1st Dentist Appointment Abroad

 So, as weird as it may sound, I absolutely love going to the dentist. I love the process of having my teeth cleaned and walking out of the office knowing that all the junk on my teeth before is now gone. My goal is to go a minimum of once a year, and loved it when health insurance paid for me to go once every 6 months.  To top off the whole experience, I have been going to the same dentist, Dr. Gordon, since I started getting my teeth cleaned at a young age, and really respect his opinion and work.  

    Anyways, we were approaching almost a year since going to the dentist and I had been thinking about possibly looking into going to the dentist here.  The downfall is that I don't think we have insurance to cover it and considering I'm very cheap, I hadn't looked too hard into it.  Well, I saw a QGrabs (similar to Groupon) one day for a "teeth polishing and exam" coupon for 189 QR ($53 USD).  So, after I talked to Mark we decided to buy the QGrabs and check out the dentist.

   Our appointment was last Monday at 6:00.  That is difference number 1, the hours of doctor's and dentist's offices are open much later here, as that fits the culture.  We got there and only waited about 10 minutes, which wasn't too bad and then both Mark and I were taken into the same room.  We sat and talked to the dentist from Egypt, who seemed very nice, and then Mark was the first to get his teeth cleaned.  Difference #2, the dentist cleaned our teeth and there was an assistant who helped.  I graded papers while Mark got his teeth cleaned.  At one point Mark had me look up to see how ridiculous he looked, he was wearing plastic protective goggles and a face mask to cover his nose.  I couldn't help but laugh and question why is he wearing that.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera to snap a photo.  When he was done, the dentist told him to go wash his face.  Again, I questioned in my head as to why he needed to wash his face.  That seemed quite odd to me...

   It was my turn to go and the overall experience went well.  There were several differences in the cleaning process, but I answered my questions as to why we needed the protective gear and why we needed to wash our faces when we were done.  The polishing process at the end consisted of them spraying this wet powder onto our teeth, which then sprayed all over the place.  I had this polish on my protective goggles, mask, and all over my face...even with the attempt of the assistant wiping it constantly.  

   To end our appointment, the dentist proceeded to tell Mark he needed braces, which I completely disagree with.  Mark has very straight teeth and he's never had a dentist tell him it was a "need" to get braces.  Then, the dentist proceeded to tell me that I have 5 cavities, keep in mind he didn't take my x-ray.  I'm not saying I don't fully believe I have some cavities, but I will say I'm in denial about having 5. I plan on getting a second opinion before doing anything or before freaking out.  We met a dentist last night who recommends going to a government run dental office where their salary is not based on commission. 

   Oh, how I miss Dr. Gordon and the trust I have in his opinion.  Overall, I'm glad we went to get our teeth cleaned, but will keep in mind to go to government run places in the future.   So, since August we have definitely amercing ourselves here, as we have managed to each go to the hospital once and now we have gone to the dentist together.  I wonder what will be next...?

  ~ Kristin

Spring Break 2014 - Istanbul, Turkey

For Spring Break, Mark and I decided back in the fall that we would go to Turkey.  We originally thought of going over our winter break, but a friend of ours recommended waiting until the spring so we could see all the tulips in bloom.  I am so glad that we waited to go until now, the weather was great and the greenery and tulips were beautiful.  We were in sensory overload with all of the greenery, as we don't get much here, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Below are pictures to help give you a visual of our trip.

Of course the first thing we do is order food from the place next door...we called it the pizza boat.

I was pretty excited to see so many shwarma places...this guy even let me hold the knife.  Needless to say, they had delicious shwarma (domer as the Turks call it) and we ate there several times during our trip.

We stepped it up this trip and still stayed in a hostel, but we had our own room.

View from the roof at our hostel.

First full day in Istanbul -- checked out our first mosque since we've been in the Middle East, a bit surprising we haven't gone to one in Doha yet.  This is nick named the blue mosque by many westerners because of the blue tile inside on the walls.

Even men had to cover up if they were wearing shorts...

I needed to borrow a sheet to cover my hair while in the mosque, the rest of my attire was okay.

Quite beautiful inside and enormous

Easter Service - it was amazing to worship with people from all over the world and have different parts be spoken or sung in different languages 00 most of it was in English

Galata Bridge

Turkish Delight -- quite a treat

Alexander the Great

We loved all of the tulips and greenery in the country

typical afternoon snack - mine was a plain piece of bread with sesame and Mark's had nutella

Topkapi Palace

Where the concubines lived

There were signs for people to leave the stroller outside - but these parents apparently thought that meant to leave your kid too.  Quite hysterical - poor kid who was abandoned.

Rooftop restaurant to grab some coffee/apple tea, we enjoyed the beautiful views

My handsome hubby and I 

Efes beer - Turkey's pride and joy and some delicious food below

Galata Tower at night -- enjoyed the scenery on our long walk home that evening

One of our favorite things we did was go to the Prince's Island

We unfortunately became quite pros at using the squatter potty, but am so glad to be back where it's rare to see these.

The waffles were AMAZING!

Ours were wrapped with a sauce and some fruit - quite delicious

Starting our hike up the mountain and stopped to take a picture infront of the pretty building

Only emergency and sanitation vehicles allowed on the island -- saw tons of carriages and bikes

Stopped to enjoy the view along our hike and to take a breather

We made it to the top! :)

Beautiful views

view+reading/relaxing=wonderful afternoon

Enjoying dinner at sunset with Bernadette and Bonny

Favorite place we visited - the history was fascinating! This used to be a church, then a mosque (which is when they plastered over the faith based mosaics), and now its a museum.

Ordering our afternoon snack from the food vendor

camel back = one of the best things we bring on vacations

Enjoying another rooftop restaurant - - coffee/tea+reading

Enjoying some Efes and the sunset 

We were really excited to eat the street food, but it was an uneatable meal.  The vendor's version of chicken was really just fatty beef.

We began our journey to walk "off the map" in search of fried ice cream (hours later...we never found the ice cream, but enjoyed some great views and other food along the way)

Traveling the world with my best friend= incredible

yummy meal - all the food was so good!

It was raining the day we flew out -- we spent the afternoon pub hopping and playing games

Playing Checkers bringing back memories of playing as a child with my dad

Efes+Shwarma=typical Istanbul treats

Enjoying some Turkish tea while shopping for Turkish Delight. 

      Our trip was great and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to travel to new places.  I am so lucky to travel the world with my best friend and am soaking it all up.  We both loved Turkey and would possibly go again to explore other parts of the country.  The history in this country was so fascinating.  My favorite thing we did was go to Princes' Island and my favorite place we saw was the Hagia Sophia.  Our church service on Easter was another highlight of our trip and was so glad we were able to celebrate JC's resurrection with people from all over the world.  We made sure to have many opportunities to relax and soak up where we were and enjoy the beautiful country around us.  

    We are back to school for another couple of months before our summer travel adventure begins.  

Feeling Incredibly Grateful,

Kristin