Life: Idiotropic

Spring is officially here marked with beautiful blue skies and a shower of floral confetti in the air. Some of the streets were covered in small white, yellow, and pink petals from nearby trees. It's beautiful here. The fields are getting ready for planting, more people are out and about, all the windows are decorated with flowers and ribbons, and it is finally above 50 degrees.

We celebrated its arrival with day after day of outside play. The kids had forgotten what outside looked like, I think. Luci still insists on bringing her coat everywhere even when it's warm... I think she still expects the shocking cold when she leaves the house.

We had two days at the park this week... on Wednesday we went to a new park with our Spanish friends and stayed there three hours playing. The language was absolutely no barrier for the kids. They all had a great time - even Tiara who is making friends with Beatriz. They know only a handful of words of eachother's languages, but still have a great time together. This park was nice with horse stables right next to it, so the kids enjoyed seeing the horses run around. On Friday we went back to the horse park for a couple hours in the morning, went home for lunch and rest, then took our friends to a park near our house that they hadn't been to before. It is huge and has a lot of different activities for all the age levels. We were there for over three hours, so the kids were absolutely exhausted at the end. They all had fun. About halfway into our fun, we heard some music and all the local kids took off running. Sure enough, an ice cream truck was driving by. This ice cream truck sold real Italian gelato - no prepackaged concoctions, just real, scooped ice cream put together right there. He did sundaes too. All the kids got a scoop - at 50E cents, there was no reason to say no and it was very good - just like gelato I've had before. The lemon is the best. Every playground that I've been to so far has been different. They are very creative and fun. Even my Spanish friends think that they are much better than the ones in Spain. There are swings that go in a circle like a carousel, swings that go up and down like a teeter totter with one person on a swing on one side and another on the other side. They have slopes with hills for riding small cars down, and tall bumpy slides, and swinging bridges, and tirolinos (I don't know the English word - you sit on it and then it goes really fast down a line, then comes back a bit.... like a chair lift on a slope). At the park on Friday the girls played with their Spanish friends, some German kids, and an Italian girl. I think the adults all enjoyed seeing the kids all together - 4 nationalities together on a tire swing all laughing and talking. It was very sweet.

Our backyard is getting more use now too and I think Tante Tinny is enjoying that. On Thursday evening we spent an hour in the backyard letting the kids run and visiting with Tante Tinny and other neighbors. The kids love Tinny and talk to her as if she understands. They all show off and act silly to get her attention. It is nice for them, with family so far away, to have an older adult here. They need that non-parental attention.

Ballet days are like a nice vacation for me now with the weather so nice. On Tuesday I took Elise with me and we took a walk around the green band in Sittard, a nice green space circling part of the markt square. Between the green space and the markt is this large space of gardens, all divided up with fences. Some are run down and some are cared for... some are planted with vegetables and flowers, and some contain sheep and chickens. It is interesting being right in the heart of the city so hear sheep bleeting, but somehow it fits. We went after our walk to get gelato at my favorite little cafe. The owner is Dutch, but speaks perfect English and is very friendly, so Elise had her ice cream and I talked with Ani. I really enjoy talking to the Dutch because they are so genuine and friendly and I always learn something. Ani's shop is my regular place now. Of course, I won't get ice cream all the time, but she makes very good coffee. When you order coffee here it comes with cream, sugar, and a cookie. At Ani's place, you also get a small cognac glass with egg liquor topped with whipped cream and a baby sized spoon to eat it with. It's very good. Egg liquor is very popular here. You will find it as a filling in chocolates and many other desserts - even as an ice cream flavor. I enjoy it, but the color and consistancy is just like egg yolk which, to me, is not very appealing.

Saturday was Arianna's first soccer game! We arrived at 0930 for the season's opening ceremonies that didn't start until 10. The girls got their uniforms. Luci will wear hers and cheer the team. She doesn't want to play which is fine with us - we just wanted her to learn a little and to be exposed to something new. I think she enjoys being at the practices and games even if she doesn't participate. Arianna, on the other hand, is very outgoing and is doing an amazing job! The coach was shocked. Her first game started at 1030. They kept wanting to sub her out to give her some rest, but she kept going and kept up the entire game. Many times she was right up in front of the herd. She didn't get much time with the ball, but she did throw it in once and that was fun for her. The game ended in our favor - 7 to 1. There is no official score keeping nor winners at this level because they all want to promote the fun and teamwork of the game, but the coaches and parents are keeping score... just because. Some of the players are very good for their ages. You can tell who has soccer playing parents and who doesn't. Some of these kids are headed towards stardom... they are really powerful players. I am pleasantly impressed with the ability of the coach to balance those "star players" with the others allowing all the kids a chance to get to the ball and encouraging them all to work together. I think Arianna will get a lot out of this. Her team is the Mighty Dragons and her coach is a Canadian. We love the team. All the players are great as are their parents and Coach Mohtadi is teaching them a lot.

After the game on Saturday we took the kids to Schinnen for hamburgers and let them play. It happened to be the day of the bazaar too so we went to see that. Every year GK and Schinnen have a bazaar and they are amazing. Mohammed was there. Apparently, he is THE guy to buy rugs from here. He has a shop in Konya, Turkey and has made friends with many of the AWACS folks, so he comes up here for all the bazaars and is the most trusted seller here. He is very nice and will teach you a lot about the rugs. I was amazed at how casual they are about them, walking on them, picking them up and just tossing them to the side. The silk rugs are so soft, they actually feel like rabbit fur, but a small silk rug - about 2'x3' is $1000. I was told that there is actually a law in Turkey that a weaver is only allowed to make one silk rug in his lifetime because the knots are so small and the weave is so tight, that you can go blind making too many of them. The market also had beautiful French antiques, Polish pottery and Polish crystal, Irish wool sweaters, Indian beaded shoes and purses, a lot of jewlery and leather, and beautiful Belgian tapestries. We didn't get anything, but it was fun to look and make mental notes for "next time."

Yesterday was the International Children's Festival at the base. This year the Turkish people here sponsored it. There was a lot of food - just the normal carnival stuff... hamburgers and hotdogs, cotton candy and popcorn. They had the big inflatable slides and trampolines for the kids, face painting, and other crafts and games. My girls never got away from the inflatables until the dancing started. They loved the big slide. Towards the end, a group of Turkish dancers came and performed three traditional dances in full costume. It was beautiful. Elise and I were watching them at first and pretty soon, my other three girls had all joined us. They all loved watching the dancers and listening to the music. Most of the music was live - played on traditional instruments there. The male dancers did some amazing dancing - very fast and with a lot of twirling and jumping. The contrast to the slow graceful movements of the brides made them even more spectacular.

























After the festival we went straight to Pee Wee's - an indoor play center for children - to attend Federica's birthday party. Federica is one of Luci's Italian friends. We were only one of three American families there. All of the Italian men speak English as they speak it at work here and the women speak a little. They were all very warm and friendly. We'd only been there a few minutes when they gave me a cannoli to try and some almond milk. In Italy, they have almond cream or paste that they sell in cans and then they use it for baking or can add water to it to make it into milk. It is very, very good. I think I'll have Kirk get some next time he goes to Italy. Federica's mom did all the cooking... there were the most delicious paninis I'd ever had, a pizza with paper thin flakey crust, quiche, lots of snacks like nuts and chips, and three desserts in addition to the cake. The birthday cake was the traditional Italian cream cake with a lemony custard filling. Perfect! I will definitely get that recipe. The party started like the traditional party. The kids all ran off and played, the adults sat around nibbling and talking. I learned a little about places to travel in Italy and tried to understand some of the Italian spoken. When it was time for cake we all gathered around and they lit a little sparkler in the cake. After, they insisted that all the adults gather together with the kids for a large group photo. Then when the kids had eaten and run off again to play, the adults all toasted with Asti. We were all there 3 1/2 hours - only leaving because the place was closing. Ahhh... I love the non-American parties when people are relaxed and don't run off at the two hour point. It is so much more natural and comfortable to sit and enjoy company without paying attention to the clock.

Anyway... today is back to normal. School is starting up again after 2 weeks of spring break, and I am having a quiet day with very little errands to run. Tonight is soccer practice again... M/W soccer and T/TH ballet... Saturday games... life with kids keeps me busy... until next blog... ciao!