Saturday snips

While our TLF is built a lot like houses in the U.S., there are some noticeable differences. Firstly, you flush the toilet by pulling a nob from the top of the toilet up. It's taken some getting used to. In addition, there is a small room with a toilet in it. Then there is another small room with a shower in it. Then the sinks are in our bedroom. A bit strange. Secondly, our washer is a Turkish washer. It has incredibly complicated directions which include, and I do not jest: "Do not open the door until 1 minute has lapsed upon completion of cycle or door will break and you will have to pay $15." Seriously. It is also incredibly loud. Every time it spins it sounds like a jet engine is preparing to land.

We ended up waking up the boys this morning around 9:30am to try and get them on somewhat of a schedule. We then took a field trip to the Thrift Store (closed), library (closed), post office (closed), BX (open -- very small Kmart-like store but will all the basics that we need) and the Commissary (open -- this is the grocery on Base which again, is very small but will be able to meet our basic needs.)

During our time out I realized a few things:

• We are going to see a lot of people we know on a Base this small. We ran into Nick, ran into one of the guys JB will be working with, and one of the baggers asked us if we were new. It's a very small world.
• Turkish people do love children as I was warned about repeatedly from people who had been to this Base. I am glad I was warned about this or it may have completely freaked me out. American men, on the whole, express very little interest in children, unless the children are their children. But Turkish men are very different. This may seem creepy, but it really isn't. Somehow it is a comfortable feeling. It seems so genuine and caring. Our cashier, who was Turkish, ran his fingers through Elijah's hair, squeezed his cheeks, and gave him five. Elijah wasn't too sure about the hair thing but was totally okay with the rest of it. He then turned to Isaac who after initial concern about this pinch-grabbing thing, seemed to warm to it. Probably because he was hoping a lollipop was involved again.
• It is incredibly, horribly, beastly hot. I know I am from South Florida and lived in North Florida and spent time in Kentucky, but this just feels so much hotter. So very, very hot. The good this is that they apparently get cooler a lot faster than South Florida does in the fall. So here's waiting for that! Our little rental car is, well, little, and the air seems to sound like it is blowing very loudly but be far from that.
• There is something freeing, at least right now, about being limited as to choices. We went to the BX to get the boys some "new cars" as we had promised them there would be "new cars" in Turkey. The selection was slim but adequate. However, there was not this feeling of "Hmmm ... I wonder if I could get a better deal at WalMart or Target." It was like, here are the choices, take them or leave them. I liked the way that that felt.
• Dogs are very welcome. Apparently the Base pool does a "Dog day" once a month where they let dogs swim in the pool. While it says they have to be off-leash, everyone has told me that they don't. It just seems like a happy place for Scrubs -- although all these new smells have him quiet curious. He seems comfortable, albeit a bit limited on space, in our TLF. He has to be kennelled when we leave (hotel rule) but is out the rest of the time and has taken over a chair in the living (per our permission.)