Who would steal money from a karma jar?

Argh!!! So...not only was my camera (that I never should have purchased because I couldn't really afford it) stolen a month ago by some "friends," but now my cute little nokia handy was stolen as well.

I was standing with a group of about five or six friends close to one of the main city centers in Istanbul. I just checked a text someone had sent and a man must have seen me put my phone back into my jacket pocket. He just came up to me, reached in my pocket, took my phone and ran. My two friends Sefer and Celal immediately went running after him. They were so close to catching him when Sefer stopped running thinking the man threw my phone back but it was just Celal's phone that must have fallen out of his pocket while they were running. Damn!

I can't really afford this and it really bums me out. Guess I should expect it as a traveler and maybe next time I will remember not to invest a lot of money in something nice since it will probably be gone after a few months anyway.

Izmir

We took a weekend trip to Izmir and I absolutely loved it. It’s this wonderful city by the sea. It has got a population of 3.4 million people and is the third largest city in Turkey. In my opinion it’s a much nicer size that Istanbul. I really wish my traineeship were there instead of Istanbul. Instead waiting in traffic for two hours and then dodging people in the metro in haste to get to work, you can take your time and enjoy the scenery on a short dolmus ride to work. People smile in Izmir! It’s great. One can see both the seaside with palm trees and the mountains with snow from anywhere in the city. Most importantly there is also the perfect rollerblade path along the beach. Not to mention the cute little coffee shops, bars and clubs also along the seaside. Again, I love Izmir!

Can you see where Istanbul is in comparison to Izmir? 

This is what I'm talking about.  

A little road leading to a small bizaar. We just couldn't stop taking pictures of palm trees. 

Unfortunately we can not see the two statues of women, one on each side of the cascading pools lying seductively on their backs admiring the phallic looking monument you see in the center of the photo. 

We had Climbed up hills for at least an hour and a half to find this stupid "Velvet Castle." It was freezing cold but since we had come this far, we had to finish the journey. Of course this is how we felt when we THOUGHT we were almost there. 

A mini bird farm we found along the way. 

We are almost there. 

When we got to the top this is really all there was. We walked around inside the castle and found a little playground and a group of people cooking something over a fire. I found out later that the neigborhood we were in was predominately occupied by kirdish people. At least we weren't too out of place since it is supposed to be an important sight in Izmir.  

We stumbled upon some cute little amusement park surrounded by a running track. I forced Fabian to go on this rollercoaster that looks like it's about to fall apart.  

Right outside the cute little bar where we went to get coffee. I of course insisted on ordering beer with our dinner and watching the futbol match. But the view out the window, however, was much better than any soccer game, even if it's on plasma TV. You can sorta see the path I am talking about for rollerblading. Gotta love it! 

Farewell to Prison

Wooo Hooo!! "We" finally move out of the dorms today!!

No more jungle boys!!
No more second hand smoke in the morning!
No more searching for a clean bathroom!
No more gypsies attempting to steal purses in Kasimpasa!
No more Lemar!


Woo Hoo! We are out of here!

(For those of you who might actually be following my blog and what's going on in my life and are confused as to where I am living at the moment, let me clarify. I am still living with the new fam in Yasilkoy, but I will keep my place in the dormatory as a safety net. It's nice for the weekends and weeknights when I want to go out and meet up with friends. I don't think the fam would be too fond of me coming home at 3am and waking up the housekeeper to let me inside. )

Oh how comfortably clean!! I love living in the room with eight people!! Thank god us girls finally got to switch rooms so I only had to live with six :-) 

Basilio practicing the blues to do a little begging on the streets later as we trainess are scraping the bottom of the bucket just to get by. 

The kickass bridge on the infamous two string guitar we randomly found in our room one day. 

The kittens we watched grow up from day one on the front step 

Greg in his normal pose at the old "Internet Cafe."  

Three months ago my boss was concerned about my living situation. As you may know from past entries, I lived in an all male dormitory in Kasimpasa a.k.a. Harlem of Istanbul. Ever since he has been looking to find accommodation that would be a little more suitable and had asked if I would consider staying with a family. I was a little hesitant at the time because to me living in the dorms meant 24 hour fun and a great social life.

Since then I have come to know the dormitory differently, such as having to roll up my pants and squat over the toilet given that the men…*cough, cough* boys apparently haven’t learned how to aim very well; or trying desperately not to look anyone in the eye because being one of five women living in an all male dormitory makes dorm life more like that game called predators and pray than an innocent way to socialize. Plus the fact that we share showers with curious boys, our neighbors have been nicknamed “The Jungle Boys,” our door doesn’t close, and the security guards hate us (well, some of us) made me realize the dorm a little less glamorous than originally expected.

So now that I have endured four months of prison in the so-called dormitory I was ready to check out other options. Just yesterday one was offered.
My boss has a Turkish friend who was living in the New York for two years, had a kid, and is now back in Turkey. Her child started learning English and she wants to make sure he keeps developing it while in Turkey. So the best solution is to have a native speaker around as much as possible. When my boss heard about the situation he proposed the idea to both of us.

So I went to meet the family late last night as both of us had other plans with friends for earlier in the evening. Our meeting was in their apartment so that I would have the opportunity to check out my living quarters before deciding. My first impression of the family was great! I really liked Derya my host "mom."She is 30 years old and super spunky. Her husband might be around 40 and also seemed very nice. Then I can't forget to mention the absolutely gorgeous appartment.

It is three floors. The first floor is elaborately decorated and has a livingroom, dinning room, study, kitchen, and master bedroom. The second floor Derya called the “summer floor” because for some reason they only use it in the summer. It has a kitchen, living room with a flat screen, a few bedrooms, and some other rooms. There is also a huge terrace with a that wraps all the wayaround the house with a view of the Bosphorus. The third floor is where the housekeeper/nanny and I would stay. I would have my own room with a bathroom and shower.
There is also a bathroom outside my room that I can use that hasa Jacuzzi and sauna!! It's a palace!! There is no way I could pass up this living situation.

I would be provided breakfast and dinner and given money for daily transportation. Plus she already wants to take me skiing with her friends on Thrusday! They want me to move in today.

I got back to the dorms around midnight last night and had to start packing. I felt so horrible. All my friends were like "where are you going?" I had to tell them that I wouldn't be living with them anymore. It was sooo hard to tell them. Eventhough I will still see them most weekends it's going to be a lot different. We were all like a family. For instance if we were out later than usual during the week people would always call to make sure we were okay. When anyone becomes ill we there is always someone to take care of him/her. We are all in a completely foreign country away from our family and friends, but we have each other.

It will truly be so hard to leave. Yet at the same time it will also be really nice not to have to search around for suitable work clothing in the morning in the dark, or carry my facewash and make-up to the public bathroom just to find out that I have to wait in line to use the sink and mirror. It's going to be nice just to be able to read a book, fall asleep, or do whatever I want without being disturbed. I think it will be really lonely all by myself at first but I am sure I will soon get used to it and enjoy my space. I will give it a shot until the students move into the new dorms and then reassess the situation after having met the family and tried it out for at least a few weeks.