Carpets in Cappadocia

For my final post about our adventure last spring in Cappadocia I would like to tell you about a marvelous place.  It is a place where they make, display and sell (to those who can afford it) some of the loveliest carpets I have ever seen.  Ladies, who have learned carpet-making from their mothers, come to perfect their skills. They stay for a year (I believe), complete one carpet, and take a loom home with them when they leave so that they can continue earning money.  The wool and silk that they use is spun there. We even got the chance to see them harvesting the silk. They put the empty silkworm cocoons in hot water and them pick them up with this little broom.



Pulling the cocoons.

Once they are able to find an end they hook it to a machine and it pulls the thread out. That's not the best description, but it was pretty cool to see.

 

 

It was amazing to watch the women working on the carpets. Only the most talented are able to work with silk because it is so fine it requires both more skill and precision. The wool ones looked difficult to me, but the ladies were working like there was nothing to it.

 

 

After seeing the workers, we were led to a viewing room where they laid out various carpets for us to look at. They even encouraged the kids to get down and crawl around on the carpets.

 

 

 

 

There were so many other fabulous carpets, truly works of art, that I don't have pictures of. We are definitely going to have to go back...

 

 









Eating in Cappadocia

I love Turkish food, as is evident by my weight gain in the last 20 months. The bread, the spices, even the lamb (which I've never cared for before).  The food in Cappadocia was a little different than what we get here in Adana, but it was still yummy.

At our first stop, the underground city, we found these great snacks. They're spiral-cut potatoes on a skewer and they're fried up like potato chips. Simple, tasty, and just a little different for novelty's sake.

Later, we went to lunch at a restaurant in Goreme.

I can't seem to caption the pictures. :(  We started with the requisite bread. You know bread is good when Ben digs into it.  The boys were so excited that they were each able to get their own pizza...until it showed up with sliced tomatoes on top.  Lizzy got pasta. Keri got cigar borek (cheese wrapped in a very thin dough). Ben and I got testi kebap which is cooked in clay pots which they open at the table for you.  His was lamb. Mine was chicken. They both had tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms in them. It was all very good.

The great food continued for the next day and a half, but there's no more pictures. I really am going to miss Turkish food when we leave.

Pottery in Cappadocia

Turkey is filled with beautiful, hand-painted pottery in stunning colors and designs.



 

 

 

Ben actually prefers the designs that are less colorful. I believe they're Hittite designs, but I can't remember for sure. We bought a vase and plate similar to the pattern on the ones in the far right of this picture.

 

 

We were able to watch a potter at his wheel...which he spun with one leg while shaping the vase. It was pretty cool.

 

Then, he offered us a chance to try. Lizzy, Alex, and even Ben gave it a shot. They had fun and did a pretty good job.

 





Climbing in Cappadocia

The first place we visited was an underground city.  It made me think of the cave system in Stephenie Meyer's The Host. 


Rolling stone door used to keep raiders out.

Ben ended up exploring deeper into the caves with Mark and Krystal Bowen while the rest of us took the kids back to the surface. While they were climbing around they came across the remains of  a cow and a sheep that were partially decomposed. Yuck! They also took quite a few pictures...as you might be able to tell by his face, Ben could have done without the photo ops. haha

 

 

Ben and the older three kids did lots of climbing on the hills and ruins, as well. It sometimes made me nervous, but they did really well. If you look really close in this picture you'll see two figures on the ridgeline...they're my kids...this is one of those times I was nervous.

 

 

There were cliff dwellings too.  We even saw some that were still occupied, but I don't have a picture of those.

 

 

Mark in a crevice

 

Ben and Krystal are up in that shadow.

 

I like this picture of Ben and Alex.



 

Climbing was by far Ben's (and the kids') favorite part of the trip.  

 







Shopping in Cappadocia

Cappadocia offers great shopping opportunities. From small stands set up near other attractions (such as the fairy chimneys) to larger shops in the villages, there is always something to spend your money on.  And we enjoyed all of it.

 

There were a number of stalls outside the underground city that we stopped at on our way to Goreme. We looked at a lot of fun things, even tried some on, but bought very little. Each of the kids got a small soapstone carving, but I didn't get a picture of those.

Garret in a hat/headwrap.

One of the things I was looking for was a great bag like the ones I had seen so many of the other ladies carrying.  They are made locally and are beautiful.  There were different varieties in a number of places, but I got mine in a shop in Goreme.  I found a cream-colored (linen, I think) one with deep, earthy colors and a black velvety one with bright colors and a touch of silver thread.  I couldn't decide which one I wanted.  Ben said the black one didn't really "look" like me, but I think that was just his way of saying that he didn't care for it. He knows me better than that (or should after 13 years). In the end he insisted on buying both of them for me. I love them and use them all the time.

 

While I was mulling over purses, Ben was checking out tablecloths and placemats. We didn't end up getting any because we couldn't agree on a pattern. We enjoyed browsing, though. Quite a few of the patterns reminded me of ones you would find in the southwest United States.

 



 

 

We also bought a desk lamp and some pottery. Both are still wrapped up because we don't have anyplace to display them yet. Here are some examples though:

 

 

 

Our lamp globe is blue. Our pottery (a plate and a small vase) are off-white with a black pattern...similar to the design on the far right of the picture.

 

The next find reminded me of my belly-dancing relatives and couldn't not be photographed. :)

 



 

 

 

 



Exploring Cappadocia

Back in April we spent part of the kids' Spring Break in Cappadocia with some friends.  We were only there for two days, but they were jam-packed with fun.  Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera with us (other than my iPhone). The Bowens, however, are prolific photographers and were nice enough to make us a couple of discs of photos. So...I am going to be doing a series of posts.

We drove up on Friday and stayed at the Travel Inn Cave Hotel in the village of Goreme. We were in the family room. There were 5 twin beds and a double.  It was a nice hotel for a fair price and included a traditional Turkish breakfast. The air was a little humid and musty, but it's built in a cave so that's to be expected.

 

We explored an underground city, climbed around some fairy chimneys, watched hotair balloons at sunrise, ate good food, did some shopping and saw craftsmen (and women) at work. I will get more into all of those in the next few posts. My overall thoughts are that it was a great time with some great friends in a beautiful area.

 

Family picture in front of fairy chimneys.

 



Keri getting a ride from Mark Bowen.

Home Alone

The older three kids have been in school for about a month now, and Keri started Sure Start (preschool) two weeks ago. This means that I am home alone for the first time ever! It's still a little strange to have the house so quiet during the day, but I've been enjoying it. Ben hoped that it would mean a sudden change in my housekeeping skills, but he should know me better than that by now. LOL

Seriously, though, I am trying to be better. I'm also trying to make it to the gym at least a couple times a week.  I had lunch with the ladies from church twice (the first time Keri came with us) and with the squadron spouses group and Ben's leadership once. I finished a Christmas present for someone special and got some more of Ben's blanket done. I've read (or listened to) a few books. On a side note...audiobooks are fabulous for multi-tasking. All in all, I've enjoyed my "me time".  Perhaps the next step is some schooling...

Speaking of school, the kids are doing pretty well. Lizzy seems to be enjoying middle school and has taken up the flute. She practices daily and its starting to sound like music. (heehee) Middle school and high school here is a block schedule, so she has 4 90-minute classes a day. They alternate A days and B days. The only class she has every day is Language Arts/Reading.
 

Starting middle school in her gym clothes.

Alex is doing pretty well. Part of his homework is on the computer, which he thinks is SO cool. Some days are harder than others, but I think overall he's liking school. He's also excited about starting soccer last week. 

All ready for 3rd.

Garret is doing really well. He is excelling at reading much earlier than the older two did.  He's playing soccer, too.







1st day of 1st grade.



Keri was so excited to start school. She told me when the other kids started that she didn't want me to be her teacher anymore. So it's a good thing she was accepted into the Sure Start program. She's loving it, too. She is also starting soccer on Saturday.




Small Town Girl

I am a small town girl. Through our many moves growing up, we almost always (one exception, I think) lived in small towns. I love the feel of them, the sense of community. I love knowing the people around me.

I have now lived in not-so-small towns and rather large cities, and I always feel a little lost. Not geographically, though that is sometimes an issue, but socially and emotionally. I'm just another face in the crowd.

So, who would've thought that I would find a little bit of that small town vibe halfway around the world?  Living on a small base, especially one in a foreign country, is similar to living in a small town. It's easy to get to know a large portion of the population when you see them EVERYWHERE. The clerk at the BX knows us by name because we are in there at LEAST once a week. The clerk at the commissary praises Ben's soccer skills while we check out. That little girl I helped get unstuck at the park this summer? She's in Keri's class. That other preschool mom? She's one of the Key Spouses for the squadron.

Okay, so where did this rant come from? It came from thinking about schools. My graduating class was 45 students (most of which had been in school together since kindergarten). Ben's graduating class was around 1000.  That's crazy!

The school here is down from last year. There are currently less than 500 students from preschool to 12th grade. We went to graduation last year to support, and celebrate with, the daughter of some friends of ours. This was the graduating class:

 

 

I hope wherever the Air Force takes us, our children have the opportunity to be in schools that are small enough to allow them to not feel lost in a crowd.

The Idea of Home

Home is where the heart is.  Home is where the Air Force (Army, Navy, Marines) sends us.  The idea of home has been on my mind lately. In a blog post the other day, a friend of mine related the following story that she had read in Readers Digest:

A travel-tired little girl lay on a pile of suitcases in an airport while her military daddy saw to the details of yet another flight. A nearby woman sized up the situation and remarked, "You poor dear. You don't have a home, do you?" The little girl sat up and replied, "Yes, we do. We just don't have a house to put it in right now."

I love that response! Being "houseless" seems to be a common occurrence with military families. You clean your house, turn in the keys, and check into temporary housing (basically a hotel). You get to your new base and check into temporary housing until they have a house for you.  You learn to keep "home" with you. 

So, that's what started my most recent reverie on home. Then, I found this beautiful quote in the book I was reading.

"Here's the thing about home:  you can create it most anywhere, as long as you gather your people around you."- Shannon Hale, Midnight in Austenland

That is why Washington will always be home. It is where so many of "my people" are...the people who have known me the longest. We moved a fair amount when I was growing up. Not because we were a military family, Dad is just genetically predisposed to itchy feet. Sometimes I wonder if there might be some Gypsy blood in the Heinz 57 sauce that is the Shapley lineage.  But even with the hardest move (the summer before high school), I don't remember ever feeling like I wasn't at home. We were together as a family and, ultimately, that's all that really mattered.

It is also why I've been able to pick up and move every 3-4 years since we've been married.  I have my wonderful husband and our little people, so it doesn't matter where we end up. Each move is difficult, but it's also exciting (perhaps the Shapley blood helps). 

In the last 12 years, we have set up our home in Spring, Texas; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Abilene, Texas; and Adana, Turkey.  When we're finished here, our home will be....wherever the Air Force sends us. We'll pack it up and take it with us because that's what we do.

Finally Some Answers...

And some help.

For years we've dealt with school conferences and reports that Alex had behavioral issues, was immature, and was behind academically (which, for the most part were attributed to the first). The school in Abilene, although great in some ways, did not have any answers or help for us.

When we got here to Turkey, he was a little over halfway through 1st grade. His teacher was fabulous and worked to try to get him caught up. He also spent time working with a remedial reading teacher each day. He was referred to the "Student Support Team" (a group of teachers and other school staff) to discuss options. It was decided that since it was so late in the year we would just keep doing what we were and keep an eye on him.  He DID make progress in those 4 months, but he was still sadly behind.

Last year, as I've mentioned before, Alex was placed in a combined 2nd/3rd grade class and I was nervous. His teacher noticed the same sort of issues and we were sent back to the SST. This time it was decided that he should be evaluated. After TONS of paperwork and a few more meetings the conclusion was reached that he has some learning difficulties (including slow processing speed) and they suspected ADD/ADHD. They wrote up an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for him that includes extra help in the classroom AND time in the Special Education class. He also meets regularly with the school psychologist.

Since ADD/ADHD is a medical diagnosis, we went to the doctor. He looked over the questionnaire we had filled out and spent some time talking to Alex.  He said there were definitely some indicators, but that it wasn't clear cut enough for him to feel comfortable making a diagnosis that would stick with Alex for life. While I appreciate that he didn't just jump to a diagnosis and write a prescription, I worry that we could be losing an avenue of help that Alex needs. I'm torn.

Now we're back to school...back to fights over homework...back to tears because he just doesn't get it.  I wait for the day that he gets upset because his little brother is reading better than him, and I know it's coming. He's angry and a little combative; he's sensitive and easily discouraged. He's also very concerned with what is fair (or that he thinks is fair). He's hugging me and telling me I'm awesome one minute, and slamming doors and yelling that he KNEW I never loved him the next. But at least he's stopped telling me that he thinks he should just die...

Wow, this post just took a turn. My point is...we finally got some answers and I'm hopeful that this year will bring us more. I firmly believe that the Lord never gives us more than we can handle. So, we'll handle this...one day at a time.

Knitting Madness

First, some backstory...

I don't remember my mother just sitting very much when I was growing up. Whether we were watching TV or riding in the car, Mom usually had something to occupy her hands. Quite often she would crochet, but she also did other things like embroidery and knitting. She managed to teach me embroidery when I was in middle school and tried to teach me to crochet (I never caught on). I tried again as a newlywed to learn to crochet and again failed. I just don't seem to be able to do it. Luckily, two summers ago I had the opportunity to spend a couple of months living with my parents while Ben was deployed. While there, Mom taught both Lizzy and me to knit. I made a couple hats and started a cowl for myself but I hadn't really fallen in love with knitting yet. It was simply a way to pass the time.

Then, we moved to Turkey and I made a couple of friends who are avid crocheters (is that a word?). They took me to a yarn store in downtown Adana and the obsession began. The yarn here is beautiful and so inexpensive!


The results of my 1st trip to the yarn store. With the exchange rate it all came to less than $40!

 

 
 

 
Ben bought me two plastic storage units and I proceeded to fill them...it would've been rude not to. :)  Now I just need to work through my stash so I can buy more. I'm never without a work-in-progress (or two or three). I also have an ever-growing list of projects I'd like to do.

I spend a good portion of my time, now, with my hands in yarn. I've even taken to listening to audiobooks so that I can satisfy my literary addiction while also satisfying my knitting madness. And, like my mother, I knit while watching TV.  I even took a project along with me on our road trip to Cappadocia (a post or two all of its own). 







I found this great website called Ravelry that has a huge collection of crochet and knit projects, and you can interact with other crafters. It's pretty cool for getting new ideas and keeping track of your work. My username is isommama if anyone is interested.  A picture of one of my projects (a baby blanket) was chosen to be featured on the pattern page. I felt pretty honored, especially since it was my first blanket. Usually I forget to take a picture of the finished project. Here are a couple that I remembered to photograph:

 

 

 For some reason it's not letting me caption them.  The top one is a cowl I knit with a fabulous yarn that my friend's son calls "peacock yarn". The bottom one is the baby blanket I made for a friend's newest addition and is made with a bamboo/nylon blend that is super soft.

So, that is my madness. I'm trying to embrace it and control it at the same time. The control is necessary so that the house and children don't get too out of hand. :)

 

Worst Blogger EVER!

Yep, that's me! I just realized that its been almost a year since I lasted posted anything. I could make a list of excuses, but that's all that it would be. So...I'm going to be better about it. Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be sharing some of the exciting things we've been doing this year. They will most likely NOT be in order and that is going to cause me some discomfort, but I'll work through it. There are still pictures I need to find and, as some of you know, I don't always think in a linear fashion, so maybe it'll actually work out better if we all know what to expect going in. For now, I need to log off the computer and get dinner done.