Turkish school!

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It's been a busy few days in the Hogan household (and by household, I mean hotel room).  The biggest update is that both of us have started Turkish lessons.  I go in the morning, Mike meets me and we go for lunch, and then Mike goes in the afternoon.  

I don't know if I'll ever be fluent, but I definitely want to be able to navigate life by myself and not rely on Mike to do every.single.little.thing. I dream of the day where I can go to the grocery store by myself and order off of a menu.  

I know, big dreams.

Anyways, school has been an interesting experience so far.  Turkish is hard.   A lot harder than I remember French being in the beginning.  The fact that it's not a romance language doesn't help.  None of the words resemble English and the sentence structure is wayyyyy different.  

The struggle is real. 

There is one other girl in the class.  Her dad is Turkish, but her family lives in Germany and comes to Izmir during the summers (rough life).  She can understand some Turkish but can't really speak it, so she's taking the beginner class with me. She's pretty nice and speaks pretty good English, so we can communicate, which is nice. My teacher is only a couple years older than me and doesn't speak as good of English as the other girl.  So, my classes are basically in Turkish with a little English thrown in every once in a while. The other girl definitely shows me up, but I'm hanging in there. 

So far, I've learned how to say "My name is Sarah," "good morning" and "pencil" along with a slew of other things.  Basically, I'm fluent.

Yeah right.  I have a new found appreciation English Language Learners in schools and basically anyone who tries to learn a new language. 

Anyways, school lasts a little less than four hours, so I'm done at 12:45.  Mike and I have lunch and stroll around until a little before 2:00 when he starts class.  I then walk back to my hotel (yes, I walk back by myself! Major accomplishment in the Sarah-feeling-more-comfortable realm) and take a little nap before starting my Turkish homework and going to the gym. 

Mike, on the other hand, has been running around like a chicken with his head cut off.  He's been running a ton of errands to help us get settled.  Today's errands were getting a cell phone for himself (I have to go with him for mine, so we'll save that for another day) and arranging for wi-fi to be set up in our new apartment this weekend.  This was day three of trying to get a cell phone since every place he goes sends him to another office (pretty much the norm here so it seems).  All I have to say is God bless Mike.

Overall, it's been a busy week for the Hogan household. The transition is still wearing on us me and there are lots of moments where we I miss home, but we're slowly but surely figuring things out. Tomorrow, Mike going to sign the lease and we'll move in on Friday.  Say a little prayer everything goes smoothly.

because...happy hour.

Well, well, well, look what I found.  It's not quite Diet Coke,, but it will do for now. 

This.