Looking Ahead: Summertime!

Okay, so I know it is poor etiquette to begin with an apology, yet nonetheless I apologize for not having updated this the past few months.

Since we last wrote - all the way back in April - a lot has transpired. First, we decided that we will not be returning to Gaziantep this fall. Kylie has a job teaching in Istanbul. I have transferred my credits and will be continuing my MA studies at a university in Istanbul. So when we return to Turkey, August 12, we will be moving to a new city. We are excited about the opportunities and adventures that await us there. So that is where we are headed but now a little about where we have been.

We finished out the school year in Gaziantep. It was sad to leave behind a lot of good friends that we have made there over this past year. We are hoping that we'll be able to see many of them again when they come to visit Istanbul or when we go back to Gaziantep. The last weekend of the school year a group of students from Northland came out and spent a couple days in Gaziantep. It was really fun to get to introduce them to our students and just to spend some time with them and hear about what they are learning. Then a few days later we got on a plane to fly to Senegal to spend three weeks with a group in St. Louis, Senegal where we were last summer. We were able to teach and help the students teach an evening English course. Kylie had some awesome opportunities at a public school to teach and interact with the teachers there. We also got to reconnect with some good friends from last year. It was a good trip but as we came to the end we were excited to come back to the USA.

We came back to the states and spent a week in Atlanta with Kylie's dad. He was finishing up the last week of treatment for prostate cancer. It was a really encouraging time for us to see the opportunities he had to be a blessing to so many people who were going through situations even more challenging than his. After that we spent a few weeks in Pennsylvania with family. It was a lot of fun and went by very quickly. After our three weeks in PA we came out to Colorado for about three weeks with family here. So far it has been a really good time. We've gotten to explore and adventure and overall just get ready for this next year.

So now as we have just a week or so left before heading back. We are excited about the opportunities that are ahead of us. As we go back we have the chance to meet a number of new friends. We will be closer to other Americans and so are excited about being able to help them in the things they have going on. There are also some opportunities for the future that are developing that we are excited to be a part of.

So that is a brief (sort of) update on where we have been and where we are going. We'd love to hear from you whether through this blog, or email, or facebook.

Also, among all the other things we have going on, we are both writing in different places. If you are interested feel free to check those out:

Kylie is writing an education blog with teaching ideas, stories from the classroom, and other related topics. You can find it here: http://justawordinthegrandstory.wordpress.com/.

She also has another general writing blog that you can find here: http://klizbarker.wordpress.com/

I have just begun a blog that is more or less about culture, theology, history and politics and you can find that here: http://thoughtfulconvergence.wordpress.com/.

One last thing if you are looking for a great short story for introducing kids to different cultures or if you'd just like to learn more about life in Senegal. Check out this short story: One Day as a Talibe. It is currently only available for Amazon Kindle (and the free kindle reading apps) but hopefully will be available in print sometime in the future.