The End of the Year Post

I think I'm neglecting this blog business a little bit. I got a little disappointed when I learned that Blogspot website is actually banned in Turkey! You'd think I'm from North Korea, or China.... It's crazy. Anyway, so I will add some photos/videos here, and talk about what has happened since the last blog on Dec 2nd. More photos will be available on my Facebook account for those who are in Turkey.

What's happened since the last blog?

First, and most importantly, DERIN EGE is now 3 MONTHS OLD! We celebrated that by going to the Turkish cafe/restaurant Gulluoglu on the upper east side. This was his first trip to a restaurant. He completely behaved :)

We also took him to see Santa, but no photos on his lap yet. Maybe next year. Maybe not. We'll see. But we took a few photos with the Xmas decorations in the mall. As usual, he didn't know what we were doing :)

We built a Xmas tree in our apartment, as my mother loves the Holidays. We bought it for her as a surprise, then enjoyed it all together. Celebrate Xmas or not...this is the 'most wonderful time of the year".

Yuksel's soccer team Galatasaray played their last match in the old, home stadium (they're building a bigger, better one outside of the city center). Dad and son dressed up in team gear in support of this last match. You'd hope for a great game, where GS wins, and the fans remember for ever. Not quite. They lost...to a club whose name I don't even remember. So sad. But, both of my guys looked great in Cimbom clothes.

I don't know what we were thinking, but we took Derin (actually, my mom) to NYC to see the Xmas tree and the store decorations on 5th ave and Madison ave, a week before Xmas, on a Saturday! On top of it, we took the stroller with us. It was impossible to walk, let alone steer the stroller. So, my mom and I left Derin Ege with his dad somewhere relatively quieter, and we went to the very near of the huge tree. My mom loved it. And I must say, so did I. Then we got together again, and watched the light show on the walls of Saks Fifth Ave. Marvelous.

Continuing with the holiday outings, I took my mom to see the decked out yards of the houses in our neighborhood. Some of them were pretty crazy. I love it when the folks in a neighborhood race each other for the best decorated house. I hope they spend at least that much money to help the needy. I'm sure they do (yes, seriously, I am sure).

Then, there are those few pics of Derin Ege, during our regular morning conversation (no, he doesn't talk, but he tells so many stories with his aahs and coos). He's just delightful in the morning. The last photo with the hand gesture....bonus for those who know what he means :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

More blogs to come in 2011.

November Happenings / Kasim'da Olanlar

It's been a few weeks since the last update on Derin's life. We've been a little busy: First, my little sister came to visit us, then our very good friends from Turkey. We had a wonderful time with all of them, and time just flew by. 

 - Derin'in hayatindan guncellemeler vermeyeli birkac hafta oldu. Biraz mesgulduk bu zaman icinde: Once kucuk kizkardesim bizi Turkiye'den ziyarete geldi, sonra da cok sevdigimiz arkadaslarimiz. Hepsiyle harika bir vakit gecirdik, ve gunler su gibi uctu gitti.

 

 

 

My mother, my sister and my little Derin enjoyed their first Thanksgiving celebration  (yay, Turkey Day!). We made Derin wear big boy clothes :)

 - Annem, kizkardesim ve tabii ki kucuk Derin hayatlarinin ilk Sukran Gunu kutlamasina katildilar (Sukran gunu burada ayrica Hindi Gunu diye de bilinir, yani "Turkey Day"). Yemek sirasinda Derin'e abi kiyafetleri giydirdik, cok buyumus gorundu gozumuze :)

 

 

I made a killer turkey and a special rice, while my mom cooked all the other side dishes that made Thanksgiving dinner a feast. When we were in Seattle, we would always celebrate this day with close friends, so we were happy this year that we weren't alone again. Even though this American tradition isn't something we grew up with, we have really come to internalize its purpose of showing what we are thankful for in life. It's good to remember how lucky we are to have a great family and friends that we have, and be thankful for it.

 - Ben harika bir hindi ve ic pilavi yaptim. Annem de kalan diger bir suru yan yemegi yapti. Tam bir ziyafet oldu. Biz Seattle'da otururken Sukran Gunu'nu hep arkadaslarimizla kutlardik. Boylece yine yalniz kalmamis oldugumuz icin cok sevindik. Bu Amerikan gelenegi olan Sukran Gunu'yle ilgili elbette ki bu ulkeye gelmeden once pek derin bir bilgimiz yoktu. Ancak nasil kutlandigini gordugumuzde biz de bunu cok sevdik, ve bu gunun Amerika'li arkadaslarimiz icin tasidigi anlami, sukran duymayi, bu vesileyle biz de benimsedik. Amerikalilar bu gun de tum aile olarak bir araya gelirler, ve masada tek tek dolasarak herkese ne icin sukran duydugunu sorarlar. Biz de aynisi yaptik bu sene de, ve bir kez daha bu hayatta boyle guzel aileler ve cok degerli arkadaslara sahip oldugumuzu dile getirerek sukran icinde hindilerimizi yedik.

 

 

Thanksgiving day wasn't only good for dinner and thankfulness - we also enjoyed our first ever Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in NYC. Despite the fact that we were able to find parking very close to the start of the parade, we couldn't get a first row seat to the show, and had to enjoy it behind a whole bunch of people who'd been there since 7 AM in the morning (we got there just before the start at 9 AM). Thanks to the huge and wonderful floats, we didn’t miss much (although I must say I was looking forward to seeing the dancers, but hey!...)

 - Sukran Gunu sadece aksam yemegi ve sukran duygusu icin guzel degildi - bu sene ayrica ilk kez Macy's magazalar zincirinin son 84 yildir organize ettigi Sukran Gunu Gecit'ine de katildik. Cok yakininda park bulmamiza karsin gecidi on siralardan degil, oraya cok daha erken gelmis olan yuzlerce kisinin arkasindan izlemek zorunda kaldik. Ama gecitteki bir cok dev balonunun yukarilardan serederek gecmesi sayesinde pek birsey de kacirmadik (gerci ben gecitteki danscilari izlemeyi cok istiyordum ama, saglik olsun).