A New Weapon: The No Way

Calvin has acquired a new weapon in his arsenal of defiance...the "NO WAY."
I am not sure where Calvin got this phrase from, but let me just say I think another member of the family is a double agent.
The weapon is used in the following ways...
Me: "Calvin it is time for bed."
Calvin: "NO WAY."
Me: "Calvin eat your dinner."
Calvin: "NO WAY."
Me: "Calvin what did you do today."
Calvin: "NO WAY."
Me: "Ok great."
For extra emphasis Calvin will shake his head and wave his right hand back and forth in the air, palm facing out.
This is an effective weapon, because it usually causes me to start hysterically laughing.

Last Man Standing

I have recently been told that I need to stay an extra hour on Wednesdays to teach study hall. The study hall was designed to help the students with their English. The real reason why the school is providing the study hall is so they can claim they did all the could when the law suites come from the parents. The parents always sue if their kid fails the 8th grade English exam.
I have been chosen to do the study hall because I live on campus and do not have a hour long commute home. At first I rejected this and told them I would not do it. After thinking about it for a while I decided to do it, because the school can be very sneaky about stuff.
The person in charge of study hall is all gun ho about it, but it is really lame and the kids miss behave, so she is trying to go crazy with it. I told her I would show up for the study hall, but I would do zero work for study hall outside of the hour, so that is how it was left after the heated meeting I had the other day.
I think a lot of the women were surprised to see that side of me.

Christmas?

People have been asking me what Christmas is like out here. Obviously most do not celebrate Christmas, but they celebrate New Years much the same way we celebrate Christmas.
There are lights hung up in the city, but not at local residents. Every store sells Christmas trees, but not real ones. They also sell tree decorations. Everyone knows who Santa Claus is and everyone buys presents for each other, so the stores are really busy now.
The funny thing is that the Turks believe that these traditions are how everyone else celebrates New Years. They have no idea what the Christmas tree, Santa, or presents represent.

Fight For a Good Present

Celine and I have been together for a long time and in the 10 years or so we have been exchanging presents I have been let down more often then not. When we were first dating I didn't care what or if she got me anything. Then after we were married I figured she would start investing more time, money, and thought into getting me good presents.
As most couples know the occasions for presents multiplies as the years pass...Christmas, Birthday's, Anniversaries, Father's day, Valentines Day, and some people will celebrate additional days with gifts.(Easter, other anniversaries, etc.)
I am not expecting a great present for each holiday or occasion. In fact when we first started dating I told Celine that I would never celebrate Valentines Day and we never have. For Father's Day I told her we would just encourage the kids to get make or get a small thoughtful gift, but that we would not purchase anything for each other. I also said that it would be nice if we built some traditions into the holiday's, so we agreed to make breakfast with the kids for Father's Day and Mother's Day. For our anniversary instead of exchanging gifts we would go out to eat or away for the weekend.
We only get gifts for Birthday's and Christmas. I decided on my own that I would get Celine a thoughtful gift on Christmas and a fun gift for her birthday.
I expected the same courtesy in return. I don't think it is too much to ask for. She has all year to think about two items to get me that would make me happy.
I fool myself every year into thinking this is the year that she will change and I will find a nice thoughtful gift for me under the tree or on my birthday.
Battle's Lost:
1. Last Father's Day she forgot to make me breakfast or have Calvin make anything for me
2. One time she forgot my birthday until a friend wished me a happy birthday in front of her
3. She will only get me one present and say it is for Christmas and my Birthday. (My Birthday is a week after Christmas)
4. Gift cards that I get from other people get used when I am not around
5. Received a present that benefited her more then me. Tickets, meals, vacations, appliances
Battle Strategies used so far
1. Dropping hints: I have dropped tons of hints through out the year, of presents I want
2. Offer to buy my own: I have told her I would purchase my own gift, but that was shot down
3. Had a talk: I have actually sat down and had many conversations with her over the years about this
As Christmas approaches and my Birthday is coming I am anticipating another let down. Even though she will most likely read this blog I am confident it will not change a thing.

The Desk Conflict Rages On

After the first few weeks of school there was an unstated cease fire, but after three months I thought it was safe to finally clear my desk of the soul remaining enemy propaganda. (A heart shaped candy box) I moved it to the book shelf, which left my desk completely bare.
After the weekend one of the teachers came in and was talking to me and looked at my desk and said, "Oh where did your candy box go" I thought 1. it is not mine everyone just wants to store it on my desk, because no one else has room on theirs and 2. I hid it so good luck finding it.
After scanning the area she said, "Oh here it is" and put it back on my desk.
I am calling a war council. What should I do to resolve the Desk Conflict? Please vote!

In the Line of Fire!

Like most parents, I would do anything to keep my child safe, even if it meant causing myself harm. This comes from my feelings of love, obligation, and the guilt I would have if anything happened to him.

Ever since Calvin started walking it has become increasingly more difficult to watch him and protect him. Partially because he is like most toddlers and oblivous to most dangers and also because he has absolutely no fear.

Lately I feel more like a body guard than a parent. Celine and I have been taking turns watching him, because he is so exhausting. But it is impossible to watch him all the time, and occasioanly he gets cuts, bumps, and bruises. During our recent trip to Cappadocia, the worst almost happened.

One of the things we had the oppourtnity to see was an underground city. It was an immense fortress built underground with the capability of housing 6,000 people and resisting a siege for 6 months. It was an amazing labrynth of tunnels, rooms, kitchens, traps, and secret passages. We brought Calvin and were very careful that he did not get hurt while we were inside the underground. It was a wonderful and interesting tour.

After we saw the underground portion, I wanted to go on top and see the remains of the caves and see the view from the top. I ran up to the top as fast as I could and Celine came slower with Calvin. When I got to the top I ran along it jumping over holes that dropped down to a portion of the underground fortress. The terrain was rocky and very dangerous. I went to the edge of the hill to look for one of the escape routes the guide told us about but could not find it. Unable to find it, I turned to go back to the middle if the hill where Celine and Calvin were.

I turned around and started to jog back. I saw Celine looking at her camera and Calvin running towrad me. I guess he wanted to do what I was doing and he was running straight toward me the way I came. Celine looked up and started to follow him.

As I got closer, I noticed Calvin running straight for me, but also straight for a hole in the ground that was not visible form eye level. It was one of the holes that I had jumped over, and it dropped about 15-20 feet into a cave. Calvin couldn't see it, because he was looking at me. Celine didn't see the hole and was a few feet from Calvin. The faster I ran, the faster Calvin ran.
In those few moments I became more terrified than I ever have been in my life (and I have had my share of hair raising moments) It is amazing how fast your brain processes information at a time like this. I thought "What can I do? I can't get to him in time. He is going to run right into that hole and Celine can't stop him and she can't even see the hole." I thought that if I ran really fast and jumped I still wouldn't get to him in time. Then, I thought "Is this for real? Is this really happening and am I going to have to watch my 2 year old son run into a hole right in font of my eyes?" I became panicked and desperate...I stopped running and as loud as could I screamed CALVIN STOP. Calvin usally ignores orders such as these, but this time he listened. I'm not sure if it was the tone of my voice or the volume of the command. He stopped literally 2 steps from the hole. I then yelled for Celine to get him fast, because there was a hole. Celine then ran up behind and picked him up.

After I yelled, Calvin stopped and looked at me and then started to cry. After Celine got him, I then ran over and held him. He hugged me very tight. I tried to expalin what I happened, but I doubt he understood.

Our friend Dawn was there and we explained what happened, she admitted being a little scared when I yelled, but I could see on her face she was not sure why Calvin was still so upset and I explained to her that it was the first time I ever yelled at Calvin. It was the first time I really even raised my voice to him.

I went back to look at the hole and I was just so thankful he listened to me and stopped. If Calvin walked those last two steps, he would have fallen down and landed on craggy rocks in the cave and there would be no easy way to get him. Calvin got over the incident faster than I did. I was a little uneasy for the rest of the day.

I am glad I won that battle and Calvin finally listened to me, and I want to stop thinking about what would have happened had I lost.

R and R

There has been a change of plans. We will be coming home next summer. We will leave June 30th and come back August 22nd. We were not planing on coming back unless it was financially possible and we were still able to do all the traveling we wanted. After being here for a couple of months we realized that being isolated on campus for the summer would be boring and we would have difficulty getting around, because our service buses would not be running, because 99% of the people here leave for the entire summer. The other problem was we were planning on traveling around Europe for the summer, but we realized that over the two years we are here we have more vacation time then money, so we started to think about coming home. When we checked the other day the tickets were 650$ adn they aree usually 1000$. We will try to make a little cash while at home and it will probably end up being cheaper or the same price to come home then it would be to stay here for the summer. We will still get to travel to Europe and instead of doing 3 or 4 weeks in a row we will do a week at a time in each country, which will work out better for Calvin. Also I will not have seen Jason for almost 3 years by then and I don't trust that he would come out to visit. Anyway if anyone was planning on visiting us during that time sorry, but you can come out another time.