Finally!

I am a happy camper right now. 1) I am planning to meet up with my best friend from Istanbul, Kelly from Canada who loves maple syrup and chases caribou for fun. AND... 2) I got a fez!!! am so excited! My dad is doing business in turkey now and he just got back from Istanbul. He didnt have much time but he was able to snag me my hearts greatest desire...a fez. In time to wear it to the They Might Be Giants concert as well! oh happy day! I will share this lovely picture of my husband in the fez. Also a shout out to Dr. WHo.

A New Friend

My new friend from my Japanese class last semester is now where I was in 2011. I was able to help out my host family in Turkey by finding a new aupair for them. This would be my new friend Cookie Trout. She is now taking care of my sweet Derin in Istanbul Turkey. I am so excited for her since it was one of the best experiences of my life! It has been fun giving her advice as well as hearing all of her own stories around the city. She is officially addicted to backlava and salep. In other news my Father is now working for a company who is working with a Turkish mans company which means that he gets to travel there! He has been in Istanbul this last week and lucky me, he was able to take goodies to my old families! I am hoping to steal a trip with him there and see Istanbul again with my hubby! Hope all is well! Take care!

A new adventure

This is supposed to be my travel blog but I have not traveled much sine I got home. I guess Sean (my finace), Hailee ( my old roommate) and I took a trip to Disneyland last semester but its not like last year where I was traveling to France, Spain, Greece, and Bulgaria as well as all around Turkey. The good news is that for our honey moon Sean and I will be a bit. It was something I required. I wanted to go out of the country or to Alaska. Now we will be taking a cruise (cheating way to travel) to the Bahamas and then since we will be in Orlando,the best part...TO HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!! It will be my birthday and everything! :) Last year was cool chilling on the beach and swimming in the Mediterranean sea in Turkey but this is better! I will have my hubby with me. That was the biggest thing that was missing last year. People I love. I love my host family loads and loads but I didnt have my family or my best friends. Even all my friends in Turkey were in Istanbul and I was in Cesme so I couldn't see them. THis year I will have seen most of my family and friends a week before and I will have my ultimate best friend, family, and love with me. SO the traveling will commence again if only for a little while. As a newly married couple we wont get many opportunities to travel until we have finished school and settled down with a good job. I guess it is the price you pay for getting to spend eternity with the man of your dreams. I'll take it. Yeah so i won't be able to just jet off now halfway across the world on practically a whim anymore. A bit sad about that. But its a good thing. I need to have some stability for once in my life. Sean loves to travel as well so I am sure he wont hold me back. He went to Africa on his Mission (for the LDS church) and has that travel fire in him. Not as much as i do but enough to get us around the world someday. Next summer we are hoping that things work out and we can go live in Japan with my grandparents for the summer! That will be so amazing! I am planning to take Japanese this next year and Sean is thinking to as well. He is the one who is good at languages so that will be helpful. I am so excited to see where we go. Take care!

As we Say goodbye

Tomorrow is my last day in Turkey. I will keep this blog for more travels. I will try to get more pictures tomorrow and then post them and i hope to post a lot more about turkey as well as lots more pics as well as from all the other places i have been. I am going to dearly miss Turkey and all that came with it. I had the most wonderful 8 months and i would not take them back for anything. I am so grateful to have this time a part of my life and to have met and done the things i have been able to do. What a blessing! I will forever love Istanbul and Turkey.

Nearing the End

Its down to the last three weeks of my time here in Turkey. It has been a crazy, exciting, hard, and great 7 months!
I am so excited to get home and be with my family and see my friends again. I am so grateful that I will be back for Christmas and as soon as i get back I get to go to Tanaes wedding with Jill and Chelsea!! I love these girls so much and I have missed them a lot. I have also missed many of my other close and good friends such as bro/Corey and Alyssa (i will be going to her mission farewell the day after Tanaes wedding! )
I am sad I dont get to see my Turkish best friends especially miss Kelly Donkersgood. I have missed having her here in Turkey with me.
I cannot wait to see my family and go back to school! I even miss snow!! not the cold but yes the snow! I am sure this will change after the first couple weeks.

Anyways I am going to miss Turkey dearly, especially my dear sweet Derin who I love spending my days with. I also miss my first sweetheart Zeynep and I hope that I  can see her before I leave.

The good news is that my parents are moving to Barcelona Spain in January if the visas go through in time so I can visit them and then it will be easier to make a trip over to Turkey.
Dad and I had a great two weeks together and it was so nice to spend that time with him and travel together to Italy and Spain and in Turkey. We have seen soooo many rocks!! at least they were cool rocks from ruins and ancient art and such but still in the end a rock is a rock and we saw tons and tons of them!
I will write more on that later.

This week is Thanksgiving and I am planning to cook a few (with Derins help) traditional dishes for my host family. I hope it all goes well and I am excited because I looked up a bunch of fun stuff for Derin and I to do to learn about thanksgiving.
We also started to read one of my  favorite books Ella Enchanted and I am super excited. It is a little advanced for her but its a good change for us to go over new words.

So three weeks and counting down. Derin is sad but I need to keep it in mind so we can make the most of our time. I am so excited to get back into my own country where i will understand the people around me! its going to be weird and i am sure my brain will fry but its so worth it.

I am going to miss Turkey
Adieu for now!!

Man of many talents

Other than Derin I teach a guy who works for Samen (my host mom) as head of the tech department. His name is Kaan Tezimel. He is a very tough student but i must say he is a man of many talents. His true passion is for history, specifically Turkish history but also every other history.
He has written a few historical novels and he is very much into traditional parts of the Turkish culture. He plays a very traditional instrument but i dont remember the name and he sings and dances.
Here is a video of him that he posted on facebook. It sounds very different to anything I am used to but in the Turkish view he is very talented and sings beautifully.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oey6cQ4Y-KQ

here is another video of him from youtube. This is very traditional and Turkish people love to still listen to this kind of music. Things are changing now with our music from the states and such but I think that this culture still runs strong in Turkey.

Also the president of Turkey is on the cover of Time this week for Europe Asia and the South Pacific! check it out!
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/europe/0,9263,901111128,00.html
i need to read it still... :)

Take Luck!

my merhaba

hey this is a great site for anyone living in Turkey for a while
you can meet people
find out about events
learn more about Turkey
and basically help with any questions or needs about Turkey
its really great.

http://www.mymerhaba.com/