New Rugs!

Yesterday JB and I had a date -- our first one since the weekend we took away back at the end of June to go to Key West.

First, we stopped at a highly recommended Turkish restaurant about three miles from Base. Outside was a huge oven where five or six men were tending to breads and meats and vegetables.

We sat down at a table outside unlike all the Turks who didn't seem concerned about the heat and were congregating around tables outside. I'm not sure I'll ever fully get used to the fact that men are always hanging out together, eating, playing games, talking, selling things, but there are never women congregating with them. Men walk hand in hand quite frequently. But public disaplays of affection between members of the opposite sex is not as welcome. It's so different than what I am used to.

There was no menu. They just bring you what they are cooking in their kitchen that day. Lucky for us it was "Adana Kebap" (Kebab) day. Turkey's different regions have foods that they are known for. Our region is this delicious Kebab. It's almost a meat paste. I'll have to take a picture of it. It is delectable. So yummy!

There are a lot of tomatoes in Turkish food. I like tomatoes and the taste of tomatoes but do not enjoy eating whole pieces of tomato. I wish I could change this fact as it seems my inability to eat tomatoes might limit my eating on occasion. There are a whole lot of tomatoes on the non-existent menus in Turkey.

Afterwards, we headed to downtown Adana where a "friend" had told us we could buy rugs. However, there was some miscommunication somewhere because we could not find the rug store we had been directed to. We did however, get a sampling of "desserts" at one of the gazillion eateries they have scattered throughout the blocks and blocks of Old Adana. So good! We got two chocolate looking things, 2 cinnamon looking things, and 2 fried looking things all for about $3!

But when we couldn't find rugs, we finally opted to head back to The Alley. We had a babysitter after all and gosh darn it, we intended to get some rugs.(

Not being able to speak the language creates such barriers. I am really working on my Rosetta Stones lessons. I love doing this and am really learning a lot. I really want to be able to communicate better. I am learning the basics, but I know that if JB or myself can communicate better when we are out, we are going to enjoy the process so much more. Being lost and not knowing where to go and not having the ability to ask, is quite a frustrating feeling.

But carpet shopping in The Alley was wonderful! We are told to avoid The Alley when possible since the prices can often be a little escalated (in comparison to Adana). However, we worked with a wonderful Turkish guy -- Ender. Ender helped us and before we were done we had purchased 12 rugs and he had thrown one in for free.

Turkey is known for its rugs. The famous ones are handmade. Making one 8 x 10 rug can take one person up to a year and a half, and they sell for about $2,000 a piece. We spent half of that on our 13 machine made rugs. After a good lesson on rugs, we definitely can tell the difference between machine made and hand made. But our pocketbooks were okay with machine made. And our house looks so much more homey and echoes so much more less with them in it.

Buying rugs is quite an experience. Tea and cokes and waters are the norm. Meals are usually included and because we came in between lunch and dinner, we were told we need to return to eat a meal with Ender in the future. Ender spoke very good English -- English he has learned while selling rugs to Americans during the last three years.

At one point during our shopping Ender asked us how long we had been married.

"Twelve years," JB said.

"Oh," he said. "I'm only 28. And I never want to get married. I am so scared of marriage. One time, I had a girlfriend. After one year she asks me about the marriage. I tell her I can't get married. I have no car. She says not to worry. She has car. I tell her I can't get married. I have no money. She's not to worry. She has money. I tell her I have no house. She says not to worry. Her parents give her house when she marry. So I have to tell her the truth. I just don't want to get married."

The girl is long gone Ender said.

The pictures at the top of this post are just a few of the rooms in our house. I'll take some more pictures when the decor around the rugs looks as beautiful as the rugs.

As for the boys, they had a wonderful time with Baylee. She's a very sharp teenager and totally on the ball. Okay so Elijah climbed into the pool with his clothes on and Isaac lost one shoe somewhere. Those are things that happen to me on a daily basis. No biggie at all. All in a day's work.

So wonderful to spend some time with just me and JB. I really needed that.