J-Twice and I were just talking the other day about how we can't believe that Friday, 4 February will be our 6 month mark of arriving here in Turkey. MAN, is time flying by for us!! It honestly seems like it was just yesterday that he told me we would be moving and I started freaking out. How could this possibly be happening, how in the world am I going to live THAT far away from my family and friends!? What was he thinking by putting such a place on his "dream sheet"!? And for the first month, I thought this assignment was going to last for forever!
Then came the day that I attended a new spouses orientation and met two great friends. And then came the day that we volunteered for MOPS and met another great friend. And after that came the day that one of those friends and I attended a Combined Spouses Club event and met another great friend. We've all pretty much been inseparable since then! God knew what He was doing when he placed these girls in my life. We have ventured out into the Turkish world and made the most out of the life we were dealt by coming here. Two of these friends, K and L, have become my gym partners and I am so very thankful for that! It has become part of our daily routine and I love it! We make a weekly trip to the market to get all of our fresh fruits and vegetables, we volunteer at different things together, we take trips together, we spent the holidays together. These are definitely people I will never,ever forget about.
Now, I'm not the only one who has been blessed with some great friends. J-Twice has also made some good buddies. He usually doesn't make friends as quickly as I do, but that's boys for ya! :) Because of these boys, I have baked my heart out, cooked them yummy meals, learned to play Dominoes, and watched/listened to endless hours of Call of Duty. (and oh yeah, kicked some booty in Guitar Hero!) We both have truly been blessed by friendships here.
While we have grown to like the life we have been given, we also still miss things back home! That list of things hasn't exactly changed since this post but the desire for them has either grown more or disappeared. I, personally, have enjoyed all of the traveling opportunities we have been able to take part in. We have been to: downtown Adana (which is an adventure in and of itself!), Kizkalesi (which means the Mediterranean Sea!), Gaziantep,Izmir, Ephesus, Virgin Mary’s House, Priene, Miletos, Didyma’s Temple of Apollo, Pamukkale, Hierapolis, Kusadasi,Uzuncaburc, Snake Castle, and I think that's about it...for now! We have plans to travel to a lot of other places too, and I can not wait!
Along with traveling, I have learned a very minimal amount of the Turkish language. Turkish is a very complicated language to learn, so I basically pick up what I most often hear. I can count to 5, and know 10. I can say hello/goodbye. Ask how are you/I'm good. How much? Water, milk, wine (ha ha-It's "shut up". No, really. It is.) Thank You (but haven't mastered 'your welcome'). That's all I can think of right now.
Needless to say, this duty station has taught me a lot and shown me more than what we Americans are typically used to. America is spoiled. That's for sure!! But there's no place like it, and we sure do miss it!
Here's to another 18 months of learning, adventures, and friendships!
