R & R

What a wonderful weekend! I went on a paid vacation to a ladies' conference at a hotel on the Black Sea. I got to meet a lot of ladies who work all over the country and gleen from their experience, as well as having plenty of free time to relax. Here are a couple of pictures I took at the hotel. I also got a free manicure, pedicure, and facial while I was there!

To get to the hotel, we had to go through Istanbul, so we enjoyed the luxuries of this more sophisticated Eurasian city. As you can see, I enjoyed my Starbucks soy latte while I could get one. We also did some shopping at a large European home decor store. I picked up a few things for my bedroom, including a table lamp and some little area rugs. Now it's back to real life. There's a picture of my living room, where I'm sitting now :) My roommate and I are making it homier, week by week.

The Lion, the Which, and the Wardrobe

Well, I've been here 4 days now, and life is relatively normal for moving in to a new apartment in a country where you don't speak the language. Here are the highlights--
The Lion: That adorable little kitten is 3 weeks old. There are 2 of them, and reportedly they will belong to my roommate and I when they finish nursing. They currently live at my supervisor's house. Any ideas for names?
The Which: As in, which direction? I apparently was overly confident in my sense of direction. On Saturday, I was supposed to meet my roommate at our office when she was done teaching to go to lunch. It's a 5-10 min walk, not really complicated. Except I apparently really I had very little idea which direction it was relative to our apartment. The good news is, after getting lost, I know my way around the neighborhood much better. I found it perfectly on my way to my first day of class today. Class was good, mostly review for me, which should help my confidence in using what little I do know. I have trouble opening my mouth and getting Turkish to come out. Fortunately, my supervisor is going to let me focus on language learning for my first month before I start teaching English.
The Wardrobe: The other picture above is of part of my room. The thing on the right that looks kinda like a wardrobe is my closet. There's plenty of space for my stuff as long as I learn to efficiently utilize the drawers, shelves, and storage space. Hopefully I'll learn from this experience how to cope with a lot less "stuff".

Welcome

T-minus 5 days until I move out of the country. No stories from Asia Minor yet, but I thought I just do one test post now that I have my blog set up. Check back soon!