Mitch 'n Cindy Over There

Oh my, its been awhile!

2010-12-26T12:44:00.000+02:00

I guess I didn't realize how long it had been since our blog had been updated. I had intended to write something several different times, but it didn't seem that I had any new or interesting events to report. Nevertheless, we'll give it a try.
Cindy spent considerable time helping with a national friend's baby shower. That is not something they do in our country, because it is customary that they don't talk much about the baby before it is born. It is considered bad luck. But the friend who was pregnant doesn't quite adhere to customs as much as some girls, so the party was held.

Nərgiz was the new-mom-to-be. Cindy made the welcome banner with the baby's name, Nəzrin, on the lower part. Our friend Donna made the cool looking watermelon basket. By the way, I "borrowed" several of these pictures from Donna.

Lots of games were played, such as "guess the new mom's circumference with a string". Aysel obviously guessed a little large!

You might have seen this pic of the diaper cake that Cindy made, I think she put it on Facebook. It was a real hit.

A few weeks later, this little lady, Miss Nəzrin, arrived. Her birth had been heralded by friends, national and international, alike!

Us & Girls in Istanbul

2010-07-10T14:18:00.002+03:00

After spending a little over a week in our country, Jillian (daughter), Aubree (granddaughter), Cindy and I hopped a Turkish Air flight for the 2 hour 45 minute ride to Istanbul. It is an amazing city with incredible history, and for the girls, a lot of shopping potential.

One of our good friends picked us up at the airport, so we wouldn't have to take a taxi to our apartment. We we're so thankful, D'Ann is such a sweet lady. We were also glad she was there to lend moral and practical support when the ATM machine at the airport promptly ate Cindy's ATM card.

I have to admit, though it was raining when we got to Istanbul, we were very thankful for the cooler temperatures...the week before had been very hot in our country!

Jill thought it was interesting that there seems to be a thriving food and water business operating on the local highway system during traffic jams. Bottled water, bread and snacks were available at your convenience. Aspirin might have helped too, along with self-help tapes on patience!

When we got to our apartment, we pointed out to the girls the glass adornments which were on the door step of almost every apartment except ours. I call these the "anti-evil-eye thingys." Local myth is that if someone covets something you have, then they might cast the "evil eye" on you, and you may lose whatever it is that has been coveted. Unless of course, said coveted object is protected by an "anti-evil-eye thingy." These are very, very common is Central Asia, and can be seen on everything from jewelry to taxi cabs to five-star hotel buildings.

Jill and Aubs only had a few days to spend in Ist., so the next morning we hopped on a ferry boat and rode across the Bosphorus Strait to the European side of the city.
Ferrys are a major mode of transportation across the Strait, due to traffic congestion on the highways.

There is such amazing history and architecture here...it's everywhere
you look!

Since we hadn't had lunch, we stopped at a restaurant owned by a friend of ours. Jill had her first taste of Turkish coffee. From there we headed to the Grand Bazaar.

If you've never been there, the Grand Bazaar is a huge flea market type place, heavy on tourist appeal, where you can get souvenirs and other pseudo-Central Asian items for three times the price you can get them elsewhere. It's a great place to visit, and to try to pick out other Americans from among the throng of shoppers...oh look, here's three!

From there, it was off to the Spice Bazaar, same thing, just a little less "touristy." Oh yeah, and they have a lot of spices.

Turkey as you can imagine, being an Islamic country, (though with a secular government) has a lot of mosques. I can't remember the name of this one, but it is an impressive structure.

When we passed by, there were quite a few men doing ritual washing in preparation for prayers.

After one more stop at an outdoor restaurant for a cool drink, we headed back to the ferry. This was after several hours and several miles of walking!

It was a fun day and there were so many cool things to see, but we were worn out!

Lastly, at least for that day, we ended up at a favorite Italian restaurant near our apartment. Yes, I know its not Turkish. We eat Turkish food constantly in our country, so we really like something different sometimes! :-)

Oh, and one more pic just for fun. Just when you think Central Asia is backward and undeveloped (which much of it is)....there's Istanbul! I wish I'd had my laptop, I'd could have Skyped you from the Blue Mosque!

We're Baaaaack!!!

2010-06-30T16:35:00.000+03:00

Wow, I just noticed that my last post was January 15th or something like that.....my bad! Lots of things have happened since then, so I'll try to hit a few of the highlights. Obviously, the main highlight recently has been our visit from our daughter Jillian and granddaughter, Aubree.

It was really fun being with them for the first time in about
1 1/2 years, just hanging out, playing games and of course, showing them our city. Seeing our home through their eyes was fun for us, too. It opened our eyes to new wonders, and made us more appreciate this unusual and interesting place where we are.

We also enjoyed introducing them to our some of our friends here, so they would know who we were referring to when we tell stories about them.

We met our friend and language teacher Fidan, at a local coffee shop, where we each had a kind of smoothie. Yum!

We also went out to eat one night with some Turkish friends, Rəna and Öskan, and another friend and co-worker of theirs, Öslem.

All three work for a large Turkish construction company that is doing some huge projects in our country. They are a lot of fun and we really enjoy spending time with them. Sorry Öskan, somehow you didn't get in any of the pictures!

We did lots of "normal" things too, such as going to the bazaar, riding the bus and riding the subway.

We even did "touristy" things, such as visiting with our friend Sahib at the carpet shop and taking the required pics with the shepard's hat on.

Sahib is such a great guy...he put this super silk scarf on Aubree, then gave it to her as a gift. Thanks, friend!

In the "not-so-exotic" realm, we had to stop and eat a few blocks from our apartment at the local McD's. In my opinion, the food there is just as marginal as it is in the U.S. Makes for a fun picture, though!

As I mentioned earlier, it was fun seeing our city through Jill and Aubree's eyes. Jillian especially commented on the "regular people's lives, how and where they lived, how they hung out their laundry to dry, ect. Oh, and all of the satellite television dishes, too! There is a huge amount of "glitz" in this city, so its nice to notice some regular folks lives once in a while, too.

Ok, and last but not least (not even close!) the girls got in some serious shoe-shopping. We must have gone in to at least 14,586 different shoe shops just in our city alone. I lost count after the 8th or 9th one, but I'm pretty sure that is the correct number! But that's ok, they're my girls and they deserve it. I basically stood out in front of the shops and tried to not look like a foreigner standing in front of a shoe store. It didn't work.

Of course the girls had to keep up their Facebook pages and Skype with the boys (Daddy Shane, Little Brother Asa and Little-est Brother Trey) while they were here. I think they had a pretty good time, but there is more to the story. We left from here after a week and all flew to Istanbul, Turkey for a few more days of fun. I'll add those pictures soon, I promise.

North, Then Left or Right?

2010-01-15T15:34:00.002+02:00

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Vusal and I made a couple trips about three hours north of our city to look around.

Interestingly enough, if you go north and turn to the left, or west, you begin to run into the foothills of the mountains. It is really pretty and of course, there are wonderful mountain villages.

This particular mountain village does not have running water, and the local ladies walk donkeys with milk cans about a mile and a half down (then back up) the mountain to obtain water.

The village cemetery is in a pretty-but-odd wooded area.

Here's a pic of me and my friend, Vusal. He's a great kid and of course, he speaks the local language.Very helpful!

Now, if you go north and turn east or right, you actually end up at the sea. But before you get there, you drive across the coastal plain, running into a large wetland area first. There is a large "lake" or wetland pool, with quite a few small potholes of water around it.

Here's a shot of Vusal, checking out the shorebirds. We saw no ducks or geese, but were told that they tend to stay on the sea until the weather turns really cold.

Much of the land looks a lot like any river bottom, except it is heavily grazed and the soil is a poor, sandy type. We stopped at the "hunting and fishing club" we had driven by and visited with the men who were there.

We met a man named Taymor, who works for the Ministry of Ecology as the overseer for the wetland and the defacto game warden. We had a great visit. I gave him a Missouri Conservation shoulder patch off of one of my old uniforms and a duck hunting magazine from the U.S.

Taymor told me that the duck season had been closed for five years due to the bird flu scare, but that it should re-open this coming September. Here's a pic of a couple of his buddies looking at the waterfowl magazine I gave them. Taymor had me autograph it and write greetings on it before we left.

It was great to get back out in the country and to be near a wetland, even if we didn't see any ducks. Oh, buy the way, Taymor did have recorded duck and goose calls on his cell phone. I am definitely going to stop back by when I'm in his neighborhood. He also offered to make us some "kibab" next time we come by. Food? I'll be there!

Quick Trip to Ist

2010-01-15T13:40:00.000+02:00

Just two weeks before Christmas, Cindy had some health issues that required treatment that wasn't available in our home country, so we flew to Istanbul, Turkey. We ended up staying until Christmas day, which meant that we spent Christmas Eve in Istanbul.
Cindy had surgery the first week we were there, so by Christmas Eve day, she felt well enough to take a little trip across the Bosphorus Strait to show me the Grand Bazaar. Here are a few miscellaneous pics of our trip.

I shot this one as soon as we got off of the ferry. We then got on a light-rail tram for the trip to the bazaar.

I think I already sent this picture out, but it is one of the better ones I took, and represents both the bazaar and Cindy really well.

These shoe shine guys are fairly common in Istanbul, though we don't see them very often in our home country.

As we were walking back down to the ferry, we saw this guy, who apparently delivers Burger King orders with the help of his motor scooter. I hope he's quick, I hate cold french fries!

After a long day at the bazaar, stops at a few more shops and supper at a really nice restaurant, we made it back to the ferry, just as it was leaving. We were literally the last ones on.

Just to prove we were really there, we took a couple pics of ourselves!

It was really fun sitting on the outside upper deck, watching the seagulls diving for fish in the wake of the engines and the other ferry boats plying the waters of the Bosphorus.

Though the trip was unplanned and it definitely wasn't the way we had planned to spend the two weeks leading up to Christmas, Cindy and I agreed that we were blessed to spend Christmas Eve in a land and in a way that we would not soon forget.

"And the angel said to them "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all of the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11.

Christmas Musings

2010-01-15T12:32:00.001+02:00

Does it seem a little odd to anyone else, that a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas still has Santa and a lot of the other traditions?

Apparently, the decorations are to celebrate the New Year, though decorations with Merry Christmas still show up at times. I have no idea what Shreck has to do with anything.

This Santa apparently escaped the Macy's parade and was attacking the old city!

He looked funny from inside the wall, but looked hilarious from the outside. He could have starred in a Christmas horror film....Return of the Monster Santa!

Though our pre-Christmas celebrating was cut a little short by a medical trip to Istanbul, Turkey, we did have time to invite some local friends over for tree decorating, cookie decorating, Christmas carol singing, and an American Christmas dinner.

Here, Melek, her mom and Rana are decorating cookies a friend had made.

Our Turkish friends, Rəna and Öskan stand by the first Christmas tree they had ever decorated.

Melek is admiring the finished tree. It was decorated with ornaments supplied by our friends at home.

We were so blessed to be able to celebrate our Savior's birth with some of our closest friends.

Ok, it's been a while!

2009-11-04T12:05:00.000+02:00

Due to a lot of things, including a major computer crash, I haven't updated our blog for quite awhile. So, here we go with more miscellaneous stuff. How about starting with something to eat?

Next to the knife on the cutting board is a fruit you might have heard of, and even possibly eaten, though I had not tasted it until coming here. In the states it is called pomegranite, here it called "nar." It is a kind of national fruit here, with thousands of acres of cultivated nar trees and many single trees grown in people's yards.

So, how do you eat the thing? There are several ways, but the most common is to first circumscribe a cut through the skin all around the fruit. Then with a twist, you pop it open, and watch the pretty red juice cover your clothing and the kitchen wall in front of you.

Then, using your fingers, begin to remove the individual fruits as if you were shelling corn. You must do it more gently though, as the fruits are very juicy, little berry-like things which will squirt you a the first opportunity!

When finished, you simply sprinkle on some sugar and enjoy! Did I mention that each little tart berry also contains a seed, kind of like a grape? But you eat the whole thing. They are sweet, tart, crunchy and juicy, all at the same time. Nar are fun to eat, but we reserve them for special occasions. More good stuff, from Over Here!

Misc. Ramblings

2009-08-08T14:42:00.000+03:00

Well, we've taken several trips since our last post, so I thought I'd just show some different pictures and tell a little about each. That way I don't have to think of a continuous, flowing story line!

These pics are not necessarily in chronological order, but they are from a couple of our recent trips.

The first pics show Cindy during our trip to Istanbul, Turkey. While we were there, Cindy and some friends made time to go the Grand Bazaar and to Ikea. Grand Bazaar is just what it sounds like, a huge Turkish bazaar. Cindy says it was wonderful. I'll take her word for it.

Apparently Ikea is like a Cabela's for women. It has lots of nice household stuff I am told. All I know is we brought along an extra suitcase and we hauled it home full of stuff that is now making our lives much nicer. And I know that my wife is happy. That's a good thing. A really, really good thing!

This is the look she gives me when I post things like that about her. This is her tolerant look. Translated, it means "write what you want, I still got to go to the Grand Bazaar and Ikea and bring home a lot of girl stuff.! :-)

Notice this Turkish lady who is making a type of bread inside a round oven-thing has the same look on her face. I'm thinking she controls the cash flow at her house, too.

We had a great time in Istanbul. I got some really good training, Cindy did some shopping and we got to see some friends we hadn't seen for quite a while, in addition to making some new ones. All in all, a successful trip.

Just last week we also took a long, hot road trip with friends to the interior of our country. This is a pic of the long, hot road.

We spent a few days doing some work-related stuff and in the meantime, we got to see some interesting sights.

This is fresh produce time of the year, and that means hauling the goods to bazaar. In our country, as in most former Soviet countries, that means loading your Lada as full as possible and taking off for town.

Speaking of hauling stuff, check this guy out! I don't know if he was going to thatch a roof, a fence or stuff his mattress with all of that cane grass looking material. Maybe he was going to make a hula skirt? I do know that when he realized that two of us foreigners in the minivan were taking his picture as we went by, he smiled really big and waved. I wish we could have stopped and visited with him, but we had a really long way to go, and I'm guessing so did he.
So we have talked a lot about taking things to bazaar, but how about taking things to bizarre? One of the sites we visited was a beach at a major reservoir. It is a huge lake and is very pretty, being surrounded by some really rugged hills. But the terrain is not what attracted our attention. It was these two older gentlemen, totally covered in mud walking around, then sunning themselves on the beach like a couple of dead sea lions that made us do a double-take. If they had only had some seaweed on their heads, they could have auditioned for parts in a swamp creature movie. Oh well, at least they had swimsuits on! Oh yeah, one guy was using the green liquor bottle to support his head. I don't know if he was the original owner of the bottle but we can speculate! Enough said. :-)

Ok, that's enough weirdness for now. Let's finish with a pic of a semi-normal couple. We stopped in the mountains at a really nice, new pretty outdoor restaurant for lunch. They had paths all around the grounds which had an assortment of really pretty flowers growing along side of them. So, we did the touristy thing and had our picture taken. It is a nice memento of an interesting, if somewhat arduous trip that was made much more fun by going with good friends. So...until next time......:-)

A Trip to the Country!

2009-07-28T15:27:00.000+03:00

Since I haven't blogged for a while, I'll try to do things somewhat chronologically. Cindy and I got to go with some friends (co-workers) for a working visit to a city up North. It was great for us, because it was the first time since we arrived in April that we had gotten out of the city.

We mini-vanned up there with our co-workers and their kids. Along the way, we got to see some interesting local culture, beginning with the remnants of Soviet era industrialization.

There were miles and miles of dilapidated industrial plants which use to be major producers of all kinds of chemicals for the Soviet Union. Many, if not most of the plants are no longer operating, which shifts the problem from living in the midst of currently generated pollution to the problem of living in the midst of formerly generated pollution with few or no resources to address the issue. The EPA and Superfund don't exist, though there are local people who care, and some non-governmental organizations that are helping the federal government do what it can. It is a huge environmental challenge that exists all over the former Soviet Union. On the other hand, there were some pretty cool sights, too.

As we travelled North, we began to come into the foothills of the North Caucasus Mountains. It actually looked kind of like Wyoming or Montana. There is one large rock outcropping, the translated name of which is "Five Fingers." It has local and historical significance as both a geographic monument and a spiritual monument for the nature-worshipping types. There is a mosque/truckstop on the road below, which is handy for Muslim truck drivers and tourists, both. On the other side of the road is sort of a "mini-bazaar" which sells a little of everything, including the local traveller's favorite, corn-on-the-cob. It's kind of the "boiled peanuts" of this area, for all of our southern friends reading this.

Moving on up the road, we saw much more foothill-like terrain, and in the distance, we could barely make out the taller snow capped peaks of the Caucasus Mountains. It is odd country, bone dry on one side of the road, with the sea on the other. By the way, we saw this "cow station" right on the side of the road. As you can imagine, we figured we'd name the picture "Home On the Range."

You might have seen the picture of Cindy helping teach English at a local kids camp. She had a lot of fun, and we got to learn more about the local culture away from the capital city.

While up north we also got to meet and spend time with co-workers who we hadn't yet met. They were wonderful, and even took us to the beach. Now you have to picture black/gray sand and dark colored water, not the Pensacola/Panama City white sand with crystal blue water. In it's own way though, it was very pretty. Here's a couple of pics.

It was definitely an enjoyable trip up North. We got to see new territory, meet new friends, and enjoy the trip back home. Thanks to everybody!

Trip to Fire Mountain

2009-06-27T18:12:00.000+03:00

Well, you never know what you might find in this odd and interesting land. So, when some friends invited us to drive just north of the city to roast marshmallows with their family, we of course, said yes.

The "odd and interesting" part is that the fire for the roasting was coming out of the side of a hill. Now don't be mislead; I know it just looks like somebody at home burning off the ticks, but it's more than that. The fire really is coming out of the side of the mountain (well, ok, the ditch).

I know, pretty crazy. But in this country there is so much oil and natural gas underground, especially on this peninsula, sometimes it just escapes. Our marshmallow roasting spot just happens to be one of the most famous perpetually burning hillsides in the country. It is a national treasure and historic site.

Apparently, many years ago, some fire-worshiper folks called "Zoroastrians" apparently freaked out when they discovered it and went on to build a kind of temple. I guess they got tired of bowing down and burning their foreheads, so all that is gone now, except for a semi-ruined stone gazebo. It is interesting, but a little weird.

As with all good American historic, archaeological and/or natural treasures, there is now a concession building on the spot and a few picnic tables, where you can order chi and maybe a lamb meat snack of some kind to go with it.

Though I didn't get a picture, we did have a nice visit with a local young lady and her grandmother who was from Turkey. Our friend had offered the young lady's son a marshmallow, and they eventually warmed up to us and asked where we were from. I was glad our friends spoke our local language so we could visit with the ladies.

Last, but not least, here's the "tourist pic" of Cindy and I roasting marshmallows in the fire. Did I mention it was really, really hot? Kind of like roasting a marshmallow in a bonfire! It was a lot of fun, though, and definitely not something you get to do everyday. And, the family we were with are really nice people. We like them a lot. Did I mention they had fed us supper earlier in the evening? Ok, we would have liked them even if they hadn't fed us! They are great folks an we're glad they are our friends. We appreciate them taking us to Fire Mountain.

Bazaar!

2009-06-06T13:18:00.000+03:00

One of the really fun things we have gotten to do here is to buy food. That is always an adventure when attempting to learn the local language, and it is even more of an adventure when you go to the local super-sized flea market know as "bazaar." We went this morning, just a couple of blocks from our apartment to a really good fresh food bazaar.

In addition to all of the fruits and veggies, there are spices, fish, meat, chicken and a lot of fresh cheese. We tend to avoid the meat and cheese and stick with the fruits and veggies.

I just had to include a picture of the "rubber chickens." At least that's what they looked like, plucked and dressed with their heads and feet still attached. The pic isn't real clear, as I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible with my camera.

There is a lot of hardware available too, along with glassware and clothing, but as I said, we've stuck to veggies so far and have come home with some pretty nice ones. I don't think I mentioned that many of the dealers there are farmers and farm wives from out in the "regions" as the rural areas are called. Some of the produce appears to be trucked in from other countries, but a lot of it is locally grown.

This was our purchase this morning. For about $7.00 US, we got eggplant, lettuce, lemons, onions, potatoes, dill and tomatoes and cucumbers. One lady threw in the radishes because she didn't have forty cents in change to give back when we bought the tomatoes and lettuce.

Shopping at bazaar is fun and a good way to help practice language. You can dive right in to the culture and have something to eat when you are done!

It's Called What???

2009-06-06T12:48:00.000+03:00

Ok, so I was recently accused of not using my blog for the good of mankind. I was told it wasn't intellectual enough. I was told I didn't include nearly enough educational content. So, in the spirit of "you asked for it" and other enlightening life lessons, here we go.

You have probably all heard that ideas often suffer in the translation from one language to another. Or that something culturally apropriate in one culture can be "not so appropriate" in another. So, here is our first, only, and strongest exhibit:

No I did not make this up! Cindy and I found it at the local grocery store. We really didn't need it, but it was too good to pass up! I know that everyone else in Central Asia has seen this , but it was new to us. So, we spent the 48 qepeks (about 55 cents) and brought it home.

You probably can't read it, but in the small print between "Barf" and "Detergent Powder" it says, "Barf means Snow." Apparently, this is true, and in several Central Asian languages, barf does in fact, mean what the box says.

I could go a lot of places with that info, with thoughts of such classics as ____White and the Seven Dwarfs, or the line to that great carol, "let it___, let it ___, let it ___." But I won't, so I'll leave you with this one last tune. "Frosty, the _____man," well, you get the picture.

Do you understand why accurate translations are so crucial?

American Commercialization

2009-05-28T13:08:00.000+03:00

Ok, without making any editorial comments, I wanted to show you another picture I took while Cindy and I were at the park a few evenings ago. First, take a look at the balloon the lady is holding in the pic.

The "backwards R" is the Russian letter "Ya", which means "I." You understand the heart means "love," and of course you know what the Golden Arches mean.

The balloon says "I love McDonalds" in Russian. By the way, there are a lot of things written in Russian here, somewhat of a leftover from the Soviet days. Interesting, huh?

"Over There" Driver's Ed

2009-05-28T12:00:00.000+03:00

I'll admit up front that the title of this post is misleading. Here's the scoop. The other night, Cindy and I walked the two long city blocks past the metro station and crossed the street (exciting) to a very pretty park. We had been there before, but this time we just sat and people-watched. Here's a view of the park. I guess its kind of pretty, if you can say that about parks in a city of 3 million people. There's lots of folks, amusement rides for kids, old men playing dominoes and the local version of backgammon.

I wanted to include this picture for two reasons, one of course is the Muslim women with the twin girls. Cindy and I just thought that was cute, and the other is the kids on the battery powered cars.

We have discovered that battery powered cars are a big deal in many if not most areas of C.A. They are a major hit with kids and you find them at almost any city monument or statue with any kind of a sidewalk at all.

Notice the folks strolling among the "student drivers." Unfortunately, this picture doesn't do justice to the throngs of people who had been passing by all evening, with the little hot- rodders slaloming in and out among them and running into their legs. Not to mention the little kid on the way-too-big bicycle zooming around the fountain at breakneck speed.

The really little kids have the option of having Mom or Dad or Grandpa or Grandma steer which is a good deal, especially if you are not Mom or Dad or Grandma or Grandpa.

Now, if you are really little and really lucky, you can ride with Big Sister. "Gosh Sissy, I'll bet everyone thinks we are really cute!"

Unless of course, Big Sister gawks a lot when she is driving!

"Darn it, Sis, I told you they built a fountain there this afternoon while we were napping!"

Sound of a Highway Patrol radio broadcast:

"St. Joe 608, 10-50 J-1 Jeep versus fountain at the fountain in the park south of Narimonov Metro."

"10-4 St. Joe...enroute...608."

Before the trooper on the little electric rocket could arrive, a dad walked over and pointed the Jeep in the other direction.

"608 St. Joe 10-23, but there is nothing here, so I'm 10-24, 10-8."

"608 at 1923 hours KAA-204."At least this was the worst wreck we saw all night involving little electric cars. And this shouldn't cost her points yet or effect her insurance, since there are no rules here pertaining to driving little electric cars. Heck, I'm not sure there are rules here pertaining to big metal cars either, but that's stuff for a different post.

I wonder what age they put horns on the kids cars? Gosh, no wonder she hit the fountain...if she could have honked at it, she wouldn't have run in to it!

So there's one example of Kid's Driver's Education from Over There.

Asa Turned Five!!!

2009-05-16T07:34:00.000+03:00

Speaking of cover stories and "setch" (as the outlaw Josey Wales would say) I'm sure you all have figured out by now that all of this overseas living, blogging, ect. is just an excuse to write about our grand kids. Ok, you caught us! So here are some pics of our #1 grandson Asa. He just turned five years old on April 30.

Asa is such a good little boy, but he is in fact, all boy, and he and his mommy have personalities which are amazingly similar. So I thought it good to include this picture for mommy's sake to remind her that their are some days when she doesn't want to pull her hair completely out!

For Asa's birthday, the whole family went to Great Wolf Lodge, which is a water park/hotel over by Cabela's west of Kansas City. They spent the night and played in all of the water thingys. (I don't know what they are called.) They had a great time, though.

Here's on final pic of Asa and his daddy Shane. Boy, Asa sure loves his daddy. They are a pair of fine looking men!

So that's just the first of many posts about our grandson Asa, the mighty five year old! We sure love him and are excited to see how he is learning and growing more and more every day. Nanna and Granddad love you Asa!!!

Street Deals Going Down

2009-05-16T06:44:00.000+03:00

Interestingly enough, a lot of somewhat freelance sales occur in the parking lot/playground/common area in front of our apartment. We have a bird's eye view of almost all of the activity from our kitchen window. The first pic is of some neighbor boys, to give you an outside look at the kitchen window from which we can observe these goings-on.

We have a six foot fenced courtyard with vines of some kind covering the fence. The courtyard is about eight by twelve feet. You can just barely see the top of the vined fence in the lower right hand corner of the picture. The pipe the boys are sitting on probably is a gas or water pipe for our apartment building. It makes a great place for the boys to sit and watch the neighborhood football (we call it soccer) game. Our kitchen window, as you can see, is right behind it. That gives you some reference to the pictures you are about to see.

Just yesterday morning, I heard some yelling going on, and looked out our kitchen window just in time to see this deal going down. The older guy had just given the younger guy (who I assume to be the dealer) some cash. They had just struck a deal for some of the "vegetables" in the buckets and/or box to the left. And in broad daylight!?

Two days ago, I heard more yelling and looked out just in time to see this guy openly carrying his "merchandise." Boy, dealers don't have to be very sneaky around here!

He must have been a "runner," 'cause his accomplice who was probably the main dealer, stayed with the large stash in the car.

Incredibly, they display the stuff they're selling by laying it right on the parking lot and hollering about it. Oh yeah, and you can tell that they are dealers by the fancy white car they are driving. They aren't fooling me...I was around this kind of stuff too many years!

I didn't get a good pic of this last dealer, but by far he is the most bold. He comes around at about 10:30 every morning, yelling at the top of his lungs about the stuff he's selling. I did get a picture of the wagon in which he transports his "stuff"... an obvious ruse, since these kind of guys are pretty sly.

His cover story is that he is selling concentrated bleach. He even yells the local word for "Clorox." I don't know, it's in some really interesting looking bottles, and word on the street is that it may have been bought in bulk and repackaged. Boy, these guys are tricky!
Well, that's the scoop on street dealing from here. I'm pretty sure even these little girls who were allegedly playing "hopscotch" right outside our kitchen window are somehow in on it. As we say in law enforcement, "my almost 30 years of training and experience" have lead me to conclude that there is some seriously nefarious (don't you love that word...and I seldom get to use it!) goings on around here. No way that I'm going to believe that people come right out on the parking lot and sell vegetables, carpets and bleach. Come on! You think I'm that gullible? I'm going to keep watching though. Even if Cindy did say I didn't get out of law enforcement any too soon.

Our "Working Woman" Granddaughter

2009-05-12T07:58:00.000+03:00

Speaking of dancing young ladies (see our last post), our Granddaughter Aubree had a dance recital last Saturday. Jill was on hand to take pics and assist with all of the details. Of course, there was no way I was going to post pics of the local girls dancing for Flower Day, and not post pics of our Aubree! Is that one gorgeous girl, or what?! Everyone says she looks just like her granddad! :-)

The girls tap danced to Dolly Parton's song 9 to 5 which explains the "working girl" glasses. Cute rascals, aren't they...especially the one under the desk.

The girls worked hard in the weeks before the recital, and it was all over in just a few minutes. That's kind of how life works, isn't it? Lots of hard work and preparation to ensure a few moments of well performed activity.

Cindy and I can't wait to see the DVD of the recital. Aubree loves dance, and we are so proud of her. In addition to dancing, Aubree is in the gifted math program at school and makes verrrrry good grades! She has the patience of a saint, and is a wonderful big sister to her two little brothers. That in itself deserves a medal!

Nanna and I love you Aubs and we are so proud of you! Keep on dancing!

More Old City + Flower Day

2009-05-10T19:48:00.000+03:00

We did some more walking around in the "Old City" area of our little town yesterday. First, we rode the "Metro" which is the subway from our apt. in to the downtown area and then walked about seven or eight blocks toward the "Old City." On the way, Cindy stopped and bought a bouquet of lilacs from a lady.

Next, we wandered back in to the Old City. As I said before, it is kind of the historical district in our city. We took a couple of pics of a really neat building. We don't know what it is, but it looked great from the outside, especially the pigeon feeder on the wall.

I have never been too much of a pigeon fan, but hey, they go with the city.

We continued to wander through the narrow streets, passing Mr. Sahib's carpet shop. Remember Mr. Sahib? His place looked really busy, so we didn't stop in. We did sit in a neat little park to rest our already tired feet. We then took a pic of Cindy with a minaret in the background. That's not too hard to do here, as they are pretty much everywhere you look.

Here's another pic with a good view of the sea. This is such a neat area. I can just imagine boat loads of silk coming in and carpets going out over the years. That's not counting the camel-loads.

The next day, we went downtown to see how the locals celebrate "Flower Day." They don't have "Mother's Day" but they do celebrate the birthday of their former president who passed away a few years ago. His son it now the president. It's a long story.

Yesterday we saw a large crew of people scrubbing a local park, which is very pretty even when it is not a holiday. Today, it was decorated with all kinds of flowers, lots of flower displays and had a huge crowd of folks walking through it.

By the way, the pic above was taken during a lull in the traffic. It was bumper to bumper just after that. The former president is a local hero and anybody who's anybody turns out to celebrate his birthday. He would have been eighty-six.

Cindy and I kind of observed from the outside perimeter, one, because it was so crowded, and two, because I was carrying a backpack and didn't want to have to go through the metal detectors. There were highly interested law enforcement types dressed in suits everywhere, including one who walked up behind us just before I took the above picture. He didn't say anything, just stood there quietly and then walked off.

There were lots of really pretty flower displays, if you are in to that sort of thing. Ok, I'll admit, I am somewhat in to that sort of thing. I think it compliments turkey hunting and duck hunting pretty nicely, don't you John?

By this time, I had enjoyed about all of the culture I could handle. Did I mention they had two large sound trucks piping in classical music, along with piped in bird sounds. No kidding. I'm pretty sure one was a wood thrush, so they may have been using an American bird call CD.

Before we left, we stopped to take pictures of some little girls who were dressed as flowers. They had performed dances for some of the local officials. They (the girls, not the officials) were really cute!

Here's the last pic, and I guess this is what it should be about. Young children, getting to enjoy being children in an area that has seen its share of oppression, hardship and war. It was really their day.

Me Too!

2009-05-04T06:17:00.001+03:00

Ok, for you extra sensitive types, I have to post a disclaimer. Lest someone think I was too hard on my Bro. Dzohn, I too love turkey hunting, in fact, it is something Dzohn and I have enjoyed together.

If fact, just last season (or was it the one before that...I can't remember?), Dzohn and I hunted together in Clinton County, where I whacked a nice gobbler. We celebrated with hot tea brought home from Belarus.

So truly, I was just having fun with Dzohn's addiction. Spring turkey hunting in MO, along with some morel mushrooms and crappie fishing.....it seriously doesn't get any better than that.....except maybe a November mallard hunt. On the other hand, I'm not sure Dzohn would agree, at least about the duck hunt.

Dzohn Stuck One!

2009-05-03T20:31:00.000+03:00

If y'all know my buddy Dzohn, you know he is what we call "all et up about turkey huntin'" That is why it surprised me that he was practicing such turkey conservation this season. That's what we call it when somebody doesn't get a bird.

Ok, in all fairness to Dzohn he is might picky about the birds he kills and doesn't usually shoot the first thing that comes along.

And he really did eventually stick a mighty nice bird. Just took him a little longer than usual. He is a pretty serious predator, though he "gives 'em a sportin' chance" by flinging little sharp sticks at them from a bow. So I'm really just giving him a hard time...as I said before, Dzohn usually shoots more birds in a couple seasons in several states, than I have in my life time. But its my blog and I'm in Central Asia, and I need a reason to put his turkey pics here...so here we go!

First, he heads to some prime turkey habitat, usually in Clinton or DeKalb Countys (MO) , climbs in this little high tech "tent thingy," then he puts these really life-like fake girl turkeys out front at about nine yards. Then he makes sounds like a very lonely girl turkey. No, I don't know where he learned it.

If things go right the closest lonely big-boy turkey hears the pleadings of the alleged lonely girl turkey. As a very lonely boy turkey gets close to Dzohn's fake girl turkeys, Dzohn pulls back on his super-high-tech-space-bow called a "Mathews Switchback" (sounds expensive! Oops, you didn't hear that, did you Annette? ) and lets fly with a tremendously well balanced carbon shaft with a super sharp top-of-the-line turkey-seeking broadhead arrow point.

If all goes well, said arrow connects with said lonely boy turkey, resulting in the air being let out of the no longer caring boy turkey and the aforementioned turkey now does the turkey's blend of the Electric Slide and the Funky Chicken as it expires.

Dzohn then dutifully puts his tag immediately on the turkey (at least that's what he told me) and calls it in to Telecheck. After that, he takes numerous pictures of himself with the blissfully reposed, dead, formerly lonely turkey and emails them to me in Central Asia.

A successful hunt completed, Dzohn then deconstructs his high tech tent-thingy (its actually called a Double Bull Blind), and carries home his turkey to feed his loving wife and three appreciative daughters.

It doesn't get any better than that, does it Dzohn?

Mr. Sahib The Carpet Guy

2009-05-02T21:11:00.000+03:00

One afternoon this past week, Cindy and I accompanied a friend into an old (12th Century) part of the city. It is completely unlike the rest of the city, it is the stuff that Indiana Jones movies are made of. Narrow streets, little kids, tiny alleyways and merchants of all kinds.

We went to visit a carpet seller. Our friend had purchased a carpet from Mr. Sahib and was stopping back by to buy a few things for the folks back home.

Understand, this isn't wall to wall carpeting or anything like that. Think "fine Persian rugs" or "magic carpets." Get the picture?

While I was drinking hot tea provided by Mr. Sahib, Cindy took time to peruse his stock of scarves. He also showed us numerous rugs from our home country, Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan. We were not buying rugs that day, but appreciated the lesson about the finer points of that type of craft. The tea was great, also.

Even looking out Mr. Sahib's window was very cool. Cindy enjoyed hot tea also...how could you not while sitting in a shop filled with a couple hundred carpets, all hand made and getting a personal tutorial about their history? By the way, Central Asians always serve hot chi (tea) to their guests.

Though we are not yet in the purchasing mode (except for the scarf Cindy bought) since we are "friends of a friend" of Mr. Sahib's we are now his friends. I expect we will spend quite a bit of time just hanging out and drinking chi with Mr. Sahib. Some day we may even buy a rug.

What's that Food?

2009-04-25T12:28:00.000+03:00

Ok, here's a kind of fun post. I'll show pictures of food products we've purchased and you guess what they are. I'll give the answer after the pic.

Let's start with an easy one:

Sliced wheat bread? Good job! I told you it was an easy one. There are some "American looking" products available though they are not exactly what we are used to. This stuff is good, but its definitely not "Home Pride."

Ok, how about this one?

Its a carton of cherry juice, a bottle of olive oil (I think) and a Snapple shaped bottle of apple vinegar. The cherry juice is really good if you like to make cherry cokes.

Next:

You probably guessed the first one is a jar of pickles. Dill pickles with garlic, at that! They're really good. Not all dill pickles here taste like the ones at home. They pickle a lot of stuff here, including cherries. (not recommended)

Next, is a carton of milk...5% milk. It's pretty good, too. You don't have to refrigerate it until you open it. Did I mention it's expensive?
Around $6-7 for a half gallon, I think. Last is a little package of cream cheese. Goes good on lots of stuff.

So, how did you do? In many cases, the stuff we're eating here isn't all that different from what we eat at home (sometimes it is!) but its just in a different form or package, with the writing in Russian, Turkish or Azerbaijan. That said, we've had some really great Dorito-type chips from Turkey, of course some really good local cheese, pretty fair chicken which is usually grilled or rotisseried, and various other goodies.

Ok, and lastly, the one we thought we'd never see again:

You got it......bacon!!!! WooooHoooo!!!! This package was about five bucks-American, but its going in our potato soup tonight. Sometimes only pork will do. I love this country!

Hope this was fun for you, We'll post more interesting things as we eat them!

Vinnie's Bird

2009-04-24T11:40:00.000+03:00

Sorry Djohn,

Vinnie snuck a nice gobbler in ahead of you! I'm posting this pic from home purely for my benefit, as I need a "Spring in MO" fix, and I like looking at pics of good hunters with dead birds.

Not to mention that Vince also manufactures and sells turkey calls. Check out: http://www.vectorcalls.com/

As much as we are enjoying our time here, it is going to take a while to wean me off of spring turkeys, crappie and morels. My guess is that the woodcock are peenting, too.

Trust me though, when we are back to visit and the season is right, I'll be right in the middle of them.

Oh for the straight skinny on Djohn, he kills more birds in a season or two (he hunts several states...with a bow, no less!) than I have in a life time. Apparently, wind shear or something has affected the flight path of his arrows so far this year! :-)

Keep flinging them brother, one is bound to find a bird.

Our Kids

2009-04-23T14:27:00.000+03:00

As with most grandparents, Cindy and I often seem to talk non-stop about our grandkids, apparently forgetting the mommy and daddy of said grandkids. So, even though we fully intend to post pics of our grand youngin's, here's a pic of our daughter Jill (ok, Jillian for all you hair-clients) and her husband Shane.

We are so proud of both of them. What a great Mommy and Daddy they are to Aubree, Asa and Trey. They work hard to provide for the little ones, love them, correct them (often sometimes!) and are doing their best to be a solid Believing family.

Jill and Shane have been married for 9 years, which is a strong testimony among today's twenty-somethings. We lift them up daily, and are always happy to brag about them.

Jill and Shane, we love you!

Jill, Shane, Aubree, Asa and Trey

2009-04-22T10:43:00.000+03:00

Just for fun, here's a pic of our crew the night before we left for Over There. There were lots of tears all around, but as we realized, if it didn't hurt, it probably wouldn't be much of a sacrifice. We sure miss you guys!

More misc.

2009-04-22T00:32:00.000+03:00

Be patient with me as I'm new to blogging...at least from this side of the world! I'm going to try to add a couple of pictures and see how it goes.

Here'a pic from a high place overlooking our city. When wind blows, the haze isn't quite as bad. It's a major oil and shipping place. What a deal!

Turkey season opened in MO Monday, and I am hoping to get a pic or two emailed to me from John or maybe Vince. I have to admit, I'm missing spring in MO.

Can't hear turkeys gobbling here, but I can sure hear a lot of horns honking. Apparently, honking isn't necessarily aggressive here, it's just another tool to help manage traffic. On one hand you would think drivers here are crazy....after some thought I've decided they are incredibly skilled. Otherwise, they would be crashing in to each other every few seconds. Its amazing...they drive in four or five lanes on a road built for two or maybe three lanes max.

Well, that's all for now. We're still in our original apartment, waiting for our new one. Its all good, we're just being patient. Take care and kill a big one!

We're Here!

2009-04-18T11:06:00.000+03:00

We arrived in our new country on Friday night, April 9. Our flights went amazingly well, with no problems. Passport control and customs went really well, too. Our team was there to meet us and help us carry all 12 bags up the four flights of stairs to our temporary apartment.

We have spent several days walking around town, visiting our new employment locations, and eating supper with our team members. Our jet lag is pretty much over now, thank goodness.

We start language training on Apr. 27, when we will meet with our language helper. He will be our language practice/ask cultural questions/show us around the city guy. We will meet with him once a week, probably. We'll also meet with our language tutor, who will be our grammar teacher. She'll be with us twice a week.

Hopefully, by the end of next week we'll be in our permanent apartment. The company is remodeling it for us. Cindy gets a new bathtub...wooohooo!!!

Tonight we are going to have supper with a local family, who we know nothing about. Then tomorrow we are privileged to go to a wedding! What a deal! Talk about cultural immersion. We'll let you know how it goes.

Until next time,
We're over here!
Love,
M&C

Here's Our Blog!

2008-12-10T05:26:00.000+02:00

We hope you enjoy our ramblings as Cindy and I prepare to begin new careers overseas. We will try to keep you up to date as we get training, meet new friends and head across the ocean. Keep us in your thoughts!