Merhaba! (Hello)

When do you know you’re in a land far far away? When you hear this blaring over the loud speakers through the entire city. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3W-U_nJ8jc Turkey is predominantly Muslim and they have prayer time five times a day and speakers, literally across the country, play the prayer songs for citizens to hear. People, we have arrived in Turkey. 

Let me back track a tad. A couple of weeks ago we started our cross the world move. We drove from Hill AFB (Utah) to Cheyenne then stopped at Offut AFB (Nebraska) to spend a fun weekend with our college friends, the Hendersons. From there we headed to Fort Wayne (Indiana) where we were given special permission to take my brother-in-law and his companion to dinner. Adam is currently serving a mission for his church and it is only under special circumstances that a missionary is able to see their family during their two year mission. We finished our cross country drive in Baltimore (Maryland) where we planned to relax and sight see for the next several days. 

Our Baltimore adventure started at Andrews AFB vet clinic where the staff was friendly but come to find out, not so knowledgeable, we’ll get into that momentarily. The following day the Whitmer kids from good ‘ole Yuma made an appearance in Washington D.C. The traffic, cost of living and blunt and to the point mentality was a bit of a shock to us but it was a great place for us to experience together for the first time. Once we made it back to Baltimore that evening James decided to review the dog’s paperwork from the vet. Come to find out every single page had wrong information!!! Including the date the vet signed, the dates she was vaccinated, how long her vaccinations were going to last and even her vaccination number. In order for our furbaby to be cleared to join us, we knew we had to get the forms re-done. Long story short, Army saved the day! An amazing Army vet made an emergency appointment so that we could have our forms corrected and take Birdie with us. Writing the ordeal makes it sound like it aint no thang but I promise it’s stressful thinking a family member may have to stay behind!

Quick trip to the Lincoln Memorial

Decided to do one last run of the dishwasher before we checked out of our house. Lesson learned: liquid soap doesn't work.

Elder Whitmer (Adam) with us after dinner.

Our whole life packed up and ready for a new land!

Is this not the saddest thing you've ever seen?! She was such a trooper the entire trip!

 We were on the tarmac at 12:45 Tuesday morning and didn’t lift off until almost 2:30! We landed in Germany and saw Birdie have a meltdown when she saw us coming. We had another stop in Italy and finally at 1:30 am Turkey time (4:30 pm Arizona time) we touched down at Incirlik (In-jer-lick) Air Base Turkey!

James’ commander and sponsor were there to welcome us and take us to our hotel until we could move into our house. The next day was your first day of college all over again! Everyone was aimlessly wandering with backpacks and maps asking for directions. Remember when you saw another new kid so you introduced yourself because you wanted to make friends? Thant’s exactly how it was! As soon as someone saw that another person was close to their rank, they pretty much ran to each other and exchanged information. Needless to say, everyone has been incredibly friendly. 

Our sponsor has been awesome. She has driven us all over and hand delivered us to each one of our meetings. Last night she took us to check out the “Alley” which is a strip of Turkish businesses just outside the base perimeter and to see Adana, the city about 10 minutes away. Did you know you can fit 6 cars across a two lane road? We didn’t either.  Rules don’t seem to really apply to Turkish drivers. Dad, you will be in for a culture shock when we take you to the city. I can just see you now with your hands in your pockets, standing on a corner and your head spinning because you’re not sure where to look because is total chaos….and because it has a Middle Eastern look and feel. Can’t wait to blow your mind! We also stopped at some restaurant that I can’t pronounce and I wouldn’t be able to remember if I wanted and had our first Turkish meal. They brought out about 10 plates of appetizers (they come with every meal in Turkey) and had things like crushed tomatoes, pickled carrots and green beans, salad with fixings, onions with vinaigrette, sautéed onions, fresh parsley and mint with lemon and these little cracker looking things that kind of smelled and tasted a bit like feet. The best part of these plates was the warm hummus with melted cheese on top….UHHHH-FLIPPIN-MAZING! I got the Adana kabob (ka-bop) which is was they are known for. I had a hard time figuring out how to eat it because in the states it is customary to use utensils and be as clean and proper as possible but there was no way I was going to be able to keep my hands clean eating this thing. The flavors were different than I’m used to so I think it’s going to take me a while to get used to the food.

Disclaimer: At this point, if you don’t like talking about bodily functions, stop reading and stop being so uptight! 

There is a phrase here at Incirlik called the “turkey trots.” Basically our American tummies aren’t used to Turkish foods and periodically our bodies have intestinal meltdowns that keep you close to the toilet for extended periods of time. Apparently no one is immune to these meltdowns and the longer your body goes without busting loose, the worse your need to stay close to the commode. I will keep you updated on when the Turkey Trots finally catch up with us.  

Turns out I have an extended family member here at Incirlik! Talk about a small world, right? My aunt emailed me when we were still in the states and said her brother-in-law lives and works here so he and I have been emailing back and forth with tips and suggestions for a smooth transition. We moved into our house today so while our loaner furniture was being delivered, he stopped by and we were finally able to meet in person. He had me follow him around the corner of our house and pointed to another home right behind ours, turns out we’re neighbors! He invited us to join him tomorrow to check out the mountains where his father-in-law owns a home and to have some lamb at a restaurant he and his wife like.  

On Sunday I am going to check out the local market that they have in the Alley and see if I can snag some produce for next week and maybe learn a few Turkish words while I’m at it. I don’t want the length to get out of control so I’m going to end here for now. Hopefully I’ll have some fun photos to share with you all next time!  

Any questions? Ask away and I’ll try to answer them in my next post!