What do I build?

The first engineers that ever existed invented the brick.  After inventing the brick, they figured they could stack the bricks up and build a tower in the middle of the city. The plans called for a tower so high it could reach heaven.  Man could simply walk up the steps and be with God.  Everyone was excited about the tower, how could they not be?

There was also a man in the desert that built a large ship by himself.  People thought he was crazy building such a big ship in the middle of nowhere.  He worked for many years on this ship, often being mocked.  Crazy Noah they called him.

As the story goes, the tower meant nothing and the ship meant everything.  The engineers and townspeople were building the tower for the glory of themselves.  Crazy Noah, the ship builder, was doing his work for the glory of God. The people who built the tower were scattered and it was never completed, their labor being wasted. The ship saved humanity.

I sometimes wonder what I build, towers or ships?

A beautiful day

Name that tune

Every day we hear this "jingle." The streets here are very narrow and sounds echo so it's hard to tell where this jingle is coming from. It plays once through then takes a 10 second break before restarting. It sounds like a song the Ice Cream Truck would play except creepier.

We're on the hunt to find the source of this jingle and what it's selling. Turn your speakers on and enjoy the audio below.

A day maker

I would say that we've shared our first success at work, but we weren't involved in the several months of work that led up to this week.  This week, we learned that several children of the families we serve were approved to attend Turkish public schools.  It may sound like a small thing, but to these families it means the world.

No scam for you

We avoided our first scam today...a shoeshine scam. In Istanbul, there are many men who are mobile shoe shiners.  They carry around a stool, a brush, and a basket of shines.  They hound you in the tourist places to try and shine your shoes.  There's a common scam that they do; they'll be walking past tourists and they will drop their brush and keep walking, acting like they haven't noticed.  Naturally, the tourist bends down and picks up the brush and hands it back.  The shoe shiner is so grateful and tells the tourist how he just saved his livelihood and his family.  As an appreciation for the good deed, the shoe shiner offers a shine.  The tourist, feeling like he must accept, plops his feet down for a shine.  After the shine, the shoe shiner demands payment, often times 4 or 5 times higher than what it would normally cost.  If you don't pay him he'll create a scene.

We had been warned about this scam.  Today we were walking through a park and a 50 year old shoe shine man was walking at us.  As we were close to him, he casually dropped his brush and waited for us to pick it up.  We just pointed at it and walked on.  He followed us for a bit and offered a shine, but we just kept walking.

Scam avoided.  20 lira richer.  I feel like we've been initiated somewhat.

The Sugar Festival

Seker Bayram, the "sugar festival" is a 3 1/2 day holiday celebrated by Muslims to mark the end of Ramazan, the month of fasting.  Muslims fast for 40 days from sunrise to sunset.

Bayram starts this Sunday and will last until Tuesday.  We're told that many places will still be open, but any official business is closed such as government offices or banking.  This is as big of a holiday here as Thanksgiving.

It is customary to go see family and close friends during this time.  People exchange chocolates and other sugary sweets.  Children get new clothes.

In our neighborhood we have had a drummer that walks the neighborhood an hour and a half before the sun rises which is a signal to those who are fasting to stop eating and drinking. It is possible that he will knock on our door during this holiday expecting a small tip, which is customary.

We don't have any family here in Turkey, and we're starting to make friends but don't have a lot yet.  So LC has decided to celebrate by eating her new favorite dessert........the waffle ice cream sandwich.  (It's delicious, and LC wishes she would have thought of it sooner)

Getting Settled

Today makes a week that we have been in Istanbul.  It also is our first blog post from Istanbul.  The blog posts will become more frequent when we get internet in our apartment.

Our first week has been good.  Overwhelming, but good.  Istanbul is a beautiful city and the Turkish people are very nice.  That being said, Istanbul is the most crowded city I've ever been in.  I quickly discovered that what I thought was a sidewalk they consider a normal street.  The cars have the right of way here and they are not afraid to hit you.  Istanbul is 8 hrs ahead of where we used to live, so I've had a tough time adjusting to the jet lag.  The first 3 nights I woke up at 2 am ready to go for the day.  The nights are long when you don't have TV or internet.........my books saved me.  LC has had no problem adjusting and has slept like a baby the entire week.

Most of this past week we have spent settling into our apartment and getting to know the city and how to get around.  We have spent a couple of days with the organization and seeing how they help clients.  Just from our couple of days of exposure of the clients we can see how tremendous the needs are in their lives.  The determination they have is truly remarkable.  Health problems are a major concern of the clients.  The organization brings in doctors and partners with local hospitals to get clients the necessary medical care.  Everything from tooth extractions for children, to tumors, to tuberculosis, to prenatal care and delivery, etc.

The language barrier is bigger than we thought it would be.  We'll be taking a Turkish language course and also have some online materials to help us.  Once we understand Turkish better we'll be able to help the clients in different ways, like getting their kids in school, taking them to the hospital, or helping them find shelter.

Things are going well.  When I look back over this past week I realize how much we've learned.  I don't think we'll ever quit learning while in Istanbul.

packing........

Packing is the thing that we have dreaded the most.  Throughout the last month, we have been collecting things to take to Turkey, whether it be clothes, medications, toiletries, etc. The list of things we have wanted to take has kept growing and growing and growing, as evidenced by the back of the Tahoe in the last post.

The airline will allow us to each have 2 checked bags.  Each checked bag is free as long as it's under 50lbs.  There's no way that any of our checked luggage is going to be under 50lbs.  However, we have to keep each bag under 70lbs or they won't even put it on the plane.  We decided to get space saver bags that you can remove excess air with a vacuum.  See pictures for the action shots of us trying to remove every particle of excess air.

The vacuum bags work well, now the only issue is the weight.  If only the bags made all the stuff weigh less...........