Gotta Brand New Pad

Hey all you out there!

There has been quite a bit of excitement on this side of the world, especially in our little town of Kadikoy.

First off, we have finally found a place! We moved in about a week ago and the ability to come back to a home is a great change from returning to a vacant, somewhat eerie building-of-a-home. Now, don't misunderstand- the place was not all that bad, it just had probably a total of ten people living in it, including the family that runs it, at the most occupied time. It was just a little unwelcoming those days that you came home from a long day and had to walk to your box room with orange metal furniture ad relax on the "comfortable" twin bed and see absolutely no one as you made dinner and hung around. yea.... The people were awesome though. It was so nice to have Mustafa, Zubede and Ramazan around to act as our pseudo-family. They never failed to provide a ton of tea and catch me on the most inconvenient moments to have a meal and/or tea- of course! They are really good people that I am very thankful to have been set up with as the acclimation process got underway.

Our new place is practically a new life in a different world. The city we live in is Moda, which is a richer area to live and is very nice and comfortable. There are many cute cafes and restaurants right down the street, one of those cafes I am actually at right now writing this post and having a glass of wine... oh, the hard life. Did I mention that the water is about a block away? ...hmmm, somehow that slipped my mind- not quite sure how. Anyway, I am so happy here and seriously have a really good thing going. Yes, I can complain about the work sometimes, but when you weigh those few hours of "work" with what you get out of it- wow, the scale has fallen over.

Anyway, I have a full schedule right now, but am really enjoying my classes. The job only gets easier as the days go by. The students warm up to you more and more and really appreciate you as a teacher and as a person. I have kept my lunch hours and dinner hours semi-full with grabbing some food with students every now and then.

These are some of my Level 1 girls after their last exam. They wanted to take me out to dinner and it was a great time. We had our meals and then all got tea/coffee. One of them read me my fortune, too. It was nice to hang out with them in a different setting than the classroom.

I have been able to hang out with some other students outside of the room on other occasions.

This picture above is of the crew... Mustafa, me, Kate, Zubede, Ahmet (Mustafa's nephew), and Serkan (Mustafa and Zubede's son). We were overwhelmed with the amount of hazelnuts (fendik) that Zubede continued to pour onto the table and entertained ourselves finding new ways to crack them open... oh, what language barriers do to you. It was a good time though, and they really appreciated our company. Serkan recorded a video of all of us acting like idiots and put it on his website, I think he was stoked to show that he was hanging with two Cali girls.

Below is the room that we had to pry each others fingers away from the door jams to leave for the new place. Oh, how I will miss that orange...

Well, on to bigger and better...

I do not have any pictures right now of the new place, only ones from our housewarming party that somewhat show the place- if you can see through the faces and beer cans...

So, it is custom here to have a party when you move into a new place. People often bring over a gift and everyone sits around and talks over food and coffee (kahve). Well, that took a hard twist of the arm- a party, well... sure, I guess. Anyway, our party had neither coffee nor "sitting around". We chose other forms of sustenance and activity. It turned out to be a really fun night. A bunch of our close friends that we have made in the time here, plus some. Now, it was nothing crazy- but it was a good time.

Here are the new roomies! Yes, such a great picture- we are having it blown up, framed and will hang it over our fireplace (subtle message to you Kelli). Anyway, Michael is another English teacher at our work. He has been here since May. He is from Canada and well, just an awesome guy. So, he is a perfect ingredient for the Katie sandwich.

Here are Dia (an English teacher from Canada), Diana- pronounced Dee-awna (Ukranian, who has lived here for 12 years) and Anthony (one of my first friends in Turkey, native Californian).

A few other friends here in Turkey. Me, Mehia (English teacher on the Euro side from England), Kevin (English teacher from Ohio), Jeff (English teacher from Boston), and Hülya (a Turkish student).

This is Greg and I. He is another English teacher and from Suffolk, been here since May.

...and this is what happens when the only beer in Turkey is Efes and you cannot just buy a keg. This picture does not do the aluminum/glass count justice.

Ok, so party aside... we had actually gone out to Heybeliyada (one of the islands right out from Istanbul, us foreigners like to call it "Hillbilly Island- because that is what it somewhat sounds like). We board the crowded ferry and end up just standing around until we hit the first island. A bunch of people left the ferry and so there was a little sitting room, and this group of people were quite apt to offer us seats next to them. Now, this group had been somewhat loud the ride up to then and they seemed to know a ton of people. Well, we couldn't pass up a seat, so we accepted and found that this huge group was actually not Turkish, but rather from Iraq/Iran and here on business for a few days. They all spoke English, including the little girls that were there too. They actually spoke very good English. One of the men had attended the University of Michigan and had his Masters in Sports Therapy. They were the nicest people and were so excited to take countless pictures with us. It was hilarious, to be honest. They all brought up cameras and took turns sitting in between us. Even a little boy was smitten sitting between us with his arms around us, well as much as he could reach.

These are two of the girls with the group, that were so happy to talk and sit with us. It was really cute.

When we left the ferry, all of them leaned over and were yelling their "good-byes". After that, we decided it was time to grab some grub and then hit the beach. The Beach!!! Finally! I was stoked coming here thinking there would be countless coasts to go to, but apparently that is not the case. Here was our chance and we made the most of what we found. The island was beautiful and a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the city. We ended up finding

a beach to lay out at and swim, but that was after we had to pay 2 YTL to enter the "park/beach" area and then 5 YTL to just be at that particular beach. Oh well, it was very relaxing and a very nice change of pace.

This is from the island shore we were on, looking out at one of the other islands across the water. We spent a few hours there, but had to return for our Wednesday ritual at Selale with our friend Marc. We make it back in time for our dinner and beers, bringing back some salt-watered hair and sun-tanned skin. Yea, it was a good day.

Now, the weekend is over and tomorrow we are going to finish our residency permit process. We will miss our first class, but be back in time for the evening one. The best part about his upcoming week is that Saturday is a national holiday, so there won't be any classes. We will have four days off and our original intent was to go to Greece; however, those plans did not come through and were becoming a big hassle. So instead, three classes from now we will be on our way to Izmir for a few days of sun and sand. The flight there was very cheap and so we were able to justify a hotel a little more than what we were intending to spend. The hotel is right on the shore of Cesme and looks like it will be AMAZING! I cannot wait to go and come back relaxed and tan! It will be nice to do a little traveling within Turkey.

As far as life in Turkey goes, everything is just becoming normal and things that I used to find different don't even cause my eyes to flinch. Sometimes there will be something that will remind me I am in a completely different country, but it doesn't happen as much as it used to. The weather right now is extremely hot, and more humid than ever. I actually let my class go home early twice last week because it was so hot and the air conditioner was not working.

Well, I hate to cut this novel short- but the cafe is closing and therefore I will have no internet connection. I send my best to everyone who reads this and to those who don't too. Take care and I'd love to hear about what's happening on that side of the world too! Love to you all! Gule gule!

What up

Welcome back! Much of the same stuff has been going on since I last left you all. I haven't really done any more exploring, but rather got to really know the area of the Asian sıde. Social life is becoming pretty stable and have made some really good friends. I do not have work these next few days and there was word that a group of us would possibly rent a student's house over on one of the islands, but I just got word that tomorrow morning I will FINALLY be going to get my residency permit. It will be an early morning, but once it is done- we can rent a place and get our bank account set up and all that good stuff. So, I guess that whole island idea won't be happening. That will have to be another time. Also, now that the residency permit is getting taken care of- there can be travel plans in the future! That will be nice because we won't have to worry about wondering if we have to go get that permit anymore.
Travel plans to Germany for Oktoberfest are coming under way too. It is going to be such an awesome trip. We are flying into Munich and then taking a train over to Stuttgart for about 3 nights. People keep saying that the Oktoberfest there is so much more authentic and less of a tourist sight, not to mention cheaper. Anyway, Germany in general will just be amazing, so I am super stoked on that. We'll be in Munich for the last day/night and then return to reality- which still, is pretty nice. There are a few potentials to join us on this adventure and so it is just going to be crazy. Until end of September though...
Other than that, we have celebrated a few birthdays and been keeping busy. Today, we will have our weekly lunch/dinner/drinks with our friend Marc and spend a few hours at our favorite restaurant. It will be an early morning tomorrow and then Frıday- who knows. I need to get over to the islands soon! I will be starting a full schedule of classes come Saturday, so maybe I'll take it easy and do some prepping for the full days to come. Who knows though.
I have been finding a ton of new places to eat and grab coffees though. All these places look like they are small little holes in the wall, and then you walk into them and they are huge and some have gardens and nice terraces. The outsides are definitely deceiving! Anywho, there is this bar that is literally a hole in the wall. There is no name and no sign posted anywhere, but you walk through the door and there is an amazing outdoor lounge area and a few floors of the place. It was a great find!
There are a few more people living here now, so that makes this place feel a little more alive. It was so weird before walking into a huge building and rarely seeing anyone. So, it is kinda nice now... but of course this happens as we are on the verge of finding a place to live!
Anyway, I need to get going. As I am the veteran here now, I owe the newbies a tour of where to buy things. I have a ton more pictures and some more stories, but some people are waiting for the only computer that has internet right now.
Talk to you all soon, peace