Monday, October 12, 2009

Disinfecting in Desperation

Sometimes it's hard for me to believe I ever lived in Turkey.

The reality of my past Turkish life hit me hard this weekend.

While at my grandmother's 85th birthday party, I had the special chance to meet all her friends that live with her in her retirement home; a very happy, out-going, well-traveled, humorous group of ladies, all of whom (thanks to Nana) got to be a part of Chris and I's insane journey in (and back out of) Turkey.

After speaking to them, I realized a few things:

1. There's still so many stories that have not been told from our time there

and

2. I need to be careful what I type, as about 47 grandma's are reading what I write.

So glad they are though. It's neat to know we can provide a little entertainment, and that people actually like reading this stuff.

So this one's for all the lovely ladies at Lakewood - thanks for celebrating with us yesterday - enjoy!


One of the most frustrating things about living in Ankara was the lack of general hygiene and the poor medical care.

The shower spewed forth dirty water, the tap water was undrinkable, the washing machine ate holes through our clothes with its rancid water, and every doctor's visit ended in the prognosis of - "you have a cold."

The few times we did get sound medical advice, it came in the form of a phone call to my good friend Jenica, a trip home to the States, or WebMD.

Upon suspicion of tiny, mean, itchy creatures in our sheets, Chris decided to disinfect them. (The sheets, not the creatures).

With limited options at hand (dirty tap water, dirty shower water, parasitic washing machine water), Chris ever the ideator, chose to do the following:




1 comment:

  1. You are right--there are things like this that we shouldn't miss. I can't believe you didn't have a bigger pot to work with. "Next" time I wonder if putting on the lid and steaming might have been effective? Even better than that would be never having to boil a sheet again.

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