We Arrived in Istanbul!

We have just recently made our long anticipated move to Istanbul, Turkey! We are so glad we are here. It was in 2012 we heard about this assignment. Actually, to be precise we were in the office with Lady’s family trying to choose a burial plot for Moana. Going to Turkey was more than a pleasant suprie amid all the drama of a family death.

The flights went well. Lucky was so good! We are proud of him. The first flight he wanted to see everyone and everybody so he didn’t sleep until towards the end. However, that meant we too were not sitting—we saw that as a sacrifice worth taking because he wasn’t screaming either!

We were in London for five hours waiting for our flight to Istanbul. Heathrow is HUGE!!! There are so many people coming and going. We had to go through security again….sigh. They pulled us over and made us unpack Lady Hiva’s entire book bag  one piece at a time and he kept asking me if there was something sharp in the bag. I continually re-assured them we didn’t. However, a few minutes later they found Lady Hiva’s “long lost” pocketknife! Ay-yay-AYE! We had to wait there while a supervisor was called and the police were coming. Oh boy. Luckily, they let us leave without causing too much damage.

Flying into Istanbul we could not help but be shocked at the sheer size of the city! There are houses and building EVERYWHERE. On our short drive home we saw several people who come and just sit on the side of the road  and talk. Lady asked why it was such a weird place to do it, but then I realized that away from the median green space near the road there wasn’t just a portion of grass.

Our home is beautiful and we have spent the last few days cleaning it and getting settled. (at least until our next portion of luggage and shipment come. There are beautiful hilltop views of the area.

Shopping has been fun. We have some amazing sponsors that made a delicious meal for us and took us to the nearby store. Most things we use in the States can be found in some form of a Turkish equivalent. We were so happy to see they even carried tortillas! In Manila we had to make our own. So now I will just have to learn how to make salsa instead. (I tried tonight for the first time and it wasn’t so bad for not having all of the ingredients…well, I guess we should ask Lady Hiva if it was bad or not. HAHA)

Sleeping has been an experience. Tau'aho wants to sleep all day and be awake all night. Usually we get him to sleep just about the call to pray from all of the mosques and the singing over the loud speakers wake him up! hehe...hopefully he will get used to it. 

So here is to another two years of adventure. Who knows what to expect!