First Big Snow in Ankara

(Joni) Last night and today, we got our first big snowfall in Ankara. We've had some dustings before this, but nothing that accumulated much or stayed longer than a few hours. This was 3 or 4 inches, though, and it's COLD, so it's going to stay a while!

This was early in the morning. It kept snowing so we ended up with a bit more than what you see here.

Despite children everywhere clamoring for a snow day, the roads were good enough for Justin to have to go to school this morning, but Elias doesn't go to school on Tuesdays. So instead, we bundled up and decided to play in the snow for a few minutes in the parking lot next to our building. (I'm a wimp and don't like the cold, so we didn't stay out long.)

Elias' favorite things are "flopping" and "rolling" in the snow. He didn't inherit his mama's dislike of cold!

The snow was too powdery to pack into a snowman, but that didn't hamper Elias' enjoyment!

After we had been out for a little while and were about to head back in, one of the men from our building came out to clear the snow off the cars that were parked in the lot. The Turkish culture LOVES children, so he was pleased to see Elias out playing in the snow. He even showed Elias how to make a snowball, and the man told him to throw it at me! I chose not to translate that part of the Turkish for Elias... :) But what I did tell Elias was that he was NOT allowed to throw a snowball at the man! However, then the man said, "Come on, throw it at me!" So I told Elias the man wanted him to throw it at him, and Elias thought that was great! The man threw one back, and they exchanged a few snowballs... Elias' first snowball fight!

Then we were able to move on to my favorite part about playing in the snow... The hot cocoa to warm up with when you come inside!

Elias was so excited about having two big marshmallows floating in his!

So I'm not a fan of winter weather, but having a small child helps at least make it fun! Hopefully we'll get a mild winter this year and it won't last long.

Celebrating the Winter Holiday in Turkey

(Joni) As I mentioned in my previous post, the vast majority of Turks don't celebrate Christmas. However, many of them do celebrate the New Year, and they do it very similarly to the way Americans celebrate Christmas - tree with lights and decorations, giving presents, even Santa (Noel Baba, which means Father Christmas in Turkish) comes on New Year's Eve here! This is why I said Winter Holiday in my post title... Even though in our house, we were very much celebrating Christmas, a lot of the lights/decorations/festivities we are seeing around us are because of New Year!

Karum Mall in the town center has some beautiful star/snowflake decorations.

Since we believe in celebrating Christmas as the birth of Christ and not just a winter holiday, we tried to maintain our family traditions that would help us keep that in mind. So we did our Advent Tree (where we read a short Bible story and put up an ornament every day of December) again this year, and we enjoyed that a lot!

Elias next to our tree in his Phineas & Ferb Christmas jammies that Grandma & Grandpa brought when they visited in the Fall. It's Christmas Eve, so there's only one spot left at the top of the tree for the Christmas Day ornament!

We also threw our own little birthday party for Jesus on Christmas Day, which I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of. But we had a yummy dinner and birthday cake!

Since the postal system between the US and Turkey is expensive and unreliable, rather than mailing gifts to us, our family just gave us money and we did our own shopping for gifts... Elias got so many trains - he's a happy camper! We also had one gift that Grandma & Grandpa had brought when they were here, and it had been sitting in my closet since September! So that was fun for Elias to finally open it!

It was the Toy Story movie and some Toy Story figures. He loved them!

Since Elias had so many days off school, I tried to fill them with fun Christmas-y things like watching Christmas movies (His favorite is the old claymation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!) and making Christmas cookies!

My favorite Christmas cookies - peanut butter blossoms! Elias liked the melted Kisses more than the cookie part - he definitely comes by his love of chocolate honestly. :)

We were also able to Skype with our families on Christmas, which was a blessing. Thanks to modern technology, we were able to watch all of them open the Turkish gifts we had sent, which was so much fun! :) So we had a nice first Christmas in Turkey, and we get to keep celebrating since the holiday the Turks are celebrating is yet to come! We're looking forward to seeing how they celebrate the New Year!

Preschool Christmas Party

(Joni) As a general rule, people in Turkey don't celebrate Christmas. Because of this, we've been surprised and pleased to learn that Elias' international preschool in fact makes a HUGE deal of Christmas! They've been learning Christmas songs all month, doing Christmas crafts, having one day when everyone wore red and green, and then Friday was their huge Christmas party. (It was the same format as the one they threw for Halloween.)

Unfortunately, Justin had to work, but I was able to attend the Christmas presentation from Elias' class. The class filed in wearing adorable Rudolph hats they had made from their handprints.

Then they sang a series of songs in English. We had been hearing Elias sing them at home for weeks, so I knew he knew the words, but he must just not like performing with a group because he just sat in his chair rather than participating in the singing. Here are a few of the songs (Elias is seated on the far left.):
Then the highlight of the party was that Santa came!! He made his big entrance, and then one by one each child sat on his lap and answered the questions "What is your name? How old are you? What do you want from Santa?" The kids had varying levels of proficiency in English, but I could see a great improvement in the ability of the kids to answer those questions since the Halloween party. Elias still wouldn't answer them even though he obviously knows English. :) Here is Santa's entrance and Elias on Santa's lap. The lady helping him is Ms. Olga, the school's phonics teacher. Elias LOVES her, and you can see him answer her questions (He said "Yeah." to all her questions.) rather than Santa's.
One funny note about his class is that the boys in his class almost all said they wanted Angry Birds from Santa! Who knew Angry Birds was so popular among 4- & 5-year-olds in Turkey?! Although Santa asked them what they wanted, he gave them all the same gift, which was a small Santa that dances and sings Jingle Bells. (See it pictured below.)

Then they had a spread of Christmas cookies, which Elias enjoyed immensely.

And they sent him home with a huge bag of fun things.

Clockwise from top: Paper bag with wreath craft, dancing Santa, cookie on a stick, bag of cookies/candy from his teacher, stocking craft with bag of popcorn/cookie/candy/winter rubber duckie, and gingerbread man/Christmas tree/snowman crafts.

So it was a fun Christmas celebration! And now Elias is off school for 10 days, which is practically unheard-of in Turkey. Since they don't celebrate Christmas, they don't have a school holiday. But I'm sure the International Preschool teachers enjoy the break! :)

Halloween Party at Elias' School

(Joni) Although Halloween isn't celebrated in Turkey, Elias' school teaches American holidays. So they'll celebrate Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, Columbus Day, etc., and they've also been learning about Halloween - things like pumpkins, ghosts, bats, and saying "Boo!" Next week is a huge Muslim holiday, and Elias' school will be closed all week, so they chose to celebrate Halloween a little early with a party on Friday. The parents were invited to come see the kiddos dressed in costume and having a little presentation. It was fun! Each class had their own party, so this is just Elias' Pre-K class.

First the kids paraded out and showed off their costumes (Elias borrowed a Thomas costume from some friends.), and then their teacher, Ms. Janet (an American), made a little introduction.

Ms. Janet is the one in green. The other lady in the witch hat is Ms. Olga, the school psychologist and phonics teacher. Elias really likes both of these ladies! Elias is seated on the far right.

Then each child came up to the microphone and introduced themselves in English by saying "Hello, my name is ____. I am __ years old." Only a couple of the kids actually seemed to know what they were saying. My child is the only native English speaker in the class - I think the rest are Turkish - and he didn't speak clearly into the microphone either!

Standing on the far left is Ms. Ebru, the school principal/owner. Also notice the father in front using his iPad as a camera. I laughed at the number of smartphones and tablets being used as cameras there! I was the dinosaur using a real camera!

Then they sang a few songs in English, some about Halloween and some just kids' songs. Below you'll hear parts of a song about feelings - I make a happy face, I make a grumpy face, etc. - and Farmer in the Dell. Elias doesn't like to sing along, but he obviously enjoyed watching his friends' performance! Some of them were quite enthusiastic! You can hear the parents laughing. :)

School Halloween party from Joni Tapp on Vimeo.

Then there was a big spread of snacks and treats, which was enjoyed by all.

Elias loved the marshmallow pops on a stick! He also loved wearing the Thomas costume - he didn't want to take it off to go home! (But I insisted - no way I'm taking him on public transportation wearing that costume.)

And they sent each child home with a great bag of Halloween-themed crafts they had made at school and lots of candy.

Counter-clockwise from top: Monster bag, bat, and jack-o-lantern crafts made at school; Hershey bar ghost from Ms. Janet & Ms. Olga; Pumpkin cookie on a stick; Pumpkin bag of candy from Ms. Ebru; Fruit by the Foot

Fun!