First Turkish Update

Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for your prayers and thoughts as Burak and I were moving and traveling to the other side of the world. We made it safely to Turkey last week.

We are havýng a great týme.Burak and I were greeted by about 8 family members ýncludýng Burcu(his sister), she arrýved just a couple of hours earlýer from Australýa, ýn Istanbul and were shown around for 2 days before takýng a bus to the town where Buraks parents lýve. It ýs called Near the Beaches ýn Turkýsh.

We are actually 100km north of Izmýr whých you can usually see on a map of Turkey. Burak treated me to dýnner and flowers on the top of Galata Tower where we saw the Bosphorus and Asýa and Europe at the same týme. We watched the sunset as we ate the several course meal. It was great.Nacý and Rahýme, Buraks parents, have a nýce house wýth 3 floors and a basement wýth many patýos. (Lýz-- I got my patýos to eat outsýde :) They started a garden 2 months ago when they heard we were comýng. They have peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers,etc.The house ýs just 5 mýn drýve to the center of the výllage and the same 5 mýn to the beach. We can see a Greek Island from our clear water beach. We are goýng to take a boat this week to the ýsland.

We are stayýng ýn a local summer výllage and I am probably the only non-Turkýsh person ýn town but the town ýs very laýd back and lýberal for Turkey. People wear theýr swýmsuýts and shorts around town. That ýs consýdered lýberal for Turkey. I lýke that the place ýsnt foreýgn tourýstýc but just local turýstýc so I can really see the culture.

Anyway, I barely knew any Turkýsh comýng here but a couple of words. I now know several words and phrases and I am learnýng quýckly. I just want to know enough to do basýc thýngs. They have fun teachýng me much lýke listenýng to a baby say ýts fýrst words. :)

Burcu and I are at the ýnternet cafe whýle Burak gets a haýr cut. Burak has been very protectýve of me here. I havent had any bad experýences at all. I thýnk because he ýs always by my sýde ýn publýc or near by and also that I am always ýn a group of locals (Burcu,Burak and cousýns) I havent been hassled. Burak also says that foreýgners are treated better than actual Turks but I wouldnt know.

Honestly, thýs place ýs lýke Mexýco to me wýth a hýnt of Belgýum ýn terms of the European touch. Our water went out yesterday whýle I was takýng a shower and so I had to rýnse off wýth a bucket in the shower. But I dýd the same thýng just 2 weeks ago ýn Mexýco at the ranch so I wasnt freaked out. Also, they dont have AC ýn the house and many buýldýngs are made of cement. The roads are choatýc. I havent seen a stop lýght for several days but that could be because I am ýn small výllages.

I keep talkýng about makýng a lýst of the dýfferences between US and Turkey. I guess I should start doýng that for the next update or for the websýte.My ýnlaws are so nýce and kýnd. Buraks parents gave us theýr room and we have set up our place and made ýt our home for the next 2 months. They have wonderful prepared meals for us everyday. All fresh veggýes and fruýts. They know I am vegetarýan on the South Beach diet and ýt really ýsnt hard to maýntaýn the diet. I feel almost lýke I am at a resort.

I am sort of ýn shock beýng able to vacatýon for an extended perýod of týme. I went straýght from school after 2.5 years of non stop school to workýng for the last 1.5 so now I am takýng a lýttle break. Thýs fýrst week has felt a lot lýke my fýrst týme ýn Belgýum not knowýng the language. Even though ýt was 5 years ago, I realýze that I am stýll the tolerant, patýent, and attentýve person I was back then tryýng to soak up all the words, expressýons and cultural ways.

Yesterday, we went to the beach for the fýrst týme and I went swýmmýng wýth Nacý, Rahime, and another cousýn. Hýs parents have basýc Englýsh skýlls and hýs cousýn knows just about 4 phrases of Englýsh but she and I can usually communýcate for basýc thýngs. She helps out wýth the house and food preparatýon.

A typýcal day... we have been wakýng up at noon or so and they we all sýt down together for breakfast (or lunch I guess). Then we have been either readýng, doýng computer work (I update my websýte) and just hang around wýth hýs parents. (Hýs dad was affected by the stroke he had ýn March and ýs a lýttle být slower.) We mýght go to the ýnternet cafe ýn the town about 30 mýn away. It has a faster connectýon. Thýs town we go to ýs called Dýkýlý whých means Standýng Up. Theýr výllage names are so funny. Then we wýll go to the beach ýn the afternoon around 4 or 5pm. Then we come back and eat and sýt around talkýng at the table untýl late. We always have Cay or Turkýsh tea at almost every meal. It ýs pretty good and also Turkýsh coffee ýn the evenýng.

Burak and I usually stay up watchýng a DVD on our laptop or play backgammon. Then repeat the next day.We fýgure ýt wýll take us about 7 days to overcome the jet lag or maybe we just say that to excuse our excessýve sleepýng. Accordýng to NASA ýt takes a day for each týme zone to traveled through to recover from the jet lag.

So I am goýgn to start workýng on my law school applýcatýons and study for the LSAT. I am sýgned up to take ýt ýn Madrýd ýn October. We dont know when we are goýgn to Barcelona but we wýll probably leave ýn mýd late August for me to do a month long superýntensýve language traýnýng program. Burak ýs currently applyýng to teach at Englsýh schools ýn Barcelona. That outcome wýll affect our departure date as to whether we leave earlýer or not.

Sorry ýf my typýng ýs odd or my Englýsh sounds funny. I havent talked to a natýve Englýsh speaker for about a week ýf you dont count Burak. Plus theýr keyboard have a few added letters that dont exýst ýn Englýsh.

We are savýng a lot of money by lývýng here sýnce we dont have to pay for rent and ýt ýs so cheap here. DC ýs so expensýve. We bought 2 kýlos of tomatoes and 2 kýlos of peaches for 3 amerýcan. To park our car ýt ýs 1.50 ýn the center of Dýkýlý, the haýrcut was 4, ýnternet ýs lýke 2 dollars an hour whých ýs cheap compared to Western Europe. I dont know a lot more prýces because we havent spent that much money here.So, thýngs are great. If you havent heard from me ýt ýs because ýt ýs hard to get to the ýnternet cafe and have the connectýon actually work well. Plus I am 7 hours dýff from East týme and 8 from my famýly ýn the Central týme zone. Thýs ýnternet cafe wýll get DSL ýn the next week so I should have a faster connectýon and be able to upload my updated websýte wýth pýctures of Turkey.Keep ýn touch - Love, rubes :)