I am writing to you from my family's living room in the great old midwest of USA. Although no snow here, there is a healthy midwest frost on the ground and ice forming on the lake. Usually Robert College doesn't have a holiday over Christmas, we just get Christmas Day off, so I am lucky that the schedule worked out this way and I got to spend my first Christmas back home with my family. My time back has been wonderful. I've been able to spend time with family and friends, relax, and get some missed items to bring back to Turkey. I've also taken advantage of shopping from home, which is very limited in Turkey and can be heavily tariffed since the items are usually shipped from abroad. Don't ever take for granted how inexpensive and easy it is to get any kind of item online or at a megastore. Of course, it sends many jobs overseas where labor is cheap and leaves many Americans unemployed, but let's not bring that up now. After all, I've done my duty supporting this economy since being home.
A quick update leading up to this point. Signs of Christmas started popping up all over Istanbul in December, which seemed kind of funny to me seeing that the 99% of Turks are Muslim. I then learned that it was all for the New Year. The Turks had ingeniously taken the Christian holiday, secularized it, and called it their New Years. They have a New Years Tree (complete with lights and ornaments) and a Noel Baba with the splitting image of dear Santa who comes New Years Eve to give presents to the kids.
The school had a Christmas celebration for the whole faculty. They had a wagon ride for the faculty children taking them around campus, a Santa for the kids to go up to to ask for gifts, caroling, and a large Christmas feast. Turkish staff joined with their kids and enjoyed our traditions. Actually, I was surprised by the number of Christmas carols they knew, sometimes more than me. Spiced wine was aflowing, cotton candy, popcorn, candy canes were all passed around. It was a great time for all.
I spent my weekends leading up to my departure shopping. I went to the Covered (also called the Grand) Bazaar a few times, some local shops and spice markets. The big presents I brought back were camel saddle bags, tavla (backgammon) boards, and Turkish towels (which I use and love!).
I flew in Saturday, December 24 and fly out tonight, December 29. Although it's been a short trip, I have squeezed so much in I feel like it's been longer. The highlight has been seeing and playing with my little niece Emma who is now 5 months old. She was only a few weeks old when I left. It was so great to see how much she has grown and developed her adorable little personality. It's sure hard to leave her again knowing how much she will change.
I leave tonight excited to go back to my new home. Istanbul is becoming a home to me. But I do not look forward to the stressful job, although things are getting easier slowly. It has also been nice getting a break from the crowds and stress the city and foreign life bring. What helps is the knowledge that I will have a break soon and my mom will be flying out in less than a month to visit me in Istanbul, then we will take off for Egypt. I will be sure to keep you updated on those adventures.
