Birthday in Istanbul

Yeah, Thank you everyone for wishing me a Happy Day!

It was truly a wonderful day!

I arrived at school and the faculty had pitched in and purchased a birthday cake! It was so amazing! It had three candles and three sparklers; does this mean that I am of the age where I have so many candles that they won't fit on the cake? Ugh!!!!! But the day was great. Upon arriving home Camille took me to Sultanahmet where she showed me the Blue Mosque! It was so beautiful! Once you walk inside it takes your breath away! The blue tiles are so beautiful! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Then she took me our to dinner where I had to most amazing fruit! She also bought me Turkish dessert! She's a good friend, no?!!!! Everyone really pitched in to make my b'day special.

I begin classes THIS Monday; my mistake from my last post. Wow! I can't handle it! I'm really excited! I don't have to prepare lesson plans, BUT I do have to do crowd control! YEAH! I still can't handle me being a teacher and to Kindergarteners?

Istanbul finally cooled off!!! YEAH!

Istanbul

It's been awhile....sorry! I have jetlag mixed with andoverwhelming feeling of being overwhelmed! I had my first day yesterday, so technically I am a teacher! I even saw my classroom! Cool huh! Yup, I'm so excited. Class doesn't formally start until September the 11th. I am stoked! I had the best breakfast in the world today (at 4 o'clock) It was bread with honey and cream. It was totally awesome. I really love the city so far and I am excited about living here. I am currently staying with a friend but on Sunday I move into a flat. YAY! I will be able to unpack. Last night Camille took me out for her friends birthday and that was fun. I tried a whole bunch of new food. Oh, the South Beach Diet won't work here! Hopefully soon I wil be able to post pics.

I've Arrived In Istanbul

Thank you for your prayers and I wasn't affected or injured by any of the 4 bombs that occurred in Istanbul today. Well, not all of them were in Istanbul.

1.Istanbul is beautiful!
2.I have been pronouncing EVERYTHING incorrectly.
3.I look out of place in every way imaginable.
4.Camille met me in the airport and was/is totally amazing.
5.Her roommate Selin is going to look at the flat with me in 30 min.
6.All my baggage arrived.
7.I've already had coffee and it was wonderful!
8.10 hours on a plane is quite long.
9.The Aegean is beatiful.
10.The Bosphorus is beautiful.
11.Roman Ruins are beautiful.
ummmmmmmmmm, any questions?

ps. It feels good here. Quite hot, but good.

My Final Day

Today was my last day in the United States, at least for this year. I'm so nervous and excited! I found this pic and placed it here so that you all could see that I AM flying to civilization! This is the airport I am flying into and people; I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED to finally go to Turkey! I am so ready! But, I don't know when my next post will be. I've been to internet cafes all over the world; Spain, France, Russia... but, I knew all those languages. This time, I don't know how to say "one hour" in Turkish and I certaintly don't know how to pay for it (New Turkish Lira). But I do have a fabulous dictionary so hopefully I'll find the time, place and language to say all this so I can update my blog and tell all of you how I'm doing! Thanks in advance for the prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm really hoping that some of you are planning a trip to Turkey... But get this, I have a new friend meeting me at the airport and she said she'll hold up a sign!!!! Cool huh, I've never had someone hold a sign for me before! I always thought those people were dumb, but I've since gotten over that. But I'm really not looking forward to the whole getting off the plane and looking around thing... You know, we all feel that we are too cool to be excited to see someone... I mean, haven't you ever seen someone but you casually glance away so they see you first so you can be like, "Ohhhhhhhhhhh, Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Yup, not me. When I see Camille I'll probably do a run, jump, hop weird thing in my excitement. Calm, cool and collected? Nope, people I'm moving to a foreign country with 2 bags, a carry on and a personal item! Excited, paranoid and exuberant will by the words of the day; as well as jet lagged, tired, crabby, smelly... C'mon people, let's not be realistic. Let's have adventure, excitment, Turkish food...

Only One More Day!

I'm not fully prepared to leave. My room is a disaster! Most of my stuff is packed and I don't have enough songs imported onto my ipod. Yes, everyone I do have one now and it's wonderful! I really like it. I'm so ready to be in Istanbul, but I'm not ready to say goodbye. Goodbyes are truly difficult. Everyone out there should know that I have the most amazing parents in the world and I super duper love them! This will be my first Thanksgiving and Christmas without them as even when I lived in Colorado I managed to drive down! But I will be having amazing experiences in Istanbul and I am sooooooooooooo excited to go! I'm wondering what kind of kids I will be teaching and stuff like that. Will people like me and will I make friends? These are the type of thoughts parading through my head and it is exhausting. I am so excited though and I look forward to the weeks ahead! Sorry for the lack of pics everyone, I just have taken the time to load them! Oh, and I love Murphy's Law. Get this, my laptop battery is the same one that Dell recalled! Oh yes, I'm off to Istanbul sans battery! This isn't good people! But Dad's been amazing with everything technical! Well friends, check out Skype as I'm looking into this mode of communication. If you want to verbally chat, this could be an avenue for us.

Tis Almost the End of a Journey Thus Far

I realize now that I take certain things for granted: friends, family and Mom's cooking. I'll miss hugs and familiar faces. I'm almost ready to go, to move to Istanbul. You see, if you've ever tried to find an apartment in another country, from another country you tend to go a little insane. ie: today I received an answer to an email in 90% Turkish. The 10% I understood were numbers. For instance..blah blah blah caddesi 8... Most flats come furnished with stuff and cats and a roommate. This worries me. One place showed photos where it was crammed with stuff and it came with 3 cats. 3 cats??? Can't you take one with you kind sir? And it had a statue of a Buddha. Buddha got his own picture so I'm assuming this "sculpture" is a selling point for this person. I just don't know about that... Never mind, I know exactly how I feel about that. I don't need a rock sculpted into an obese man. Now, I'm not culturally insensitive, but this is my blog, my opinion!!!!!!!!!!! So, no bulging bellies staring at me as I make my way to the loo! My decesion, final decesion, end of story. Here's a little geography.... Istanbul is split by the Bosphorus so Turkey is split between two continents: Europe and Asia. My school is located on the Asian side, but it looks like I will be living on the European side. Hence forth, I will be taking a daily ferry ride. Ive heard this is a wonderful experience! I can only imagine drinking coffe, listening to Mozart as I cross the Bosphorus in a world of early morning fog. Maybe I should write a book; this is the stuff romance is made of! I'm not talking about men and women, I'm talking about man/nature/God. This city has soooooooo much history. And so in 3 days I am off!

Sport Stacking

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, I'm not sure how I feel about this sport. It looks cool, but really? Will it ever be a school sport? It's pretty cool to watch though and their hands move so fast! I can't believe that in my last few days of America my Dad and I are watching the 2006 World Sport Stacking Championship. I know, but I'm waiting for my jeans to dry so I can pack them... I washed these yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stupid Nebraska humidity. And this afternoon it's supposed to get into the 90's. I'm really not ok with this heat stuff! Global warming? Are the glaciers still melting?

What Is This?

I have NO background in the Turkish language. I'm starting at square one. This is why my my "word of the day" for today confuses me. "Are there any vacancies?" That looks sorta like a phrase to me.

James Must Think Me Stupid

His name is James. He works at Radio Shack and I dislike the man intensely. Mom and I walked into the store with slight apprehension as both of us are NOT electronically inclined. I needed to purchase a European power converter. He asked to help us; lucky us. He breathed heavily and began reading the back of boxes and I randomly told him that I needed it for a curling iron. Finally, after licking his lips in an irritating fashion he handed over the item, stared at me and asked if their was anything else we needed. I looked at my Mom, she nodded so I piped up with a simple "I pod." Perhaps he heard me say, "A trip to the moon" for he looked at me a tad confused. THEN he asked me what I needed an I pod for. Is this a common question? Why does a person want to purchase an I pod if they don't want the service the I pod produces? Perhaps my logic extended beyond his intelligence. I don't know, I shall let you be the judge. So then I began looking as some speakers and I asked if these were necessary items and he did the UNTHINKABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! He waggled his head and said in a taunting tone, "That's why we call them accessories..." and I thought that's "why you work here to tell me about this stuf...." Then he made up some lies about the I pod and why he descourages customers buy them, "but ONLY if they ask." He then sent our business elsewhere as the other store would have the perfect item I would need. And then this was the killer. AFTER, we were almost out of the store he called, "are you going to Turkey for religious reasons?" ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? This stranger who insulted me did not just ask a personal question did he? Oh he did. He crossed the line. Obviously he wasn't listening, as the phrase, "English Teacher" didn't take the first time I said it. Was it because I was wearing a skirt? Or maybe only religious people buy European power converters? Maybe we should all ask James as He is the expert on all matters pertaining to life.

I found a word I need to know

I'm trying to learn essential Turkish terms so that I can survive. I found a word oh so necessary to memorize. iskembe

Who Wants Cake?

It happened like this. (You know it's going to be good when a story starts this way.) My Mom made a cake. Not just any cake. A double layer Red (one whole bottle of red food coloring) Velvet cake for her friends last day. This was special and my mom had to fit baking into her busy schedule. So the cake goes to work and is displayed on the counter; a taunting gesture for those whose diet consist of non fattening food. And then, one of Moms coworker sits on the cake! Oh yes, she leans/sits/rests her bum against the counter and squash! A nice fluffy cake decimated to within inches of its life! Sad day, I wanted a piece of that cake but, who wants butt pieces anyway?

Becoming a School Teacher...

Who woulda thunk it would happen??? Of course I love kids; that's not the issue here!!! The issue is that I promised myself that I would never become a teacher! I still can't fathom EVER wearing a denim jumber with an apple pin attached squarely to the left corner WITH an apple spotted turtleneck. Not even a mock turtle neck. Nope, one of those ones that you have to fold over and if you are REALLY into teacher decorating you can stick on an applique and take it off before you wash it... This is NOT me and NEVER will be ME! Henceforth my Mom helped me shop for a New teachers wardrobe and I feel quite spiffy. No apples included. I thought my Mom was going to act Momish. You know, get everything soooooooooo large that the only way one can tell you are female is by looking at your hair. People I'm moving to Turkey I need to be conservative... But, My Mom and I met in the middle and she was amazing. For all of you who think honesty is NOT the best policy; think again! I need to think clearly and make good decesions for...drum roll please.... I'm going to be a role model for young Turkish minds and people I do know what integrity means!

I did the Unthinkable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's true, I can't believe I'm admitting this as well. Mom and I made our BLT sandwiches and sat in front of the TV to enjoy our bacon. Welllllllllllllllll, CSI was a ReRun and Nothing was on. So, we decided to watch the Miss Teen USA pageant! I know, didn't I just watch the Miss Universe pageant? Did you know that some of these GIRLS are 15? Are you kidding me? You know they eat ice cubes and cotton balls saturated with Orange Juice to feel full. And Miss Montana didn't know what integrity meant. Seriously, she said that a person whith integrity is a person who has goals and reaches them and striving towards them. Really? That's not what Webster says. Her answer reminded me of Miss Rhoad Island, "My perfect date would be April 24th. It's not to hot, it's not too cold. All you need is a light jacket." And the winner is: Montana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How sad that the role model for teen women, does not have integrity because the winner doesn't know what the word means. Integrity: Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code.

Fluent in Turkish

I signed up for a "Turkish Word of the Day" sent directly to my yahoo account. Today was the first day, first word and the first step towards the magnanymous sounds of my Turkish pronunciation. Ready for my first word.... November:kasim. Yup, this one will be SUPER helpful in the up and coming days.

Hometown Pizza

While Mom and I were shopping we were talking about food I would miss the most. Hands down I will miss BBQ hot chicken wings. Because, even if Turkey has a large supply of wings, they won´t taste the same. This is true! Hometown Pizza has the best wings in town. Fabulous, just fabulous! Then, my parents and I had a lively discussion about Cockroaches in Miami! YUCK! I wonder if Istanbul has Cockroaches.... I would use the question mark, but you see I somehow disabled it and put Spanish signs in place of everything on my keyboard. Like when I push the semicolon key I get ñ and if I shift with it I get Ñ. Beautiful, great, I´ll worry about undoing that tomorrow.... Oh, the question mark key gives me _ - yah, what up with that______ multiple lines are supposed to be questions marks at the end of that statement. I´m taking a poll, should I get an i pod_ notice how everything is screwed up with my keys, it is driving me insane!!!!! Let me know what you think!

One Last Day of Fiesta!

It was a busy week, we had fun and it is almost over! VBS made for a busy week and I am ready to NEVER hear the word Viva ever again! Everyone worked so hard to make this work. We had over 200 kids enrolled. On the left is a photo of Cierra; she was in my crew. She's holding a maracca we made in crafts from the fabulous lemon containers everyone so wonderfully donated! Above Fiesta Finale (the Silly Chillies are on stage singing.)

Fighting Off Irritation

I have a poor history with airplanes. 90% of the time I am delayed. I plan on being delayed. I've been on planes with bomb threats; had to turn around and go back to the aiport. Cracked windows, employee malfunction (sprayed water instead of de-icer, we were delayed for HOURS), a plane FULL of screaming baby girls freshly adopted from China, power outages, and all out cancellations. Once I leave good ole Nebraska here I won't see Istanbul for 17 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!! (This includes flying time and standing around time waiting for flights...) Now, let me preface that the bomb threats in Britain ARE SERIOUS! Many terrorists were involved AND 10 jetliners to the US were targeted. So I'm not saying this isn't serious, but a complete ban of ALL liquids and gels? They say that you can still check liquids and gels in checked baggage because they are checked for bomb related materials. So why can't they do that with my carry on and everyone elses? Why can't they wand my bag? This means NO toothpaste for Laura for 17 hours!!!!! Now I'm not trivializing this, I will gladly give up my toothpaste if it means saving lives! I'm just wondering about all that money BEFORE that our gov't threw into Homeland Security. What about better screening? Did any money go towards this process? I'm not sure. Praise the Lord that these Horrible acts were averted!!!!

Off To Turkey!

I purchased my tickets today! I am so excited to go! Thrilled! I have a new friend in Istanbul and she has been super helpful. I know that I need to get busy and start packing and stuff like that, but this heat is making me lethargic! What happened to the cold and wonderful rainy days earlier this week? I love the rain! I should look at the average rainfall in Istanbul! One of my friends whom studied with me in Russia just emailed and said that she spoke Turkish!!! How come I never knew this? I'm hoping to have the time to take the language while I am over there. I will get irritated with life if I can't communicate with people. Today is the 4th day of VBS (Vacation Bible School) it is always Thursday where you have to give that extra push because for the most part you feel like staying at home and sitting on your patookie. Yup, looks like a hot one tonight!

The Support Has Been Amazing!

Wow! Everyone has been so supportive over my decesion to go with Turkey instead of the Peace Corps! I am so thankful for all of you and I'm truly going to miss you! Jean, I would love to know more about your friends in Istanbul! I'm so sorry that I am replying to you now... VBS remained fabulous! I am so proud of everyone who is helping; this is by far the smoothest it has ever run! I HATE it when I show up to volunteer and it goes like this: kids screaming in my ears, I can't even hear myself think and over time I stop thinking completely, there is a schedule but only the director knows it, the kids don't have name tags so I end up calling them by their shirt colors ie; blue shirt, one of my crew gets bloody because green shirt from another group punched him, I'm there 20 minutes after it is over because I have the kids whose Mother NEVER shows up on time, we sing all new VBS songs but the projector is broken so we "have to sing from memory" and snack is as stale as last years VBS snack and for some odd reason it looks the same... Which is why sometimes I drag my feet on volunteering. So let me tell you, Fiesta has been fabulous. My crew kids have NAMES, I get a new schedule in my uplifting brightly colored bag EVERY DAY, snack is super tasty AND in cool shapes, the songs are fun and full of energy (I don't even feel self concious!), my crew was picked up by parents within 5 minutes of it ending (on time) AND as the girls are leaving they say, "see you tomorrow..."

Fiesta/Party!

Here are some girls from my crew at Fiesta at VBS! yah! They are too cute! We had a lot of fun and even more is planned for tomorrow! Although we did play a game outside and I told the girls totally the WRONG directions... And then we did this ice cube game that wasn't cool because the girls thought it was fun to put cold, wet hands on Laura's face. We got over that and had fun!

I Received My Invite Today!

My invite to Ukraine from Peace Corps arrived today. I have a mixture of feelings, but not for the resaons you may think. I don't feel that I made the wrong decesion. I REALLY am excited about Turkey. I'm a little sad that I hoped and prayed for my invite for SO long, and now that it is here I can't even be excited over it. I finally received the infamous blue envelope and it doesn't matter; that's what makes me sad. Wow, crazy business! I just got home from shopping! Yay, I bought some new jeans to take over to Turkey with me. Tonight starts VBS, I will take some pics so you can all see how much fun Fiesta is!

Today was one of those days!

Let me tell you how it went:

I set my alarm for 8:30 P.M instead of A.M (yeah for quick showers and applying make up while driving)

I grabbed at bottle of tea at Wal-Mart and dropped it before I could open it. So I replaced it in the cooler and grabbed a new one sans foam.

I ran into a guy at Wal-Mart then AGAIN in the organizer section (he probably thinks I'm a stalker or a wanna be girlfriend, then we had a conversation on how we keep running into each other)

I spent half an hour in the hair care aisle trying to remember what I needed before I realized that I didn't need anything from that aisle.

As I sat down to write my blog a HUGE cricket began crawling right next to me on the sofa! Yuck!

Pity party? Nah, it could be WAY worse. I have so much to do in preparation for moving in three weeks; yet I still sit around making lists on what I need to do. I should probably buy my airline ticket and do something about getting my visa. Instead I have been looking up maps of Turkey trying to figure out the location of the school I will be teaching at. Denim sale at Maurices tomorrow. Random, but I love those jeans.

The Decesion is Made!

Istanbul, 1870's

I took the job in Turkey; in case you missed the change in my blog name, new quote and the Istanbul weather link. I'm excited and thrilled and wowed! I bought a book on Turkey today. YEAH! How fabulous is that? I haven't heard from Peace Corps, big suprise there! IF, IF, they ever do send me an invite, I will defer it in case I regret my decesion later. That being said, I'm NOT holding my breath. I have a Great story to tell. I began my day with a pilates mat and a resistance band. Do you already have a good idea on where this story is going? So I take my "Pilates Style Stance" and roll onto the mat. I place the band around my feet and begin some hard to pronounce Joseph Pilates move. "Now," she says....."roll up like a ball." Get this, I roll up, and so does my mat!!!! Oh yes, 6 inches of velcro from my mat stuck into my hair and as I stood up, I took the mat with me. Me, being the Freakout Girl that I am, yank at the velcro lodged in my head. Instead of slowly pulling my hair out, I yank until my strands slither through the tiny grippy things. Oh yes, the pain came after in one giant yelp. Ouch! So then I did the most logical thing that I could; I got angry with my stupid mat! I stared at it, just lying on the floor wavy and dumb. But, being the rational person that I am, I tucked the offensive article under the mat and continued. I'm bringing the mat with me to Turkey. End of Story.
P.S. Peace Corps told me that they just sent me an invite. One day too late...

International Dove Deoderant

I love Dove. Regular dove deoderant smells really good. In the summer when I wear Dove I NEVER worry about how my pitts smell. Too much info? Well, then ya'll have never lived abroad and enjoyed the smell of Dove International Regular scent. It smells totally different!!!!!!!!! But deoderant can't be the decesion maker because I'd have to wear International Dove in Ukraine too. The guy from Turkey emailed me back.... I received a contract from him yesterday and my Mom and I picked it apart. But come on people, I took Contract Law and my Mom is smart... Everything looks good. hmmmmmmmmmm, is that a problem here? What about my crazy days when I feel like wearing my Mango perfume? Do people in Turkey wear Mango? And who wears Mango these days???? Me, when I'm in a citrus mood. Seriously people, Bath and Body works sells stuff called Cotton Blossom and Spiced Pumpkin.... I'd rather smell like rotting mango than the inards of last years Jack-O-Lantern; but would I? Why are smells so important to me? This is the issue; if I must choose an issue; I am turning 24 so, I am a 24 year old woman moving to Turkey to teach Business English to men in the ages of 25 to 35. Red Flag? Maybe, depends on how unapproachable I can make myself. You may call this email random, but I wanted to show you what flies around my head in the span of 5 minutes. Oh, and in Turkish my name is Laure... Does that transfer into Lori? because that WON'T WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I have to use American English which bums me because I really wanted to start using words like the boot of a car, and I'm going to the loo... But, I checked the status of my Peace Corps account and I am still not cleared. To be honest people I feel that PC has made the decesion for me.

The Best of All!

This is the latest and most exciting of ALL job offers! Istanbul Turkey! I am so excited about it! I would be teaching business English at a business school. I'm 99 percent sure that I will take the job. I have always wanted to go to Istanbul and now I have an opportunity. So will the Peace Corps come through or shall I take the job? You all, as well as me, will know soon enough!

At Such a Time as This

This is the latest job offer I have received. Mexico offered me a position. It is truly quite crazy; my life that is. I don't know what the future holds. Do I go to Mexico or Indonesia? Do I turn them down and wait for the Peace Corps? I filled out a long application to teach in Turkey; shall I work there? My head feels like it is full of mud that I need to dig my fingers into so as to find the missing key. I rarely get headaches and I had one today. I get headaches when my life is asymmetrical and I am no longer in control. Let me clarify it once more, When I am not in control of making the Best decision. Oh, I could email Mexico and say I accept, but is this the correct decesion? This perplexes me! I am quite good at forming an opinion, so why is it so hard now? I do believe you can all relate to me. It's a place of limbo where you teeter wondering which way you will fall. It's the same feeling I feel when I am being weighed at the doctors office. As you stand half naked in your gown the lady pushes the huge dial to 100 and then begins flicking the smaller, cold pieces of metal. Then she pushes it too far and has to flick it back a bit. You hold your breath waiting for the balance. And then you step off and it goes, CLUNK! I don't want to choose the wrong thing and go Clunk. It isn't as if I can take a job in Indonesia and have my Dad come and rescue me when I want to come home. I am afraid to fail. This is what it all comes down to, and you know what. I'm going to have to make a decesion. That's part of life, part of the symmetry.

The Ring of Fire

I received a formal, formal offer to teach in Indonesia, and seriously people, I might just take it...

Jakarta Indonesia on the Island of Java (I love coffee...)

Average temperature stays above 86 degrees F.
Tropical, hot and humid.
Regular religious uprisings Islam vs. Christianity
Jakarta is the capital
Border countries: Malaysia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea
Natural Hazards: occasional floods, severe droughts, tsunamis, earth quakes, forest fires and volcanoes (who wouldn't want to go?)
88 percent Muslim
5 percent Protestan Christian
17 August Independence Day!

For the most part, from what I've read; ex pats aren't real happy over there.