Turkish Delight: Ankara

Turkey was truly delightful! We spent our time in three different parts of the country: Ankara, Cappadochia, and Istanbul. Our time in Ankara was shaped by our reunion with our good friends. Special friends we have known since our time in Japan. Not only do we all enjoy each others' company (not an easy thing to do when you have a total of four adults and six kids) but we are also able to travel together. That's really not an easy thing to find! We have traveled together in Japan, Thailand, The States, and now Turkey. They graciously hosted us and shared their favorite parts of Ankara with us: the castle, the local market, the Hammam (Turkish Bath), the simit (large sesame seeded bagels),the friendly and generous nature of the Turks (the kind boy who shared his Ben 10 cards with the boys, the friendly grandmothers), the joys of Turkish chai/tea, their crazy dance game, and the warmth and love of their home (despite the fact that we shared some bad germs with them: Noah announced his arrival in Ankara with a high fever and some dramatic vomit in the airport...after we signed paperwork declaring we were entering Turkey free of illness and undergoing fever scans). Minus the yucky sick stuff, our time in Ankara was a great way to begin our Turkish adventure.

Halloween 2009

Our first Halloween in Sicily: A mix of Italian and American friends, trick-or-treating on base, eating way too much candy, laughing,trying to stay warm, comparing customs, and ending the evening around the fire pit. Hope you also had a good Halloween night. Signing off from the blog for awhile. We leave for Turkey tomorrow. Very excited to explore Turkey and to be with our friends (we haven't seen them since this trip three years ago).

Olive Harvest

It's hard not to notice the olive harvesting that has been happening around us. Yards, orchards, and even some roadside ditches are full of activity with families and farmers. Two weeks ago we helped Bina and Antonio pick their olives. And then last Sunday Bina took us to the local press where we watched thousands of olives transform into that liquid gold known as olive oil. It was fascinating to watch families arriving with their olives and their large plastic containers ready to be filled. Very different from the American method of acquiring a small, expensive bottle of olive oil on the supermarket shelf!

Signs of Autumn

Lots of seasonal discoveries happening right now. Autumn in Sicily is not about colored leaves, acorns, or big pumpkins. It's chestnuts,apples,pomegranates, grapes, and olives. We have been doing lots of tasting, observing, and gathering. So many new tastes, textures, and interesting finds. Our nature table is getting full again. Want to learn more about nature tables and see some inspiring ones? Check out this recent post on The Magnifying Glass.

Free-Range Kids

Last Sunday: kids, hill, and cardboard boxes.Our kids now have the freedom and space to play in a way that seems to be a rare in the States these days. Roaming freely with friends on bikes, creating their own games without an adult giving suggestions or parameters, having to work out conflicts on their own, digging through the recycling bins to find the perfect piece of cardboard for grass sledding or using it to build forts, hours of endless outdoor play, bug collecting, and the novelty of not having to lock our doors.

I had initially planned to post this pic and a few words about how happy it makes me to see our kids living a "free range" life. A few words explaining why we made our decision to live on-base. And then in the last week several things made me think even more carefully about what our children are experiencing right now. The first is this article by Michael Chabon on the Wilderness of Childhood. I had read the article earlier this summer via Heywood's Meadow. At the time it confirmed my long held belief that children need to have time for outdoor adventures and exploration. But reading it a second time last week, I was focused upon the connection between imagination, literature, and true adventures. One of the most exhilerating aspects of our current situation is that Noah has found a friend with similar interests. They not only spend hours together playing and roaming around the neighborhood but while doing this they are engaged in what they call "the game". It is essentially an on-going series of elaborate and complex narratives. Developing characters, acting out scenes, negotiating the plot together. I have never seen or heard anything quite like it before. They are totally immersed in another world. I am sure that part of it is their age, their excitement in their new friendship, but after re-reading Chabon's essay I also think this newly found freedom has ignited in their imaginations in a way I never would have expected.

And then there was this post at Motherlode which left me wondering about cultural perceptions and differences. Ofcourse, the Italian case is a shocking and extreme one, but doesn't seem quite right to generalize it on such a broad level. In our limited time here, I have been impressed by the strong family ties and cohesion rather than alarmed or disturbed by it as the Time Magazine article implies. And then I heard the sad news of this case. Having recently lived in the part of Florida where this tragedy happened, I am of course shocked, sad, and wanting to hold my children even closer and yet these comments on Free Range Kids help to keep things in perspective. So much to juggle and weigh. Feeling very lucky that we are living in this little bubble right now. Free from the tv, free from the scary headlines, free to roam, roll, ride, and wander.

Growing Up

While making Halloween decorations a few days ago, Camille decided to add to her accessory collection with a googly eye ring. It was a funny moment of mama pride and sincere surprise. Proud of her creativity and ingenuity. She took a piece of tape, stuck eyes all over it, and turned it into a ring. Simple and yet so clever. And surprise because it was one of those moments when I so struck by how quickly she is growing up. I think it's part of that whole second child thing. I try my hardest to focus on both. To recognize and celebrate the milestones and the changes, and yet I have to admit that I sometimes get off balance. Lately we have been pretty focused on school issues with Noah and in the midst of this Camille has started going through a growth spurt of her own. She is drawing non-stop. She's counting and saying simple phrases in Italian. She's starting to write and sound out letters. And now she's designing her own jewelry. That little eye ring brought it all into clearer focus for me: she is turning four soon. Four is big. Four is that thrilling age that I love. I need to consciously re-focus my attention and recognize what is happening with her.

Sounds easy. Sounds like what every good parent should do, right? And yet, I can't seem to stop thinking about Noah right now. Our inquisitive, creative, energetic monkey boy recently told us he "has turned his brain off". This transition to first grade and to a much bigger school environment has not been as easy or as smooth as we had hoped. He is no longer begging to go to school on the weekends (like he did last year). Instead he is asking us for additional work at home. He is hungry for the challenge and the thrill that comes with true learning. We are meeting with his teacher tomorrow and hoping we can figure out some ways to get that little brain of his fully engaged again, but it hasn't been easy to see what's been happening with him lately.

Makes me wish I had a special eye ring that would allow me to see everything clearly in every direction and with perfect insight. But I don't. Leaves me feeling kind of stretched thin lately in terms of parenting. Wanting to do so much for both of them and yet realizing I can only do so much for each of them. Growing up is hard. Not just for kids, but mamas, too.

Stompin' Around

Today was Noah's first school field trip: grape stomping at a local vineyard. Remember that I Love Lucy episode? ...visualize 40 kids doing the same thing but with plastic bags over their shoes. The tour included a walk through the vineyard, visiting the farm animals, the stomping, and the sampling (freshly squeezed grape juice for kids and wine for adults!).

Everything was perfect until the drive home when I kept getting phone calls from the Carabinieri speaking in rapid Italian. Heart racing and thinking of all of the terrible things they might be trying to tell me; trying to stay focused on the school bus I was following back to school, and cursing myself for not studying Italian more diligently! I eventually figured out that they had my wallet which must have fallen out during our lunch break at a local park. I turned around and headed back to the small town to retrieve my wallet which resulted in another series of comical exchanges. The police officer didn't know any English and he quickly realized my pitiful Italian was not going to work. Turns out his wife knows English so he kept calling her on his cell phone to translate. I was very lucky. A kind Sicilian soul returned it without taking a dime or a Euro.