YAY for Christmas!

Yeah, yeah, I know that for the rest of you it doesn't come until December, but haha, I got it early! Wednesday, actually. For those of you who don't know, Chris was back in the U.S. for a week to get his work permit. He got that, and then went to visit our families and do a wee bit of shopping for his wife. ;) Two of our biggest suitcases later, he flew back into Turkey! Now, of course, seeing him was the best present, but let me tell you, it was Christmas for Barbie in the Hatay apartment on Wednesday! I got new clothes, health and beauty items, and even some pancake mix! YES! So for everyone who helped Chris out (you know who you are) and especially Becky, thanks. You totally made another 9 months here livable.

Things have been going a little too well here, I'm warily waiting for something to happen. I actually managed to convince my boss that we really did need another teacher, and we actually got 2! Or, more accurately, I got two, since I got to do the interviewing. THAT was a new experience, especially since both candidates were in their 50s, and I'm less than half their age. Can we say weird? So apparently I'm the de facto office manager now too. Traci, I need to know how much office managers make so I can ask for a raise :) So the end result is, neither Chris nor I have to work on Saturdays, freeing up our weekends to travel. Now we just need Chris back on Izmir time, and we'll be set to venture out!

It was a national holiday yesterday, with fireworks and everything. Although the view wasn't quite as good in GR, we got another straight-shot view of the fireworks from our apartment. They were really awesome, we enjoyed seeing them, although it was weird to be celebrating Independence Day on the 29th of October! Definitely made us think of the July 4th that we missed this year. :(

Well, believe it or not, this is about all I have to write about right now. You can tell we've been having an easy time of it when I don't have a huge blog post about something that has gone terribly wrong and can entertain you all. I'll try harder next time :)

Pictures from our apartment

OK, I know I haven't posted any pictures for a very long time. I won't bore you with my list of excuses. But here are a few pictures I've taken from our apartment that give you an idea of what our view looks like.

View from Hatay

Settling In- Kind of

Well, I don't have any exciting stories (read: miserable experience that turns into a jolly fun tale) this time. For which I am not particularly heartbroken. We needed a break from those stories. Normally I would think it would make this a shorter post, but I know from previous experience (and you do too) that just because I have nothing to say doesn't stop me from talking.

So we have settled into a schedule of sorts. Chris has started at IEU, and works from 8:30-4:30. Because the bus takes a while from our place to Balçova, he has to leave pretty early. I was scheduled to work evenings 5 days a week and then Sat AM, so Chris is also working Sat AM with me. 10-2, so not bad. However, we had some schedule changes, and now I'm working afternoons instead of evenings (awesome, I'll actually SEE my husband!) and no weekends. So now poor Chris is stuck working weekends, which he only agreed to because I had to. Ooops. We'll get him out of it somehow. So my schedule is basically 1-6:30, except for 1 late night. Not bad at all, I get to sleep in, which makes me much happier than getting up early. Less money being spent on an IV drip from Starbucks as well. So while we're settling into our new schedules, things do continually change and present new challenges.

One thing that teaching academic vocabulary to students is that my own vocabulary is becoming inundated with words I haven't used since writing papers in college! The same thing had started to happen to Chris (and when you consider what his vocabulary already was, it's a frightening prospect indeed!) but now he's teaching beginners (they know NO English coming in), which means that soon he will start pointing to his ears when he wants me to listen to him, and enunciating his words carefully, using very simple language. We're going to be quite the pair.

The weather continues to cool off, although not nearly like the kind of weather in Michigan. By cooling off, I mean it's finally comfortable to go for a walk in the afternoon, and breezy enough in the evenings to warrant a light sweater. (Darn, something else I HAVE to go shopping for. Breaks my heart, I tell you.)

I do have some very fun news though. Because he needs to have a work permit, Chris will be flying home sometime within the next month to get his paperwork. YAY! I won't be coming with him though, because as I told him, if I fly to Michigan, I'm not flying back here. Ever. So he will be coming alone, but with an empty suitcase that will be filled with goodies before he comes back. Things makeup, my two dozen pairs of winter shoes i left behind, the soft bedsheets, you know, the necessities of life. :D I'll give you all more details when I know them, but although he won't have many days in GR, some of you may get to see him. Take him out to eat good food, ok? And if anyone has a request for something from Turkey, get them in soon, and maybe his suitcase won't be so empty :)

Anyways, my next student will be here in 10 minutes and I suppose I should at least give the impression that I'm prepared. Miss you all!