Today we have a guest post from Marianne Crone, a writer and resident of Amsterdam.

Büyükada smells of horses, kebab, grilled fish, and sea. I found this quiet island a stark contrast to crowded, noisy and polluted Istanbul. The only sounds were the mournful cries of the seagulls, the distant blast of the ferries, and the soft clip-clop of horses’ feet shod in rubber horseshoes.
Büyükada is an island without cars. True, there is the odd police car, the Coca Cola delivery truck and the garbage disposal vehicle, but there are no passenger cars. That’s the most wonderful thing about this …read more

With the rise of vampire literature and film lately, Romania is poised to become a tourist destination for both the vampire-curious, as well as the traveler looking for an outstanding budget destination.
While decrying the branding of Romania as a vampire destination, the tourism office still intends to capitalize on it.  Not many people can cite any specifics about the country of Romania, but most remember the legend of Bram Stokers, Dracula.  Subsequent vampire genre literature has only seemed to reinforce the uneasy, but successful, branding of Romania and vampires.
Rest assured, there are lots of other things to see and …read more

Ah, the joys of parenting, right? All of us parents, whether adoptive parent or biological parents have been dealt with our fair share of poop…some more than others. Some of us have had all the poop we ever, ever want.
Many children from Eastern European orphanages have issues with constipation, encopresis, and holding their bowels. In fact, our son has problems with all three because of medical reasons, learned behaviors, and a drastic change in diet.

Ah yes, poop again. But, it has to be talked about.
Encopresis is actually a long standing problem developed from constipation. A child who has chronic constipation will often not completely empty themselves and the large intestine will start to stretch, allowing stool to “leak” around the hard, formed, stool in the colon. The first sign of encopresis is usually stained underwear but most parents assume the child is not wiping well.