Life on a Base

I need to try and blog more often even if I have no fun pictures to share. I thought I would try and paint a picture for you of life on an Air Force Base. Or at least life for us on an Air Base owned by the Turkish Air Force. Things here have weird names and I am not really sure why. For example, the post office is called "The Official Documents Center" and the dry cleaners is called "The Fabric Care Facility." When you leave or enter the base there is a sign that says you must be prepared to show your ID without being warned.
Going to a movie here is patriotic (it is at every base) because after the preview of coming attractions they play the national anthem and everyone stands up.
Because of Doug's job as a squadron commander, we go to a LOT of functions at the Club. Usually at least one a week, sometimes two or three. We see all the same people at these functions, but we have to be sure to wear different outfits! Last Saturday we attended the Black History Month Extravaganza. It was very nice. You walk in to the dining room and hit the bar for "cocktail hour". Always fun when you don't drink. So Doug and I stand around with our ginger ales looking suave. He finds another commander to talk shop with and I hang out with the commander's spouses. We talk about deep things, like where you got that purse or those really cute shoes. Sometimes we tackle hard subjects, like the weather or whether or not we should go somewhere for spring break.
It's tough, but I'll sacrifice for my country. After thirty minutes or so of this we are asked to take our seats ( big faux pax to sit before that.) Then we are asked to stand again for the playing of the national anthems. Yes, you read right, anthems. We first listen to the Turkish national anthem which is a tad on the long side. Then we listen to the American national anthem. I am not ashamed to admit I get a bit teary-eyed each time I hear it, I always did, but somehow it means more to me now that I am away from the States. Now if the function we are attending is of a more military nature, the anthems will be proceeded by the posting of the colors. I love watching the posting of the colors. The slow march, the way they carefully inspect each flag after it is posted. Sometimes we get to sing the Air Force song, that is always fun. For a Mormon who tries never to cuss it is like getting a free cuss pass..."off with one helluva roar.."
Anyway, what else, what else? Oh, the Giant Voice...there are a lot of exercises here, like for the military folks to practice having a war (it's what they do) and they use the Giant Voice to tell people what they should be doing. It can be heard all over the base. I don't know the guy who actually does the Giant voice, but he sounds like a hip dude. He has to begin and end his transmissions by saying "Exercise, exercise, exercise." He says it real laid back-like, he reminds me of the Ladies Man from SNL. Kind of like, "exacise, exacise, exacise." Meghann does a really good impression of him.
Speaking of Meghann, she just won two awards. The first was the Citizenship award for the 2nd quarter. ( She and Sydney both made the Honor Roll.) She also won the essay contest during Black History Month. She won first place in all the Middle School and got a nice plaque. She also gets the chance to go to Germany for a week because she won for a leadership thingie. Good on her! While I am kid bragging, I will also say that Sydney is the Talented and Gifted Program here and has been moved up into 7th grade social studies and art. My kids rock!