Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
I leave at 9:30 tomorrow morning to go with A to the other side with my bags then Yilmaz is getting me to GO TO THE AIRPORT! Mom and Dad get in at 9:55am. AHHHHHH! I cannot wait!
Knowing I'm going to be with them and Aunt Ann and Doug and FREE for a week has made everything about the last two LONGS weeks barable. E's three sick days, the kids' long weekends, being sick, E's tantrums, etc...all ok.
BUT, I had an excellent day off Tuesday. Laura and I went to this huge Sali Bazzaar (Tuesday Market) in Kadikoy that we've been trying to go to for over a month. It was soooo fun! It was beautiful outside and we found so many good buys! Then I met up with Nige (Necdet), our friend we met three years ago at the hotel, and it was so nice. We met with a friend of his, went bowling, he helped me run some errands, we ate, he put me on a bus with his friend to my next destination, then I hung out by myself at a mall until Levent (a friend of Laura's, and now mine I suppose, I like him a lot) picked me up and we met Laura in Ortakoy and it was my first night out with people and it was delightful. It's so nice to get out in the city and see how normal people live. I'm definitely making some changes after London. I'm going to see about adjusting the time off so I can stay out all night and come back in the morning (sleep at Patria's). I need to have some normal time with people.
Today, I finally met Abby (a teacher of Df's from New York) for lunch and it was sooo great! We're experiencing a lot of the same things and have similar outlooks on it. We spent two hours together chatting over lunch and dessert at various places in Besiktas. We decided we needed to do it regularly for our own sake, and she says she's homesick for sane Americans so I'm going to invite her out with me and the family one day. She said she'd love that. Then she escorted me to the mall to get something for the kids and the store was closed! But it wasn't a waste because I used the boot money my grandma sent me to get some boots from Bambi and some scarves I've had my eye on from Mavi. Yay! Then I went to take the bus back...and I'm on it for MAYBE five minutes when I'm informed all roads to where I need to go are CLOSED! So I call Patria, slightly panicked, asking what I should do. She says, Taxi would probably be the best avenue, more costly but head off the chance of not making it back before the kids. So I get in the cab, show the driver my address, and he drives for a bit and then gets out to ask where he's going! Meanwhile, I have to pee like a racehorse and he comes back to the car FIVE minutes later all confused. PS the meter is running the whole time. I call Patria who talks to him and when I talk to her again she told me, "Get out of the taxi, he's ripping you off" So I tell him "dur" (stop) and he keeps going. "Dur, dur, DUR". I throw him some money and get out to call another taxi and HE DOESN't KNOW WHERE I'M GOING! So I have to call her again and she explains it to him and we get stuck in traffic and I'm about to expload from needing to use the restroom. Finally, over 40 lira later we get there by five, half an hour before the kids get home. Crisis averted.
Anyway, I must go. I'm watching Grey's Anatomy then finishing packing for tomorrow! I'm going to pre-celebrate with oreos and milk :) Ahhhh!
Pictures and posts in about a week, I suppose.
Love from Turkey :)
Knowing I'm going to be with them and Aunt Ann and Doug and FREE for a week has made everything about the last two LONGS weeks barable. E's three sick days, the kids' long weekends, being sick, E's tantrums, etc...all ok.
BUT, I had an excellent day off Tuesday. Laura and I went to this huge Sali Bazzaar (Tuesday Market) in Kadikoy that we've been trying to go to for over a month. It was soooo fun! It was beautiful outside and we found so many good buys! Then I met up with Nige (Necdet), our friend we met three years ago at the hotel, and it was so nice. We met with a friend of his, went bowling, he helped me run some errands, we ate, he put me on a bus with his friend to my next destination, then I hung out by myself at a mall until Levent (a friend of Laura's, and now mine I suppose, I like him a lot) picked me up and we met Laura in Ortakoy and it was my first night out with people and it was delightful. It's so nice to get out in the city and see how normal people live. I'm definitely making some changes after London. I'm going to see about adjusting the time off so I can stay out all night and come back in the morning (sleep at Patria's). I need to have some normal time with people.
Today, I finally met Abby (a teacher of Df's from New York) for lunch and it was sooo great! We're experiencing a lot of the same things and have similar outlooks on it. We spent two hours together chatting over lunch and dessert at various places in Besiktas. We decided we needed to do it regularly for our own sake, and she says she's homesick for sane Americans so I'm going to invite her out with me and the family one day. She said she'd love that. Then she escorted me to the mall to get something for the kids and the store was closed! But it wasn't a waste because I used the boot money my grandma sent me to get some boots from Bambi and some scarves I've had my eye on from Mavi. Yay! Then I went to take the bus back...and I'm on it for MAYBE five minutes when I'm informed all roads to where I need to go are CLOSED! So I call Patria, slightly panicked, asking what I should do. She says, Taxi would probably be the best avenue, more costly but head off the chance of not making it back before the kids. So I get in the cab, show the driver my address, and he drives for a bit and then gets out to ask where he's going! Meanwhile, I have to pee like a racehorse and he comes back to the car FIVE minutes later all confused. PS the meter is running the whole time. I call Patria who talks to him and when I talk to her again she told me, "Get out of the taxi, he's ripping you off" So I tell him "dur" (stop) and he keeps going. "Dur, dur, DUR". I throw him some money and get out to call another taxi and HE DOESN't KNOW WHERE I'M GOING! So I have to call her again and she explains it to him and we get stuck in traffic and I'm about to expload from needing to use the restroom. Finally, over 40 lira later we get there by five, half an hour before the kids get home. Crisis averted.
Anyway, I must go. I'm watching Grey's Anatomy then finishing packing for tomorrow! I'm going to pre-celebrate with oreos and milk :) Ahhhh!
Pictures and posts in about a week, I suppose.
Love from Turkey :)
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