Castles, Conference, and Corn In Cup

Yippee! More pictures! By the way - while you are browsing, if you click on a picture a larger (and easier to see) image will appear.

Here are a few pictures of my trip to the Mall. I went with Angie (on the left) and Juliana (on the right) my two dearest friends in this great adventure. Funny how something so simple in the states was like a pilgrimage to Mecca here. We had to take a tour bus on a miserable 4 hour ride in the hopes of getting some remotely Western food. (We had a friend tell us that there was a Popeye's Fried Chicken) On our way inside the building we just had to stop and get our picture next to the uber-hip decor of metal hearts covered in glitter.

No Popeye's Chicken yet, but we did find Fisho. Look closely, yes that man is holding up an entire fish -head and all- that you can buy at his fast food restaurant in the food court at the mall. Mmmmm... Does Juliana look grossed out? I should think so.

Look over there! Is that an Orange Julius? A Cinnabon? NO! Its "Corn in Cup" Just in case you were out shopping and you got a sudden urge for corn. Where or where can you find some!? Relax, we've got you covered.

Yes, we found Popeyes'. Yes it was delicious. Still, unbelievably Turkish, but delicious. A happy ending to our story.

Here is a top view of Snake Castle. If you have some extra time, you can play "Where's Waldo" I mean, "Where's Dallen"

Juliana's husband Karl took this picture. You can see us in various stages of ascending the mountain to the castle. That is me toward the back in the orange shirt, and my kids are even farther ahead. Oh, and lest anyone think my husband is a cad - he offered to take the baby from me, and I refused. After all I AM a liberated woman. (at least until the path gets too steep) =)

On our way down the mountain, a farmer let his sheep out. It was neat to see them scrambling down the hill. It looked like the ground was alive because they sort-of blended in.

Here is our branch at Branch Conference on the balcony of the Hilton. I had to speak and Michael was on call (meaning he can't leave the base) so I took Maryn with me and he kept the boys. The man next to me with the red tie is our Branch President and the lady in the khaki jacket is the Relief Society president. We have a really great group of people.

Here is a better picture of the mosque we are standing in front of. It is quite a lovely building.

A few musings (or ramblings)

Well, Michael left me again! This time he went to America (Texas to be exact) for training in allergies and immunizations. That has always been one of the issues close to his heart, so he was excited for this conference. We have a neighbor here that won't vaccinate her kids and they have had a few "discussions" about it. My favorite was when this lady was harassing him for not recycling and he said, "Well, I help keep horrible diseases out of America, and vaccinate my kids so you don't have to. And you recycle and buy organic and reduce your footprint, so I don't have to. We cancel each other out, really."

That has always been his complaint, especially now that we are in a third-world country (Editor's note - those of you that told me I would not be going to a third-world country have obviously not been to THIS part of this country) He sees kids dying of these diseases. America is one of the only countries where the citizens have the choice not to vaccinate. Most everywhere else - if you don't, you die. I guess it just shows how great the vaccinations have worked. People in my generation don't remember having friends and neighbors dying of these diseases. So I guess now they think it isn't important. Maybe that is what the Bible means about the "love of men waxing cold" in the last days. (One meaning anyway) People start deciding that vaccinations are a choice or a conspiracy and they stop remembering that it protects all of society. Then these diseases can come back full force (they aren't extinct -come to Turkey if you don't believe me) and voila, we have another epidemic.



Well, that turned into a rant! You can tell I have been without adult conversation for awhile! - for the record, we would recycle if I didn't have to drive 2 hours to do it. In our little village, you are considered progressive and "earth friendly" if you burn your trash instead of throw it on the ground. The men that gather the base's trash think they have a racket going. "You mean we get paid to take your garbage away?" They think we Americans are crazy to pay when we could just drop it on the ground for free. I am not kidding. I will post some pictures.



On a sad note, we've had a real upheaval in our little Branch here. (Our congregation) A woman in our Relief Society (Women's Group) has decided to leave her husband and family and run away with a Turkish gardener. Putting aside how much this grosses me out (if any of you had ever smelled a Turkish man, you'd know why) I am trying to grasp how a person gets to this point. How do you become so selfish, stubborn, and far from Christ's light that you can completely convince yourself that something so glaringly wrong, is right. She thinks she is living a some sort of "higher law". To see the pain that her family is going through, it breaks my heart. But nothing matters to her, but herself. She actually brought home flowers the gardener gave her, and danced and tittered around the kitchen arranging them. All this in front of her husband. When he asked her why she was rubbing it in, she shot back with, "What is your problem!? They are just flowers!" No sense of reality.


I am taking this so much harder than I should. Those of you who know me, know that I have an overwhelming sense of fairness. This just seems so unfair to her husband and her kids. To have no respect for commitments you made, and to just cast people you love to the side. It is evil. Be an adult, have some maturity and decency.

Sorry to vent, I just can't discuss it with anyone here, we are trying to spare the family gossip on top of heartbreak. Sometimes I wonder if my calling is going to be too hard on me. I take everything to heart and I want to fix everything. (Well, what I really want to do is take this woman by the shoulders and shake her, - but that isn't Christ-like either)

One thing this has taught me, is to appreciate my wonderful husband and kids. These last few weeks have been pretty stressful and they have been so patient with me. In addition to this church issue, I have taught two classes (scrapbooking), worked a full schedule of nail clients, attending Installation (base) meetings to lobby for a preschool, met with the school Superintendent on an advisory board for the same reason, planned the Relief Society Birthday Celebration, and saved the world from nuclear annihilation. (Okay, not the last one. Although we did have a bomb threat in our post office and they caught and stopped a suicide bomber two streets over - although neither of those directly involved me, nor were they nuclear. But really, that is just splitting hairs.)

All in all, I don't have much to complain about (although after reading the last few paragraphs, I am sure you could beg to differ) Leave it to me to find a way! =) Michael will be home in two weeks, and he was sent with a shopping list. When he called me yesterday he said he had already been to Target. I said, "Oh, how is Target? Does it miss me?" He said Target misses me but our checking account doesn't miss Target. =)

I have babbled on enough. Love you all!

A Video - FINALLY!

Okay everyone, I think I have FINALLY solved the "uploading videos" problem. (Nothing a little downloaded software can't fix, eh?) The quality isn't that great, and the first time I tried this, the audio and video weren't in sync. But, at this point, I am ecstatic that you can actually see Hayden's face! Hopefully, I will get better at this! Anyway - here is my cute boy. This was actually taken in December, (see- I really have been struggling to post for awhile!) Next I will post some recent pics. By the way - his shirt says "I do all my own stunts"

Tamam, Tamam- I'll write something

OK- (Tamam in Turkish) Michael here. I realize that we have not updated the blog in 8 weeks or so (technically it is Linda's job to update the blog but she has been busy.) but I finally got something put together to post. A while ago some of you (friends from residency and others) asked about my job. What is my job like? How is being a military doc different from a civilian doc? Having never been a civilian doc I am not entirely sure but there are few things I am pretty sure of. (this probably doesn't apply to all Military docs but just to those of us "fortunate" enough to be in a forward location (that means close to the fighting to you civilians. And while we are not very close to the war we count as a forward location).

Some of the differences include:

1) we have men armed with machine guns at the doors of the clinic.

2) You cannot enter the building if you don't have proper clearance.

3) I am authorized to carry a sidearm (9mm pistol) during patient care (I don't but maybe someday).

4) when I have a critical case it gets airlifted out of the country.

5) I wear camouflage and combat boots to work.

6) I am usually addressed by the parents of my patients (and often by the patients themselves) as "Sir".

7) If a parent "No Shows" on an appointment I can call his Commander and have him punished (have not had to do this yet. I have very few "No Shows" as you might imagine).

8) There is a bomb shelter in the basement capable of withstanding a nearby nuclear blast.

9) When we have mock codes the "patient" has frequently been the victim of chemical, biological, radioactive/nuclear, or explosive attacks (CBRNE is the acronym for this). Making sure the scene is safe takes on a whole new meaning when your patient is covered with nerve agent.

10) I have a chemical protection suit in my office just in case of a chemical attack.

11) Our afternoon conferences frequently involve topics like "Using the Pralidoxime-2 (PAM-2)injector to counter nerve agents." or " The importance of screening returning soldiers for occult closed head injuries." or "Dangers on the flight line." (that's runway to you civilians). Being the solo pediatrician most of the lectures are (unfortunately) for the Family Practitioners and their adult patients.

12) I'm on call each Wednesday and the first weekend of the month.

13) The vaccinations we give include Typhus and Small-pox (only for those soldiers going downrange (into the war zone for you civilians)).

14) My contract requires I go running three times a week to be able to pass a physical fitness test which includes running 1.5 miles. (that may not be much to you runners but it was a long way to me).

15) must wear a dog tag at all times while at work

Anyway... Those are some of the differences. Otherwise my job is not that different from yours (speaking to my pediatric associates). I see the kids, diagnose their problem, reassure the parents, chart, refer, etc.

This week has been different though. Spent Monday and Tuesday teaching ACLS. My students included 2 Turkish physicians- one is a General Surgeon and the other a family practitioner. (we have a bit of a personnel shortage here- not everyone is willing to come to Turkey so we use some local providers) and then on Wednesday we had an "exercise". It was a pretend disaster drill complete with- you guessed it- a simulated chemical weapon attack. And with a simulated chemical attack comes the joy of wearing the flaming hot chemical protection suit with helmet and gasmask. (I do realize that anyone involved in actual combat in the big sandbox especially in the summer who wore their chem suit in that environment are laughing at me- "he's complaining about wearing his suit in an air conditioned building. I wore it in the sun in 120 degree heat!!) It was not just the heat and breathing difficulty but trying to treat our simulated patients through our gasmasks while wearing our big clumsy rubber gloves. It was an absolute lesson in futility. But now that is done and I wont have to do it again for another month.

Well it is late and I'm gonna go to bed. Eat some Mexican food for me because I cant get any here.

I've included some pictures by popular request.

Videos and Other frustrations

I am still trying to figure out how to post videos on my blog. At the moment, I am messing with a you-tube clip of one of my favorite comedians. If everything goes well, and you actually see it, I will post my darling children next. I chose this video to practice on, so I can laugh a little instead of screaming and trying to throw my computer. (Did I mention that I have been trying to post videos since AUGUST!!??)

If anyone can help me with this, I'd love it. I know there is a way to do it, but I just keep getting error messages!

There is not much in the way of news this week. I am holding our Relief Society meeting at my house. That has taken some getting used to. Because I am the only councilor in the RS, I am in charge of the activities. And because we have no actual church to meet in, we meet in my living room. As a tiny branch, we improvise a lot! =)

Oh, and I wanted to mention to all of you who have posted comments- Thank You! We do read them and appreciate them, even if we don't answer. I'll be the first to admit I am terrible about staying in touch. Thus the reason we began this blog....

Shout it from the rooftops!

I am sure you all remember that Michael went back to the states in October to take his Board Certification Exam. You know, the one that cost us 2,000$ for him to take and was the culmination of 11 years of school? Well.....HE PASSED!!!!!!!

Of course, I never had a doubt. Though it sure is nice to see the weight lifted from my husband's shoulders. We thought the results wouldn't be available until February, so I had quite a surprise waiting for me when I checked my e-mail yesterday. Unfortunately, they only sent a note stating the results were available on the Pediatric Board Website. What that means is, from 4pm till 11pm I was frantically trying to access his results along with every other newly graduated Pediatrician in the entire United States. The site literally crashed eight times! I almost ripped out my hair! When I did get through, we screamed and cried and tried not to wake our kids. =) Thanks to all those who fasted for him.

Oops- gotta go, Hayden is quietly giggling to himself.....he probably figured out donuts fit in the VCR.

Happy New Year!

Wow! This month has just been one big blur. I will not fill you in completely right now, seeing as it is midnight here. I did however want to make sure you all know that we are alive and well. I realize I have let too much time pass since I last wrote. And my dear friend Jon reminded me that because there was a bombing relatively close to our home, I should probably assure all my loved ones of our safety.

We have spent the better part of this month traveling. Michael's brother Robert came to spend Christmas with us, and we wanted to show him a good time. We definitely kept him hopping, if nothing else. We will all need a vacation after this vacation! =) We spent time in Cappidocia - a series of ancient cities carved out of rock. In fact the hotel we stayed in was a bunch of modified caves. I have numerous pictures to upload and share. It was amazing to see halls, churches, caverns, homes - all carved into mountains. The family had a bit more fun than me, because I spent two days in the hotel room throwing up. Good thing it is close enough for me to go back.

I also had a run-in with a Turk at a gas station on the way home. Apparently, my being American, gave him the right to grab my butt. I think he figured I didn't know his language and so who could I tell? He seemed a little shocked when I kicked him and swore at him in Turkish. Then I whipped out my cell phone and called a Turkish friend to give me more words to chew him with. When my friend Sefer heard what this guy had done, he didn't need any prompting. I made such a scene that his buddies came over to find out what had happened. When I told them, the guy denied it (of course) but his burning face and stammering gave him away. He picked the wrong tourist to mess with. Hopefully he will never do it again.

Our travels this month also took us to Istanbul. It was amazing! It reminded me so much of the cities in Europe I visited with my brother and sister-in-law. It was nice to see a completely different side of Turkey. Istanbul is light-years away from where I live. It was like going from Hurricane, UT to Manhattan. (To give you an idea what Hurricane is like, there are only like, 3 people that live there - and a horse) Now I see how Turkey could possibly want to join the EU. Before I was just confused. This side of the country is more Middle Eastern.

We saw so many sites and walked till I thought Dallen's legs would fall off. I think he did too. We had wisely left the two youngest home with a babysitter. The big kids had a great time, riding on the ferry and touring palaces. We also saw an unbelievable Roman Aqueduct. (Okay - admit it - how many of you just now said "The Aqueduct??" with a squeaky Monty Python type British accent?)

We were treated to a dinner show the first night we were there. It ran a little late though and Dallen really got restless. At one point he loudly complained, "How many more Belly Dancers are we gonna have to watch!!??" We laughed as someone pointed out that in about 7 to 8 years, he would be riveted to the stage. Maryn's favorite part of the trip was the pottery store. A man there was using a kick wheel and he let her throw her own pot. We even got to bring it home for free! We took a video of it that I will try to upload. So far, I have hit and miss luck with that.

The history and energy of the city were breathtaking. And I found out the answer to one of life's burning questions: "Istanbul not Constantinople, been a long time gone Constantinople, Why did Constantinople get the works?" Well - apparently the name of the city was changed when the Ottomans defeated the Byzantines. The Ottomans were muslim, and they named the city "Istanbul" which means "City of Islam". Also they didn't want to call it "Constantinople" when it was no longer Constantine's city. So now you know. And now you all have a catchy song in your head.

Another little tid-bit that some of you might find interesting. We had Condalezza Rice stay next door a while ago. Do you remember her surprise visit to Iraq? She stopped here on her way. And our house is next to the VIP house. We didn't get to meet her because it was very hush-hush, but Dallen made friends with one of her Secret Service Agents. He even gave him an honorary badge. Dallen has carried it around telling everyone he is a special agent.

Sorry for the nutshell version of our trip. I promise to write more and post some pictures when I am not falling asleep at the keyboard. Till next time....