Busy First Days

It has been two weeks since we left Philadelphia on our way to Turkey. Looking back at these first few weeks it has been a very busy time.

The end of our first week here Kylie's papers arrived for her to get her work permit and officially register. This meant a quick trip to Cyprus. As romantic as that sounds we spent far more time in transit than we actually did getting to see things. Our flight was booked from a city about a three hour bus ride away. We ended up getting on a smaller bus that liked to pick people up all along the way. So with that and the occasional stops for the driver to get out and drink ayran and such it took a little over four hours. Then we had to catch a plan. We got into the airport and got our boarding passes without a problem and then we joined the mob pushing our way to the front of passport control. We had no idea really what we needed to do...but after about 30 minutes in line we finally got to the front and we were in the right place. Our flight was really nice. We met a guy who was on his way back to school in Cyprus. He was really friendly and super helpful - especially when we landed and had the name of our hotel and not anything else. He was able to help us find the right bus and then got someone who was headed our way to walk us to our hotel. It was really nice of them. The next morning we got up and found our way to the embassy to apply for paper work. That all went fairly smoothly. They were not any less efficient than most DMV offices in the States. We finished the application process around noon and were told to come back after 2:00 to pick up our papers. So we had just about two hors to see all of Cyprus. We went outside and started walking in the 98-100 heat...and all we saw in any direction were mountains. Who wants to go to Cyprus and see mountains? I mean really! So we turned around and headed the other direction. We found a border checkpoint that divides between the Turkish North Cyprus and the Greek South Cyprus. We weren't really sure what we'd find on the other side so we decided to ask someone sitting by. He turned out to be the owner of a taxi company and had his son take us over to Kyrenia a harbor where a lot of the nicer hotels and restaurants are. It was really pretty down there and so we got to see a good bit of the area. We ate lunch and then our taxi came back and picked us up and took us to the embassy and then back to the airport. It was such a blessing since we weren't really sure how we were going to figure it all out. But everything went smoothly. All our paperwork that we needed to get there went through and we made our flight without too much hassle. Then it was another bus ride (this time only about 3 hours) back to Gaziantep and then back home for the night. So that was our quick trip to Cyprus. We had all of about two hours to explore, but it was still really fun. (For pictures go HERE)

So we were back in Gaziantep late Monday night. Tuesday Kylie went in to work in the morning. At about 10:30 one of her co-workers took us to start applying for more paper work. We had to get a few more forms and the office closed at noon, so we were back to the apartment by the early afternoon. Then on Wednesday the holiday of Bayram (celebrating the end of Ramadan) started. This three day festival seems to make everyone a little bit crazy. Everyone is off of work. Kids get lots of candy. (Actually it seemed like everyone got lots of candy) It was fun (and sometimes a little scary) to watch the celebrations. Since this was our last really long weekend (5 days off) we decided to make a trip to a few cities near by. We went to Adana, a major industrial and agricultural center, and then took the commuter train down to Mersin which is right on the coast of the Mediterranean. It was neat to see some more of the surrounding areas. We are still getting our bearings and constantly making a fool of ourselves in our attempts to use the language. But we are able to get around and see lots of things. I will save the space of writing a full summary of this trip. But you can find pictures and commentary from our trip HERE.

Now we are back in Gaziantep and back to the routine of normal life. Still lots of unknowns but are learning and growing and enjoying the time here.