Hello to whoever still checks this thing out  ;)

Here's a little glimpse into my trip to Krakow, albeit brief... sorry.  I also have to wait to get some pictures up...

So, about Krakow...   It is an absolutely gorgeous city.  It was one of the few that wasn't destroyed during the war, so there are still Medieval buildings within a true walled city center.  You walk through the gates and see a juxtaposition of the old beautiful architecture mixed with modern companies and shops... ex: McDonald's was the first thing I saw when I walked through :(, but actually NEVER saw a Starbucks :).  Anyway, the city itself was amazing, the people were extremely helpful and kind and the food was delicious (yes, the vodka and beer were too).  It was a wonderful vacation away from Istanbul for about 5 days with Greg. We took many pictures, which you can see on facebook or I can show you when I get home (for those of you who I'll see). 

I am in my second to last week here... ahhh! (That is both disbelief and excitement)  Anyway, I just wanted to get a Krakow post in before things get really crazy, don't have much time because, well... only -2 weeks.

Hope everyone is well.

Happy Holidays :)

Hello all,

A quick update on life in the 'bul...

I am quickly realizing that my time here is drawing to a close.  I have about 2 more months and so much to do!  

I need to break away from the routine of "living" here and indulge in the many treasures Istanbul has to offer.  I must say, some of my visitors have gone to more of the historical sights than I have in my 1 1/2 years here.  Ouch.  I guess that comes from having a life and job here as opposed to being on vacation.  However you look at it, I still need to hit up some of these hot spots.  

Classes are going great and it is fun to talk about future plans and whatnot with students, who seem to be extremely interested.  One of my classes now is full of high school students who sometimes come to class for the social aspect rather than

 to learn, which gets a bit tiring.  On the other hand, it is fun to turn that energy into something productive such as learning games and team competitions.  I have successfully been able to use the "team" aspect as a means of peer control and reinforcement.  They get mad when one of their teammates forgets to do his homework and refrain from talking to save negative point punishment.  These students are also very competitive and want to show off by finishing the exercises first.  It gets very exhausting, especially with a full class, but it is fun and greatly preferred to a lethargic weekend morning class.  Only 2 more months of teaching Turkish students... 

The social scene is going strong as ever, especially as Halloween creeps forward.  Turkey does not celebrate any similar holiday, so it is great fun getting our Turkish friends to dress up.  The ex-pat community takes Halloween in full stride, last year reserving a good portion of a bar for our own personal party.  This year shouldn't prove anything less.  

Well, to be honest, not much else is going on.  S

uccessfully went through my first Turkish doctor experience.  Have a very minor inner ear infection, probably was buildup, but it was causing extreme pressure on all parts of my head, constant ringing in the ears, muffled hearing and a bit of vertigo.  So, with the help of a Turkish friend, I saw a doctor, got some meds and am hoping for a speedy recovery.  Surprisingly, it was a quite quick and easy 

experience.  

Other than that, healthy, happy and looking forward to an exciting future... until then I am going to enjoy and make the most of the remaining time I have here.

My best to all, güle güle

HA!!!! This is the one he gave me first... can you imagine my reaction? ... can I take back my "yes?" Just kidding...
This is the symbolic one until we make the big purchase... smart man!

It has just become routine to update this about every 3+ months... I mean, I don't want to be too overzealous! 

So, it is now mid-September and I have only about 3 more months here in Istanbul.  It has been a good ride, but I think I am ready for my next adventure... which some of you know is marriage! Who would have thought that when I came out here July 2008 I would find the love of my life. I was prepared for a great experience... which I did have, but a different kind of experience.  For some reason I never realized that there would be a whole ex-pat community that are probably similar to me.  A community that likes to hang out together, go to sporting matches (specifically football/soccer), drink some brews and just have a good time.  I came thinking that I would be spending a lot of time with "myself".  I guess that all depends on where you end up, and life here in Kadikoy leaves no room for me time.  Enough reflection, that will come after the whole experience if over. 

Life in Kadikoy, as of September 21, 2009....

The weather has turned for the worst.  A few weeks back I felt the change and knew that summer would not be back. :( That means no more beach time, instead time for shoes, coats and umbrellas. YAY! 

Basketball has become a popular outing for some of us, as we try to cope with the fact that there is another sport in Turkey.  We've been hitting the courts early, so that we avoid both masses of people and balls flying around the single court and the unpredictable weather.  It has been great to get out there again.

School has been going quite well.  I have been enjoying the upper level classes recently, although I did start up a level 2 class that I am so excited for.  They are a younger group, so all my learning "games" will go over great with them.  They also have more energy, which is imperative for a weekend morning class if you want to avoid torture for 4 hours.  I am also starting up my first private through the company.  I will be working with a young girl who just got a job as a flight attendant.  Hopefully she's a cool chick, or else these 30 hours of one-on-one time with her could feel like 100.  Anyway, things at work right now are going alright.  Nothing major to complain about, but who really wants to hear complaining anyway??!?  The fact that I only have 3 more months might be a bit helpful too.  

Here in Turkey there are 2 major holidays.  These holidays are meant to be spent with family, but for us foreigners... it means travel time!  We have one more day of the first one, Seker Bayram, which means Sugar Holiday... it is the few days after Ramazan, where many people fast from sunrise to sunset.  They reward themselves at the end by stuffing themselves with as much food and sweets as possible, hence the name Seker/Sugar Bayram.  For this one we decided to stick around Kadikoy and make use of a few days to relax, spend time with friends and hang out.  The second holiday is Kurban Bayram.  This is when the animal sacrifices go on.  Again... time to travel, and this time we are!  We will be heading to Krakow/Crakow, Poland for some good ol' vodka (vodke) and cold weather.  Greg and I will be there for about 4 or 5 full days (cannot remember at the moment) and will treat it like our Christmas.  I am very much looking forward to seeing the motherland, well... kinda my motherland.  As time gets closer I will fill all in on the details.  Requests will hopefully be fulfilled, so send them my way.  Aunt Pam, I will look for that rolling-pin!  

Other than all that, things are normal.  No ring yet, but we have a very tempting one sitting in a shop real close that might need purchasing within the next few days.  As soon as that happens, pictures will be up!  

Well, I want to post this before my luck runs out and the internet dies.  Hope all is well and I look forward to share these future exciting times with you all! 

Love around,

Katie

Hello to all!! I have taken a little while to post something on here since being back due to having lots of catching up to do, spending time with  Kate before she left and moving into my new place.  With most of that done comes a little spare time to update you all. 

            Okay, I arrived back here after a decent flight (lucked out with interesting seat neighbors both legs of the trip).  Had to wait at passport control for about an hour, rather ridiculous really as there were guys just sitting in the booths doing nothing on the citizen’s side… and I was extremely anxious to see Greg. Oh well, I swung by Duty Free for a couple of cheap and difficult to find bottles and then was pleasantly greeted by Greg outside the terminal. Had a bit of an emotional reunion, but it was so great to be back with him again.  Went back to his to save a few extra bags worth  from having to be lugged over when I’d be moving in in about 2 weeks time anyway.  By this point I was completely exhausted (despite my hours of sleep on the planes).  Chatted and had lunch with him then took a nice, long nap.  Finally made it back to mine at about 9 to clean up and relax, only to get a call from a Nellie, a girl from Seattle, asking where I was and why I wasn’t out at the bars with them yet???  Hurried over to a group of about 6, including Kate, Michael, Nellie, her boyfriend Gavin,…, enjoying the pleasant summer night air and a cold Efes… oh how I missed that beer during the month away, Mike- you can relate on this one… Not really. Was later joined by a few more and spent the night catching up. 

            The next few days I got a bit jet-lagged and spent some of them just lounging around the house and doing a whole lot of nothing.  Went over to Nelvin’s (Nellie + Gavin) on the most often, usual Sunday brunch and chill day.  They had some friends in town visiting from home, so Sunday afternoon turned into Sunday evening and then into late Sunday night/early Monday morning. Good times.

 Since being back, we had a fantastic boat party.  A group of 23 of us rented a boat for the day and road up the Bosphorus, parked ourselves in a cove near the mouth of The Black Sea, and spent the day flipping off the top of the boat, enjoying some drinks, swimming, sunbathing, eating delicious BBQ and being catered to by the kind workers.  The price seemed a little steep at first (75TL + tip per head), but after a full day of pure enjoyment, sun and great service, it actually seemed as if we got a deal and were ripping them off.  The day was perfect. The sun was shining, not too hot though.  The boat was good size (not too big that we were too spread out and not too small that we couldn’t lounge around and feel like we were on top of someone else sunbathing next to us).  We all agreed that “life sucks!” (note the sarcasm and if you are a facebook user, hence the name of my album for the day) and that we might have to do it again.  One of the surreal moments on the boat was when we had run out of beer (go figure, 18 English teachers??!!?!?!, 2 American tourists, 2 German dudes and a Frenchie) and the guys had actually called in an order to be delivered by another boat to ours to restock us! Afterwards, Greg, Jeff, Kate and I grabbed some food back in Kadikoy and had a few more beers at Aborjin.  After a day of constant human action to the max, it was nice to be with a smaller, more personal group.  Night was creeping upon us so Kate and Jeff went home leaving Greg and I to tough it out and attempt to hang out with some of the crew that couldn’t make it on the boat.  We got very tired after a few hours (who would have thought??!!) and made way home.  I’d say it was a great day!

I spent the next few days with Kate, seeing as she was leaving in hours’ time. Took Nelvin and crew out to breakfast and then into Rumeli Hisari (a beautiful, old fortress right off the Bosphorus).  We made our way back to Taksim to show off the gorgeous views  of Sultanahmet and the Bosphorus some of these bars have.  After that, called it a semi-early night. 

Oh, what else?  Had a nice time with Kate before she peaced out and sent her on her way back to the states.  Have finally moved completely in to our new place.  Michael and I left our nice apartment in the beautiful Moda to move in with Greg and Jeff over in Acibadem.  It is a little more culturally authentic and is a new change of scenery, so that’s nice… not to mention the drastic change in rent, which is about half of what we paid in Moda.  The weather is still hot and muggy AND it is rumored the water will be shut off tomorrow!!!! Yay! So I spent part of my evening making sure I showered, got all the dishes done and had some spare water bowls around- in case the rumor is true!  I finally got back to work also!  I took over 3 classes from Padraic, who has left English Time.  I am working Wed, Thurs, Fri mornings and Thurs, Fri nights as well as Sat and Sun mornings.  The classes all seem great and to be good people, so it will make getting back into the swing of things a little easier, especially after having not worked for about 2 months! Wow! It did feel good to get back in the classroom though, so I’m guessing that is a good sign. 

We will be celebrating 4^th of July at one of our regular bars with a potluck.  It should be a good time, even though there are only about 6 of us Americans here to celebrate it… the rest are other ex-pats that really just appreciate an excuse to have a party.  Other than that, hope to get out to the islands soon to soak up the sun.  We are having a housewarming party this next week, which again is kinda an excuse to have a party… although housewarming parties are very traditional here in Turkey, but I think we have a different idea of what goes on at one. J 

As for now, we are just trying not to melt and/or smell like a Turk (that’s not a stab at them, it is honestly true of most).  I hope all is well back home! Enjoy the summer sun (if it has come out yet) and send me an e-mail every once in awhile.  I appreciate hearing from all you and your whereabouts too!

Love to all!

Contract #2 begins

Here I begin round two of my time in Istanbul...
The last blog wasn't so successful towards the second half (prob a bit before too) of my trip, so I hope to improve that this time around.
So yes, back in the 'bul awaiting my first classes and trying to get back into the swing of things. The jet-lag has been a little obstacle in reconnecting with friends, but then again I live in a late-night town, so time is not an issue.
The weather is turning towards summer heat and humidity. It hasn't been too bad since I got here, but that will be soon to come.
Well, not much to report from here, but I really do hope to better my blogging skills over the next 6 months I am here. Hope all is well and report to you soon!

Dork Visits!

Come Monday I was feeling great and ready for Mike to come visit!  He arrived on Wednesday and was welcomed by a big “DORK” sign Kate, who also goes by the name of “The Kernal”, and I had made him.  We made our way back to my place and decided to stay in and watch the football match in the comfort of home.  Greg and our friend Ben came over and we just enjoyed the match and hung out after.  We kept it a low-key night, knowing that Mike had just traveled for about a day straight and would need his rest… and rest is what he did.  Morning to him the next day was about 4 or 5, which is completely understandable.  I forced him to come into my class and the students absolutely loved it!  He came for an hour and then went with The Kernal and our friend Chad to grab some grub and a beer.  I met up with them after and we made our way over to “Heaven”, our choice of places to grab a cheap brew.  Our friend Chloe came to meet up and we all hung out there for a bit.  The next day, we slept in and then explored a bit of Kadikoy and my neck of the woods, so that he could get around while I was working the next two days.  We did that and then went across to Europe.  We walked Istiklal, the major/popular street in Taksim.  We checked out some nice rooftop bars and ran into a friend, so decided to grab a brew with him and hang out for a little bit, breaking up our journey a little.  After, we went to this bar called 360°.  It is called such for obvious reasons.  The place has an awesome view of the city and the Bosphorus.  Although their drink prices are a bit steep, they are somewhat reasonable for the place and views.  We decided that we should splurge and get one… which we all decided on a margarita- how Californian of us… but hey, “when in Istanbul…”.  After our tasty treats, we made our way back to the ferry, parted with The Kernal so she could make it back in time for her private, and slowly explored our way back.  Back in Kadikoy, we met up with Greg and another friend Jon for some food and beers at a place called Aborjin, before they were off to the Fenerbahce game.  We were joined by a Turkish student of Greg’s and some of his friends, one of which paid for everyone’s tab before he left.  Mike and I decided to stick around and watch the game there and were later joined by The Kernal, Michael, Ben, a pal Justin, and a Turkish student Ilker.  We had a good time chatting it up and watching the game.  We didn’t stay out too late because the next day we all had to work early and long hours. 

Work went slowly those two days, and poor Mike was still recovering from being jet-lagged.  I drew him a decent map of how to get back to where I worked, because that Saturday we were leaving right after work to go to one of our student’s houses for a going away party. Hulya was moving to Brighton to expand her English and live with a host family.  We finally made it to her house, after a complete tour of the neighborhood, and were absolutely amazed at this place! The décor was so nice and cute, but what really made the place was the view.  One whole side of the place was basically windows- for good reasons: they had an astonishing view of the Bosphorus and the bridge and Europe.  As the night went on, I never got used to the sights.  It must be a treat to wake up in the morning and have your coffee with that view! She ended up opening her gifts and was so lucky to receive a laptop from a handful of her friends! Whoa! It was a good night and nice to see her before she left. 

The next few days we spent our time exploring Istanbul.  We attempted to go to Dolmabahce Palace one day (Tuesday, I think), but found it was closed that day- of course! So, Mike had to go back there on one of the days that I had to work. So, we ended up walking around Besiktas area and seeing some of the sights.  There were some fake cannons in a plaza area and we thought it was the perfect photo-op to get inside and act as though we were getting shot out. The first attempt went fine, except the camera didn’t take.  So, I decided to get back in- only this time my foot got caught and my leg was stuck in there upright… it was absolutely hilarious and took a good 30+ seconds to get me out.  I think those pictures are better than the one that somehow didn’t turn out! After that, we walked for a good distance over to Ortakoy, a cute town on the water.  We spotted a MEXICAN food restaurant and decided that it was absolutely necessary to get some guacamole! We ended up with a margarita, guac and some cheese dip.  It probably wasn’t the best… but when you haven’t had these things for months, it doesn’t matter.  It was delicious!  After that, we walked around the area.  We went inside the Ortakoy Mosque (The New Mosque).  We decided it was getting late and returned to Asia. Before getting on the ferry, we decided we were going to try to be the first one’s on.  It is hilarious, because the people here have to be the first on and the first off.  They actually line up at the exit ten minutes before, just so they can get off right away- many times before the boat has even stopped.  Anyway, we raced onto the boat and Mike was actually the first on- quite an honor!!! I came in with a short-second.  It was hilarious, bc there were so many others doing the same thing, but seriously.  We did it then kinda cheered, but the natives just kept running and hurrying to get that seat! Anyway, we spent our ride joking about the scene and thinking a great way to spend a day would be to sit and bet who the first one off the boat would be.  We never got around to it when he was here. 

The days came and went so quickly, and it was just so nice to hang out with him and be ourselves.  We spent a day checking out the area of Sultanahmet: the underground cistern, The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.  I had never been inside these sights, so it was a treat for me as well.  Hagia Sophia was absolutely astonishing.  The details inside and such extravagance were somewhat overwhelming.  I was taking picture after picture… until my battery died on my camera.  We decided to purchase a 17 YTL disposal camera, that was the size of a brick, to finish capturing the place.  After the attractions, we ended up at a British Pub and got some snacks.  We explored the Spice Bazaar after, which is actually small and then made our way back to Asia.  A few times we met up with some friends to watch a game and have some food… seems to kinda be a routine thing here.  We also tried to introduce the English teachers to some new drinking games from America.  Those nights were absolutely hilarious and a good time.

We were lucky to go and watch a Besiktas game with Ben, his girlfriend Ozlem, and Kate.  The stadium is in a natural pocket of the hill, making for great acoustics.  The view is also amazing, the field with the Bosphorus just past in the distance.  We watched that game one Friday night and then Saturday, Greg had bought us tickets to the Fenerbahce game.  I arranged it with my students to end a bit early and meet up with the guys, who had eaten dinner and hung out for a bit beforehand. The stadium wasn’t full, but these fans are so dedicated and full of energy it didn’t matter. The game was awesome and we had a great time. 

The next night after work, we went out to dinner with Greg and his parents (who were visiting for a few days), as well as Jeff- his friend Mark, who was visiting and Carol.  We ate at Otantik, although Mike and I had to sit across the aisle from them, bc the guys working there couldn’t get the idea that a group of 8 didn’t mean 6…. Anyway, it was a nice dinner, but I don’t think Mike and I heard half of the convo’s going on at the other table.  After dinner, we met up with Kate and Michael for a beer before going home to bed. 

We had a Halloween party at our place on the Tuesday before Mike left, because the following day was a holiday.  That way, no one had an excuse not to come!  It turned out to be really nice and lots of people showed up… including the cops.  Apparently he was driving by and saw everyone, but it really was not a big deal.  We lowered the music and a few people left.  The next day we enjoyed the tidying of the house after a big gathering, grabbed a quick bite to eat, hung around and then went over to this Mongolian BBQ place near Bagdat Street, which is the equivalent to our Rodeo Drive.  We had a huge dinner and some wine.  It was a treat and a nice end to Mike’s trip.  The restaurant offers meals or a buffet that is all you can eat and you make up your own meal.  We all decided that was the best choice and made numerous trips through the line, trying different combinations.  We indulged and stuffed our stomachs silly, then had to make the trek home.  Mike, Kate and I stayed up for a bit watching a movie and hanging out.  We caught a few hours of sleep before Mike and I grabbed a cab to the airport… no, it was over! We got him checked in and then grabbed a coffee before he had to go on his way.  It was a very short 2 weeks he was here and it meant the world to me that he came out.  I had such a good time and although we probably didn’t do everything he wanted to do, it was just nice to spend time with, bond, and show him my life here in Istanbul. 

He left on Thursday morning and I slowly made my way back to Kadikoy.  Since he left, things have been somewhat the same…