Little Manners

I love hearing a little voice from another room in the house say, "Bless you Daddy" when I sneeze.

She also says, "excuse me" when she toots or burps.

When all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

3:30am….Going to Bed!  Just finished the 500 pager in 3 days.

I am flat worn out! One more paper to write and then clean up the other 5 and I am done!!!

Your prayers are appreciated…no they are coveted. 

Slowly but surely

Finished 3 more books.  Now I just have an 8 page paper, 500+ page book to read, another 8 page review, and prep work for a presentation and I am done!

9 days to get it all done….

Please pray for me!  I've cracked the red bull and i'm planning an all-nighter.

Outnumbered

The Lord's Prayer…sung by Andrea Bocelli, but it's not as good as my Pap singing it

Pressing on

I just completed my reading and writing for one of my two modular courses in January.  Now just 4 more books and 4 papers and I am done!!!  Please pray for us right now.  We have a lot of irons in the fire right now.  Trying to find time to read and write has been difficult!

The Gospel impacts everything...

We had a great day at a local church yesterday.  It was really encouraging to see so many people that were focused intently on the message.  The majority of the people were taking notes.  There was a girl sitting in front of me with a Bible that was highlighted, diagramed and had all kinds of other things written in it.  After the first sermon a woman who was probably in her 80's got up and recited at least 2 chapters of Scripture from memory, it was amazing! After the next sermon, we took communion that was from a common cup (and its flu season).  

I made a couple observations about the members there.  First, they were the most warm, loving and welcoming people that we have met since we have been here.  Second, they had some of the cleanest bathrooms that we have seen.  This might sound random, but it just goes to show that the Gospel should impact everything in your life.  It should cause you to reflect on the grace and mercy that has been given to you.  It should affect the way you treat people.  And it should cause you to be a good stewards of things entrusted to you.  If only the Gospel could permeate this culture…every culture, the world would be a totally different place (Hmm, maybe what God originally intended it to be before sin). 

Worship with us!

It's COLD in Moscow!

It's been snowing off and on for the last month, but last night we got a bucket full.  I thought it was a lot, but I was informed by a Moscovite that I hadn't seen anything yet.  I left earlier than normal this morning trying to factor in longer travel time, but I didn't expect I would have to wait over an hour for the bus to come!  Not fun when the snow is coming down sideways and the wind is blowing it down the back of your neck and jacket.  

Another loss= A perfect teaching opportunity...

Well if you read the last post, I mentioned there are 2 goals at the beginning of the football season.  And officially FSU screwed up both of them.

This is a perfect opportunity to teach Veta about losing, and how to be a "good loser."

However, I won't be giving her that lesson, I'll let Stephanie take care of this one.  I'm still trying to cool down. 

It comes down to Saturday! SCALP 'EM Seminoles!

Preseason, there are two goals: Play for the National Championship, and BEAT Florida.  One of those goals is still obtainable!

Thanksgiving comes to Russia

Veta and Mommy's Thanksgiving crafts
Veta made a turkey sign from her handprint, a thankful wreath, and a pilgrim and Native American from toilet paper rolls.  We have been working on our thankful wreath over the past couple weeks. Each night at dinner we would all name something we were thankful for, write it on a leaf and then glue it onto our wreath.
(If you can read the leaf that says, "chips" that's not from Adam!)

She gets it from her mama...

We never know what to expect when it gets quiet.  She was supposed to be going potty. 

Christmas Cards

We had some friends ask us the other day if they could send us a Christmas card.  We would love to receive your family's Christmas newsletters and cards!  We'll hang them up and pretend you are just around the corner.  Please email me for the address.  If you don't have our email address, it's Adam.Stephanieourlastname@gmail.com

Lifelong Learner

As a child I wasn't a very big fan of school, and especially homework!  There were so many other things that I could be doing with my time.  Now, 20 years later, I still feel the same way.  Every night I have at least 3.5 hours of homework and that's before I even start studying.  Learning Russian is becoming a 9-10 hour task everyday and I still feel like I can't express myself or ask for certain (often important) things.

Today I asked my teacher how to properly ask, "where is the bathroom." These types of questions are normally constructed negatively such as, "You do not know where the bathroom is?"  He told me that we will learn this in the future.  To which I replied, well that's great, but where do I go in the meantime!!!

For those of you who know me (and my stomach) you know this is a very important question!  Last week after I FINALLY found the bathroom, I realized I had to pay to use it.  There wasn't enough time for me to try to figure out how much it cost…I was about to leave my whole wallet and come back to settle up later!

Does this statue remind you of a recent movie?

First one to name that movie wins.

Some observations...

1.  Shoveling snow on the side of the road is not a man's job.  There are some women around here that make manual labor look like a piece of cake.

2.  People still "thumb it" around here.  It's not uncommon to see people give up waiting on the bus and just get in the car with any random person.  (i'm getting up the nerve to try it)

3.  Bathroom cleanliness--No such thing!!! I've been in cleaner NASCAR bathrooms.  (oh, and if you're at the university, bring your own toilet seat and toilet paper).

4.  I'm mastering the "Donkey-stare," no one makes eye contact on the street or in the public transportation.  You just look through the person.

5.  There is a perpetual smell of Vodka in the air everywhere you go.

6.  No more free bags from the grocery store.  You have to bring your own plastic bags to tote your groceries home or buy them.

7.  There is NO teacher/ student relationship!  My teacher has clapped at me like I was a dog, he has slapped my desk with a ruler, and every chance he gets he laughs at me.  (the cold war is alive and well in our classroom).

8.  Clean yards and streets.  For such a big city there is relatively little litter (including leaves).  As soon as it hits the ground, someone is there to clean it up.

Our God is Greater-- English Version

I know there might be some old schoolers out there that aren't familiar with the song I posted below in Russian.  So here it is…

Make sure to watch the one below!

Наш Бог "Our God"

We visited a local church today with some friends and sang this Tomlin song (one of my favorites).  The video is not from the church that we went to, but I wanted you to hear worship music in the language we are learning.  It was an awesome experience worshiping the King in another language!

She reminds me of the kid from A Christmas Story

Veta is advancing in her AzeriTurkRusGlish

From the moment she wakes up, till the moment she falls asleep she is TALKING or singing!  Don't let the gibberish fool you, she can communicate pretty well for a 2-year-old.  We find ourselves laughing everyday asking each other where she learned to say that.

кислого молока…translated: Sour Milk

Stephanie had a "bloggable" moment the other day.  On our way to the bus stop, in route to the metro we have to cross a very busy street.  There's a crosswalk with a timed light, but that doesn't always stop the traffic, as some of the cars just zoom through.  You definitely want to make sure that you are on the sidewalk when the light changes, because once it turns green, it's off to the races!

To paint the picture, it was a cold, rainy and snowy day.  I was carrying Veta and Stephanie was following behind.  Just as she made it to the curb the light changed and one of the cars "dropped the hammer" (that's putting your foot into the accelerator for those of you who don't follow Nascar).  Right at the same moment I heard the engine roar, I heard a big boom, and then a scream.  As I turned around I saw Stephanie wiping her face and something dripping from her hair.  It was MILK.  The car drove over a liter of milk that was laying in the street and blew it all over her.  As stephanie turned around I saw the rest of the mess.  Her jacket was covered in milk.  It was all in her hair, all over her face and dripping down her legs.  To top it off, Stephanie with her super sensitive "Rin tin tin" nose (pregnancy senses) realized that it was SOUR!

We just turned around and went home.  We had to put the jacket out on the porch because it smelled so bad.  As Veta would say, "Sick!"

First Day of School

Stephanie and I started back to school today.  Stephanie is studying at home with a tutor that use to teach at the Moscow State University (pictured above) and I am attending class at the University.  Who would have ever thought that I would still be in University and one so far from home.  It's a beautiful campus with a lot of history.  As you can tell from the sidewalk, the snow has already begun. 

We're here!

After a lot of planning, paperwork, and prayer, we are finally here!

Sorry it's taken so long to post something.  We have had intermittent internet and a lot of different things going on.  We will share more about our new home when we can.

Wrangler Man

You know you're not in America when you pass a Wrangler Jeans display and the prices start at $80.  I've seen plenty of men wearing them on the streets, but they're all missing the dip can impression in the back pocket.  Not a true Wrangler man without the dip.

Billy Mays would have been proud!

Hi, Billy Mays here for...Vacuum Sealed Bags

8 bags stacked about 5 feet tall, vacuumed down to about 24 inches.

Poor Man's Twitter Account

Please pray for us.  We are way over weight and we are running out of space.  Pray that we would get through customs with no additional fees!

People watching...

If you're like me and like to people-watch, there is no better place than overseas.  The best part of watching people here is that you can make up your own dialog to go along with what your observing since you can't understand them anyway.

As odd as it sounds, I made an observation in the bathroom the other day (IN THE FRONT SECTION WHERE THE SINKS ARE).  All the men over here wash their hands.  And when I say wash, I MEAN WASH!  I've watched some of the men double soap, and some of them lather up so much you would think they were scrubbing in to perform surgery.

The funny thing is when I told Stephanie about it, she said the women do the same thing.  She said when they are done they spend about 5 minutes in front of the mirror fixing up.

One thing's for sure, I never witnessed men taking that much time to wash in the states.  Kind of sick!

Uprising...We're on the hunt!

Internationally renown FSU Marching Chiefs.  Watch the precision of the snare drums up front.  The song is called "Uprising." It starts with one snare and then spreads to the whole line.  

Public Transport

This is before it gets packed!  I can't begin to describe the aromas that you can experience, especially during the summer months.  I'm glad that I'm tall and my head is higher than everyone else.  Poor stephanie is armpit level

Another sign you're not in America anymore...

When was the last time your pharmacist brought you a cup of coffee and invited you to chat for an hour and a half?  Mine did today!  As much as I miss the convenience of walking into a Walgreens or CVS and getting medicine as well as some other items, you can't beat the hospitality of the people over here.  

Our new assignment: re-create this 1970's Russian masterpiece for our tutor

When we asked our Russian teacher if she knew the song about the red rose that we recently heard in a Russian movie, her face lit up as she began to sing it for us.  Then she asked if she could use my computer to look this beauty up on Youtube.  Stephanie is going to slip into her white dinner gown, and I am going to sport the all black look with the handsome white dinner jacket. We're going to re-create this song for her!  There's not going to be a dry eye in the classroom.

He's my King!

Never a dull moment with me around

After getting in a taxi today, I went through the normal routine of greeting the driver, telling him where to go, and asking him how he was doing.  To which he replied, "sizin Turkje çok güzel."  I thought he was asking me how I liked Turkey, to which I responded (with an Italian hand gesture) "çok, çok güzel." Which means very, very good.  Then I heard some laughing in the back from Stephanie.  She asked me if I knew what was just said.  She informed me that the driver originally said that my Turkish was very good, to which I replied, "yes it is, very, very good!"

We all got a good laugh out of it, even the driver--he still said my Turkish was good, but we all know he was trying to be nice. 

The elephant in the room....learning language

Yes, another post about language learning...

As I sit here thinking about how slow I am learning the language, Veta helped put things in perspective.  The poor girl is constantly getting told to go somewhere, do something, stop doing another thing, and she has no idea what's going on.  She's just trying to pick things up from pointing, voice intonation, and body language.  Pretty much like what were doing!

So, maybe I'm not as slow as I think.  After all, children listen for 2-3 years before they start speaking...and it's years later until their vocabulary allows them to speak well.  Is this a cop-out that I am thinking this way? :)

Our whole family is in this language learning thing together!

It's that time of year again! Go Noles!

I know that some people won't understand, but for those of you who do...We're BACK!  I'm trying to teach Veta the chop as we speak :)

We miss the 'ole Fam!

I came across this when I was looking for something else.  This was a 90th birthday party that we had for Pap a couple of years ago. We miss you all.

When you're in a pinch for a booboo bunny...

Do you know what a booboo bunny is?  I didn't until a couple of weeks ago when I was cleaning out the freezer.  I came across this washcloth folded with two ears like a rabbit surrounding a piece of ice.  Apparently the good 'ole plastic bag (that inevitably got a small leak in it and got everything soaked) is not too cool to use anymore for scrapes and bruises.  Thankfully we haven't had to use the bunny yet.

The other day while we were at language, Veta wasn't paying attention to where she was walking and knocked right below her eye on edge of the table.  As the screaming began, I searched frantically for the catch all soother-- the pacifier.  Before I could find it, our Russian teacher was out of her seat and rummaging through the kitchen drawers for something.  I thought maybe she was trying to find a plastic bag....nope I was wrong.  She was searching for a KNIFE!  Before I knew it, she was holding the side of a LARGE BUTCHER'S KNIFE to Veta's cheek.  The crying stopped, but I think it was because Veta was more scared of what was going to happen next.  Once I saw that she had the knife firmly held I started shuffling for my phone.  The first thing that went through my mind was, "I gotta get a pic of this for the blog, people aren't going to believe me when I tell them what happened."  Unfortunately the picture got blurred because I got spooked when she started staring at me.

Now i've heard of tobacco on bee stings, and superglue for cuts, maybe even gargling vinegar for a sore throat, but never kitchen cutlery for booboos...to which Stephanie and I would say, "only in Central Asia!"

Beautiful pairing of Cello and Piano for one of my favorites.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best thought, by day or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. 2. Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word; I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord; Thou my great Father, I thy true son; Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one. 3. Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight, Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight. Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower. Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power. 4. Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise, Thou mine inheritance, now and always: Thou and Thou only, first in my heart, High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

5. High King of heaven, my victory won, May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

A little Ruskie and Massive Melons!

Yesterday was my first outing to practice Russian.  We traveled over to the European side of the city where there are many clothing and textile wholesale stores.  In this district you can find many different people of Central Asian countries, including many Russian speakers.  We were pretty successful in finding and speaking with Russian speakers throughout the day.  When we came across anyone that was willing to chat, I would give them the 'ole, "show up and throw up."  I would tell them a bunch of random information about myself, and why I was studying Russian. They probably thought that I was crazy, but it was a good experience and the conversation practice really helped.  They were all very complementary of my progress and it made me feel good.  I told one of the guys that I was with, that even if they are lying through their teeth, it's nice to get some compliments every once in a while.  I don't get many from my teacher.

While we were making our way down one of the narrow streets, we came across some Turkmen (these are not Turkish people, they are from Turkmenistan) who were selling these huge melons.  The people that I was with recognized them immediately and recommended that we buy one.  I have never seen anything quite like them.  They were almost 2 feet long with a girth of about 12-15 inches, and weighed about 15-18 pounds.

It probably would have been a better idea to get them when we were finished with our day and ready to go home, but they were concerned that there wouldn't be any left, so we negotiated a price and bought two of them.

The bag that we put them in tore about a block away from where we bought them.  So the rest of the day we had to cradle them in our arms like a baby.  Everywhere we went, people were staring at us trying to figure out why these crazy Americans were trucking around the city carrying these huge melons.

Oh and by the way, remember my last post about the heat?  Our melon adventure around the city was in what felt like 100 degree weather!

Today’s Topic: HEAT, HOT HEAT, REALLY HOT HEAT, 24/7 REALLY HOT HEAT!

 Ok, so everyone knows we’re Floridians, but I have to admit that the heat over here is killing me!  I think the difference is that in Florida there is air conditioning everywhere you go, and there are plenty of shade trees.

Like so many places around here, we don’t have air conditioning in our apartment.  There are very few trees, and the ones that are around our apartment are not as tall as the 3^rd floor that we live on.  Since we stick out above the tree line, we are in constant sunlight. 

As soon as we walk through our front door we begin shedding clothes.  Our bathtub doubles as a pool for Veta and a cool spot for me while I listen to Russian and study.  I hate to think of what our water bill is going to be this month.  I think we’re averaging around 3-4 showers a person per day just to stay sane. 

For the last couple of weeks, Veta has been FIGHTING going to bed and is in the habit of waking up screaming every night.  We’re assuming it’s because of the heat, so last night I positioned the fan about two feet above her head.   Last night was the first night that she slept through the night!

When you’re hot and sticky, everything suffers.  Your (my) patience is thin, you don’t want to cook because it raises the apartment temperature even higher, you don’t want to study, you can’t sleep and the list goes on. 

Stephanie and I have a ton of studying to do throughout the week.  This week we decided that we would split up the days and one of us would take Veta in order to allow the other person uninterrupted study time.  Today I found an AIR CONDITIONED Starbucks.  I positioned myself in the corner, plugged in my earphones and tuned out the world with Chopin’s Prelude in D.  I seriously got more accomplished in this cool environment then I have over the last couple weeks in our hotbox.

Funny thing is I always wondered how people could study in Starbucks…now I’m that guy.  Please pray for a breeze…no, pray for gale force winds! J

That's the way we rule...I mean roll :)

Many have asked us if we have adopted local customs and traditions from the culture that we are living in.  The picture speaks for itself. :)  It's hard to tell, but Steph is smiling underneath her veil, and no she doesn't have gold teeth

Steph's parents came to visit us and we spent the last week and half goofing around.  It was a special time for us to catch-up, laugh, and make some good memories.  There wasn't too much resting.  We were non-stop tourists. 

Love this song!

i

I love this guy.  A man of God blessed with a talent for making music.  His songs always seem to relax me when things are tough and re-focus my attention when I am distracted.  Listen to the story that his lyrics tell.  

A little Rick Steves in the neighborhood

(This is only an audio clip. Push play and read the post below)

I love all kinds of music and musical instruments, however the accordion was one instrument that I could never really figure out.  I always thought the accordion was a random forgotten instrument that should have been left in the attic.  The sound of it conjures up memories of watching the Rick Steves' European travel show on PBS.  I can picture him sitting at a seaside cafe in a small European town sipping his coffee and listening to the street musicians.

Well, we have our own street musicians here, and the odd thing is I really enjoy it!  On a number of occasions I have seen an middle aged man and his son walking up and down the neighborhood streets gracing us with their music.

Pretty neat!

You've heard of Spanglish...what about Russkish?

Oh, how I long for the days of learning uno, dos, tres, and me llama Adam.  I re-confirmed my assumptions that I didn't have a knack for foreign language learning when I had to learn Greek.  Next was Azeri, then Turkish, and now Russian.  I keep telling myself that I am going to start picking up the next language with more ease, but I find myself more frustrated and longing for the last language that I couldn't wait to put behind me.

I write this blog to 1) confess that this is a huge hill I am looking up at, and 2) that I need your prayers!  We have a really good teacher who meets us at our friend's house for lessons.  Our teacher is Uzbek, that is communicating with us in Turkish and teaching us Russian (hmm...yeah).  Sometimes I find myself trying to figure out if what she just said was Russian or Turkish...it's all starting to blend together.  I'm going to come away speaking Russkish.  The class is going pretty well, Stephanie gets a lot more "bravos" than I do, but I can get the teacher to laugh more (too bad it's at me).  We have a book that is about an inch thick that she keeps promising we will complete before we leave in about 6 weeks.  I am hoping that we can slow down a bit so I can absorb more.

Пожалуйста, молитесь за нас в ближайшие пару лет, что мы будем верны, то мы будем мотивированы, и что мы будем завоевывать этот трудный язык 

Post Retraction (Definitely required!)

So I need to make a clarification!!!

The ambiguous picture was not meant to trigger the amount of rumors that it did :)  We were simply trying to show off our creative abilities, since neither Stephanie or I are very creative.  We made the diaper cake for some friends.

However, when the time comes, we will definitely take some of the advice, and possible names that we were recommended :)

Sorry for the false alarm.  (but it was kind of fun).

What do you think?

Celta Teaching...

I forgot to mention that when we would teach, we had 6 other people observing us.  After the class was complete, we would round robin it with feedback and critiquing.  This was the most nerve racking part, but it ended up being the most beneficial as well...

Co-ordinating Conjunctions, Modal Auxiliary Verbs, Collocations, and Demonstrative Determiners

I'VE GOT MY LIFE BACK AGAIN!!!
After a month of an intensive Cambridge University course, I am officially CELTA certified...and you don't know how glad I am that it is over!  CELTA is the "premier" certificate to teach ESL overseas.  It's a stringent, exhaustive, and expensive course to complete.

After completing an online application, written essay, and a test that took me all day, I was approved for an interview.  After I passed the interview, the instructor informed me that I couldn't work or have any other obligations (including family) for the next month.

My mornings started at 6:00 AM and I wouldn't return home before 7:00 PM.  A buddy and I were the furthest commuters in the class.  It took us a little over an hour and a half to get to and from class.  We took mini busses, ferries, metros, and plenty of walking to get there.

The four week course consisted of lectures, observations, 4 major assignments, and teaching.  We had to plan and prepare to teach a lesson to a Turkish class every other day.  Each of these lessons took about 5 hours to prepare.  So after a long day, I didn't get to come home and crash.  I had to rev up the coffee maker and push forward into the early morning, only to start the cycle over at 6 the next morning.

The class was both enjoyable and dreadful at the same time.  It really was a learning experience for me all around.  Especially the grammar sections.  Either I fell asleep (which is very possible) during most of my elementary days when this kind of grammar was taught, or our school systems don't teach it in such depth.  I was amazed at the other students in my class (most of which studied English as their 2nd, or 3rd language) who knew so much about English grammar.  They were naming parts of speech that I had never heard of.  It became an ongoing joke that they were teaching the Americans and Brits about their own language.  We had people in our class from the US, Iran, Pakistan, UK, India, Romania, Russia, Tunisa.

So i'm done with CELTA, and I start Russian on Monday...never a dull moment in our lives :)
Thanks for your prayers and support during these times.

This is Legit...i'm seriously going to get one!

Moscow winters here I come!

You'll never guess what I just heard...

"Veta Isabelle, WE ARE NOT GOING TO SLAM DOORS IN MY HOUSE!" - Stephanie

Oh, this brings back some memories... not that I was ever the object of the statement.  It was my sisters that were always slamming doors in our house :)

Do you have 35 minutes to listen to this? Wow...

The video doesn't always match up with the audio, but don't give up on it.

Update: This is the song I want you to jam out to...Amazing lyrics

Jamming the broom guitar...

How do you relieve stress?

Stephanie and I feel like we've been under attack the last couple of months.  Just seems like there is a lot going on in our lives...when there really isn't a lot going on.  Does that make sense?  Sometimes when there is more idle time it allows things to creep in and cause stress, dissension, and even sickness.

How do (did) I relieve stress?  I used to jump in the car, roll down the sunroof and all the windows, crank the radio and DRIVE!  For those of you who know me, you know what "DRIVE" means :)  Another way I would relieve stress was to crank the Bose in the house, grab a broom and jam out.  Music has always been a big part of my life.

No car over here...Close neighbors and paper thin walls= No Jamming out.

Do me a favor-- crank the tunes, throw it in 5th gear (maybe even the 6th gear for some of you) or grab a broom and jam out to a favorite for me!

Make sure you're in for the night before you take NyQuil and smear on the BENGAY!

For the last couple of days Stephanie has been sick...very sick.  When we took her to the doctor he immediately sent her to the ER for more tests and IV's.  After spending the whole day (~9 hours) in the ER we went home.  That night when we were getting ready for bed, I decided to take a couple NyQuil pills.  I didn't get much sleep the night before and my sinuses and allergies had been killing me all day.  In addition to this, we rubbed some BENGAY on our shoulders and sore necks.

No sooner did the burning sensation begin and my eyes started closing, then Stephanie's body started tweaking out.  It started out as shakes and then progressed into tremors and almost like convulsions.  This scared both of us and we decided we better go back to the hospital.  So I put my clothes back on and headed out to find a taxi.

By this point the NyQuil has been in my system a little over an hour and was really starting to crank.  After I found a taxi, I brought him back to the apartment to pickup Stephanie and Veta.  When they got in the car it was a double dose of BENGAY.  It was so strong that my eyes were watering!  I guess after about two blocks the Taxi driver had enough--he rolled down his window for some fresh air.  

We got to the hospital about midnight with bloodshot eyes and a pungent aroma of BENGAY surrounding us.  (I don't know about Turkey, but if you go to the ER with bloodshot eyes and smelling like Vicks vapor rub at midnight in the states, the nurses are probably going to assume that drugs are involved).  While we were doing our best to describe to the nurse what the issue was, I couldn't help but hear laughing from outside of the curtain.  I don't know if they were laughing because the nurse was trapped in a small room with Americans who stunk like a peppermint, or if it was my Turkish.   

Long story short, I had to remain standing at Stephanie's bedside for fear that if I sat down I would pass out.  

Once the doctors were able to get Stephanie's electrolytes, calcium, and potassium levels back up, the twitching stopped and she began to feel better.  They ended up admitting her for observation that night, and I was able to sit down and sleep in the chair next to her.  She still feels puny, but she is definitely feeling better than she was.

Lesson learned: Use Nyquil and BENGAY responsibly and make sure you won't be leaving the house again!  

Central Asian Coffee...If you want to call it that.

Another disappointing carafe of coffee brewed this morning.  Every morning I try to change up the formula to see if the outcome is any better.  The fact of the matter is, that there is a reason why Central Asians are Chai drinkers...there's not much to choose from on the coffee market over here (unless you have a lot of money to spend).

With this sob story comes a request...Many of you have asked about little things that you could send us.  Stephanie's parents are going to visit us in July.  So if you wanted to send along a bag of Joy (I mean Joe) we would be forever grateful! Our favorites: Dunkin Donuts, Folgers, Starbucks, really anything.  Thank you!!!

You can mail it to us at:
5828 Deer Flag Drive
Lakeland, Florida 33811

Daddy/ Daughter Date...Rocking Around the Clock

Stephanie wasn't feeling well today, so I decided to take Veta on a Daddy/ Daughter date.  We left our house and jumped on a train with no set destination.  I just wanted to see where it would take us.  We ended up traveling down the coast about 30 minutes.  When we got off the train we headed across the street to a really nice children's park situated right next to the Bosphorus.  It was nice enjoying the sea-breeze, the sound of seagulls, and even the smell of the sea.  Veta swung for a while and had a great time on the slides.  Next, we headed to none other than McDonalds for lunch.  When we went in there were about 20 little kids celebrating a birthday.  Veta and I both enjoyed watching them play games while we ate.  The Turkish McDonald's birthday parties put our birthday parties in the States to shame.  The kids were having a blast.  After the games were done, the dancing began.  One of the dances included the parents.  You'll never guess what song came on....Bill Haley and the Comet's, Rock Around the Clock (One-two-three o'clock, 4 o'clock rock).  The place went crazy.  People were singing and having a great time.  It reminded me of a skating rink or watching a 50's sock hop in a movie.  It was crazy.  Even the McDonalds employees behind the counter started twisting their hips.  Veta loved it!

Never know what you might run into over here...

Two childhood favorites (watching Macguiver & drinking coke) are combined to help out in a pinch

This is what happens when you lose (or Veta loses) your contact lens container.  I had to Macguiver a container from two 2-liter coke caps taped together.

Some might say ghetto...not so fast.  Look how the Red cap helps to indicate the lens is for the Right eye.  That's attention to detail my friend. 

Why Google translate isn't always the best option...Read all of it, it's funny

My letter to the company:

I wanted to share with you my genuine appreciation for one of your employees.  We have been working with Güçlü for the last couple weeks trying to finalize our vacation.  I think that it is very important for supervisors and owners of a company to know when a client receives exceptional service.  From the moment that we received contact from Güçlü, he was professional, courteous and genuinely interested in our needs.  I can assure you that we might have been one of his most difficult clients.  We were trying to work within a limited budget and time frame, as well as part of our family would be traveling from the United States.  Neither of these factors, nor the endless emails dissuaded Güçlü from trying to earn our business.  In fact at one point, I gave up on finding a trip that would encompass all of our needs.  I apologized to Güçlü for taking up his time and began to look at other options.  Within hours I had another email from Güçlü presenting a new option.  I commend Güçlü for his attention to detail and his efforts to make our vacation a special one.  It’s been a pleasure working with him and booking our travel with your company.  I would recommend your travel agency to anyone with a need and especially Güçlü as their representative.  

Translated:
I wanted to share my genuine appreciation for someone I worked with you. We are trying to give the final shape of our vacation last few weeks working with a strong Yaman. I know a client receives exceptional service to a firm's managers and owners think it is very important. We are strong from the moment of contact, he was really interested in a professional and courteous and our needs. I can be sure that he could be one of the most difficult clients. We have a limited budget and time frame to go from the United States, as well astrying to work within a part of our family. Neither of these factors, nor an infinite strong dissuaded from trying to earn our business e-mail. In fact at one point, we gave up finding a trip that will cover all your needs. I apologized to a strong start in his time and started to look for other options. Another option is to provide a strong clock other had an e-mail. I am detail and our vacation, to make special efforts to attract her attention'm strong. It was a pleasure working with him andtravel reservation with our company. I need as their representative and advise your travel agent, especially for anyone with a strong Yaman.


If anyone cares to see what the language looks like:
Ben sizinle çalışan biri için benim hakiki takdir paylaşmak istedim. Biz AkdenizTurumuzun son şeklini vermek için çalışırken son birkaç haftadır Güçlü Yamanile çalışmaktayız. Ben bir istemci ayrıcalıklı hizmet aldığında bilmek bir firmanınyöneticiler ve sahipleri için çok önemli olduğunu düşünüyorum. Biz Güçlü iletemas aldığınız andan itibaren, o, profesyonel nazik ve bizim ihtiyaçlarımızı dagerçekten ilgi oldu. Ben onun en zor müşterilerinden biri olabilirdi emin olabilirsiniz. Biz ABD'den gideceğini sınırlı bir bütçe ve zaman diliminde, hem de ailemizin bir parçası içinde çalışmak için çalışıyorlardı. Ne bu faktörlerin, ne de sonsuz bir e-posta işimizi kazanmak için çalışırken gelen Güçlü dissuaded.Bir noktada Aslında, bizim tüm ihtiyaçlarını kapsayacak olan bir seyir bulmavazgeçti. Ben onun zamanında başlamanın Güçlü özür diledi ve diğer seçenekler aramaya başladık. Saat içinde başka bir seçenek sunulması Güçlübir başka e-posta vardı. Ben detay ve bizim tatil, özel bir yapmak için çabalarınıonun dikkatini çekmek için Güçlü ediyorum. Onunla çalışan ve şirket ile bizim seyahat rezervasyon bir zevkti. Ben onların temsilcisi olarak ihtiyaç ve özellikleGüçlü Yaman ile herkes için seyahat acentesi öneriyoruz.

Language #3 (this does require viewer feedback)

So it looks like Russian is going to be the third language we study.  In an effort to get a jump start on the language, I am considering purchasing a software package such as Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur.

• Does anyone have any experience with either of these products?
• Do you know anyone (other than the FBI, NASA, and whoever else Rosetta tries to impress you with) who has used the software?
• Do you know where we can get an affordable (yet, not bootlegged) version?

The Money Pit

Do you remember that movie from the 1980's that Tom Hanks starred in, The Money Pit?  In the movie, Hanks kept asking the construction workers when they were going to be done remodeling his house. Their famous reply was "two more weeks."  The first couple of times hearing this, he was optimistic about finally seeing a completion to the task at hand.  Many months later when the job was still far from being complete, he jokingly would answer his own question by stating....two more weeks!

I feel like I have a Money Pit of my own.  Ever since we got here (back in February) we have been trying to get Stephanie's cell phone registered and working.  Every time I go to the cell phone store they tell me to wait 48-hours.  I was optimistic for the first "couple" 48-hour periods, about a month into it I got frustrated, two months into it I got ticked, now three months into it, I just laugh!

Store Clerk: "Please wait 48-hours."
Adam: "Ok, Great! I won't hold my breath."

My love for the exotics might be rubbing off on Veta

She seriously could not keep her eyes off of it.  When she kept pointing I knew she wanted me to take her picture with it.  The owner of the car was working on his 65' Yacht in the background.

Blessed be His name!

Encouragement goes a long way.

As I write this post I can't help but laugh to myself about the timing of it... Just two days ago I was joking around about the mistakes that I have made in the language.  I made the comment that you have to be able to laugh at yourself in order to "keep it real."

Well, the truth is that I feel like all I am doing is making mistakes, laughing at myself, and not getting any better.  I hit the wall today...I got pretty bummed at our circumstances and about the uncertainties that our family has found ourselves in.  I feel like we're not being as effective as we should be, especially not being able to talk to anyone in a meaningful way.

All those feelings changed with a Skype call today.  After dinner tonight, we had some dear friends call.  It was refreshing to see familiar faces, talk about our kids, and share our challenges with them.  When we were concluding the call, my brother prayed a special prayer for us.  A prayer that reached me right where I was today.  What an encouragement they were to us.  God is so faithful to take care of our every need, even when we are undeserving.  

The humor in learning a new language.

Adam to Taxi Driver:
"Hang a butter here" instead of hang a right here

Adam to Stephanie:
"The bathroom doesn't have any breakfast" instead of the bathroom doesn't have any towels

Adam to Turkish teacher in response to a question:
"Ayna washes out her dirty underwear" instead of Ayna washes laundry

This can be so frustrating (but funny, if you can laugh at yourself)!  So, why can a remember trivial things about cars, but i can't remember things I need to survive?

Stop and listen to the Crickets, Frogs, and Whippoorwills for us

The other night we were discussing things that we miss from home.  One of the things mentioned was night-sounds.  As interesting as it is to listen to cats mating and horns honking while trying to drift off to sleep; the soothing sound of crickets, frogs croaking and whippoorwills is uncomparable.  Later on in the week I found an App with different nature sounds that we listen to now.  "There's an App for everything."

Easter 2012

When it gets quiet in our house the first place we look is the tent

We knew something was up!

This was 5 minutes later...

Easter Egg Dying...

Veta had a great time dying eggs (and her hand)!
Happy Easter to everyone, He has Risen!

The MURSE

Have you ever shopped at TJ Max and wondered who in the world buys all those Murses (male-purses)?  And further, so many that a "leftover/ reject" store would have so many in stock?  Apparently, they come from Turkey, because the Murse is alive and well here in Istanbul!
As for me...I'm sticking with the backpack!

What ever happened to chalking the tires, or putting a boot on the tire?

You definitely don't want to park illegally here!

Some observations about India..

• It's been said that many of the diseases found in India come from poor sanitation and lack of proper sewage disposal...So why do you have to pay to go to the bathroom in the proper place?

• While hiring young barefoot boys to work at the hotel might be economical, cleanliness is not apparently one of their strong qualities. 

• You never have to worry about saying, "keep the change" because they will.  In fact businesses always round up.  This also becomes a problem when you are trying to find change so that you can tip.  Maybe they think to themselves if there isn't any change to be given, he will just tip me the whole bill...wrong.  No change, no tip.  

• Have you ever noticed the Indian head bobble?  Apparently, this is some kind of signaling system.  Funny thing is, I found myself bobbling back to them.

Everywhere we go Veta finds an audience

You can't see her, but guess who is in the middle of this group of people!

This was at the Taj.  Even the people on the balcony were interested.

Mom, I thought you said I had to be 15 before I could wear eye makeup? -Veta

I'm glad everyone else is enjoying this photo! -Veta

Um, Dad...who are these random guys snapping pictures of me? -Veta

"Obama Land"

Ugh!

The last thing I wanted to hear the heckling street-side sellers is that all the American tourists were form Obama Land. 

My Stomach feels like Mt. Vesuvius, ready to blow

I never thought that Pepcid or Tums would appear on my cravings list, but it has!  They have some spicy food over here.  Even the chicken BigMac from McDonalds had some heat.

Watch the motorcyclist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully I caught your attention with the title of this post.
Today was a crazy day to say the least!!!

None of us have been feeling well the last couple of days. Stephanie and Veta both have a cold and Veta has been running a high grade temperature.  I thought I was having a heart-attack last night, but it turned out to be BAD heartburn and diarrhea.  For those of you who know Pap, I slept with my head elevated last night.  I'm not quite sure that all those years of him sleeping with the bed elevated like a roller coaster did anything to help his heartburn.

We decided to take Veta to the doctor today since she still wasn't able to shake her temperature.  The clinic that we were trying to go to was apparently right down the street.  When we asked the motorized rickshaw driver if he knew where it was, he said yes.  What should have been a five minute drive turned into 20 minutes and we ended up at a hospital (short trips taking longer than expected is becoming a common occurrence for us).

After taking a self-guided tour of the hospital, we decided that we needed to go find the clinic.  We hailed another motorized rickshaw.  When the driver took off from the light he didn't see a motorcycle that  had run the red light.  BAM! We smacked right into them!  We hit them so hard that the lady riding on the back of the motorcycle lost her helmet and it rolled into the middle of the street.  The crazy thing was that they didn't loose their balance, and they just kept going.  Stephanie and I could not believe what just happened.  Our driver just yelled and blamed them for running the red light and took off.

Another crazy adventure to add to the books...

This is the view outside our balcony...it kind of gives you an idea of our rickshaw and how bad the traffic is.

Honk if you've got one...

This post is coming to you from the honking capital of the world- New Delhi, India.  We are here for my modular courses.  These people honk more in a couple hours than I've honked in my entire 15 years of driving!

Our trip started in Turkey and what could have been a 25-minute drive to the airport took 2 hours because of the traffic.  From there we flew into Doha, Qatar and laid over for a couple of hours.  Folks, there is no inkling that this part of the world is apart of the worldwide recession going on.  People were spending crazy money in the "Duty-Free" shops.  Sitting in the middle of one of the shops was a Audi A8 and MB AMG that you could win.  I taught Veta how to people-watch and we enjoyed all the different kinds of people that this airport welcomed. 

We got into India about 7:45 in the morning and found our way to the guest house. We ended up paying about 200 rupees more than what we were told it might cost for the taxi ride.  I told the taxi driver and he said whoever told us was wrong, so what are you going to do... The weather is much warmer than where we were, but not quite like Florida weather yet.

There are plenty of people, motorcycles, rickshaws, and cars EVERYWHERE!

Please be lifting up our family since this is our 2nd international travel in a little more than a week and another (more extreme) time change.  

"Emotional Eaters:" We're bummed about our move, but the food is helping

Did you know that a disorder exists to categorize those people who eat because they are stressed?  It's called "Emotional Eaters Disorder (EED)." Seriously, I'm not making this up.

I'm not sure if we can self diagnose ourselves yet...but check back in another couple of weeks. We will let you know how much weight we have gained and then you can make the judgment call.

One advantage/ disadvantage of living in a city the size of our new one (16 million+) is that you can order any kind of food (including the fatty American favorites) online and it's delivered right to your door.  I have to confess that I have already succumb to the pressure.  All the cravings that I had in Az are now being fed.  My favorite thus far...Krispy Kreme, but they don't have a "HOT" sign in their window.

We're on the move...again

For those of you who didn't receive this update through email, please contact me directly so that I can make sure to get you on our update list.  The email will also contain more information about our situation.

Unfortunately, we have been relocated to another home.  After learning that we were moving, we had to be packed and ready to go in a week.  Just like the last time, we tried to sell everything since we would be paying for the baggage overage to travel with it.  Twelve bags ($1,350.00) later the three of us headed for the airport for another international trip.  We do not know how long we will be here, or where we will go from here.

We are thankful that we are safe, healthy, and provided for in our new home.  We will keep you updated as things progress.  Thank you for your support and continued thoughts.

Update to my Peg Leg...

We’ll, I don’t have to worry about walking around with uneven shoes anymore.  My other heel fell off this morning while I was shoveling the snow from our walkway.  There might have been a time when I would have gotten ticked, now I just laugh.  It makes me miss quality-made things.  

"The Heel"

This blog started out with the intention of simply keeping you up-to-date with things that were going on in our lives overseas.  It has quickly become the idiots guide to living overseas.  I’m giving up on the serious side of things and I’m going to let it all hang out.

So I went to the capital again today. This trip was to turn in application papers for our visas for my upcoming classes.  If you read the blog post about our Amazing Race trip the last time to the capital, it was similar except this time there was a little less than a foot of snow and I made the trip with my friend instead of Stephanie.  We were in the same red conversion van with the curtains swaying back and forth as we danced all over the road (at least I think we were still on the road).  You know me, I love speed and getting my adrenalin flowing, but not when I’m not in control of the situation.  You can’t imagine how many prayers went up that morning. 

After we made it to the bus station I stepped off the bus into a deep pile of snow mush.  Immediately I felt the coolness soak through to my toes.  From this minute on I knew it was going to be a long cold day.  We decided that we would take a city bus to our destination.  After standing outside for about twenty minutes in the freezing cold air I told my friend that I thought we should just take another bus to the metro.

When our bus pulled up, it was jammed packed with people.  We managed to stuff ourselves in the back part of the bus…well almost.  When the door slammed shut, my backpack got stuck in the door.  I had to take it off my back and jerk the rest of it inside the bus.  About 100 yards down the road we stopped again.  You guessed it; we were picking up more people.  It was at this point that I decided I better get out of the way of the hydraulic door opening up…TOO LATE! The door opened so quickly it caught my foot.  My foot was trapped between the scissor part of the door and the step.  It wouldn’t move.  Finally I got my foot un-wedged, but realized something else had happened in the process, my heel (from my brand new shoes mind you) stayed wedged in the door.  The door was hopelessly jammed.  The driver kept pushing the button, but all you could hear was the groan of the hydraulic motor and the people outside who were getting ticked.  Everyone inside kept looking at this little piece of plastic stuck in the door trying to figure out what it was.  Finally a man kicked it and knocked it out so the door would slide open.  I couldn’t stop laughing.   My friend was trying to figure out what was going on.  I told him what happened and he started laughing too.  He then managed to weave in-between people’s legs and feet until he found my heel for me.  So unfortunately the rest of the day I walked around the capital with a peg leg. 

Never a dull moment in my life.

Veta says, “iwash iphone.”

Veta decided that our iphone was dirty, so she threw it in her bathtub full of water.  Water + iphone = ticked father.  Not only are we out an expensive phone, this was how we connected to the Internet, so we won’t be communicating as regularly as we once did. 

Btw, being a past wireless salesman, I know that children and cell phones don’t mix.  We never allowed her to play with it, and we always took it away if she got a hold of it.  I guess this is pay back for all the hard times I gave to “careless” parents when they brought me their water damaged phones.