A month in Turkey and four months of matrimony

Merhaba Abi and Abla's!  I  can barely believe that we have lived in Turkey for a month already.  Even more, I cannot believe it has been four months since our wedding!  We have all adjusted nicely to our new home and life in a foreign land.  We have been living the "simple life" for the time; as we have yet to receive any of our personal belongings and are still living off the luggage we brought with us from our initial travels plus any essentials purchased from the BX. One thing is for certain, however, the entire Taylor clan is very relieved to be settled into out home, regardless of the "things" we don't have.  We are expecting to have our home furnishings by early November.

Arion has settled into her school and seems to be okay with it so far.  She has made "two-and-a-half" friends this first month and has expressed sincere interest in some extra curricular activities offered by the school which include choir and track.   Her Mom and Dad are very happy she is so excited about these opportunities and are very proud of her!  Her school is right across the street from our home and we enjoy walking to and from school every day together.

Michael has been working very hard since our arrival.  The Chapel has a full schedule of services and is very involved with base support functions.  He has just concluded the end of the fiscal year, which has meant Michael has been up to his ears in reports from the last year and literally working from 7:30 am until 10:00 pm or later at night.  Now that he has passed that hurdle, we found out today that Michael has been assigned to NCO Academy November 4.  This means he is moving to Germany for six weeks; without his family.  He will be gone for his birthday and Thanksgiving and back just in time to finish up the Christmas season.

I have also managed to keep myself from having too much idle time, considering my recent unemployment that comes along with the move.  There are many things to do in our base community for those who seek it out.  I attend a bible study called Holy Women, that meets weekly.  I also help out with the MOPS (Mothers of Preschool Children) class and Fresh Encounters (a children's bible study).  I also am getting started with volunteering for the elementary school and am looking into a group that visits the Adana School of the Blind, which is a place blind Turkish children travel to live from all over Turkey.  In addition to this, the base library offers online language courses to anyone who is interested through mango.com.  I have began my "formal'ish" study of Turkish just yesterday and have enjoyed trying to  key phrases and practicing when I am out and about.   I also have been applying for any  that becomes available.  I am sure that my volunteering efforts will be limited once I have a regular 8-5, so I am taking advantage of my time off as much as possible.

So far I have ventured into Adana three times.  The first time was on a Dal mush tour; which I am very glad we went on prior to exploring on our own.  Downtown Adana is very crowded and busy and the Dal mush system is needless to say, intimidating.  I cannot even begin to explain the traffic; it being a free-for-all is no understatement.  The third time, however was with a few friends and against better judgement, we drove there.  While I wouldn't say we exactly got lost; there was significant construction on the main freeway and we had to experiment our way home.  I have always thought that the best way to figure out a city is to just jump in with both feet and figure it out.  Now that we have done that, I think I will stick to the Dal mush bus.


Another wonderful thing about living in Turkey is the local markets.  Today, I went to the Monday market and bought a great assortment of fresh vegetables and spices.  The currency exchange rate here is 1.5 lira to the dollar, which roughly means that 1 lira = $.66.  At the market, they sell fruits, vegetables and spices by the kilo (2.2 lbs) for 1 lira.  So basically, my two friends and I can go to the market and buy enough onions, potatoes, carrots, bananas and garlic (and anything else, for that matter) for  the three of us for $3.33, or 5 lira.  It really doesn't get any better than that, plus the experience is so fun!


We hope to partake in many new adventures, hopefully before Michael has to leave for Germany.  We will keep you posted on the fun things we find and learn as then happen!  Stay tuned...