In July, Eliza started going to a local Turkish preschool near our house called Minik Devler, which means Little Giants. We waited a while to start her, and once she went she was ready and loved it starting from day one. She rides a bus to and from school with a few other kids from our neighborhood. Her school is an old youth sports facility and it has great amenities. At school she takes swimming lessons, gymnastics, ballet, has gym, language, math, science, arts and crafts, and music class. They feed her breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack too. She has made many new friends and has learned so much Turkish in the few months she has attended. The class curriculum is in English, so Turkish kids can learn, but the special classes are in Turkish, and because most of the kids and teachers are Turkish, she has picked up so much day-to-day. Her school often sends photos and videos of activities they do at school. We are thankful it has been such a positive experience for her! Enjoy the photos and videos.
Morning of first day of school. So excited to go!
Her braids got loose and she wanted pigtails instead.
The first week they phase the kids into school, going just a couple hours a day. By the 3rd day they said she can come all day, she is so happy and doesn’t want to leave early!
They have a nice outdoor play area at school.
She comes home with many nice crafts. They do lots of painting, coloring, and drawing. She also comes home with really cute hair dos many days. Her teacher, Miss Rachel, does a great job with her hair (probably because it’s messy most days, haha)!
The kids all go down for the bus together. Eliza’s bus usually comes 5-10 minutes after the boys’ and there is a little boy in our building that also rides with her.
Swimming lessons. She is in the green swim cap in the middle. She is getting more confident in the water and can swim a little by herself. It’s also neat to hear her take instruction in Turkish.
Eliza turned 4 in August and we sent in cupcakes for her birthday. Parents are not allowed in the school, but they send us lots of photos and videos of our kids.
August 30th is a Turkish holiday called Victory Day, celebrating the victory in the Battle of Dumlpinar, the last battle in the Greco-Turkish War, ending the Greek presence in Anatolia. Turkish nationalism is very strong, and on the national holidays the city are lined with giant Turkish flags and photos of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It’s a really neat sight to see.
Summer semester ended and in September, the official ‘school year’ started. This is when they started more traditional classes, in addition to all the fun activities.
They have been working on learning to recognize and write their numbers and letters with fun activities. Eliza is very attentive and loves learning, and will tell us all about what she learned when she comes home.
Glad she feels this way!
Ballet started too. It’s precious to watch these little ones.
One day her class took a field trip to the zoo and had a great time.
On 10 November, Turkey commemorates the death of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. On this day, at 9:05, which was the time of his passing in 1938, everyone and everything stops for a moment of silence. The first year we were here, I was homeschooling the kids at Starbucks that day, and at 9:05 traffic stopped, everyone got out, and paid honor to Ataturk.
Eliza’s class did a commemoration dance. She is in the back center in the long sleeve black shirt and white pants.
Her school does a great job making learning fun. While learning about the color red, they had a Karpuz Şenlik, which means watermelon festival. Everyone wore red and they enjoyed watermelon that day.
Eliza loves singing and dancing and all things music. They had someone play the cello for them and let the kids try it. As you can see she enjoyed it.
More ballet cuteness.
This last video is of a Turkish kids song Eliza loves, called ‘Arkadaşım Eşek,’ which means my friend is a donkey.
We are so thankful for Eliza’s wonderful school, the teachers, and little friends she has made.
After leaving Athens, we spent the last 10 days in Rhodes, which is the largest island in Greece, in the Aegean Sea and very close to Turkey. The theme of this part of the trip was beach! We explored many beaches, returned to a couple of them, visited the old city of Rhodes, and went to a water theme park. We stayed in an AirBnB 200 meters from a small beach, and the house had a big fenced in yard for the kids to play and a jacuzzi for us to enjoy in the evenings. It was a perfect way to relax.
We cooked at the house and ate outside most evenings.
The house had a very big yard and they had soccer goals and balls for the kids to play with.
The first beach we visited was St.Anthony’s Quinn Bay. This is a famous beach, which got it’s name when the actor, Anthony Quinn, purchased this part of the island when filming the movie, “The Guns of Navarene.” It was a beautiful bay with crystal clear water and rocky shores. To get to the beach, you walk down into the cove.
The water was a bit chilly but the kids didn’t mind.
Benjamin doing what he does best…living life!
Our turn for a photo :)
This was another beautiful beach, but we didn’t end up going to it. When we got down to the cove, all the seats were reserved, but nobody was there. It was odd, but we figured if it was all reserved it was probably not a good beach for us to be at anyway :).
This was our signature dish for most of the trip. Chicken gyro wrap, they were so delicious!
Another day we visited the old city. It’s on the northern tip of the island, about 30 minutes from where we were staying.
Entering the walled city.
The main attraction inside the city was the Street of Knights, which was a very long street with 7 inns that were constructed in the 16th century, representing the 7 countries that the Knights of the Order of St. John were originated from, and all of the inns are still functional today.
Afterwards, we walked through the streets of the city, then found a place to eat lunch and head back. It was a fun way to spend a few hours.
Love this picture of Nathan and the kids :)
Another day we went to a water park. I didn’t get many photos because our phones were in a locker most the day, but we all had fun riding water slides, playing in wave pools, and enjoying slushies at the end of a long, hot day.
Another day we went to Tsambikas beach, which was one of our favorites beaches and we returned to it multiple times. All the beaches were set up great for families, with ample lounge chairs with umbrellas, beachfront cafes, and rest rooms. But this beach had 2 ocean play areas too, which were a huge hit with Caleb and Benjamin. In this picture they were trying to pass the ball back and forth 100 times, to win an ice cream…and they did it. The enjoyed playing on this sea playground for a couple hours that afternoon.
Going for round two of the ball pass for afternoon ice cream. Doesn’t get much better for Eliza. Beach, unicorn floatie, and pails to dig in the in sand.
The kids also enjoyed collecting hermit crabs!
This little girl took long naps at the beach most days.
We stopped at this cute restaurant on the way home from the beach and ate….chicken gyros!
One evening we went to the beach that was walking distance to our house. It was a really rocky beach, but it had a really pretty cove at the end.
Another day we went back to Anthony Quinn’s Bay. This day we got there early in the morning and had the beach to ourselves for a while. Nathan and Caleb went for a hike up the cove to take some pictures of the bay. The pictures don’t do this place justice, these were some of the most beautiful beaches we have seen.
Meanwhile on shore, we were the only people there (around 8:30am) and nice to be there with no crowds. Last time, this rock seemed to have a constant wave of people posing for social media photos, but because we arrived early, we had it to ourselves.
More fun jumping in the water
Don’t worry, Nathan jumped behind the rock.
This was another beach called Lindos Beach. Benjamin and I went kayaking here too.
The kids enjoyed burying each other in the sand.
Another day we went back to Tsambikas beach and the boys tried the other sea playground. Eliza liked playing in the sand and floating with her unicorn in the sea.
We enjoyed afternoons at the house relaxing, hanging out in the jacuzzi, and enjoying the yard past sunset most nights.
We all gave Rhodes two thumbs up! Then we headed back to Ankara after almost 3 weeks away. It was a relaxing and fun trip and we are thankful for the opportunity to visit these new and beautiful places.
