Turkish Whirlwind!

It hasn't been 2 months since our last blog post......really....

This past month has flown by faster than any in recent memory, but first I'll (Kindra) backtrack to where we left off and reflect quickly on the holidays.

We kicked off the Christmas season with a Christmas party at our *now old* apartment for coworkers from Amerikan Kultur, complete with cookie decorating and carols. Despite the fact that we had to work Christmas Eve AND Day, we a wonderful Christmas in Izmir, watching 'Elf,' going ice skating, and even eating out at the only "Mexican" restaurant in town (which certainly was a far cry from Santa Barbara, but still great.)

Since Christmas, we have been in an absolute WHIRLWIND of changes and more new things, starting with the biggest: a new apartment.

We knew going into our agreement with our old place that we may not be able to stay for the entire time we were here, but it was still an emotional and difficult period for me. Saying goodbye again to a place that had become home and familiar was far from what I wanted to do, but since the owners had another group coming in and there wasn't enough room for all of us to stay, we had little choice in the matter. So we began what turned out to be an outrageously confusing, frustrating, and unpredictable experience. 2 of my more advanced B2 students, Burcu and Devran, basically took us under their wing and came with us to look at apartments, call people, translate, ask questions, steer us clear of shady people/places and generally find an apartment for us for an entire week! Without their help, we have no idea what we would have ended up with: as it is, we found a wonderful place right across the street from the biggest park in Izmir, with 3 bedrooms and a gigantic living room. For almost exactly 1/2 the price we were previously paying.

After an exhausting/disappointing/emotional week of house hunting, we signed the lease, which was a whole experience in itself of drinking chai with the landlord and realtor for 1 1/2 hours while the realtor wrote up the lease by hand, only to enter into the next, far more challenging hurdle-making the apartment into a home.

One of the reasons the apartment is 1/2 the price is that it's 2x older, and hasn't been lived in for we don't know how long, but the previous tenants were students....it is the definition of a fixer upper. Oh, and it was empty, meaning no furniture. And in Turkey, no furniture means NO furniture: no refrigerator, no stove, no light bulbs, sometimes no light fixtures....there's a reason they call them "bosh", which literally means "empty."Step 1 though was to make the place liveable. No small task, considering we were starting from the place of sitting down on the old, wooden floors to eat dinner, and would stand up with layers of dust, dirt and grime attached to our entire bodies. I can't remember any time I've cleaned more in my entire life, but the end result has been absolutely worth the effort and that much sweeter. Step 2 was to find furniture, for which we employed the help of Burcu and Devran again, which was another crazy, cultural experience.

Step 3 was a rather unexpected one- preparing our guest room. We had known that our French friends that we met on the road in Croatia would be coming to visit, but we had no idea when or how long they would stay. We found out after "living" in our new place for 1 week in our new pad, which really means cleaning and working our asses off for 1 week, that our friends would be coming in 2 days- woohoo!!! Also, oh, crap-we JUST finished making the place liveable today, and haven't even started on a guest room....but yay!

And so began the terrific 2 weeks we've just passed of having our lovely Frenchies stay with us. It was a time of belly laughs, amazing French food, and community. We went on hikes and ice skating, made bonfires, had dance nights, played countless games of Dominion, engaged in several nerf battles, played soccer, and hosted a house warming party for our Amerikan Kultur colleagues. But one of the coolest things we did with them is take in 2 kittens from our local park!! They're each 3 months old, and were sufficiently pathetic looking to convince us to take them in. They have been a source of supreme joy and laughter for us, and we just named them today. Saffron and Cossette have stolen our hearts!

I've learned afresh why French is one of the coolest languages in the world and many moments just sat next to them listening, enraptured by the intonations and musicality of every word (even when they were just talking about what to do for dinner.) Did you know that there are several words for kissing in French, depending on what kind of kiss it is? Aggressive, romantic, slow, fast, etc. In French each of these has its own word. Don't even get me started on the words for making love: they have phrases like "the 6th sense," "entering the Garden of Eden," and way more that are all significantly more romantic and poetic than the "it's business time."

Esteban and Zihya left this afternoon, and it's just Austin and I in our new apartment for the fist time since we made it inhabitable. With cutting our work hours at Amerikan Kultur in half and beginning more lucrative private tutoring, we should have much more time to do the things that we love most: hiking, being outside, connecting with God, learning new things, making new friends, and traveling. Our French friends will be back from their Turkish couch surfing/hitchhiking adventures in about 3 weeks, and in the meantime we will be doing.....well who knows, really? We'll be taking each day as it comes, and savoring the moments in a world where anything is possible. For now, at least, we'll start with trying to get an oven that works and gas so we can have hot water. =)

Enjoying Christmas Day with Elf and a hot chocolate =)

Our Christmas loot!

The tree we painted in our new living room with Esteban and Zihya

Our Christmas party at our old apartments, with some coworkers.

We learned about light drawings from the Frenchies, and experimented during our bonfire.

Savoring a sunset from the park across our apartment.

Our new kittens from the park, Cossette and Saffron.

The house warming party at our new place, with 2 pictures as gifts from coworkers.

With one of my students and friends who helped us with our housing debacles, Devran.

Some of our favorite students and coworkers, from L-R: Umut, Nevzat, Aycha, Burcu, Devran, Tulparay.

Beautiful Zihya

Austin posing with a new house warming gift.

From our balcony window.

We found a terrific free world map, so naturally it's on our wall!

Esteban!

Burcu with her gorgeous dog Caramel playing at the park.

Our view from our living room. Not so bad...

From Fehtiye, where we spent New Years Eve!

Yuuuum!

The uncle of our coworker Aycha, who took us and another coworker, Tulparay, to her families house in Fehtiye/Mulaga for NYE

Aycha with her cousin.

Tulparay and Aycha.

Fehtiye is absolutely beautiful.

Austin took a NY dip in the ocean!

On the drive from Mulaga to Fehtiye.

At her families house in Mulaga.

We were treated to a totally organic, home grown, traditional Turkish breakfast in Mulaga. A meal we still talk about.

The city square of Bornova, where we work at Amerikan Kultur.

Our fish!! Before the black one started eating the white one they lived together, now they have their own tanks.

Austin took a trip to Mars when a friend Uluch took us on a tour of his work at Space Camp Turkey.

Flight control, we are ready for launch.

The next astronaut

The beautiful ruins of Agora in Izmir

Agora