Valentine's Day

My first Valentine's Day overseas has been great! On Monday I got 2 packages full of Valentines goodies - chocolates, gum, PEEPS, heart shaped pillow, etc. Here are some pictures of my wonderful cards - thanks to Elizabeth, Kelly, LaLa, and Mrs. Joyce! And then Tommie sent Julie and I some beautiful flowers. They were delivered on Wednesday while I was in the middle of teaching Science. The kids went crazy and were more excited and surprised than I was!








Saturday was such a busy day, that I kept forgetting it was Valentines' Day. First I had a two hour language class from 10-12. Although not my favorite thing in the world I am glad to get back in the swing of langague. Due to the school holiday and then my tutor being out of town it had been like 2 weeks since we had met and what little language I know was getting rusty! After that Julie and I fixed a quick lunch and then headed to a friends apartment for a Valentine's Tea. It was such a nice party and great to meet some other ladies in the city. AND yummy food...pastries, brownies, strawberries dipped in chocolate, and more! I kept refilling my plate :) We headed straight from the tea to the school I teach at for a Valentines Hoedown. The senior class was sponsoring it for the High School. I had the opportunity to teach a couple line dances and had so much fun dancing and hanging out. It was almost like being back in college and going dancing! Hope your Valentine's Day was great and full of LOVE. How grateful I am that my Father is the definition of love.

Last Week

Last week brought a lot of changes! Joan - my roommate for the last 3 weeks - went back to Scotland. Julie and I were so sad to see her go. She was one of the reasons our transition has been so smooth and easy. She cooked for us, cleaned, helped with laundry, showed us how to do all sorts of things, listened to us, gave us advice, and the list goes on and on. We miss her very much!! Here is a picture of us out to eat the night before she left!

I also started teaching this week. It is so fun and I really loving it. It's hard getting up at 6:30am everyday, but I am starting to get used to it. Here are some pictures of my classroom...notice my make shift calendar :)

random thoughts

they dont have ranch dressing here and so last night i used one of my ranch packets i brought from the states to make some ranch. all you do is mix it with some sour cream (they dont have sour cream here either - but you can make it with yogurt and something like cream cheese)! i was so excited when i got home this afternoon that i cut up all these veggies and starting dipping them in ranch. then i decided to make some potatoes and dipped them in ranch. then i fixed a salad and poured ranch all over it. and tomorrow i plan to have chicken nuggets with - you guessed it - RANCH. oh the comfort of yummy food!

and i just spent about 45 minutes on skype with a dell representative. my DVD player has been messed up since i got here so i wanted to call and see if it was even possible to get it fixed while i am over here. well it is possible!! and they are going to send the parts right to my apartment. when he asked what my address was i just laughed.,because i dont really know turkish yet so i cant pronounce the words correctly. i had to spelled each word like this A as in apple, L as in lemon, E as in elephant, M as in man, D as in dog, A as in apple, G as in girl - for the word Alemdag...i dont even know what that is!! haha anyways it was funny and the guy was so patient and nice. i should have my package in about 4 weeks hopefully! we shall see.

julie and i finally starting cooking this past week. we have made chicken fahitas, chicken quesadillas, and even poppyseed chicken. and i have eaten lots of yummy dishes at friend's houses, so i am looking forward to trying them all soon. it is so easy to get fresh fruit and veggies, which is really nice.

First Day of School

well i survived my first day of teaching. it was so fun and i know this is exactly what i am suppose to be doing. i have a great group of kids, 16 to be exact. it is a very diverse group: several Americans, Koreans, a Turkish American, a Singaporean, and a South African. this morning i actually felt rested when i woke up at 6:30am - i took a dramamine last night to make sure i would be able to sleep.

school starts at 8:30, and at 8:35 one of the little girls in my class threw up all over the floor. it made for a very nice "welcome to teaching" gift. the kids were going crazy...and i had no idea what to do. thankfully the 2nd grade teacher told me who to call and offered for my class to join hers until specials started at 8:45. i spent my planning period trying to get the smell out of my classroom as well as printing off activites for the day. i am still getting used to not having a printer at my apartment - i have to email everything to myself and print it off at school.

i just did some basic things with them today...going over procedures, rules, getting to know them, etc. it's nice because so many things have already been implemented...i am just reinforceing them. i am still trying to figure out how i am going to get them to behave in the hallway - it is madness and they are so loud, i HAVE GOT to get that under control soon. i started reading Frindle to them, one of my favorites (thanks to my literacy professor in college). AND probably the most exciting thing was passing out their pen pal letters from Miss Wilson's 3rd grade class in Raleigh, NC. they were thrilled and cannot wait to write back :) oh and i spent about an hour after school making a calendar for the bulletin board. and if you know anything about me you know i am not very creative or crafty - so its hilarious to me that i had to make a calendar - but i guess thats what you do when you are in a foreign country and their arent teaching supply stores around!

GRACE

Last week I had the chance to go down to Selcuk (a town near Ephesus) for a HS retreat. Although I wasnt able to go into Ephesus I was able to climb a mountain at the camp that overlooked the town. One afternoon about 40 of us started up the mountain, really having no idea how far and how hard the hike was going to be. But it was so worth it, even though at times I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest. This was an incredible experience - to sit on top of a mountain and to look down on the town of Ephesus.
I took the opportunity to read through Ephesians...imagining the town and people that it was written to. In chapter 3, verse 7-8, paul writes "I became a servant of this g0$pe1 by the gift of God's grace given me though the working of His power. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, the grace was given me..." it goes on to say that it was given to him to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles.
I was able to identity with these verses in many ways. GRACE. I have been given grace, and everything good I experience in this life is a result of His grace at work. Every good and perfect gift is from above and all people experience grace. Whether it is common grace - the ability to breathe and laugh, learn new things, live life, smell the flowers, and the list goes on. And then there is special grace - grace shown to believers as they walk through life knowing the Father, experiencing the power of the HS, abiding in the love of a savior, and again the list goes on.

And even though I feel like I am less than the least of all God's people, even though I sometimes struggle with being here in a foreign place where I dont speak the language, even though I feel totally inadequate to do what I have been called to do..."the grace was given me."

look closely and you can see the amphitheatre.

transportation

Considering my city has over 17 million people living in it, getting around can be rather complicated. But I am slowly learning all the many ways - bus, minibus, boat, metro, the tunel, taxi, cable cars, and personal cars (my favorite ha!) Yesterday morning we went over to the Europe side for a meeting. Joan was kind enough to show Julie and I how to get there by public, it only took a little over an hour! First we took a bus to the Iskele (boat harbor), from there we got on a boat. Can I just say that I love riding the boat on the Bosphorous! Everytime I do I am just reminded of how awesome He is - what a wonderful creation we get to enjoy! Oh and on the beautitful boat ride we enjoyed a cup of salep - its this hot drink they serve that looks like glue but tastes like candy. It is so sweet and delicious and comes from the orchid plant! After getting off the boat we walked to the tunel and rode that up to the top of a street - from there we had another 10 minute walk and then we finally arrived! After our meeting we enjoyed a nice lunch and then walked around, it was such a lovely and warm day. We spend most evenings in our apartment, so I just enjoyed being outside and getting some exercise. Here is a picture of Julie and I getting on the boat to go back to the other side. Oh and they have this thing here called an Akbil - you put money on it and use it for all the different forms of public transportation. It is so handy and I love that I dont have to keep up with a bunch of coins.

Chicken...Fish...Soup...Salad

So today after language, Clay and I decided to go grab some lunch. I was excited to order in Turkish because our language tutor had taught us some good phrases to use when ordering. We found a restaurant that looked good and served lamachun - my new favorite meal (its yummy and cheap!) Anyways so we walked into the restaurant and immediately the waiter showed us to this secluded room with nice cloths on the tables and chairs. He leaves and brings us a plate and some silverwear, and then pulls out his order pad and says "chicken...fish...soup...salad..." Before the man can even finish, Clay decides he wants chicken. I on the other hand really want the lamachun. So I try to say in Turkish...do you have lamachun? The man just looks at me all confused. I say again: "LAMACHUN" He shakes his head. I point at the picture and say "I want Lamachun." This time he shakes his head and says "finished." At this point I just order the chicken. I am still not sure exaclty what happened, it is strange to me that he never gave us a menu and that he wouldnt let me order lamachun. He probably just saw some americans come in and though he would take them to this special room and get them to order the more expensive dishes. His plan worked - this time anyways!