A New Chapter

I have officially made the biggest decision of my adult life this far by moving to Istanbul this year. It's really kind of the first time that I've kind of gone off the planned track to do something for me, and it's both extremely exhilarating and completely nerve racking.

I meant to blog about my memories traveling around the US to visit friends before coming to Istanbul, but at the end of the day I just felt like too much had stacked up and I didn't want a long recap. Needless to say, it was a nice bon voyage to the United States--made me actually feel some love and loyalty for my country being able to see the variance across different states/coasts. And being able to catch up with old friends is always the best part of traveling--I was very blessed to be so spoiled by their hospitality and love.

You give up on life in the hot NYC metro

But after two weeks of travel, I was honestly ready to settle down. I kind of feel like I didn't put enough space in between my Mediterranean trip in May and then US trip in August to super enjoy being on the road again. I blame it on that, but I also blame it on the fact that I can feel myself becoming an old crotchedy woman. And so with some apprehension, but mainly a lot of exhaustion I caught my plane to Istanbul to start my life over as a kindergarten english teacher. With two layovers, it wasn't the most pleasant plane ride I've experienced--but it was cheap, and that's all that matters.

When I arrived in the airport terminal, went through customs, and picked up my bags I went to the location where I was supposed to meet the agency I was hired through who was picking me up. In a typical laid-back polychronic cultural fashion, they arrived 2 hours late and then made me wait another hour to connect with another person who had just flown in. Thinking that was the worst that happened, I then found out to my dismay that instead of driving us to our hostels/friends houses they were taking us straight to the office to sign paperwork. That lasted for about 4 hours, in which my school was switched yet again and I was asked to skype interview with my future employer after not sleeping for almost 48 hours and looking like shit with all my traveling. I wasn't the happiest camper, but at the end of the day it was what it was. At least this new school gave me the following day off of training so I could sleep in, so that was a bonus. Overall though, I was just happy to be here and wanted to settle in.

Went straight from the office to my Iranian friends Hamid and Farhad's house out here in Seyrantepe on the European side of Istanbul. Passed out presents, played with their brand new kitten, and enjoyed the great company catching up. The next day we lounged about the house and took it easy before heading back to the office (where I had stupidly left my purse) and hanging around the Şişli business area of Istanbul where I picked up a sim card and istanbulkart for public transport. On the way back we picked up some food so we could be fat, lazy, and happy with a movie night. I got to make some of my famous family popcorn, which the boys loved and I was happy to introduce them to (also introduced them to cheez its). Gorging ourselves on snacks and Pirates of the Carribbean we had a properly relaxed evening.

Getting my arts and crafts on

The next day was my first day of orientation at my new school in Acibadem (pronounced ah-ji-bah-dem) which is actually on the asian side, so I got to go between two different continents just to get to work. After typically getting lost on the way to the school, I finally arrived and got to know some of my fellow teachers. I'm the only first-year teacher this year, everyone else has a year or more of experience, so that is always a little daunting. We didn't do much that first day, just cut out things to decorate our classrooms, which was a little weird considering that the school isn't even done being built yet and we don't have all of our books. Personally, that would be on my priority list. But the part of the school that is finished being built if beautiful and classy, so I'm excited that I'll be able to work in this brand new kind of environment. The rest will hopefully work itself out next week.

That night I went to visit my turkish friend Burakhan and his family who I stayed with last time I was in Istanbul. They're like my second family over here, so nice and hospitable despite the fact that I speak little turkish and they speak little english so it's mainly a lot of smiling and miming. That night I got to indulge in some delicious homemade cooking from anne, which only solidified my desire to be a turkish housewife. The food is SO delicious, you don't even know.

The next day I went to training but it was in our sister campus in Çekmeköy. Luckily we had a service bus come and pick us up from Acibadem so we didn't have to find a way to get to that campus in the middle of no where. Got there, sat around for a while waiting for our lecturer/boss to come, and then were taught about lesson planning in the format they want us to fill it out. Considering my lack of experience, I was glad they went over this as it was the thing I was most worried about. After that we went back to our campus in Acibadem and continued to cut out things to decorate our rooms.

Never have I ever...

Since it was now officially the weekend and I could catch up socializing/sleeping Hamid invited some mutual friends over for a nice dinner party in which he cooked us delicious Iranian food. Luckily for me, everyone was fine with conducting the night in mainly english, so we were able to have some good laughs and conversation. After dinner we sat around playing a "Never have I ever" drinking game and laughing over each other's confessions. Around 11pm the rest of the party wanted to go out to Taksim to drink/party, but being the old people that we are Hamid, Farhad, and I decided to stay home and continue to indulge our internet addiction.

Ladies, he's availiable.

Saturday more or less followed the same routine--stay up late, sleep in late, and wake up/get ready when the hot sun has gone down so we can leave the house not in a pool of sweat. Saturday night the agency I was hired through put together this little social at a bar in Taskim, so the three of us decided to head out to that to meet new people. The night before Farhad and I had made a pact, because one of the gifts I brought him was a pin from the Feminist Majority Foundation that says "this is what a feminist looks like," and I told him wearing it would help him get women (lets be real, what woman doesn't love a man who loves women's equality?). So he actually wore it out to the bar in Taksim to use as an ice breaker, which actually worked and made me so happy. Met some cool fellow teachers, swapped frustrating experiences about organizational issues/resettling in a new place, but the bar wasn't very good and was overpriced so we only stayed for about an hour.

The beautiful boys

After the English bar we went to a succession of bars with our friends Ekin and Urun and the Jamaican backpacker Sammi they are currently hosting. It was a great group of people and I particularly enjoyed the last bar we went to, Karakedi bar. At first it seemed like we were being lead to our imminent death in a sketchy abandoned building in one of the side alleys of Taksim, but once we get up to the 3rd floor we see there's a really classy/laid back bar with live music setting the perfect mood for conversation/drinking. That's the thing I love about knowing people here---like with any city you get to go and visit a lot of places you might have otherwise not been able to go as they are hidden away. So we stayed there for a bit drinking while Sammi got hit on by this very creepy Iraqi guy, who Farhad kept making fun of. The band played a lot of old american classic songs, so that was fun to sing along to. Overall though we were having a great time celebrating Urun's last night out in Istanbul before he goes to study abroad for 5 months in The Netherlands, a great way to be welcomed back to Istanbul on my first weekend back.

I'm using the religious Sunday is a day of rest card today, so besides waking up and introducing the boys to pancakes it's going to be a lazy one to prepare for long days of orientation next week. While there's a lot of stuff to think about/do here, so far I'm happy with my decision and look forward to seeing how the city will influence me in the next year and what kind of paths I may be inspired to follow.