Opportunity

On Saturday, I had an interesting opportunity. I had been contacted by our local textbook representative and asked to speak at a teachers' conference here in our city. The topic was "Beyond Our Borders" and dealt specifically with how different countries teach English to non-native English speakers. I said, "But...but...but...I don't teach this." He replied, "It doesn't matter. I want you to speak."

So, I agreed to come and bring two colleagues with me. My talk was a general overview of our school and its philosophy of teaching ESL. I also gave some teaching tips that could be applied to the English as a Second Language classroom.

Mostly I was thankful for the opportunity because I was able to publicly thank Turks for being so welcoming to us, as we are the guests in this country. Also, the conference was held at the school right behind my house. I hope that through this, they came away with a positive view of our little international school just down the street. There are many misconceptions about us. In fact, before we even opened our doors, one of the city's newspapers printed an article about us. It was completely false, perhaps designed to stir people up. As one friend has reminded me, every positive interaction with us is one more step in the right direction.

Candy Cane Coffee Cake

Last night I went on a baking marathon. Knowing that in the next couple of weeks, things would be creeping in...class parties for which little Campbells would want to bring something special and homemade...the staff Christmas party at our house Saturday night...I went ahead and started baking. I found this candy cane coffee cake recipe in a Betty Crocker Best of Christmas cookbook...you know, the ones that are hardback with pretty pictures and sit on your coffee table. Well, it's now been cracked open and has a nice flour dusting all over its pages! In the end, I made 6 of them, and it was no harder than making sugar cookies for all the kids in grades Pre K, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th (do I really have kids in all those grades?!)

First, I made a basic sweet dough with the usual stuff...yeast, butter, egg, flour, sugar, etc. Then I rolled it into a rectangle. I've never actually gotten a rectangle shape by rolling, have you? Oval. That's it. Oval. I can't get maraschino cherries here, so I used some good ol' Turkish cherry jelly to make a sticky red something on the inside. Then I threw some dried cranberries in the center too.

I snipped the sides, 1/2 inch wide and all the way to the jelly.

Then the fun part. You get to criss-cross each one.

I tucked in the edges and formed it into a candy cane shape. Baked it. Then drizzled some powdered sugar mixed with milk. Then I threw some red hots on top (cinnamon hearts for all you Yankees) to make berries.

That brings us to another question. Why do I have red hots? That is one of the items I can not live without. I bring them back in my suitcase each year. Why? I was born in February and Mom always made some cookies with red hots for me to take to school on my birthday. It makes me think of Indiana. It makes me think of Blackhawk Christian School. It makes me think of my mom and me in matching wool jumpers. It makes me think of how hard she worked teaching all day, then doing special things like this for us. It gives me great comfort to know they are in my baking drawer, even though I am all the way over in the Middle East.

So, let's hear it from you, readers! What are you baking to get ready for the holidays?

"I ordered."

Perma Baby has learned some magic words. "I ordered." This week she came home and plopped down a Styrofoam box with a mostly eaten pide, a few teaspoons of bulgar rice, and a piece or two of turkey kebab in it. I said, "Where did this come from?" She said, "I ordered." I said, "You what? You didn't order a school lunch today. I didn't order you a school lunch!" So I called the school (it's handy when you help run the place and need to know something like this, you just call). I asked my friend Brenda, "What in the world? I didn't order her a turkey kebab." She said, "I'll find out..." She called back. Perma Baby's teacher said Eva didn't have a lunch. So, she got her one of the extra hot lunches. I replied, "Didn't have a lunch?! I packed it myself." Around the corner came Perma Baby. Big smile. "I ordered." Evidently she ate most of her lunch at snack break, then wolfed down her sandwich, then said the magic words to her teacher, "I ordered." I suppose she's heard her classmates say, "I ordered." and then come to the table with a nice big hot lunch. Campbell Clansman asked me at dinner tonight if I had talked to her yet about saying, "I ordered." when she didn't really order. Sure, I talked to her. But you've got to admit, it was funny.

Really? You are thanking me?

A few years ago, one of our school parents, who works for one of the Embassies represented at our school, strolled into the office and handed us an invitation to a dinner reception. Wow, we thought. Plain ol' us? You want us to come? We went. It was lovely. Everyone was all dressed up. There were beautiful tables of food. Photographers were following us around to snap our picture when we were near anyone important.

And then a couple walked up, another set of school parents associated with another Embassy, and said, "What in the world are you doing here?" Umm. We were invited. But something happened that evening and when different embassy school parents saw us there, they began to say, "Hey! If you are coming to THIS country's reception, you have to come to MINE!"

And we started getting invitations right and left! We try to go to as many as possible, when we feel we haven't been away from our own kids too much, or when they are late enough that we can tuck in bed before we go. But we seriously could go to several a month sometimes.

Last night we were graciously invited to the Romanian Embassy reception in honor of their National Day. A group of us walked in, shook the Ambassador's hand, as well as every other important person in the receiving line, then entered the ballroom. You should have seen the look on our little 6th grader's face when she saw us. "Mom, they CAME!!!" She was dressed in traditional Romanian clothing. She was the only child present, but had to be there out of respect for her dad, 2nd in command in the Embassy. Later, her mother came up to me and said, "All of my dignitary friends were commenting about what nice teachers and principals would come to this to honor my daughter and her country. Thank you so much for coming. " And I wanted to say, "Really? You are thanking me? I love this job!"

Weekend

Papa went out of town this weekend and returned home Monday afternoon. The kids and I survived it just fine. When Campbell Clansman kept them for a weekend, they went on a long hike and to the zoo. I felt I should try to enrich them as he did. So we went to the mall. That's enriching, right?

And we watched DVD's. And we stayed in pajamas.

And only when they began to fuss with each other did we attempt to do anything related to work. At that point, we began folding and putting away clean clothes. Amazingly they stopped fussing. So we played again. Those rare-seen photos above represent the Campbell girls in jeans just before church. Can you believe how wild and crazy we got this weekend? We wore jeans to church! My pastor complimented me on getting them all dressed, matching, and to church on time without Campbell Clansman here. I smiled. He said, "Right. I get it. You're the one who does this every week!" Actually, that's not true. Campbell Clansman is a big help to me on Sunday mornings. I think I was just braced for it and worked faster to be sure we weren't late. My friend Brenda was a big help to me over the weekend. She even came over and got us playing Wii Boxing. What a great way to get your energy spent before bed! At one point, we took the kids out for pide. There was no high chair and no food (for a very long time). That made Big Ben VERY unhappy. But soon he found a comfy lap and bread and hope was restored. Yes, we survived it, but we are happy Papa is back. Our circle is complete once again, and we're ready to face the week.

We Gather Together

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did. We had the privilege of having 22 folks celebrating together...from Memphis, Hungary, South Korea, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Louisiana. We were honored to have Pastor Ronnie Stevens in our home (visiting his daughter Ruth who works with us). He married us 13 years ago last week.

Christmas Before Thanksgiving

I'd say it's about time to get that awful Gangsta pic off the main page of my blog. So, here ya go!

Every year our school hosts a fund raiser Christmas Fair. We craft all year, then sell them to the public (and ourselves!). This year I turned the reins over to my good friend Karyn. She did a super job, especially considering SHE is crafty. She is very home-ecy, interior-designy, crafty, and she did not disappoint. Here we are just minutes before we opened the doors. Brenda, my faithful cashier; Jeannie, my good believe-it-or-not from Memphis but became friends in Turkey friend (who doesn't even have kids in our school now but still helps us!); me; my little elf Mary Erin; and Karyn.

A new item this year were these adorable blocks with votives and tealights to light up the room.

Karyn spotted these cute babies in Europe, then we designed/altered them and made our own. We had a Russian mom who knitted the hats for them.

The angel tree toppers were beautiful, I thought.

And so, another craft fair is done. We raised almost 6000 TL for the school. Now, on to Thanksgiving!