Now let's get some things straight (+ pix)

Hello everyone, this is Jasmine writing. We just finished our first full week of school at MEF. I swear everyday the classes get longer and the second hand on the clock moves a bit slower. Everyone is starving by lunchtime, but as soon as we see the food, most kids have lost their appetite. Totally typical school stuff. The not so typical thing is that there are 3-7 kids in each grade on average. I actually managed to find a school smaller than my school back in the U.S., which has a measly 46 students in my grade. That seems like a lot of people to me now. But, one of the major reasons I am writing this blog entry is not to talk about school, but to set right some of what my dad said in the previous blog entries. For starters, the superstore my dad is obsessed with is actually Ozdilek, with two dots over the O. And while back to school shopping, Zach never did pray silently in the corner, nor was I about to die of embarrassment. It just makes a better story in my dad’s mind if he is the daredevil pioneer and his kids are standing aside, embarrassed to death. I would also like to point out that the only reason we did not find a durum restaurant earlier than we did was because nobody would believe me that gyros were called durum in Turkey. Although, the blog on driving is absolutely true, and so is my dad’s absolute obsession with the fishermen by the water. I’m sure one of these days he’ll show up with a graph of them (for those of you who don’t know, my dad loves graphs and lists). Some other points of interest: Instead of selling fake purses and badly made plastic toys by the water, as people might do in other countries, there is vendor after vendor selling albino baby bunnies. And, as with every time we go to a different country, my dad spends nearly half an hour ordering, feeling the need to ask the waiter what EVERYTHING on the menu is, and then proceeds to see how many different ways he can pronounce every dish. My mom is now learning the numbers in Turkish and how to say hello, thank you, and goodbye. This is a major achievement since earlier she was dead set on not learning Turkish. Way to go mom! Sam and Zach have taught all the kids at our school how to play American football, and most of the kids are quite good. I think the NFL needs to start recruiting abroad because these kids who had never picked up a football before in their lives can throw a perfect spiral on the first try. Zach officially moved into my room yesterday, although I still don’t understand why. Just because Sam has now hit 6 ft. does not mean that he is too big to share a room. Doesn’t being the oldest count for anything anymore? There is so much to say, but I don’t want to bore you. Maybe I will start writing on the blog more often. Just keep my dad in check you know ; )  All in all, I love Turkey. I wish we were staying for the whole year. Until next time, Hoshchakal.

a picture of one of the many giant turkish flags and pictures of Mustafa Kemal aka Ataturk. They are on nearly every building, and everyone is trying to outdo each other. Just to put this in perspective, this was an ancient fortress, and my dad is only as tall as the second layer of bricks down at the bottom of the fortress.

an old picture from our days of living in a hotel. It's the list of complimentary items the hotel will provide. Where else could you find this other than Turkey?