Pazar Day

On Thursday, I walked home from work and greeted my baby boy. After I got settled back in at home, I suddenly realized and said, "It's Thursday! Let's do something we haven't had time to do in awhile...have some fun!" On Thursday, there is a big outdoor market in the next neighborhood. It is also open on Sundays, but Thursday is the day with the most textiles. I had been wanting to go, but sometimes forget on the day or I am too tired from work. So, I bundled Big Ben up and, most importantly, packed a whole package of crackers for him. I'll shop. He'll eat. We'll both be happy.

I arrived, and we dashed through the rain to join the crowds searching, sorting, and hoping for a bargain. On my facebook status, I mentioned I had been and what I had bought. One of my old friends mentioned, "Is that like the Turkish Walmart?" She may have heard me talk about a pazar before, so she may have been setting me up for a good punchline, but when my friends (who live here) saw her comment, they LOVED it! I have one Turkish friend who now lives in Texas. She's seen Walmart now. She said, "Pazar equals Walmart, I love it!" Here's what my pazar looks like...it's loud, it's crowded, it's wet and muddy, it's disorganized, it's FUN!


I managed to find a stall (if you could call it that) of underwear. If you dig, you find Gap, Old Navy, Victoria's Secret. I am not sure how they end up here. Are they made here? Are the extras in stock? Are they fakes? They look like the real thing. I dug and dug in the piles (while Big Ben stuffed and stuffed into his mouth) and I managed to find him an Old Navy hockey-design pajama shirt which I plan to use as an undershirt. It's a size 4, but it will fit! Now that clothing companies make their pj's non-flammable, my kids look like sausages in their casings in them!

He ate all the crackers, so I bought a bag of oranges, peeled one, and he started into those. He ate 3 before he decided his hands were cold, tummy full, and was ready to go home.

You can buy all kinds of things there. I ended up finding a pair of hand-knitted baby booties for about US$5. When I asked the old teyze (auntie) if she made it, she proudly told me she made it herself. I had to buy them. I just fell in love with her sweet smile and proud answer. I told her I wasn't having any more babies, I had 5, but maybe a friend would. Meeting her and the conversation was worth the money to me. I also bought Big Ben some socks that have leather moccasin houseshoes on the bottom. Maybe that will help him learn to walk, I reasoned. I can't wait to hear Campbell Clansman's laugh when I tell him my logic. I also got one daughter some of those fingerless gloves with the little 'lid' to pull over your fingers if they are cold. All good stocking stuffers! And then just as I was leaving, I happened upon a fish stall. It had been awhile since we had fish. The weather was cold enough so I didn't have to worry about it being trucked in from the coast in the heat and going bad. I asked the man how much. He told me. Then he proceeded to say, "Big sister! You MUST buy this. It's good fish. It's so tasty." I said, "Ok, but you clean it." He laughed. Well, he cleaned it. But I didn't know how to ask him to do all I wanted him to do. So it appeared in my kitchen like this...

UGH. And to think I used to be Miss Fish. Anyway, yes the spine was out, but I had to cut off heads and tails. When I cut my finger on his fin, I decided he could keep those and I'd just bake them. My New England co-worker told me how to cook it and we had delicious coastal fish for dinner. Come on and see me, we'll hit the pazar too!

7th Grade Christmas Party

Monday night we hosted the 7th grade class in our home for a Christmas party. We played games and exchanged gifts. Then I made them spaghetti while Campbell Clansman read them the Christmas story (the real one, with the baby...not the one with the jolly man in the red suit).

They had a great time. I noticed at one point, all the girls congregated to my dining room table and were intent on getting my little spinning nativity going by lighting the candles and getting the heat to rise and move it. The boys? On the floor wrestling.

Here we are all. What a great group. They were thankful and polite. Big Ben cried when the left.

Ghosts of the Past

A very strange thing has happened. Just today, my 7th graders and I read a story that was rather, "Twilight Zonish." Then I walked home, played with Big Ben, fed him lunch (a hot dog wiener, a kiwi, an orange, a package of crackers, 3 cookies, and a small bowl of noodles and spaghetti sauce...I'm serious.) Then I decided I wanted to blog about last Monday night's 7th grade Christmas party in our home. I got my camera and began to upload pictures from that party. But instead of crazy pre-teens shoved together on a couch for a posed photo, I found these. The one above is clearly summertime, hence the dark skin, but I don't even know where it is in America. (Note: Firstborn clearly got her papa's skin tone.)

Here's Perma-Baby from 2.5 years ago. No hair, pacy clipped on, pudgy tummy, and wedding shoes from Kathleen's wedding?

Not potty trained. She was definetely 2.

And isn't this just the sweetest thing ever? My babies with Grandaddy. And this one below...handsome, tan...wait, that's my husband. With our baby. Where is this? Does anyone know? I never took these. On this same download, there was a short video clip of YESTERDAY at the girls' Tae Kwon Do demonstration. Kicking, punching, yes that was yesterday. So how did this happen? I have to admit, I was a little weirded out. Then suddenly I figured it out. At Monday's party we took out the memory card and let the kids make a crazy video to play backwards on our wii. It must not have ever been put back in. So the video we took of Annika yesterday at TKD was on the original camera memory card, as were these mysterious, but adorable photos. What a find. I'm not in the Twilight Zone after all. Attending a piano recital, hosting a 7th grade Christmas party, dutifully watching the breaking of boards at a TKD demonstration, viewing a clogging recital, decorating for the Senior's Christmas Coffeehouse Cafe, baking goodies for 4 kids' class parties, teaching 2 classes a day, and being mom/wife...all in 1 week's time... does not qualify me for the Twilight Zone, does it?

Christmas Recital

Friday night our Singapore girls had their Christmas recital. If only I'd taken a picture of the bathroom before we left...nail polish, nail polish remover, hot curlers, pins, sparkly stuff, clips. You couldn't even see the countertop. I glanced back at it, as I walked down the hall in my own bling, and thought, "Ahh. Girls!"

The girls did super. Their Papa told them this morning that he read the number one thing people fear is not death, but performing in front of a crowd. We said, "Hey! You did that already!"

Here's Annika. Believe it or not, her dress was a gift from Grandma last year. Her doll's dress was a gift from Mimi this year. And they didn't even talk about it!

Here's Essie with her friend Anny. Anny is a voice major and dear to our family. She sings beautifully. You'd never know she can take a grown man down with a Tae Kwon Do chop and kick. I've seen her do it. Esther and Anny performed a duet together which you can watch on the video link below.

Here's all the piano girls and their precious teacher Mrs. Park, along with Eva who just had to pose, too.

Candy From Strangers

Last week Annika came home from school and told me that on her walk home, a lady yelled out of her first floor window and asked her to come. She went. The lady then asked her, "Where is your mother? How is your mother? Are you in the family with all the kids? How is the baby boy?" I have an idea of who it might have been, but I am not sure. This was all in Turkish, but thankfully she caught words like anne (mother), bebek (baby), etc. and got the jist of it. Annika smiled and told her I was fine. She said, "Then take this candy home." Annika came home with the mother lode...chocolates, hard candy, fruit candy. I just didn't have the heart to tell her...don't take candy from strangers. And of course, here it doesn't apply. But then I began to wonder...what about if she ever moves to the other side of the Earth? What about when she is in college? Then I decided, ok if she ever happens to be in America for Halloween, I'll burst her bubble and tell her all candy has to be checked from people we don't know. But for now, I just said, "Hurrah! Yum!" and let her eat a piece.

My 7th Graders

Above is my 7th grade English Literature class. When Campbell Clansman asked me to teach it unexpectedly (when you are married to the boss, you pretty much know you have to say yes!), I was unsure how it would be. How could I possibly teach 7th graders literature for a full 1.5 hours a day? Couldn't we do 1/2 grammar, 1/2 literature? No, that wasn't in the course schedule. But I showed up. Told them I realized they all thought they were grown up now, but I knew the truth. You're just big kids, I told them. Kids who really want to do your best. Kids who like to earn marbles to get a class party, just like my 3rd graders used to. Kids who like to play games to learn new things. They began to thaw. They began to laugh at my jokes. They began to beg me to read to them more often. They began to hang around after class. They began to not be inhibited by their peers. And you know what happened to me? I fell in love with them. Wouldn't trade them for any other class at the school. This week we performed the play A Christmas Carol for some of the other students. I was so very proud of them.
They created their own costumes.

They interpreted the lines, emotions, and expressions of the play to make them their own.

They showed up on the day of the play with white face powder and stuffed bellies. (I glanced up as the director and couldn't stop laughing.)

They are from America, Ethiopia, Turkey, France, England, Korea, and South Africa. What a great bunch!

Que Pasa?

Well, today was a new day for me. As you may recall, we had a small fruit-basket-toss-up earlier in the year, which landed me my job of teaching 7th grade English Literature. I. Have. Loved. It. At that time, we also needed our Spanish classes to be taken by someone. Campbell Clansman hired a Spanish-speaking school parent to be the permanent sub. That worked well, until she decided recently to go back to the US to get married. (How dare she fall in love when there are still 9th graders needing to learn Spanish?) So, Campbell Clansman came to me and asked if I'd take the Spanish I class.

Long ago, I knew Spanish. I was Sarita. I took 3 years from a fabulous teacher (shout out to you Sra. B!), then took a college level test which gave me credit for the class without taking it. ( I told you, she was good.) So, technically I have not had a Spanish class since 1989. But those words are still in there somewhere. Occasionally they pop out. At weird times. Like when Campbell Clansman does not leave the double l silent in the word tortilla. Also, I taught Spanish to my elementary students way back when I was just getting married, before we headed overseas.

But then last summer, my mom asked me to speak Spanish to someone. There was something she could not communicate, and she just knew I would solve it with my linguistic ability. Turkish came out. Over and over again. Nope, only Turkish now. There is evidently only room for one foreign language at a time in my brain.

Nevertheless, I am going to study my Spanish. And I am going to teach those kids to the best of my ability. Yesterday, Campbell Clansman went to them to announce the change, to encourage them to say goodbye to their permanent Spanish-speaking sub. And he then said, "And be nice to her replacement. It's my wife." As he entered the room, he said, "Hola. Que Pasa?" That is his favorite (only) Spanish phrase (other than taco and burrito). The class sat still. Not a word. Not a response. Blink, blink went their eyes. Then one lone boy raised his hand and said, "Um, hi." Campbell Clansman (their principal) reported it to me with a sigh and said, "You've got your work cut out for you."

Know what their homework was tonight? Go to the Principal's office, give him a big smile, and say, "Que Pasa?!" like you mean it! I have a feeling this is going to be fun.