Any expats on gaga?

Its quite possible we are moving overseas in the near (within the next 4 years) future. I was just wondering if there is anyone here who has moved with children and what its like raising your child in a foreign country. (Especially the middle east or near to the middle east.)

well my situtation is slightly different I'm English and living in the USA with hubby whilst he's stationed in Dyess tx. So trying to be a mom in the USA with different wording, no family it's kinda hard as I have to teach my baby both the American and English culture.

meant to also add you can always send me a message, my parents were stationed in Germany when I was around 6 for 3 years so know both sides of it. It's not tht hard once you meet people.

My dad's job transfered him over to France when I was younger and we lived there for 5 years so I lived the kid side of being an ex-patriot. I'd be happy to share my experiences with you if you want to PM me. Or I'll post here if more people are interested.

Been an expat practically all my life! It's fun, so long as you're willing to make the effort to learn the language and a few basic local customs/ norms. We're not quite the middle east in Turkey but near enough, and I know that somewhere like Dubai, for example, is packed with expats. You could try www.expats.com - they're a friendly bunch and I'm sure they'd put your mind at rest =)

Hey, the great thing is that pregnancy and parenting involves pretty much the same basics all over the world!

thats awesome! Is your family in Turkey as well? Thanks for the website. I will try that! I'm nervous about moving there and even nervous about visiting with a baby. We are going next month with the baby for her first trip and I know dh's family will be watching me like a hawk to see how I do things. (As if taking care of a baby could be different.)

I take it your DH is from the middle east? Well whether he is or he isn't, your in-laws will obviously do some things differently - they would do things differently even if they were from your home town - I just try to smile and nod along with everything then do things my own way - and if DH (who is Turkish) reminds me that his ma does things differently, I pretend that my own mother does too, but back up my own methods with "scientific" stuff from the internet. It's all a great lesson in international relations and diplomacy!! None of my own original family lives here (I was the weird one out of 4 siblings) - makes it all the more fun!

My husband is Turk too.. 100% born and bred. The one main thing he does different that makes me c-r-a-z-y is he thinks every illness is caused by cold, not by a virus mind you, but by cold! cold air, cold drink, cold breeze. ughhhh.. That makes me nuts.. I know I'm going to have a rumble with his mom and grandma if they try and put a blanket on my daughter when its 90 degress in the house. But I am mommy and I will win.   And I'm 100% sure they will try.

OHMIGOD exactly the same! In fact, the first 15-20 times our daughter projectile vomited he insisted I'd let her stomach "get cold" - not A cold, but just cold! Also, what I consider healthy circulating air is always a sinister "through draught" for him. More tomorrow but he's just off to cover up our sleeping beauty (he still doesn'T get that she'll kick all the covers off within 3 minutes, and in her sleep!!), I have to go and stop him from getting too carried away with his tucking-in and wake her up again....

That is hilarious!! Our daughter looks likea burrito baby due to my husbands covering up! I cant wait to continue comparing stories.   Finally someone who knows what its like to be married to my husband!! I think my little angel inherited his Turkish temper too.. she goes from zero to furious in about 2 seconds..lol.

Luckily DD has very definite ideas about how much of her is to be covered up =))
She will kick off socks, sheets, anything that smothers her - she was already ripping off her scratch mittens in a fury at one week old...

Ooh I know, I could teach you Turkish "home cooking" in secret (assuming your husband hasn't already taught you) and you could give them all such a shock when you met them with your culinary wizardry that burritos would be the last thing on their mind =))

Be prepared for many an argument about air conditioning - despite the fact that most houses, shops and offices are air conditioned now, there's a widespread belief here that it can cause anything from a cold to diarrhea (that's if the cold "hits" your stomach!) and even paralysis... Whereas I still feel that the inventor of air con should have won the Nobel prizes for every single category that year, due to his invaluable contribution to quality of life everywhere....

Your daughter is so cute!! My husband drives us crazy trying to keep Nazli covered up. She is not having it at all. Her ped even told him its not necessary for her to wear more layers than we have, but it took a long while for him to get that in his mind. He's finally getting better, but I keep telling him to keep his mom and grandma from putting heavy stuff on her. They dont have air  ( so she will be hot enough as it is. Two of his cousins had babies within 2 weeks of her birth and they send pictures of them in winter outfits during the summer. Omg.. she would smother in long sleeves right now. I know I'll havea fight on my hands there :/ I would love love to learn some Turkish home cooking!!! I cant cook anything Turkish, they would all be so shocked!   We are going next month, usually we fly into Ankara but this time they are coming to Ist to get us. I'm dreading the car ride from Istanbul home though, if they dont use the air I will surely die. How they can possibly ride in the car during the heat of the summer with the windows rolled up (dont want to catch your death with the wind!!) I have no idea, but they do it. oh well, maybe I'll sweat off the rest of my baby weight.

I think it all has something to do with the fact that Turkey is a land of 4 seasons year-round and a hundred different climates; in many parts of Turkey the temperature fluctuates over 10 degrees Celsius (18 F - you'll have to get used to Metric here!!) every 24 hours. I once stayed in a little village in the southeast of Turkey and it was over 45 C degrees in the shade (113 F) during the day and about 28 C (82 F) at night - it may still sound warm but I woke up with a stiff neck and rigid muscles every morning, teeth chattering with cold - and over-smothering mothers here are the most anxious about this kind of contrast between temperatures. And to be fair, coming in out of the sun here to an air-conditioned room? Even my viking blood runs cold sometimes =))

Just be firm about your baby's acclimatisation. Explain that whether she has Turkish blood in her veins or not, she was born and brought up in a _____ [fill in the blanks] climate and that is what her body has adapted to. Tell her that African American babies born in your home town have adapted to the same climate as Scandinavian babies born there.

Having said all that, I'm sure your baby will help you out by developing heat rash straight away to prove your point =))) Kayra may have Urfa blood boiling through her veins (and you don't get much tougher than that, it's where they eat those tiny lethal red hot chilli peppers the way we wimps eat pumpkin seeds) but she hates it when the ambient temperature passes 30 C (86 F) and goes from happy to psychotic within minutes =D   And she was already ripping off her scratch mitts and little cap when still in the hospital the day after she was born, and it was still quite cool then.

Turkish cooking is really easy, I promise you, just after you've grasped a few very basic concepts. What would really give them all a collective stroke would be if you went to the local market, came back with vine leaves, and sat down and rolled pencil-thin stuffed vine leaves   It's a sort of culinary master test - hardly any of the new generation of Turkish women would have a clue how to do it either (they just buy them ready-rolled and ready-cooked from the local deli in the city!) - but I swear that rolling cigarettes is 100 times harder  

So your DH's folks are from Ankara then?

They would definately pass out if they saw me making dolma! That would be funny! It looks so hard but tastes SO good. There is a Turkish market about an hour from where we live, but even they dont do it homemade. So we eat it canned like its the best thing we've ever tasted! They have soup mixes and frozen manti. Sometimes if we are really lucky and there the day they have a shipment we can get yogurt or cheese but thats rare. When Osman talks about going back thats the main subject FOOD! he cant wait to eat. His folks are in the city of Kastamonu just north of Ilgaz ski mountain. I know what you mean about climate change. They arent far from the mountain and sometimes the nights do get really chilly even if it was hot that day. Last year we flew into Ankara and i had the window down in the backseat (just my husbands brother came to get us so I was alone in the back seat and able to enjoy the wind!!  ) and I woke up freezing to death halfway home and there was snow all over the mountain. It was really a pretty drive, by the time we got home it was hot again. At least its dry heat though. Its SO humid here in MO. Luckily (I think) we only have window airconditioners at home and only run them when its like in the 90's so she is used to being hot, just not with blankets piled on her ;) Whats your favorite part of Turkey? What cities have you seen? I want to travel around so bad but I know we wont get to this trip.