realizing that for security reasons I am not really updating anyone on our work in the blog...just on our life. So I have decided to start anew with the emailed updates. What does this mean? If you currently received emails from us (blog updated, personal, or whatever) you will automatically be put on the update distribution list. If you check this blog because you got this site from a friend, off of a "remember us" picture card, or some other way and would like to receive email updates on our work please send me your email address so I can add you to the list. And finally, for those who get emails from us but don't want updates, email me and let me know and I will take you off the list. Hopefully that covers everyone! Expect the first update email in a week or so. We are just getting started and still trying to recover from jetlag!

Blog = life, funny stories, my crazy thoughts
Email updates = work related stories and requests

Email me at natalie@dixonchronicles.com or leave a comment on this site and I will take care of you. I will delete all comments that have personal information such as email addresses as soon as I add your address to my address book.

Welcome Home!

We are back in Turkey...finally! After several weeks of not knowing when we were leaving Texas it seemed to happen very quickly. We got back January 25 and immediately had 11 people over to hang out and help keep us awake until bedtime. We ordered pizza from Dominoes and had lots of fun. The top picture above shows the Dominoes sign in the trees under the Dostlar Manti sign. I was standing on my balcony, zoomed in, and took this picture to show how close it is. And they deliver too! I wish I had taken a picture of the pizza to show everyone what it looked like. The cheese and pepperoni pizzas look pretty much the same. There is very little sauce on them, but they are pretty good. We also got a pizza that had feta cheese on it. You can order pizza with corn kernels, square pieces of meat that are supposed to be ground meat, and something called garlic sausage that takes getting used to. They are round just like pepperoni, but often cut a little thicker. I am pretty sure there were some of these sausages on the pepperoni pizzas because I would occasionally get the garlic sausage flavor and some of the meat looked a little suspicious. Welcome home!

Some other things I have noticed since I have been back....everything seems really small. I remember thinking that things seemed huge in Texas when we first arrived back in June, but I guess I got used to it because things here are tiny! The toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, microwave ovens, cereal boxes, milk, sandwich bread, and various other things are a lot smaller than I remembered. Even the rooms in my apartment look smaller. Will thought his room shrunk while he was gone! Now things are looking a little more normal. Brian and I watched a TV show called Designed to Sell while we were in the states. The idea behind the show is to update your house a little so that you get more money for it when you sell it. One of the main things we heard over and over is that most people have too much furniture in their rooms. They overcrowd. Well that is how our house looked to us when we got back. Our furniture was too big for our small rooms. We don't have closets so we have to put wardrobes in the rooms for our clothes. A wardrobe, bed, table with a lamp, and a dresser take up a lot of space. We have walking paths and small play areas in the kids rooms, but the people on HGTV would cringe if they walked in here! Welcome home!

We have really enjoyed being back and getting to use our electric blanket, our space heaters, and wearing long johns! We don't even own these things in Texas but enjoy the rare occasion when we need the fireplace there. I wasn't happy about coming back to really cold weather for long lengths of time, but I was excited about being able to get warm when it is cold! Very strange I know. It snowed last night so this morning we walked to church in the snow. I think we will have many opportunities to use our blanket, heaters, and long johns in the next few weeks! See the pictures above for proof! Welcome home!

Some dates...finally!

Well, it's official. We finally received our passports today and now have tickets to head back to Turkey. We fly out on January 24 at noon, Texas time and arrive in Ankara on January 25 at 2pm Turkey time (6am Texas time). We are happy to have something to work towards. I was tired of living in limbo...knowing we were headed back but not having any specific dates! The kids will have 3 days of life before they have to start back to school. Hopefully it will be enough time to get over jet-lag! At this point they don't have a choice. Thanks to everyone who has been thinking about us during this time. We really appreciate it! Now think about how we can get all the stuff we are planning on taking back into our suitcases! That may take a miracle!

Old School

Recently we have been having some internet issues. We finally had a repairman show up at our house and...gasp...it is our modem. It plugs in and looks like it should be working, but something on the inside decided to quit. We don't think we need to spend the money on a new one since we are leaving soon so we have resorted to using the old stand-by...dial up! I can't believe how slow it is! Definitely old school! It took forever to download my emails today. (I am currently at my parents' house loving their DSL as I type this blog.) What does this mean you ask? Well, no more pictures or mass emails until I get back to Turkey. I'm not sure how skype or other programs will work on dial up. We will have to just try it and see!

Exactly when will you be going back to Turkey you ask? Good question! I wish we knew! We are currently waiting on the kids' passports. We sent them in for renewal a long time ago! We still haven't received them. According to their website we should have them "on or before January 13". We already had that same message another time we checked and it said January 10. That day came and went. Now we are hopeful that we will have them in the next couple of days. Once we receive them we can give our company the go ahead to get our tickets. I have no idea what the earliest travel date will be for reservations. It may be the end of January before we will actually be leaving. We are half packed and not sure what to do with ourselves. We have kept the kids home from school after the Christmas break because we planned on being back in Turkey for the second semester of school which starts January 29. That will still be the case, but with the way things are going we might end up missing a couple of days. We will keep you posted on our plans.

And more...

The kids on their scooters...a Christmas present from Brian's parents.


The flamingos at the San Diego Zoo...they were loud!


A mountain...somewhere along the way.


Hill tops covered with windmills


What Jacob did on Christmas day. He was coming down with strep throat! Thankfully we were able to see a doctor/friend and get some medicine. Thanks, Doc!

Pictures from the west.

The kids standing next to a cactus. Those things are huge!


A picture of the desert...somewhere in Arizona


Las Palmas Dr. on the way to Brian's parents' house.


The Hollywood sign as seen from Griffith Observatory.

Remember us!

Since we have been in the states we have had new "remember us" cards made. If you would like one either leave me a comment on here with your home address or send me an email with your address and I will mail one to you. All blog comments are emailed to me as soon as you leave them so when I get your address I will delete your comment so your address isn't out there for everyone to see! My email address...just in case you need it...is

natalie@dixonchronicles.com.

If you don't want a card but want to see what we look like here is the picture printed on the card.

Promised pictures...

I don't usually take scenic pictures. Usually I make sure to have people I know in the scenery...two pictures for the price of one....but these pictures were exceptions. Enjoy.



The view of Los Angeles from the Griffith Observatory. Notice the layer of smog over the city!


A saguaro cactus...one of many we saw on our drive through Arizona.


The start of sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen from Camp Pendleton.


Mountains and a full moon.

Holidays and Plans

I've been meaning to post a blog for a couple of weeks now, but have not been able to find the time! I thought I would try to update everyone on what we are doing now and what our plans for the next several couple of weeks will be.
Currently, we are in California visiting Brian's family. We will be here until January 2 and then will head back to Texas to pack up for Turkey. We don't have plane tickets yet, but will let you know as soon as we know our exact plans. The unofficial date is January 12. Needless to say we have a lot to do before we can head back to Turkey. I keep having dreams that we are sitting in our kitchen in Turkey and I am remembering things I forgot to bring with me. Namely food items! I had dreams about food before I came back to America and now I am dreaming about forgetting food when I go back. I think I must have a problem!
Well that is all I am posting for now. Stay tuned for pictures next time!