Beypazari

We were invited to a town west of Ankara to visit a handicapped school to see if we could help them with a rehabilitation room for their students.  This lady has done so much work in Turkey to better the lives of other people and we are so priviledged to be able to works with her.  We were in for a great treat at Beypazari!   Beypazari is known for its carrots, silver working, metals, and scarfs.  As you walk down the pizar, you can get fresh carrot joice that they make right there.  Very delicious!

First of all we were picked up by the Mayor's wife (Hamida) and driver, in his car at our apartment and taken to this city where we met with her and her husband, the Mayor of Beypazari.  He presented us with this beautiful rendering of the Historical part of the City in wood.  Afterwards we visited the handicapped school. Hopefully we will be able to work together.  

This is Engen, me, Duard, the Mayor, Hamida, and Seda our interpreter. 

This is the traditional dress of the women of this area.  I just had to have a pair of these pants, in fact I bought two.  They are very comfortable and I just love them.

They then took us to lunch in this very wonderful outdoor restaurant.  The food was so good.  I think I have found another recipe that I have to take home.  I wanted to leave the group and spend time in the kitchen, but probably would not have been appropriate.  The soup, carrot dish, and some other dishes are native to this area.

During our visit Hamida heard me talking about how much I loved butterflies and at the end of our visit she had gotten me a very lovely hand tooled beautiful butterfly necklace.  She is putting it on me. 

Everywhere we went they had a photographer with us.  That night we received an email that we were in the newspapers.  The article was very complementary about LDS Charities and was a beautiful article.  You won't be able to understand it because it is in Turkish, but it really is a nice article.

http://www.seyelan.com.tr/haber/1485/lds-hayir-kurumu-temsilcileri-engelliler-icin-beypazarinda.html

Kastamona

We had an amazing opportunity to deliver wheelchairs to the beautiful town of Kastamona.  This is the hometown of our interpreter, Seda.  She had told us she wanted to take us to her hometown, but never let on about how wonderful this place is.  While there she took us into the mountains to the family farm, that they call the Village.  We found out that this farm is famous throughout Turkey.  Dignitaries and visitors come from all over Turkey to eat at the home of her Aunt.  She had prepared dinner for us and now we understand why she is so well known.  You can't even see the end of the property it is so large.  All of the food you eat there was prepared and grown on this farm.  She must have put out ten varieties of jams and jellies.  Seda told us she spend much of her childhood there.  All the cousins come and help with the ranching duties, the farmhouse, and the serving and preparing of food in this home. 

In the days of the silk road, they didn't have hotels, but did have caravansaries where both the people and the camels stayed.  This one has been converted into a modern facility that we stayed at.  In this first picture you can see the castle which is on the hill above the Caravansary.  The patio is completely enclosed.  You enter through some very large doors.  There is a small one for people and a very large one for the camels.  The dining room, which is very beautiful, was once the place where the camels slept. 



There is a beautiful fountain in the center of the courtyard, it is hidden a bit by the umbrella.  It used to be the watering trough for the camels - maybe for the people too.  But it is very beautiful.  The big round thing by the stairs used to hold water and it sat over hot coals to heat the water.



We thought these little doors were very unique and fun.  We couldn't decide if people were just smaller then, or if they just liked small doors.



This veranda went all around the top floor and looked down into the courtyard.  All the guest room were off of this veranda.  I loved the arches in the architecture.  We also found on each door - the Star of David.  Very interesting.

This is the stable/now dining room.  You can see the buffet set up around one of the pillars.  A typical Turkish breakfast is several varieties of cheese, several varieties of olives,  lots of different jellies, breads, fruit juices, and sometimes salami.

Another view of the inside of caravansary

Close-up of the big big pan used to heat water.  You find these in many old gathering places.  Although, they are not used today.

The legend is, "if you drink from this natural fountain, you will visit this place again 7 times".  I quickly had a drink, because it was very cold and good water, and because I wanted to come back here again.  Duard wouldn't drink the water.  Oh well, I hope he misses me.

Our darling Seda and her son Barkin

This little boy was so excited to have this wheelchair that he would not stay still for the picture.  He was laughing and wheeling around.  Everyone was enjoying the delight of this little guy.  He just couldn't go fast enough or smile big enough.

This young man told us he is going to start a wheelchair basketball team in Kastamona.

Some of the wheelchairs lined up and ready to go.  The names of the recipients are on all the chairs so there is no question as to who they will go to.  All recipients have to be pre-certified that they really do need the wheelchair.  So we have all the names ahead of time.

Duard gave a beautiful speech telling about the church, by its real name, and about how the monies are raised to be able to provide these wheelchairs.  Great job!  Seda is by his side interpreting.

Time out for a picture

One of the women who live at the farm house making some of the breads and food.

I can't say enough about this wonderful woman.  She is as gracious and wonderful a person as I have ever met.  She has a dignity and beauty that is rare.  She grows all the food used on the farm.  On the upper floor they have changed the rooms into places to eat.  The walls are filled with history in pictures and artifacts from the farm.  You just can't quit looking.  They have ducks, chickens, dogs, cats, birds.  She said she has seen bears and a few years ago a pole cat came down out of the mountains and killed some of the birds she had in cages.  She felt so bad that she opened the cages and let all the rest the birds go and then broke apart all the cages. 

The family took us over the mountain to a place where they have started a state of the art dairy farm. 
For my Taylor cousins:  This whole farm gave me a nostalgia trip, remembering Cokeville and all the great stories from there.  I thought of all the milking days.  While we were there, they began their first day of milking the cows.  They were all excited for this event.  What an amazing heritage both there and in Cokeville.

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.