A regular market visit

Patty and I are trying to make a regular market run on Mondays. We have now done it ... um ... one week in a row. Ha! I suppose you need to be going at least twice to call it "regular." Here's hoping we can keep it up.

There are markets nearly every day of the week within about fifteen minutes of the Base, but Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays are the ones I know how to get to and like going to the most. Thursdays it is very small and just in the Alley. But Thursdays are usually booked for me with MOPs stuff. Sundays is massive, but it means JB and I going with all the kids -- something we may do more when it isn't so hot. Monday is a perfect size, location, and time for me to go with my new friend Patty. 

The produce at these markets is SOOO much cheaper than our grocery store on Base, but often, we end up getting fruit on Base because getting to a market off Base requires much more planning and prepping. The cheap Dutchman in me cannot accept this any longer.

One huge melon? Two lira. With the Turkish lira nearly doubling the dollar right now, that is about one buck. I can get a kilo of apples (a little over two pounds) for one lira. That's fifty cents. Four bushels of parsley was one lira as well. It's ridiculously cheap. When the clemintines come in to season, you can get a bag of them for about a quarter.

So Patty and I are going to try and schedule this regularly. My plan is to take one or two of the kids and leave the other one with Veronica. It will probaby be Abigail until it gets a little bit cooler out.

This past Monday, both boys wanted to go. So I packed up the double jogger, gave them a ring pop, and off we went to shop. The market is set up in one large stretch. We usually walk from one end of the produce to another to get an overview of what is there and who has the best of each product. Then, we turn around and shop on the way back. The whole process, from leaving the house to returning takes about ninety minutes. Not too bad at all but obviously lengthier than a quick run to the Commissary.

It's fun going with Patty because she is really trying to learn Turkish as well. Many people here really don't get on board with learning the language since we are all here for such a short time (15-24 months) and the Turkish language isn't very useful outside of Turkey. But Patty (who already speaks English and Spanish fluently) is totally trying to learn it as I have. We can therefore work together to ask questions and truly understand what people are saying to us. The booths are staffed entirely by Turkish men and none of them speak English so you truly have to use your Turkish (or just go by charades) to get what you want.

One of the conversations this past week centered around the boys. I was asked, in Turkish, which one of the boys was mine. I answered that they both were and that I also had a daughter at home. This one guy thought that Elijah had to belong to Patty since he looked nothing like me! Oh if I only felt like trying to muster enough of my Turkish to tell him the whole story!

The Turkish language is cok zor (very difficult) but I learn more each and every time I practice. I still get confused between beshus (fifty cents) and besh (five dollars.) But the booth workers are always very honest. Patty accidentally tried to pay five dollars for something yesterday that was only fifty cents (a mistake I have made in the past) and she was quickly corrected and the correct change returned to her. I have also finally mastered the fact that twenty-five cents is said iki yuz elle (two hundred and fifty) and seventy-five cents yedi yuz elle (seven hundred and fifty).  This has to do with the fact that Turkish money has only recently dropped a bunch of their zeroes due to inflation.

I came home with a van load of produce and because I had Patty there, had an extra hand with the stroller and the boys. Veronica got some quiet time with Abigail and all around, everyone was happy! A good Monday was had by all.