KRISPY KREME!!!

YUMMMMMMMM...
Krispy Kreme opened one store in the whole city and it's only about 3 or 4 miles away! It's not the easiest place to get to, but it's defintely worth the effort.
The doughnuts taste just like in the States (though the price is a little higher).

We kinda pigged out a little in celebration since it was the first time. We'll try to be more restrained in the future.

We love the culture, food, and people here, but it's nice to get a little taste of home every now and then!

Ramazan has come!

This is our first Ramazan (Ramadan) in an Islamic country. For the first night, we had some friends over for dinner. We had some miscommunication, so they ate before they came, but we still cooked a large Iftar meal (breaking the fast meal). They were polite and ate some, though they certainly had just finished eating a large meal before coming over.
We followed dinner with rousing games of bowling and tennis on the Wii.

FYI: Ramazan has been much like the rest of the time we've been here, except that we try not to eat in front of too many people during the day.
We've noticed that many people in our area don't actually fast, but that doesn't prevent the morning drummer from waking everyone up around 3:30 AM so they can have breakfast before the long day. Robyn's heard it once, though Luke has yet to hear it.

Our daughter's 4D pic

Here she is!!! Who do you think she looks like?

Potter's Hand

When we toured Efes, we also visited a couple of factories. Usually, this is a high sales-pitch of some sort, but we actually enjoyed going to both the carpet outlet and the pottery outlet.
The potter seen here was a true master, able to create a top to his jars without any mistakes.
The guide had cool eyes: one a very light shade of blue and the other brown.

Sushi!!!

Homemade sushi! It turned out really well. We had a minor victory when searching for the sushi paper (nori), as we could only gain entrance into the store with a membership and only that after being able to speak enough language to know how to get the membership.
Ah, what we'll do for Americanized Japanese food in another country!

Nursery

We bought a set of baby furniture and a stroller/car seat from an expat couple returning to Canada. This really helped us to get the lion's share of the baby's room finished. We'll be adding more as time comes, but we did find a few things to go with the animal idea. We'll probably add some more Noah's Ark type features, but pretty much anything animal related will do. (I knew I should have brought over my mounted wood duck!)
Also, we were both really excited about the diaper genie style disposal system (seen in front of the table) and the "boppy" (seen on top of it). Who needs Babies 'R' Us??
(bottom pic is 'before')

Pregnant in summer (This one's for you Dr. S! :)

So we often hear from just about everyone here November should be a great month to deliver. However, that still means being pregnant in the summer months. Robyn has been a champ and has been in very good health the whole time. We are thankful for our air-conditioner and that we have the resources to use it.
Robyn has now been to 2 doctors and gotten a clean bill of health each time for the baby.

Wake up call

We thought it was a crazy post-soccer match celebration, but we were wrong...
After we heard three gun shots right outside our apartment, we were a bit concerned. No big deal, however. It was just the police breaking up a small brawl. We got to watch the fun that ensued. There were 2 or 3 people 3 sheets to the wind, and let us tell you 6-9 sheets in the wind at 1:30 in the morning is great fun, especially with gun shots thrown in for good measure!

Adult Swim

The Church of St. John near modern-day Efes is one of the supposed sites of the Apostle John's remains. It's said that he went there to die after his time on Patmos. A church and a fortress were erected by Christians in later years to honor this.
The hole is a an ancient baptistery where candidates would descend 3 steps into the water, be submerged, and exit the other side with another 3 steps.

See you at the pole

"Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: "Men of Ephesus, doesn't all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?

Umm...maybe a security system would have been better...there's nothing left but a single column. See what it was? One of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Now it's just a pole. Good call.

The Thinker

Fun times! No privacy! Lot's to think about...
Oh...and for those of you who remember Calvin and Hobbes' G.R.O.S.S. club (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS)--there were no girls allowed. Our tour guide said they got to find a bush...

Beware of Silversmiths!

We took a quick trip to Ephesus. The area is amazingly well kept, especially the edifice of the library. Unfortunately, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was blazing down and there were about 8000 people there from the cruise ships. Our guide did a great job of finding shade and keeping us in tow.
Luke had a fun time following in Paul's steps in the theater. Luckily, there were no angry silversmiths (or tour guides) to throw him out! (see Acts 19)