...And What Happened After.
The Tale of the Great Ring, compiled by Bilbo Baggins from his own observations and the accounts of his friends. What we did in the War of the Ring as seen by the Little People."
Sep. 28, 2006
Frisbee In Distress - Turkish Translation Included!
I am sitting at the computer, looking out the window at our neighbor's bull. He is as ornery as any bull should be, but our neighbors don’t keep him in the barn like the other folks. They picket him on a little peg, in their field, which is about twenty steps from our front door. Now, just a little earlier, my younger brother threw our Frisbee in front of this bull, just about two feet in front of him. I keep thinking it would be best for me to just go out and get it but then I remember what happened to the neighbor boy last week when he tried to mess around with this particular creature- he got chased all over the valley! Now, even though getting chased is not the worst thing in the world, I am really not in the mood and this young bull is growing horns, too. So, how do I rescue this Frisbee?
For those of you who have asked me to write a Turkish post, I have translated this into Turkish:
Burada oturup pencereden dýţardaki komsumuzun bođasýný seyrediyorum. Ţu bođa altý aydan daha yetiţkindir ve, tabiiki çok huysuz ve ters ama bizim komţularýmýz, bođalarýný ahýra bađlamýyorlar. Dýţardaki küçük bir çiviye bađlýyorlar ve bođa bizim evimizden sadece on metre uzaklýktadýr. Ţimdi, az önce küçük kardeţim Frisbeemizi tam bođanýn önüne attý. Ben de “sadece gidip alsam daha iyi olmazmý?” diye düţünüyorum, ama ondan sonra komţu cocuđa ne olduđunu hatýrlýyorum. Bođaya yaklaţýnca, bođa onu koţturmuţdu. Ben de koţabilirim, tabiiki ama ţimdilik gerekten istemiyorum. Oysa, nasýl ţu Frisbeeyi alacađým?
How many of you have been to a wedding? Probably most of you.Weddings are common.How many of you have been to a Turkish wedding?Probably none of you have.But that is okay.I am going to talk about ‘KINA,’ a very interesting Turkish ceremony that takes place before the wedding.This ceremony almost always takes place outdoors.One of my friends got married this summer, and as she lives next door, the Kina was celebrated in the field in front of our house.(The wedding itself usually takes place in a wedding hall in town.)I will describe the night to you.
In the afternoon the men of the household set up lots of benches, made out of bricks and wooden planks outside in a large circle leaving one opening.Speakers and lights are also erected.The guests begin to arrive between seven and eight. There are probably about 200 to 300 people there.When it gets dark the benches are filled and the lights and a band of men with drums and turkish musical instruments begin playing. For a short amount of time the bride and the bridegroom dance together with several others, then the women and children dance together for a long, long time.A few bold young men dance, too.The men sit around the sidelines and smoke.They don’t dance until later.The dance steps are very different from American style dancing.The women hold their arms up like in the picture below, and snap their fingers.They move their feet just barely up and down.
Here is a picture of the bride, dancing. It’s kind of funny because this bride would never dress like this (showing her bare arms) normally because it is not thought to be modest, but they make exceptions for weddings.
Then the real kina ceremony begins. The bride sits down on a chair in the middle of the circle and a beautiful red scarf is draped over her face and head. The women and girls stand around her and hold the wedding cake, (usually very flat) over her head and sing a sad song about leaving her family. (In Turkey the bride goes to live in the house of the bridegroom’s parents.)When the bride doesn’t cry, onion is sometimes secretly used to make her eyes water!Then the women spread kina (henna), a dark powdery substance mixed with water to make a paste, onto their hands.When it is washed off it leaves a red mark for several days.
The kina ceremony being held.
The gifts are then given to the bride and a man announces what they are and who they are from through the loud speaker.Usually it is gold.Each family gives one or two real gold bracelet bands.The bands sort of pile up on her arm.Sometimes there are so many that they they go as far as her elbow.Also, people pin gold coins to the dress or give money.
At this point we usually go home since it is about ten-thirty, but the kina continues until about midnight.Then the men begin to dance together as the women scatter.
The wedding takes place the following day.
We have been to three so far and I thought they were very neat.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our water situation. Instead of sending us rain, God has decided to answer our prayers by putting water in our well somehow! There was no water left in it and no sign of rain but we all prayed that if we weren't going to get any rain, we would at least have water in our well. Fifteen minutes later our water was flowing again and now it isn't even coming in muddy! We've had water for three days now! Thank you for praying for us!
We get all of our water from a shallow well and we haven't had a good rain since early March.Last week our well started to run dry so we filled some pans for washing dishes.Mud was actually coming out of our pipes.Once, a tadpole fell out!So we strained it through a cloth a couple of times and then boiled it on the stove for eleven minutes to get rid of all the germs. It still looked nasty and brown but at least it was what could be called "clean enough." Yesterday, it ran completely dry.
Right now we are using the last of some old water from storage that smells like paint and is green with algae, but soon that will run out.We boil this and put bleach in it.We don't have to worry about drinking water because we can get that at the store.We will have to wash clothes and take showers at a friend’s house. The only thing that can solve this problem is RAIN!We need it desperately!Please pray that we will get rain SOON!
My Dad is known for rule-breaking.I am too.We often form secret conspiracies and plan wonderful ways to break the rules - and then carry them out.Of course, we never break important rules, just the little minor, unimportant ones that are made especially to be broken. (For instance, no watching clips from LoTR before reading the book, etc.) At least, we see it that way.'Mothers are made to make the rules and Fathers are made to break the rules.'And sometimes the Fathers need reinforcement.I am always ready to help.
I am sure you will all agree with me that what I am about to tell you was a minor rule that was made solely for the sake of getting broken. So you’ve got the setting, right? Now, for the plot.
Mother had made a most ideal, enticing, breakable rule. We four kids DEFINITELY could not go to the beach with Dear Dad unless Dear Mother came along.For Dear Dad had a broken arm in a cast and could not rescue a drowning child very well.And Dear Mother seems to think that Dear Dad is a bit careless in watching young children.I don’t know why she thinks that I couldn’t watch the younger ones.(Never mind that I am not the greatest swimmer).She doesn't enjoy going to the beach herself, as she had been brought up with 'pristine perfect beaches,' and the ones here are rather dirty, so we were kind enough to leave her without an invitation. We always try to be thoughtful of others while breaking rules. We were also kind enough to leave the very youngest home.
It was a most tempting cloudy morning when Dad told Frodo and I that he was taking us on a date.We talked about what we would do in private for a little while, and told Mother we were going to get ice-cream, and take a drive along the seaside.Now you must picture, (even if it isn't quite accurate) that we started this with a most clear conscience, free of any guilt.There were a few behind the story scenes, but not enough to be ashamed of.We just put on bathing suits under our clothing in case it began to rain, or in case we had to save some drowning child that we might happen to notice while driving past the beach
We left a little bit after twelve.While driving, we saw all these people, on the sea-shore SWIMMING!They were DELIBERATELY tempting us!What a crime! Guiltless people just trying to take an innocent seaside drive and being tempted to neglect our duties! But have no fear of us being led astray, for as my sister consolingly quoted from Oscar Wilde, 'We can resist ANYTHING … except temptation.'The temptation was great indeed.And then to add to it all, the sun burst out of the clouds and invited us to cool ourselves in the water under its rays.And the waves were SO big and attractive.
So at last, all our super human efforts to resist failed miserably, and we fell prey to the alluring sea.I may take the liberty to add, however, and lighten the burden of guilt that lies upon us, that we did NOT stay over half an hour, which is a great sacrifice indeed.But if you demand that I swear to the accuracy of the details of the recorded events, I must decline.
I’ve only tasted boxed cereal a few times in my life when I visited America.I know that you are going to think this is weird but this is what we usually eat for breakfast in our country…
There are a few essentials to a Turkish breakfast: very salty green and black olives, boiled eggs, sheep cheese, bread , tomatoes and cucumbers.The olives have a strong taste and you have to get used to them. We drink Turkish tea in tiny clear glasses as well. I am used to our breakfast and I like it.
Turks eat a lot of French bread. In the villages, a bread truck comes around in the morning and all of the women buy the bread for the day. Some large families buy ten loaves for one day! In the towns, breakfasts can get very elaborate if there are visitors and sometimes include three or four different kinds of olives, five different kinds of cheese, all sorts of styles of bread as well as honey and cream, fig or rosehip jam, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, and sometimes even soup!
So, there you have it: the characteristics of Turkish breakfast cuisine! Now, can somebody remind me; what do cornflakes taste like?
This weekend has been full of adventures (and catastrophes) for us. Our whole family went on a picnic to a valley that was about ten minutes away from our house. You can only go part of the way by car. Then you have to walk the rest of the way because the road ends. It is a beautiful place. It has a creek running through it and there are no people there except sometimes kids come to swim in the creek. I should also mention that there are lots of cows that graze there. They are so tame that they do not need to be tied up. We call it the Shire because there are perfect hillsides for hobbit holes.
Anyhow, at first it was a normal picnic. We grilled chicken and went for a walk up the creek. The adventures started with the Frisbee game. My sister had been winning all day and we were all very eager to beat her so when my Mom noticed that a couple of cows were ambling towards our picnic blanket, we just ignored them but Mom was a little worried.We did not think that they would mess with our stuff. A little while later, however, we heard my youngest sister shouting and yelling, apparently at some animal. We paused the game and ran over to see what the matter was. Yes, you have probably guessed it: The cows had been in our melons! They had squirted the juice all over my sister's backpack and it was a big mess. Fortunately, they did not touch the watermelon so we were not cheated of our watermelon-seed-spitting contest!
After that, we continued our Frisbee game. Everyone was getting pretty competitive and when the Frisbee flew towards the creek, we all headed for it. My dad ran the fastest and he reached out for it, not realizing that he was running right off the edge of a very steep, high river-bank leading down to the rocks and what was left of the water. It was a long way to fall and we heard a terrible thump on the rocks below. We were very relieved to find that he was able to get up. We soon saw, however, that he had broken his right arm and he was unable to move it at all. His other hand was broken, too, but not as bad. He had a huge lump on the back of his head and was very dizzy. Now his arm is in a cast and he is in bed. The other hand may have to be in a cast next week.He will not be able to move it for several weeks which means he cannot drive or type and that is going to be hard.
We have been opening doors for him, brushing his teeth, typing his translations, feeding him and all kinds of jobs.He is in soo much pain.We feel very sorry for him.
This is a simple Turkish recipe. It is a great meal for families.
IZMIR KÖFTESI
(Turkish Meatballs)
Makes one large pan.
Ingredients
-1 pound ground beef
-four large potaoes, washed and sliced
-two or three large tomatoes (You can also use a fifteen oz. can of tomatoes instead)
-two or three green peppers, washed and sliced
-one large onion, peeled and chopped
Meatball Ingredients
2 eggs
1 cup of bread crumbs
1 teaspoons of cumin
4 tablespoons of grated onion
salt and papper to taste
1 cup chopped parsley
Instructions:
1.Mix the meatball ingredients together with the ground beef. Then form the meat into small, flat, egg-sized patties.
2. In a large, ungreased baking sheet with sides, (its better to use metal than glass) place one layer of sliced potatoes. Sprinkle salt and pepper over them.
3. Layer green peppers on top of these. Again, sprinkle salt and pepper over them.
4. Spread cubed tomatoes over the peppers and potatoes
5. Next, spread the meat patties and parsley over the vegetables.
6. Barely cover the potatoes in water. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for approx 45 minutes or until cooked. Serve with rice and plain yogurt.
Enjoy!
If you make this recipe, please tell us how it went!
We moved to Turkey ten years ago, when both Legolas and I were very young. We have lived here ever since, going back to America occasionally to visit for a couple months. My Dad has a translation business and we all speak Turkish.
We live on the outskirts of a small village in a pretty area and have several Turkish friends that live very near to us. In the winter-time we use a coal stove to heat our house and it is a lot of work, but very cozy. Our next-door neighbors have an out-door oven (almost all Turkish villages have one or two of these) and we go over there every now and then to bake bread with them. That is always fun to do.We have fields all around us and in the haying season we go out in the fields with the neighbors and help them bring hay to their houses. We ride on the top of the hay tractors. We have named all the meadows, streams, woods and mountains around us with names from the LOTR. We've even named some stars.
It's true that there are some things we miss like our grandparents, cousins, and friends but Turkey has always been home and I can't imagine anything else. Whenever I visit America, it is exciting because we visit many places and people, but my American friends often seem bored even though they have SOOO much stuff. How can they be bored? I realized then, that I really like my home and it doesn't matter where you live, it's how you live that matters.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us..." GANDALF
The purpose of this blog is to record the ideas that are
most important to us. We are two sisters who choose to go by the names of
Frodo and Legolas. You will find poems and quotes,
narrations and pictures from our favorite sources that
have inspired us to use the time that has been given to
us to the best of our ability. We hope you will enjoy
the journey there and back again....
• The Birth of Britain
• The Brendan Voyage
• Beautiful Girlhood
• The Lay of the Land
• Ivanhoe
• Trial and Triumph
• Age of Chivalry
• Fearfully And Wonderfully Made
• How to Read a Book
• The Story of Painting
• Life of Nicias by Plutarch
• The Silmarillion
• The Final Quest
• A Taste of Chaucer
• Joan of Arc by Twain
• Idylls of the King
• Much Ado about Nothing
• A Wrinkle In Time
• Life of the Spider
• How the Heather Looks
• Pursuit of God
• Daughter of Time
• In Freedom's Cause
• Lilith
• David Copperfield
Legolas is Reading...
• The Silmarillion
• Halliburton's Book of Marvels: The Occident
• Age of Fable
• Life of Nicias by Plutarch
• The Story of the Greeks
• Augustus Caesar's World
• The Sea Around Us
• Hittite Warrior
• Animal Farm
• Magician's Nephew (in Turkish)
• Archimedes and the Door of Science
• Swiss Family Robinson
• What Katy Did
• Unfinished Tales
• Where the Red Fern Grows
• Follow My Leader
• Penrod
• Story of the Romans
• Along Came Galileo
• Jack and Jill
• Never Give In
• Valley of Thorns (in Turkish)
• Ben Hur
"The value of the myth is that it
takes all the things we know and
restores to them the rich
significance which has been hidden
by the veil of familiarity . . .
By putting bread, gold, horse, apple
or the very roads into a myth,
we do not retreat from reality:
we rediscover it. As long as the
story lingers in our mind,
the real things are more themselves.
[The Lord of the Rings]
applies the treatment not only
to bread or apple but to good and evil,
to our endless perils, our anguish
and our joys. By dipping them in myth
we see them more clearly. I do not
think [Tolkien] could have done it
in any other way.”
- C.S. Lewis
The Music
INTO THE WEST by Yulia
The Movie
LORD OF THE RINGS The Return of the King
'When the seas and mountains fall
And we come to end of days
In the dark I hear a call
Calling me there
I will go there
And back again'
