Phillip and Rebecca Mefford

Kerem Generosity, Kindness, Nobility    On January 2 nd , 2013 our second son Hudson Kerem Alan Mefford was introduced to the world. An invaluable gift to our family, we gave him the Turkish middle name Kerem which means generosity, kindness, or nobility. We are so grateful that he is growing healthily. Big brother Lincoln thinks ‘baby Hudson’ is pretty cool, although he doesn’t understand why Hudson doesn’t want to share his cars and helicopters. All four grandparents are relishing time with their second grandson. Thanks to everyone who has showed us generosity as we adjust to life as a family of four.

Pp Peygamber, Pembe Dizi As we guess you would find in any society, in Turkey we have found an almost comical juxtaposition between devotion to the peygamber, historical religious prophets, and the pembe dizi, modern day soap operas (literally, “pink series”). Growing up in Sunday school, we have become familiar with many Biblical heroes, many of whom we are surprised to discover are regarded with great respect by our Muslim friends: Adam the first man of creation, Abraham who was willing to sacrifice his son, David the poet warrior king, even Jesus the miracle worker, and of course many more. Our Turkish friends never fail to give each the title of hazreti , a word denoting a holy person, before talking about them by name. They are given great respect. The same grandma who reveres the prophets will also make time every Thursday evening, or what have you, for her favorite soap, which is often full of scandalous romances and assassination plots. We’ve watched a few Turki

Öö Öğretim, Ömür Straddling the world between the U.S. and Turkey has certainly given us some life lessons; lessons in how to teach and how to learn. Öğretim: Education İşiniz ne ?, “What is your work?” is a common get-to-know-you question that we get. So what is our work? We are trained to be Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). We did stall for awhile when we first got to Turkey on jumping into teaching jobs because we feel so strongly about learning the language of the culture you live in. But now we are ramping up to be full-time English teachers. In fact, Phillip soon hopes to apply for a job at one of Turkey’s big universities. We know our experience is not vast, but we are ready to learn how to teach. Ömür: Life Besides professional development, there are simple life-lessons that we are grappling with as well. How to be parents, much less how to be parents of Third Culture Kids (TCKs). How to keep strong relationship ties with family an

Oo Osman, Of Ya! Turkey holds such a fascinating mix of cultures within a culture, including the inescapable generation gap. There are the elderly and dignified who would resent any slight on the old regime of the Ottoman Turkish sultanate. These types were seen protesting the TV melodrama, Magnificent Century, which portrays the intrigues of Sultan Süleyman’s harem. To them the Osman, or Ottoman, heritage is still respected and important. There are the retired, proud, and devout who now have time to attend to their daily prayers. Religious devotion, rather than cultural history guides their values. There are the middle-aged workaholic men. There are the middle-aged stay-at-home moms, and then there are the middle-aged working moms. There are the athletic, the studious, the slacker students. And then…there are the İ stanbul valley girls. The principal phrase coming out of their mouths is of ya! (pronounced, “ouph yaw”), a catch-all for surprise, disgust, elation, you-na