Our Visit to Parliament

We thought you might like to see some pics of our trip to the Parliament.  This man a member of Parliament has helped us find some of our most treasured projects. He aso invited us for a tour of the Parliament and lunch.  Very awesome.

 Duard was speaking at the parliament.  Only trouble was that no one was there except security.  Great pic though.  Nice try Du.

 The parliament is beautiful.  The colors look red, but actually they are a beautiful orange.

 What a handsome couple.

 We had the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Culture.  His son was there who is very interested to come to the US to study animation at the film school called"Free Sail".  That is where Regan grsduated.

Hot mikado

 I thought you might like to see a few pics from the play I choreographed.  I had a blast and these kids were wonderful.  All but one of them had only seen tap on TV or in the movies, so it was a big under taking to get the finished product.  But they hung in there with me and it was great.  The first night I started teaching I went home and said, "What have I done to these kids".  But the next day they had it, they had gone home and practiced and learned it all.

 Of course, I have to have a Young Ambassador/Janie Thompson ending.  They performed to almost a full house every night for 4 nights at the Turkish-American Association Theatre.

 You can see their hands by their necks. . . They were singing and dancing about an executioner and what he was going to do.  So fun.

 This number was the funnest one to choreograph.  It was called "Three Little Maids".

 The girl in blue was our lead.  She has a voice as lovely as any I have ever heard.  A darling actress also.

 The little gal in the yellow dress almost quit on me.  She didn't think she could ever do it.  I told her that she had so much natural talent and that the audience deserved to see how much she added to the play. I went over the steps with her again, and she had them all.  So we talked some more, next day - she just was beaming and was wonderful.

 The gal in the front with the white dress would never hold her head up during practice and kind of hid behind her hair.  She had an excellent voice and picked all the dances up very quickly.  One day I took her aside alone and stood her in front of the mirror and told her to look at just how beautiful she was.  That she needed to be proud and hold her head up.  We had a great little chat.   Wow! look at her now.

 This is Abu.  When I learned I needed to teach him a solo tap dance, I didn't think it could be done.  He wanted to learn so badly that he worked really hard and in the end he brought the house down.  He had lived in Utah for a couple of years and totally understood where I was coming from and we ended up being great friends.  He has a PhD in mathmatics and does research in the 4th and 5th dimensions.

It was so fun to get flowers and hugs from everyone every night.

 The fellow on the floor in the blue vest was the director.  He had lived with a Mormon family in Idaho as an exchange student.  So he never even asked me to come to the rehearsals they had on Sundays. 

Duard was amazing.  He came to every rehearsal and performance and never complained once.  He even got invited to come to the center and teach a family history class and he is very excited about it.  I hope I can be as supportive.

Hot Mikado

Helping a little School

This has been one of the busiest weeks yet.  We have been going from sun up to sun down.  We have met many wonderful new people and are This little school has been one of our favorites.  When we first met them the children were the ones mopping the floors and keeping the school clean. 

They invited us to come to the school to see the new desks, cupboars, bulletin boards, and shelves.  She told us that this little village that has no money have been so happy to have these things for their children that they got together and cleaned and painted the whole school before the new equipment was delivered.  She, the principal, said this was the most community spirit she has seen she has been there.  She also told us that she thinks this is the first time these children have had anything that is new.  Everything they have, including all the school stuff, has been hand me downs or used before.  The parents were as thrilled as the children that their children could have a better environment to learn in. 

Mersin and wheelchairs



  This was an incredible day.  We were able to attend two ceremonies that placed several of the wheelchairs that the church donates.  The fellow behind Duard is blind and is a most amazing man.  He had all the documentation for us, which is a big deal.  The first ceremony took place on the sidewalk.  That worked well for people needing the wheelchairs to be able to move out of their cars.  There were many press representatives and a very nice articles ended up in the news papers.  We heard it was on TV, but we had no way to figure that one out.



 The lady Sandy is hugging was crying and so was Sandy.  We felt that by giving the wheelchairs to the children that we had freed many women who could not do anything because they always had to carry the children if they went anywhere.  Some of these children were in their preteen years and this was their first wheelchair.




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The second ceremony was held in a very festive setting.  They had the traditional Turkish dancers perform and also these darling little children.  We did get a video of these children and if I can figure out how to put it on here you can see how darling they are, if not you will have to wait until we get home. 



 LDS Charities had donated equipment to this organization so they can teach sign language.  They are training their people to sign and interpret.  They are also teaching the parents so they can communicate with their children.  These girls are signing the Turkish National Anthem and have graduated from this class.





These are two of the mentally handicapped children from the Center who were doing a Turkish dance in the isle, I joined them and we had a great time.