We're back! I feel I must finish blogging about the summer, and our flight home, but this was just too interesting to save for a later date. This is how I know I am back in Turkey. While in the US, I picked up a couple of sippy cups for Big Ben...something like this one below. Tonight Campbell Clansman offered to take us out for a sandwich to help us stay awake and fight the jet lag. He had a couple of things to pick up, also. I packed my new sippy cup. Thought I'd try it out on the babe and see how he did with it. This mall has a Subway and a Burger King. Though we had a Subway sandwich, for simplicity we walked over to the Burger King counter and ordered the kids' meals . After all, there are 4 kiddie meals from which to choose. Subway had 15, and making a complex decision when I am experiencing jet lag makes me even sleepier. Just as the gal handed me the meals, I said, in Turkish, "And may I please have some water...for the baby." (If you say 'for the baby' behind any sentence, you get whatever you want here.) She said, "Yes. Hot?" Now, why you may wonder, did she ask if I wanted hot water? Babies (and kids) don't drink cold water here. It isn't 'healthy.' So, I nodded, knowingly, "Of course. But how about medium?" (I don't know lukewarm in Turkish.) She said, "No. Only hot." I replied, "Ok, hot." So she filled the sippy cup with scalding hot water. Is that healthy for baby?
Then she very thoughtfully offered, "How about some ice?" "Hurray! Ice! Yes!" So the sippy cup became lukewarm after all.
Now, why, you wonder, didn't she have cold water to offer me? It goes beyond the fact that babies shouldn't drink it. They simply didn't have cold drinking water. They had hot water for hot tea only. As we sat down, I said to Campbell Clansman, "Can you imagine a Burger King in America saying, "We don't have cold water." Yes, I am back in Turkey!
Now, why, you wonder, didn't she have cold water to offer me? It goes beyond the fact that babies shouldn't drink it. They simply didn't have cold drinking water. They had hot water for hot tea only. As we sat down, I said to Campbell Clansman, "Can you imagine a Burger King in America saying, "We don't have cold water." Yes, I am back in Turkey!
1 comment:
You know it is funny you mention this post . . . When I had my babies water was taboo the first year. I was told it was too easy for them to choke on water.
Not sure where that came from but I always gave my babies fruit juices. That was what was considered healthy for babies 22 years ago.
Funny, isn't it? I read someone's blog who didn't put blankets on their babies the first year of their life. I had never heard of that either.
Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Personally, I think good old common sense should prevail in all cases.
Sometime I should tell you the funny story of my mother and mother-in-law in my house at the same time, the day we brought Kathleen home from the hospital. They both had different ideas. Not wanting to hurt either of their feelings, I had a time trying to get out of the one in the living room giving me instructions and the other one taking me privately in the kitchen to tell me not to do what I was just told to do. :)
The whole situation is funny and I look back now realizing a lot of it was nonsense. There are some valuable things to know such as little ones with no teeth cannot "gum" watermelon!! (David tried that one.)
Glad your trip was safe. We got Kathleen settled into her apartment and she begins class Monday. What an amazing journey it has been for her.
I'm in novel mode again, so I'll hush for now. :)
Mel
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