Bustin' Outta This Joint

Mike and I joke that we're never actually going to move somewhere together. Last year, Mike left for Izmir about two weeks before I got there.   This time around, we didn't end up leaving at the same time either, but that was more by choice....kind of.

Let's back up though.  Thursday was crazy although not quite as stressful.  We packed everything up and tried to breath after holding our breath for a week, but the most exciting part of the day was when the Navy sent Mike a ticket for a flight out of Turkey for the next day!! I wanted to cry I was so happy.  We broke out of the hotel for one last stroll along the kordon and one last glass of tea to celebrate

Alright Izmir, you aren't terrible....

 Normally, the Navy would buy both of our flights for a move, but since I had already been evacuated and moved out by the Navy, they only purchased a flight for Mike.  That was one risk we knew we were taking when I decided to come back for the move.  We began looking for flights for me around the same time as Mike's, but they all had a layover in Istanbul.  I really wanted to avoid that, just in case something happened, especially since I wasn't going to be with Mike.  I didn't think anything would happen, but it was a risk I wasn't willing to take.

Instead, I opted for a flight a few hours later than Mike.  I wasn't pleased to be leaving without Mike and I definitely didn't like to be the last one out of the country, but it was the best option.  I headed to the airport with a duffel bag and another carry on, a suitcase to check and two beach chairs.  In Europe, they have these stands in the airports where you can get your luggage wrapped with plastic.  I never understood why anyone would do that, but we needed to package the beach chairs together and we couldn't find a box big enough.  This plastic wrap was the perfect solution! The guy kind of laughed at me when I asked him to wrap the chairs, but he did and I was happy as a clam.

Those green things? They're beach chairs!

I've never been afraid of flying or being in an airport, but that morning, I definitely had a heightened sense of awareness that morning.  Like I said, I didn't think anything was going to happen, but I also didn't think a coup was going to happen.  Add in a language barrier and I was a nervous nelly. I got a text from Mike while I was waiting to check in (of course, there was no organization to the check in line because...Turkey) to say that he had landed in Berlin and I let out a sigh of relief.  One Hogan down, one to go.  After finally checking in, making it past customs and grabbing something to eat, I boarded the plane and said Gorusuruz to Izmir one final time.

 Needless to say, for so many reasons, I was happy to have wheels on the ground when my flight landed in Berlin.

We made it!

The Moving Saga Continues....

Wednesday was supposed to be a big day.  We had to load all of our stuff we were planning to drive with into the car, have the Air Force guys come and pick up some furniture, check out of our apartment with the land lord, get the temporary plates to drive with, catch the car ferry to Athens, and be on our way to Berlin.  It was going to be a big day.

We woke up early and loaded the car full of our stuff.  Surprisingly, all of it fit and there was room to spare!  Things were looking up.  Around eight, the guys came to get the furniture and were gone by nine.  Mike had to go meet with some people on base about the car so he left and I hung out at the apartment. All along, we knew we would have to deregister the car in Turkey and get temporary plates to drive out.  When Mike got to the base, the guy asked for his Turkish ID number that he had used to register the car. It was soon discovered that he didn't have an ID number and had somehow managed to register the car (and get a cell phone) without one.  Welcome to the bureaucratic mess that is Turkey!

The only way to get temporary plates for the car was to go down to the social security office and get an ID number. We did this for me and it took 4-5 weeks and was a huge head ache! Add in the fact that, earlier that week, thousands of government employees had been arrested and fired because of the coup.  Plus, Mike is an American and Erdogan isn't thinking too highly of America because we're housing the guy he feels responsible for the coup. All of that being said, going to the social security office sounded like maybe the worst idea possible.  So, we were stuck.

Mike called me and we quickly decided that it wasn't worth the head ache of trying to get temporary plates.  Instead, we would just fly out. We could still deregister the car and ship it, so we'd still be able to get it to Germany, but it would take longer.  At this point, though, anything that would get our car and us out of Turkey was worth it.  The only issue with this plan was that the movers had already come and shipped all of our household goods, so all of the stuff that we had planned to take in the car had to somehow make it on the plane with us.   We tabled that issue for a few hours and focused on the other issue at hand....

We weren't allowed to leave Turkey.  Yup, that's right.  We were stuck.  Because we were still on FPCON Delta (aka house arrest), nobody was allowed to fly or drive out of Turkey, including people who were trying to move out.   Even if we had still planned on driving, we wouldn't have been able to do so until after Delta was lifted. So, once the landlord came and checked us out, we drove our car full of stuff over to a hotel that the Navy booked for us and tried to consolidate all of our stuff, hoping that we wouldn't be in a hotel for too long, but knowing that it could be a while.

We figured that if we could get our stuff into four checked bags and four carry-ons, we'd be good and wouldn't have to pay anything extra.  Our biggest issue was the two beach chairs that we had.  We also had a lot of cooking supplies, such as flour and spices, that we wanted to bring with us. We were kicking ourselves as we were packing because 1. If we had known we were going to fly, we could have sent all of this stuff in an express shipment via the movers to have waiting for us when we got there and 2.  The movers would have given us boxes that would have been useful to put things like beach chairs in.  Apparently, Turks never move and therefore there is no such thing as a moving or shipping supply store in Izmir.

After lots of consolidation and sitting on suitcases, we managed to get almost everything except for the food into suitcases.  The two beach chairs would get wrapped in plastic at the airport the next morning (Europeans are big on getting their suitcases wrapped in plastic. I don't get it, but it was perfect for this!).  We did manage to get a box from the commissary to put things like Mike's scuba gear and some other random stuff in.  We had to sacrifice a lot of our food, although I managed to stick a lot of the spices and stuff in random pockets, but that was the least of our worries at this point.

Once that crisis was managed, Mike called the car shipment place and made an appointment to meet with them later that day.  When they were going over the documents they needed to ship the car, we realized that somehow, the title to the car had been packed and shipped with all of our furniture.  In Turkey, they tell you not to keep your title in your car so that if your car gets stolen, you have proof that it's yours.  So, when they were packing up Mike's desk, off went the title.  At this point, I thought Mike was going to lose it.  Luckily, about a half hour later, they called back and said that they had our title in the system since we had used them to ship our car in to Turkey.  HALLELUJAH!!

Mike left quickly to ship the car before some other crisis arose.  At this point, it was around 4:00 and Delta still hadn't been lifted, so we knew that we would be hanging out in Turkey at least one more day (probably two).  So, we made our way down to the free happy hour of our hotel and settled in for the night because if anyone deserved a happy hour, it was Mike.

To sum up, we (mainly Mike) dealt with the following all in one day...
1. Realized that we couldn't drive our car out because we couldn't get temporary plates.
2. Because of this, we had to consolidate a car full of stuff into four checked bags and four carry ons.
3. Checked into a hotel indefinitely because we weren't allowed to leave Turkey
4.  Shipped our car after thinking we might not be able to.

Moving Days

On July 18th, three months after I was evacuated, we finally moved out of our house.  We had hoped to do it at the beginning of June, but orders didn't arrive in time, so we pushed it back a few weeks, only to find out the movers couldn't come because it was Ramadan.  So, here we were, in the middle of July, finally moving out of our house.

The only good thing about being stuck in your house and not being allowed to leave is that you have plenty of time to move.  Since we were planning on driving, we had set aside everything we wanted to bring with us in one room and just told the movers to not worry about that room.  When we moved to Izmir, we were flying (obviously), so we sent an express shipment of stuff, like pots and pans, an air mattress and some other essentials that arrived when we did to help survive until we got our furniture.  This time, since we were planning to drive, we basically put everything in our car that we would have sent in the express shipment.

The movers came around 8:30 on Monday and were quick.  We don't pack anything up beforehand as a liability rule.  If it breaks, we want them to have packed it.  That being said, there was a lot of stuff to pack, but they worked quickly and were out by 2:30.  They took a break for lunch around 1:00 and I was extremely jealous that they were allowed outside.  Oh the joys of house arrest....

Question of the day: Can all of that stuff (minus the lamp, bed and dryer) fit into a VW Golf?

Goodbye bedroom...

Monday and Tuesday night were spent sleeping on an air mattress under the air conditioning unit.  It was less than comfortable....

Tuesday morning came early.  The movers were back at 8:00am ready to get all of our stuff out and into the shipping crates.  When we moved in, they sent everything up in the tiny elevator or carried it up eight flights of spiral staircases.  This time, they were smart and brought the lift.

How it works: There is a truck down on the ground that has a remote control.  It controls the lift that goes up to our balcony.  The movers then put boxes on the lift and the guy down at the bottom lowers it back down.  Meanwhile, I say a prayer that nothing falls off because there aren't sides to this contraption and I'm envisioning our china or our bed frame falling eight floors.  NBD.  Welcome to Turkey.

That sofa just didn't want to fit through the door.  They had to unwrap it, take it apart, and then reassemble it down at the bottom.

Goodbye stuff. Please don't fall. 

And by 11:00am, it was all out.  I didn't think I would be sad to leave.  I never LOVED Izmir (although Turkey is something special) and it's been a tumultuous few months to say the least, but as I was standing in our empty living room, I did get a little nostalgic.  It's been an adventure.

Tuesday night, we spent sleeping on our air mattress and sitting in our beach chairs, just like we did when we first moved in.  To say I was less than pleased would be an understatement.  The air force guys were coming the next day to get our refrigerator, washer/dryer and some other furniture and the land lord would come and check us out before we planned to head out on the ferry the next night and make our way up north to Berlin.

My thoughts on moving at this point....

A Coup and House Arrest

We landed in Izmir around 7:00 on Friday night, got home, and a few hours later, a coup happened. How's that for a wild Friday night?

Actually, things were pretty calm in Izmir the entire time. Around 11:00pm, we got a Facebook message from a friend saying there was a possible coup in Turkey.  We ran out to our balcony to see what was going on and all we saw were people drinking tea.  A normal Friday night. When we turned on the news, they were reporting about Trump's VP pick (side note: we get American news, not Turkish news).  In a matter of minutes, though, things changed.  Trump was cut off mid-sentence to show images of Istanbul in chaos and Facebook and Reddit started exploding with reports of the coup.  We were told by the US military that we were to stay inside and not leave.

Still, the people of Izmir drank tea.

We quickly packed a bag in case we had to leave and sat and waited.  We watched things unfold on the news and finally people here started to get wind of what was happening up north and in their capital. Around 1:00am, cars started honking and flags waving in what we think was in support of the coup.  At some point, we watched Erdogan address the nation via FaceTime and ask his supporters to take to the streets in unity.  Around 3:00am, we decided to go to bed.  Things didn't seem to be changing in Istanbul, Ankara or in Izmir.

Still, the people of Izmir drank tea.

When we woke up on Saturday, we saw that the coup had failed.  We were still supposed to stay inside, but things in Izmir were calm.  The only people outside on Saturday morning was one guy wandering around playing Pokemon Go.  Even that night, things were quiet. We heard some more cars honking, but there weren't any protests that we saw.  Actually, it was probably one of the calmer weekends we've experienced here.

Still, the people of Izmir drank tea.

By Sunday, we received word that the commissary would be open for two hours and that we would be allowed to leave our house for food.  Mike went and stocked up on stuff to get us through the next few days, while I stayed at home and prepared for the movers that were coming the next day.  Things outside stayed calm, but more and more people were out and about.  We heard about ongoing protests in Istanbul and Ankara and some of unrest within the government, but things in Izmir resumed as normal.

Still, the people of Izmir drank tea.

We went to bed on Sunday ready for the movers to come, but unsure of when we'd be allowed to leave the house...or the country.

Gule Gule Turkey!

WOW! What a week it has been.  It seems like Easter was years ago because so much has happened.  I'm sure that most of you have already heard the big news because it seems like every major news source knows more than we do, but in case you haven't heard, I'm leaving Turkey!  Tuesday (the same day as my LASIK eye surgery), we found out that there was a mandatory dependents recall for all dependents living in southern Turkey, Izmir and Mugla.  Surprisingly, Istanbul and Ankara were not included.

It all started Monday night when Mike got a phone call saying there was a mandatory meeting for military members the next morning at the NATO base.  Mike was less than thrilled to have to miss class, but was out the door the next morning.  I went to Turkish class, figuring it was just another meeting about safety and nothing of importance.  During class, I texted Mike to say that I was going to go to lunch with my classmates and he replied with "That's not a good idea, you need to come home."  That's when I knew it was serious. After class, I rushed home to find out the big news.  All we knew was that there was a mandatory dependents (spouses and children) recall, so that I would be leaving and most likely heading to Germany where there are a few large military bases.  We didn't really have a timeline of any sort, but it was just enough news to send us into chaos mode.  Despite knowing this, we still chose to go ahead with LASIK.  We knew that I wouldn't be leaving before Thursday and many people are able to travel within a couple of days of doing it.  I guess it was a big risk, but we knew we'd be spending Tuesday just sitting around waiting for news, so we might as well sit around and get my eyes done.

All the while, we had been told that we must wait to tell people until after it was made public.  We kept checking the embassy website and waiting for word from people that we could let our friends and family know what was happening.  Somehow, though, the media got a hold of the information and, within hours, all major American news sources were reporting on the recall.  I got so many different texts, Facebook messages and emails about this, it was insane.  You guys really know how to make us feel loved! It wasn't exactly how I wanted to break the news to people, but that's what happened.

Wednesday, we headed to the base for a meeting, hoping to get more clarity on a timeline.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much new information.  The colonel at the base is filing an exception memo for all of the families with children so they can finish out the school year at the DoD school in Germany together.  He's also filling one out for me and another wife so that we can stay in Germany while we figure out what our husbands are going to do.  The goal for Mike is to finish the semester here and then move somewhere in Europe so that he can write his thesis next year and still continue to travel and finish the program.  If this ends up working out, I will stay in Germany until the end of the semester and then move wherever we end up with him this summer.   Because of these exceptions, we were unable to get a timeline since we have to wait for them to be approved.  When we were at the meeting, we were able to do all sorts of other things, like provide passport numbers and banking information so we can get things like airline tickets and per diem when the time comes.  It was chaotic, but productive.

Thursday was a day of waiting.  We thought the exceptions might get approved that day, but no news came in.

Today, we attended a meeting and were able to get more definite details.  I was booked on a flight for Monday and will arrive in Ramstein that afternoon.  There is already one family from Izmir there (they were on vacation when the official notice was given and weren't allowed to come back to Turkey! I can't even imagine! They have two kids!) and I've been in contact with them.  The base has arranged for someone to come and pick me and the other family up and escort us to living arrangements on base.  We are provided with a small, fully furnished apartment with a kitchenette. The base is one of the largest in the world and has all sorts of amenities, so I think it will be an easier transition than some other places.  Everyone keeps reminding me that there is a Chili's and a movie theater on base! I'm not sure how much I'll be eating at Chili's but I know that I will take advantage of the Chipotle in Frankfurt at least once while I'm in Germany!

Unfortunately, we were not as surprised as some might think when we found out the news.  We've been hearing things for the past few months that have lead us to think this was a possibility.  We were a little surprised at the timing, but ultimately, were not that surprised.  It's not the best timing (my best friend Karen is coming next weekend for a month!) but it's also not the worst.  Mike will still be able to finish his semester and hopefully his program.  We're also extremely grateful that we don't have kids that have to go through this.  My heart breaks thinking of the children who are going to go to their second school in one school year and then will be moved and start a third school at the beginning of next year.  I also feel sad for the Turkish people who are unable to leave the country, even if they felt unsafe.  Getting a visa as a Turkish citizen is extremely difficult and moving is expensive. All in all, we're lucky.  This will be a little stressful, but not nearly as stressful as it could be.  Plus, I'll get to explore Germany a little more!  I'm welcoming any and all visitors!

When we found out the big news, Mike immediately started singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane," which inspired us to make a whole Evacuation Playlist for me.  We'll take any and all suggestions!  Here's what we've got so far.

1. Evacuate the Dance Floor
2. Leaving on a Jet Plane
3. Bye Bye Bye
4.  When I'm Gone (the cup song)
5. I'll be Missing You -Puff Daddy
6. See You Again- Wiz Khalifa
7.  So Long, Farewell- Sound of Music
8. Never Can Say Goodbye- Gloria Gaynor
9. Hello Goodbye- The Beatles
10. Closing Time- Semi Sonic
11. Ticket to Ride- The Beatles
12. Let It Be- The Beatles
13. All You Need is Love- The Beatles
14. I Will Remember You
15. 1000 Miles Away
16. Homeward Bound
17. On the Road Again
18. Born to Run

Thank you again to everyone who reached out to check on us and make sure we're okay.  We feel completely safe in Turkey and were not planning on this, but we're trying to make the most of it.  If anyone wants to take a spontaneous trip to Germany, I'll be there waiting! 

New Eyes!

I'm typing this blogpost with new eyes! Well...almost! Yesterday, I had LASIK done and it's amazing how fast of a recovery it is!

Let's back up though.  I'm sure that when you read that I had LASIK, you were like "Wait. You had LASIK in Turkey?"  At least, that was my reaction when Mike suggested it.  There was no way I was going to go to some hole in the wall, shady doctor's office and have them operate on my eyes.  Once again, though, Turkey has proved me wrong.   Apparently, Turkey is a huge medical tourism location, especially for LASIK.  When we started looking into having it done here, we found a company that sets up a whole vacation for you surrounding your procedure.  You pay a flat fee that includes your airfare, hotel, the procedure and three days of sightseeing in Izmir or Istanbul.  How crazy is that?!

Obviously, I didn't need the whole travel package, but I did contact the doctor associated with this and made an appointment to meet with her and discuss details, as well as make sure I was comfortable with the doctor herself.  When I called to make the consultation appointment, they wanted to do it in the morning and then have the procedure done in the afternoon, but I wasn't quite ready for that quick of a turn around.  Instead, I agreed to meet with her on a Friday and to go from there.

The consultation was great.  The nurses and receptionist didn't speak much English, which made me a little hesitant, but the doctor spoke very clear and fluent English, which eased my nerves.  After talking to her about the procedure and how it would work, we set up the appointment for Tuesday.

Tuesday came and was pretty chaotic (I'll get to that in another post at some point...), but we decided to go ahead with the procedure.  I arrived at 3:30, but spent the first hour waiting and hanging out.  They did do some test on my eyes, but for the most part, we were just waiting.  It was rough because I was antsy and starting to think about what they were actually going to do, which I had successfully avoided doing before this.

Around 4:45, they came and got me and took me upstairs. The procedure went extremely quickly and I was done and back in the room with Mike around 5:20.  Overall, the procedure was pretty easy.  I realized, though, that whenever anyone tries to touch anywhere on my face, I close my eyes.  Like, at the dentist, I usually just close my eyes.  This whole strategy obviously didn't work out and I was pretty tense, but luckily, it really didn't hurt and the doctors were great.

When it was over, they took me back in the room where Mike was. I felt completely fine at first, and then all of a sudden my eyes started burning.  By the time we got in the cab to go home, I could barely open my eyes and had tears streaming down my face.  Mike guided me like the blind person that I was to our bed room where I fell asleep for an hour.  When I woke up, my eyes still hurt and I found that sitting in the bathroom where there is absolutely no light was the only solution.  Luckily, the burning subsided once I was able to put drops in my eyes and by the end of the night, I was able to hang out, although I was still struggling a little and looking at a computer screen was definitely not an option.

This morning, we returned to the doctor for a follow up and she said everything looked good.  She said that my distance vision would still be a little blurry (which it is), but that's completely normal and would get better within the next few days.  Today was pretty incredible because I was able to live my life almost normally.  I went to a meeting and was able to fill out paper work.  I was looking at my phone and am now typing on the computer.  The only things I've noticed are that I have a little bit of a headache because I think my eyes are tired and my distance vision is not quite there yet, but other than that, it's like whole new eyes.  Oh and I look like I've been getting high because my eyes are so blood shot, but really, minor details.  :)

I'm so glad that we decided to do this.  Last year, I ended up paying ~$300 for contact lenses and a contact lens consultation because they aren't included in our insurance.  We payed ~$1300 (thank you tax return!) for LASIK in Turkey, so in five years, we will have saved money.  I felt completely comfortable with the doctor and she was extremely professional.  Overall, it's been a great experience and I'm thankful that we chose to do it.

Easter in Izmir

Paskalya bayraminiz kutlu olsun and happy Easter from Izmir!  We hope that, if you celebrate Easter, you had a beautiful spring day spent celebrating exactly as you wished! We spent our first weekend in Izmir in a few weeks celebrating.

Saturday was supposed to be a day of nothing, but it really ended up being a day of cooking.  We have this tradition that I carried over from my parents' house that Saturdays always start with pancakes.  Sometimes it's waffles and bacon is almost always a welcome addition, but we always do brunch.  It's so nice to spend the morning in our pajamas, eating pancakes and enjoying not having to rush off.  Anyways, I digress.  After our typical pancake breakfast, I prepared the mashed potatoes and the cheese cake for our Easter dinner. 

Sunday, we got up and headed to mass.  On holidays, the church only offers one mass, but it's in Turkish, English, and Italian.  On Christmas Eve, they had the homily in English, as well as one of the readings and a few verses of hymns.  Easter was a little lot different.  There was only one reading in English and our homily was translated on a piece of paper in the bulletin.  I was able to follow along because I've been going to Catholic mass for 27 years and luckily, like most things Catholic, the order of the mass hasn't changed.  Mike was able to read the Turkish in the bulletin, but neither of us walked away with that "Hallelujah! He is Risen!" feeling.  I think we'll have to reassess our church strategy. 

After church, we came back home and prepared our Easter dinner.  I always think of lamb on Easter for some reason, so Mike very willingly agreed to be in charge of cooking a leg of lamb while I prepared all of the sides. 

Mike has made two friends from his school who we invited over to help us eat food.  We were going to make the same amount of food, regardless of how many people we had, so we figured we should enlist some help.  These guys are right out of college guys, so definitely a different lifestyle than us (they came over super hungover from their Saturday night) and aren't even Christian, but they're a lot of fun and can definitely eat.  We had a lot of fun and ended the evening all feeling very full from cheese cake and lots of lamb.  We also played Cards Against Humanity, so any sort of moral points we earned from going to church that morning were washed down the drain after a few rounds of that game.  I don't know if I should be proud or not that I won. 

After Murat and Yashar left, we Facetimed with my family who was at my aunt's house for Easter dinner. Congrats to my cousin J.P. for getting a teaching job as a middle school band teacher starting in the fall after graduation! So proud of my fellow JMU duke!  I love FaceTiming with them because I just get passed around, told the same story a million times, and people are just so excited.  They really know how to make a girl feel loved!

We ended the night with video chatting with this little one and her parents.  Mike and I are enamored with her.  We spent a good 20 minutes last night just watching her roll over.  You would have thought she won an Olympic medal or something.  She's always been really cute, but now that she's up and moving, she's almost too much to handle.  The other day, we were video chatting with her and when she heard our voices, she started flapping her arms and smiling.  I wish I could say she was excited to see us, but I think really she was just more excited about the computer screen itself.  She's been practicing her typing skills pretty frequently. 

Getting some typing practice in.  Gotta increase that WPM!

LOOK AT THOSE FEET!! I can't handle this guys!

Pretty sure Mike and I were holding ourselves back from giving her a standing ovation for rolling over.  What have our lives come to?

"Look guys! I can roll over both ways!"

And because I know you guys love Emma pictures (ha!), here's one of our favorite little Easter rabbit.  She had to go down for a nap while we were chatting, but her mom made sure we got pictures of her post-nap outfit.

Just like Christmas, this Easter was much different than what Mike and I are used to, but it wasn't bad and we had fun making it our own day.  I didn't walk away feeling super inspired or motivated, but I had a great time celebrating.  Until next year, little Emma bunny!  Uncle Mike and Aunty Sarah love you!

Mutlu Yillar!

Happy New Year from Izmir, Turkey! I know it's a week late, but better late than never, right?

The day started out kind of early because Poorna was leaving that morning.  Her flight was originally scheduled for 10:30, but when we woke up, it was cancelled.  She had a 2pm flight from Istanbul to Boston and when we checked the news and saw reports of a snowstorm in Istanbul, we knew we should get to the airport and figure out what to do.

When we got to the airport, we were able to get her a ticket for another flight that left around the same time as her original flight, which was a huge relief.  I left her after a sad goodbye and headed home.  Around noon, Mike got a phone call from a random Turkish number and when he answered, it was Poorna!  Her new flight to Istanbul had been delayed/cancelled (I don't remember), so they rebooked her entire itinerary for the next day, New Year's Day!  I was excited because that meant that she would get to bring in the new year with us.

She braved the metro by herself (it's actually really easy, but I'm always nervous to do things by myself here) and was back at our house by 1:00.  We spent the rest of the afternoon grocery shopping and relaxing at our apartment.  Entertaining is as exhausting as traveling, so I think all three of us were glad to just lounge around and relax after a busy week of exploration.

That night, Mike's good friend Murat, as well as a couple of his classmates and classmates' friends came over for New Years. I think altogether we had eight people.  It was fun to just hang out with them.  I pulled up the official time for Istanbul so we could count down and we stood out on the balcony waiting for fireworks.  There were other people out on their balconies, as well.  Our group began counting down in four different languages (English, French, Arabic, and Turkish), but around five, we noticed no one on the other balconies was counting down yet.  We continued since we had to official atomic clock pulled up and, when we got to zero, we wished each other happy new year. Then, about a minute later, we heard the people on the other balcony counting down and just laughed.  In typical Turkish fashion, they were late.  Or, I guess you could laugh and say in typical American fashion, we had to be first.  Either way, it was pretty funny.





Poorna's flight the next morning was at 9:30, so we had to be up early the next morning.  We both headed to bed shortly after we brought in the new year and said goodnight to our guests.  The next morning, we returned to the airport to find out that her flight was once again delayed, but only for an hour.  Once again, I left the airport with the instructions to come back to our house if she couldn't make it on a flight today.  I knew she wanted to get home though, so I was hoping that she wouldn't have to come back again.

Once I left, it sounds like things went from bad to worse.  She ended up being delayed for about five hours in the Izmir airport with poor customer service, no wifi or way to find out any information on what was going on, and just overall a miserable experience.  When she got to Istanbul, she did end up making her flight because that was also delayed, but was once again greeted by grumpy employees and a lot of chaos.  I can't imagine what that must have been like.  Turkey and it's people are good at a lot of things (food, history, etc.) but organization and logistics are definitely not one of it's strengths, so trying to rebook and reschedule people's flights must have been a mess.   She did eventually make it home to Boston and we were able to video chat with her to hear all about her travels, but it definitely wasn't easy.

It was a great trip and I LOVED having a friend here to explore and show around our new home.  I love Poorna for her sense of humor and appreciation for culture and I definitely miss her.  Mike and I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out at home.  We had a busy December and will have an even busier February, so we're trying to relax and enjoy a slower pace to start off the new year.  Let's see if that works!

Thinking Out Loud

A lot of little things have happened in the past few days/weeks that I definitely wanted to document, so here's a run down of a lot of little things!  I'm linking up with Running With Spoons today, too, so that's just an extra bonus!

1.  We were talking about guilty pleasures.  People seemed to understand what the meaning of a guilty pleasure was and were naming all sorts of things from Candy Crush to different TV shows.  All of a sudden, one of the students was like "Hanukkah!"  I was SO confused, but figured it could be some weird obsession with Hanukkah.  As he kept talking, I realized that he didn't mean Hanukkah, he meant hookah, which is extremely popular in Turkey.  Maybe he's planning on celebrating eight nights of hookah?

2. We were talking about Turkish culture, which I think is interesting to hear from them.  They were coming up with great stuff and I was soaking it all up.  Finally, they ran out of ideas, but one girl decided to search "Turkish culture" on Google.  She starts sounding out the word with a confused look on her face...

"Cir-"

"Circum-"

"Circumcision?"

Nope. Not talking about that here! Sorry!


3.  Izmir has decorated for Christmas.  At first, we just noticed a few lights shaped like snowflakes, which gave it a winter-y feel.  Then, we started noticing lights shaped like angels and things just got weird. A few days after the angels appeared, I was walking to work and I noticed two guys setting up a light display at the end of a no drive street.  When I was walking back home at the end of the night when it was dark out, I realized that it was a straight up nativity scene.  Turkey is 90% Muslim.  Why is there a nativity?  They didn't get it quite right because, even though there was a baby, there were four angels looking at him.   So so weird.  Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas decorations, but I think it's kind of strange how obsessed they are with Christmas decorations, despite the fact that they don't celebrate Christmas.  Maybe that's just me...

4.  I finally got my haircut.  I got my haircut before we moved here.  Yup, in June.  I've needed a haircut for months, but between traveling and the language barrier, I just haven't done it.  There is a small barber on base, but Mike and I had been talking about going to get my haircut out in the real world, so I hadn't done it.  Finally, it got to the point where I couldn't stand it anymore and I broke down and went to the guy on base.  I am definitely not ready to try to speak Turkish to get my haircut, but maybe by the time I'm due again, I'll be ready.

5.  Mike's friend (and groomsman) Ben came to visit this weekend on his way to Israel for work.  While I was getting my haircut/manicure and pedicure, they were out exploring Ephesus and Izmir and seeing Star Wars.  I told them if they took a picture, they'd make the blog, so this is what I got.  Love it!

6. Our Goddaughter, Emma, was baptized on Sunday and, while we weren't able to be there physically, we were able to participate through FaceTime.  Thanks to Emma's parents for arranging it for us and to our lovely videographer Karen! Emma was a gem and was wide awake and quiet throughout the entire baptism and then promptly fell asleep for the entire church service.  She woke up just in time for the last hymn and then pictures with anyone and everyone. What a smart little lady!

I promise I'm not crying in this screen shot, but I mean, she's just so cute, I could understand if I was!

Emma's baptism gown was made from Anna's wedding dress which makes it extra beautiful!

The camera really makes us look great, don't you think? I also love how excited Emma is in this picture! Can't you just see all of the joy and excitement? Ha!

We are so honored to be Emma's Godparents and we were so happy to watch from afar.

As Mike and I were discussing the baptism that morning beforehand, he decided he should practice his lines and just goes "I pledge allegiance, to the Emma..."   He had me laughing at that one.

7.  I made Christmas cookies the other day, thanks to the package from my mom, and brought them to my Turkish class and then to my students.  Y'all, they went nuts and thought they were the greatest thing! It was so fun! The students in my Turkish class were taking pictures of all of the different shapes (Santa, snowflake, Christmas Tree, etc) and then in my other class later that night, they just kept talking about how delicious they were.  I didn't have the heart to tell them they were just a mix with store bought icing.  I loved it!

Five Favorites

I feel like sometimes I get stuck in this rut where all I want to think about is how different/worse Turkey is than home.  It's usually sparked by something and then I just get going and can't stop.  I found this linkup (a linkup is where a blog writer poses a question and then other blog writers answer the question on their blog.) through a blog I read and figured it's the perfect way to help me think a little more positively about this whole experience.

For this linkup, the author just asked for people's Five Faves.  It could be anything.  The blog I read that did this wrote about her five favorite books, but I figured this was the perfect opportunity for me to think about what my five favorite things are about this whole experience. So, here we go!

1. Time with Mike. I spend a lot of time with Mike.  A lot.  Sometimes, he's the only person I interact with face to face.  While it is a little much sometimes, it's something that I try really hard not to take for granted.  I know that in two years, we'll be back in the United States and Mike will be attached to another boat.  This will mean deployments, nights on duty and lots and lots of underways, all of which mean lots and lots of time away.  To have two years where he gets to come home every night and we get to eat dinner together is something that I am grateful for every day.

2. Travel. Do I need to say more?  We're so lucky and have seen things that I didn't even know exist.  We're only at the beginning of our adventure, but the number of sights and cities that I've seen in four months is more than people see in a lifetime.  It's incredible.

3. Midye Dolma. These stuffed mussels are to die for.  I was a little skeptical about eating mussels bought from a cart on the side of the street, but it's now one of my favorite things.  They're delicious and so cheap that they make a great late night snack.

4. Fresh food.  We do go to the commissary for the majority of our grocery shopping, but there is a market by our house on Sundays that we go to for all of our produce.  We also buy our chicken from the butcher there and I have no doubt that the chicken was walking around in his backyard hours before we bought it.  I'm by no means an organic food type person, but I do like knowing that these foods are fresh, clean and were grown on someone's farm.  Plus, it's nice being able to give your money to someone who actually needs it and not just a big grocery chain.

5. Teaching  It's not exactly what I would want to be doing, but I do enjoy teaching.  I like having the human interaction (see #1) and my students are all around my age, so sometimes it just feels like we're hanging out.  They all smart and like to talk about Turkey, so it's a good way to learn about the country and culture.  Plus, I feel like this experience will be so beneficial when I go back to the United States and teach.

So there you have it! Five of my favorite things about Turkey!

Just chillin' at the top of a coliseum.  #nbd

Izmir Zoo

Someone had recommended the zoo to me at some point during the past four months here, but I forgot about it until this past week.  Somehow, it came up with my students and they told me that it was definitely worth going. Since we didn't have any other plans, I figured we should go check it out this weekend. 

I was a little hesitant because I didn't know what kind of shape a zoo in Turkey would be.  I went to the Jacksonville Zoo when I lived there and almost left in tears because of how small the bear's cage was.  He actually looked depressed.  There are tons of good zoos out there (the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk is one of my faves!) that do a ton of good for animal preservation, but there are also pretty bad ones.  Mike says the one in Cairo is pretty dismal.  Therefore, I was hesitant about going, just to be disappointed and upset. The fact that the entrance fee was only 3TL (~$1) didn't do much to calm my fears.

When we arrived, we were SHOCKED to see how many people were there.  Usually, Sundays are extremely quiet.  The street outside of our house that has tons of restaurants and bars is almost always dead until around three or four.  We thought the zoo would be the same.  We were so wrong.  There were tons of people there.  Dealing with crowds in Turkey is always an experience because the lack or order always shines through.  People don't respect lines and tend to just get in front of you.  Add in a bunch of strollers and you've got yourself a danger zone. 

Luckily, we did manage to make it into the zoo unscathed, but the crowd definitely didn't die down.  There were tons of people everywhere.  They would jump in front of you at a window in front of an exhibit and personal space was really no issue, especially if there was a selfie stick involved.  

Despite all of this, we enjoyed our visit to the zoo.  The animals had a lot of space in most of their areas and while there wasn't a ton of grass, that didn't surprise me.  There isn't a ton of grass in Turkey, so I didn't really expect much.  The animals were moving around and seemed to be happy (unlike my Jacksonville Bear).  

It's not the biggest zoo or definitely not the nicest I've been to, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. 

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Some of Karen the Camel's friends.  

Merhaba!

Hyena

Well hello Mr. Elephant.

Chillin' like a villain

Snakes snuggling

Yawns.

Can you see the lion in the shade on the left?

I feel like we've done almost all of the touristy spots in Izmir and the surrounding area, but we haven't ventured out to as many of the local hotspots.  At the zoo, I'm pretty sure we were the only non-Turks there, so we were definitely among the locals.  It's not in the middle of town and is an hour ride on public transportation (we drove), so I think that definitely cuts down on the tourists.  I think if we go back, we'll try to go during the middle of the week, just to cut down on the crowds, but it was a good afternoon excursion for sure.

Also, probably the bigger highlight of my day is that COLLGE GAMEDAY IS COMING TO JMU!  They'll be there next weekend for Homecomimg as the Dukes take on the Spiders.  We're undefeated this season and Richmond is one of our biggest rivalries.  GO DUKES!

My Cell Phone

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I arrived in Izmir on June 25th.  It's October 6th and I still don't have a cell phone plan.  Yup.  It's been three months since I had a working cell phone. If you had told me this would be the case six months ago, my eyes would have been the size of saucers and I probably would have just died.

When we got here, I put my phone on airplane mode and just accepted that it might be a little while before I got a cell phone plan.  As weeks passed, I grew more and more accustomed to only being able to use my cell phone when I was in a wifi zone.  It really wasn't a big deal because the only person I knew in Turkey was usually sitting next to me.  In fact, it was almost refreshing.  Instead of spending my time at a restaurant on my phone, I actually had to look up and enjoy my surroundings. Fast forward three months and I still don't have a plan. I haven't really pushed it since, as I've said before, I really don't have a need for it.  I can use it when I'm in a wifi zone (which is basically any restaurant in Izmir, as well as my apartment) and if I really need to give someone a phone number, I can give them Mike's.

Mike got a cell phone plan a few weeks after we got here because he needed to be able to be contacted by the military.  Someone from base took him one day while I was in Turkish lessons and was able to really help him.  In Turkey, it's a lot more complicated than in the United States (like everything else here).  You have to register your phone within 30 days of coming into the country.  To do this, you have to bring your passport to the tax office and pay a fee.  After doing so, you receive a document that says you've paid, which you bring to a cell phone provider who then give you a Turkish sim card.  That doesn't sound complicated, but just remember, this is Turkey.

We finally decided that it was time to get me a cell phone plan on Monday, since Mike has the afternoons off. When Mike had gone to get his phone plan, he went to a tax office a couple of miles away that is closer to the base. We decided to go to another one, which is closer to our house. When we got there, we asked the police officer at the front desk where to go and he was very helpful and told us to go upstairs to the second floor.  We found a line on the second floor and joined in, even though we weren't sure what the line was for.  When we made to the front of the line, the woman behind the desk was not as friendly.  Mike explained what we were here for, but she said that since I didn't have a residence permit (a whole other story), I would just have to go to the cell phone provider and pay the fee to register my phone there.  That made no sense since you have to register the phones with the government, but we obliged and off to Avea (Mike's cell phone provider) we went!

When we got there, they told us that we couldn't register phones.  Of course not. Neither of us were surprised, but I could feel Mike's frustration level really rising. The man at Avea said that the Turkcell store around the corner could do it.  At this point, Mike was so frustrated that he didn't even care that it was a different provider than his.  We both just wanted this whole process to be over.

Once we got to Turkcell, we spoke to a man who quickly told us that we had to go to the bank to pay the fee and then bring the receipt back.  I just sighed and followed a very frustrated Mike to the bank around the corner. In banks in Turkey, you walk in and get a ticket with a number on it. When your number is called, you go to the desk with your number (there are usually five or six desks that are open) and complete your business.   We grabbed our number and waited.  and waited.  and waited. After 45 minutes, our number was finally called.  Hooray!!!

Don't get too excited.  We went to the desk and Mike explained what we we needed to do.  We were quickly told that bank couldn't do this type of transaction.  Of course not. That would be too simple and convenient. Instead, we would have to go to another bank which was a block over.  I honestly thought Mike was going to explode.

So, around the block we walked. Luckily, this bank was much smaller and our number was called almost immediately. When we went to the desk, Mike again explained what we were there for.  We handed him my passport so that he could see that I had been out of the country within the last 30 days.  He pulled up the form online, but we could see that something was wrong.   He told us that we would have to go to the tax office to register the phone.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?

When we asked why, he said that the computer was asking for my Turkish citizenship number which I obviously don't have (proud to be an American!).  Since he couldn't input this number, he couldn't proceed to the next part. He was very nice about it and realized that we were pretty flustered.  He explained (and I quote)...

"Not many people know how to do [register phones] and if they don't know how to, they just send you somewhere else."

We left the bank completely deflated and so frustrated with the entire process. I still don't have a cell phone plan and I think that we're going back later this week, but who knows.  This whole process has been the epitome of bureaucracy.

I've been working on this puzzle for almost a month.  It's been so hard.  Not only does the picture make it a difficult puzzle, it's not very well made.  A lot of the pieces fit with more than one other piece and since there are parts of the puzzle (like the sky) that all look the same, I've ended up putting the wrong pieces together.  I put the entire puzzle together and discovered that there was one piece missing and two pieces that don't fit in the remaining spots.

This puzzle is kind of like Turkey. For the most part, all of the pieces fit together, but it takes a lot of extra work.  I had to redo entire sections of the puzzle multiple times to make sure it was right.  Not only that, but there are pieces that don't actually fit, which means somewhere in the completed part of the puzzle, a wrong piece is stuck in there. There are so many things in Turkey that we've done and had to redo, as well as things (like this cell phone) that haven't worked out, despite our efforts.

I'm sure that, if I try, I can figure out where the mistake in the puzzle pieces is, just like how, if we try, we can eventually get my cell phone plan.  It's just a matter of how much patience we have....

"I think I'd rather watch the eagles lose to the skins repeatedly rather than deal with this" -Mike trying to set up my cell phone