A Rudimentary Routine

Winsome

[WIN-suhm]

Cheerful, merry, gay, light-hearted.

Well I've been meaning to update for ages now. Just haven't gotten to it somehow. Oops. Things here have been pretty same ole, same ole. I think I've settled into a routine of sorts, if you can count every day being a bit different being a routine. Because sometimes the kids have friends over, or sometimes we go to the pool, or they have extra practice or less practice, or we go out to dinner, or to a park. So some days I have a lot of free time (like today!) and other days not so much. But I'm just rolling with it.

Sundays though are always my day off and so far Brandon and I have had some very nice Sundays.

By far my favorite part of Istanbul is the Bosphorous (surprise, surprise, right?) There's just something about bodies of water that puts me at peace, especially the ocean. So even though it's smack did in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a very, very large city it still strikes me as calm. And gorgeous. And ocean breezy (kinda).

The last two weekends we went to Taksim Square, which is this busy, store filled square/street, that's mostly really cute. There are even old fashioned metro cars, which I liked a lot.

But then, it's also packed with Burger Kings and McDonalds (but mostly Burger Kings). Brandon and I went to a Starbucks and man, was that carmel frapp delicious. Sometimes I just have to have some expensive coffee!

And in Taksim two weekends ago we got a very wonderful surprise. We ran into this enormous gay pride parade. Apparently it was celebrating gay pride week and was the end celebration for the week. It was so great to see. Especially because Istanbul is becoming more and more liberal in that regard--it was nice to see all the support!

Last weekend, Brandon and I decided to hop on a 3.5 TL ferry to the Princes' Islands. Which was basically the best choice we could have made. It was by far my favorite thing I've done here. Just being on the boat, in the sun and the breeze, surrounded by ocean, with Asia on one side and Europe on the other, felt so perfect. One of those moments that makes you think, this is what traveling is about, this is what living is about.

So after about an hour and a half we hopped off the ferry and started exploring Heybeliada, the third island. It reminded me a bit of the Galapagos-it was small and cute, with hole in the wall grocery stores and lots of tourists. No cars are allowed on the islands, so it really has a very different feel than Istanbul which is all traffic and craziness. You can even hop on a horse drawn carriage and it will take you around the island.

So we walked around the island for a bit, grabbed a cold beer and went (maybe snuck in?) to a "beach". I use beach in the loosest term of the word. It felt more like a hotel resort pool or something. I mean, there was sand...just not much of it. And a lot of beach chairs and things to lounge on. But still we put our toes in the water and enjoyed lying by the water for a bit.

Then we had to go back for a beautiful night-ish ferry ride. We didn't check what time the ferries came and went, so we ended up having to wait for one to come for like 50 minutes. Which would have been ok, but we had a bus we needed to catch (which we also didn't know the times of). I tend to not have such great luck in such matters, so I was way worried we'd miss the last bus. Especially because, with my sense of direction, I had no real idea how to get back to the bus stop. But all was well and we made it back to the bus ok. In the meantime we got to enjoy a beautiful night time ferry ride.

So all in all the last two weeks have passed rather quickly. I can't believe today is already Friday and in just a day I'll have another Sunday off!

An Update in 10 Photos

Breviloquence

Bre*vil"o*quence

A brief mode of speaking.

So I haven't updated in awhile. But I have a semi-legitimate excuse. I've been busy and with my free time I've been writing (curse you MFA writing sample!). And by writing I mean staring at my computer screen, pacing around my room and cursing. But I have made some progress.

So instead of a long winded post that brings you all up to date with my oh so fascinating life (I kid, I kid) I thought I would just bring you a post through pictures. And yes, there will be ducks

A typical Turkish breakfast. Cake, coffee, tee, watermelon, peaches from Firat's garden, cheeses, olives, tomatoes in olive oil and eggs. The housekeeper,( no idea how to spell her name but is sounds like Goo-lee-zar) set everything on the table to be brought outside to the garden so we could eat outside. Lovely.

I found ducklings! Underneath this beautiful weeping willow tree.

I've always loved the grungier side of cities. This is taken from a street we walked down in downtown Istanbul.

We ran into a pigeon lady. LOVE.

How beautiful are these handpainted bowls? We ran into this fabulous mini bazar. It was just a street but there were so many pretty and colorful things! Bowls, plates, crystal hanging lamps and even felted hats!

The buildings here are so bright and refreshing. It makes me so cheery.

Topkapi Palace. And me. And a fountain. (Just in case you couldn't tell)

Hagia Sophia

The famous Bosphorous. Hey look, it's Asia! (On the other side)

While Barkan plays tennis, I spend my mornings laying out by this pool. It's beyond beautiful. There's a main swimming part, and two bridges. If you swim under one you find this narrow little waterway that overlooks tennis courts. If you swim under the other, it opens up to a smaller main pool area, that is surrounded by forest. So peaceful.

This and that: life after college is so "hard"

Halcyon

[hal-see-uhn]

1. calm; peaceful; restful

2. rich; wealthy; prosperous

Well it's been a week since I've departed the US and almost a week since I've been here! I get my first day off on Sunday and Brandon and I are going to go into town, which I'm really looking forward to.

Things here are still really calm and wonderful. The kids are so busy that it looks like I'll have quite a bit of time to myself. Which as a writer, is absolutely perfect for me!

So on Wednesday I had until about 3 pm or so to myself. I was feeling inspired (and after looking at grad schools, a little panicked about my writing sample) so I thought I would do some writing. And I found the most beautiful writing spot.

Part of the backyard: a wood deck with water below it. Plus there was a gentle breeze and birds chirping. Perfect!

After I spent a few hours chopping and re-writing the beginning of a story, then trashing the re-written beginning completely, I decided it was time to take a nice little walk around the neighborhood. There's a great field area with an (artificial) lake and river in the center of it, but it's teeming with wildlife.

I made a friend with this adorable and very friendly cat.

Soo many ducks! These are young--you can see that they're still getting their real feathers.

And itty bitty baby turtles!

Then I walked around the street area of the neighborhood some more. It really is beautiful.

How beautiful are the colors of the houses?

A 600 year old Ottoman waterway (or so the parents say--I think it's an aqueduct).

Then I relaxed, watch some tv and read. I had dinner with the family, talked and played with Barkan a little, talked to Dilara and then it was time to sleep!

Thursday was much the same--I walked, relaxed, talked to the kids a bit. Then Brandon and I went with our families to the kids end of the year party. It was almost in the center of the town, so we drove through the poorer areas (which I thought was very interesting because they were teeming with colors and people) and I saw the Bosphorous, the asian continent and Europe's tallest building. Aylin keeps apologizing to me for not showing me around more because they've been so busy with Barkan's tournament. She's so sweet! Really I've enjoyed having some time and getting over the jet lag.

The graduation party was very fun. Everyone was dressed up nicely and the food was delicious (no idea what it was but yum! There was this delicious rice with roasted almonds). They played several slide shows of pictures of the kids, and there was wine and dancing. Brandon and I caught up, which was also great. No pictures though; I thought it might be rude if I went around snapping photos of random things.

Today has been very chill too. Ate breakfast with Barkan, then he went off to tennis and I took a walk into the mini town area with Brandon. Then we lounged around by his pool and then I had lunch with him. Dilara's last day of school is today, but she's not home yet. Barkan won his tennis match today, so I think he was at least one more game to play tomorrow.

I think tomorrow I'm going to Ankra (sp?) with Dilara, which is where she swims. It's also where Europe's largest (second largest?) mall is. So that should be fun.