Where in the World...Part 1

Well - the question might really be where haven't we been... in the past 11 days we have traveled to 6 cities in 4 different countries. We have had a wonderful Christmas vacation in Europe - definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. We started out this vacation with the first half planned - a week in a chateau in the Austrian Alps. Craig and Jared had a great time skiing while Katie and I shopped and kept house. Despite the temperatures that never went above freezing - we were warm and cozy in our chalet. From Austria we decided to go to Italy, we could not be that close and forego such a romantic destination. Our original plan was to go to Milan, the closest big city, for at least one night. One the road however, spontaneity got the better of us and we switched routes at the last minute and ended up in Venice!

While we all knew it was a city built on the water, we were a bit surprised that you could not even take your car into the city.. you had to go in by boat. Well, we had no reservations and did not even know where to begin looking for a hotel. So after speaking with the lady in the tourist office at the parking garage we decided to just head in to the city and find a place for the night. The only problem was - our luggage - we had too much! We were not really prepared for our spontaneous change of plans and therefore had not bothered to simplify our packing.. so there were were on the 10th floor of a parking garage in Venice with all of our clothes strewn about as we tried to consolidate our things into one bag per couple. Things were touch and go for a few minutes as the wives were not too excited about consolidating on such short notice in the below freezing temps.. not to mention in the middle of a parking garage. But after a little work we were on our way. We hopped on the water bus and headed for St. Marco's square. We found a great little hotel right off the square and hit the town for some much anticipated Italian cuisine. We were not dissapointed!

The next day we wandered through all the little alleys, markets and shops. We did museums, churches and palaces. We stopped for pictures and pizza and of course... gelato - Italian Ice Cream. Even though it was freezing outside, this proved to be one of our favorite treats. Venice was amazing - although a little on the pricey side - every restaurant charged us for the use of the silverware, needless to say this was not something we had anticipated in the vacation budget! We had a great time and are so glad we made the last minute detour (although it was painful for Jayme to break away from the pre-prepared maps and plans).. as this is a spot we may never get to see again.

So where did we go next - you'll have to wait until we can post it to find out.

Cold, Christian, Christmas Vacation

For the holidays this year we decided that we would like to go somewhere cold and somewhere that celebrated Christmas as a Christian holiday. So we came to where it all began. Sunday we flew to Munich, Germany and drove down to a beautiful ski resort in Kitzbühel, Austria. We realized quickly that we had taken car of the cold part as the temperature hovers between 15 and 28*F, with snow everywhere. We also took care of the Christian and Christmas aspect as well as there are churches everywhere along with Christmas decorations and shopping markets in every little town. Craig and I plan to hit the slopes everyday while Jayme and Katie check out the markets and the shops. After losing our friends Craig and Katie to the island life, it has been nice to spend some time with them before we head back to the states. It is also a good time to get in some R&R as we will hit the ground running once we get home. When we leave Austria on Saturday, we hope to make stops in Italy and Switzerland before returning back to Germany to do some sightseeing. And then it’s back to Adana, where we will have 2 days to finish packing and saying our goodbyes before making the flight back over the water to the homeland.

Turkey, We Will Miss You

We have certainly enjoyed our last 12 months in Turkey and will be sad to leave, but we recently realized that God was leading us in a new direction. And just as it was hard to leave home and come here, it is just as hard to leave here and come home. But we realize it is our responsibility to be obedient, no matter how hard it may be or whether He is calling us to leave home or return to it. We know that this earth is only our temporary home anyway.
We have had several weeks to reflect on our time in Turkey and have compliled a list of things we will miss, along with a few that we won't.

We will miss

• Adana Kebap
• Food (mainly Jared) and yes Adana Kebap is food, but it deserves it on classification
• Warmth of the People
• The Van Man (Our friend Remze who sells the freshest fruit and veggies out of his van)
• Full Service Gas Stations
• Our Wonderful Turkish Friends
• Intermission during movies
• Free food from neighbors at anytime day or night
• Çay with every meal
• Helpfulness of the people
• Our A-team
• Special attention at hospitals and doctors office
• Bargaining

We won't miss

• The drummer during Ramadan making his 3am rounds
• Adana drivers
• The bullhorn (Turkey's favorite advertising method)
• The blazing summer heat
• The ATM (i.e. full-service banking)
• Hanging our clothes out to dry
• No central heat/AC
• The call to prayer

Turkey, you've been good to us over the past year and we will certainly remember all the incredible things we got to see and experience within your great walls. Thank you for taking care of us and providing a wonderful home away from home. Türkiye'yi özleyeceğim!

Not Meant To Be

You know sometimes when you are in the middle of something and you get the feeling that, "it's just not meant to be." Well, I had that feeling several times this afternoon, but as always, I pressed on to see if it was true. It was.

Last night we asked our neighbors if they wanted to go to a movie with us tonight. They had relatives in town and couldn't go until next week. We opted to go anyway and it was a bad decision. The main reason we wanted to go today is because our cellphone company has a 2-for-1 program at the theater on M & Th's. You must text message the company to get a special code that is required by the cinema. On the way, we texted several times but never received our code. We knew we were going to be pushed for time, and possibly miss the best part; the Previews. So we rushed to the counter and asked the lady to help us. After several more failed attempts to get the code, she told us the tricky (and new) fact that we had to have over 100 prepaid minutes on our phone; we only had 88. So, we ran to find a Turkcell store and up our minutes. Granted, it may have been easier, faster and cheaper if we had just bought 2 tickets and not worried about the "deal", but we were determined. After reloading the phone, we raced back, bought the tickets, stopped to buy a Coke and M&M's; only to find out they cost more than the movie ticket itself. No go on the M&M's. Finally, sitting in our seats, we caught the last preview before the movie started. We made it five minutes into the movie, when everything went dark. And the inside of a movie theater is very dark. Turns out the power in the entire mall went out and after waiting in the pitch-black for 15 minutes, they informed us they would not be restarting the movie. Remarkably, we got a rain check and will try again another day. On our way home we realized that we might have been waiting for hours as power to half the city was out.