New Apartment - Sincan, Turkey

Stacy and I moved into our apartment about three weeks ago.  First of all, it is a giant leap up from our house in Thailand.  Though we did eventually feel at home there, our new apartment is much cozier.  This time around we are gifted with a functional kitchen, complete with a gas stove and dishwasher.  Stacy is a little disappointed in the lack of a microwave, but I believe it is the perfect opportunity for her to expand her cooking skills :)  We also have a full bathroom complete with a tub and shower!!!!  Though for the taller residents there is a lot of maneuvering and ducking involved when taking a shower, I am at the perfect height.  We are also gifted with a washing machine, which we successfully used last night.  Stacy even made a bargain for doing the laundry in exchange for food and tea, so I may now be the designated cook.  We each have our own bedrooms with minimal furniture and bars on the windows!  In the living room there is a television, which we don’t use, and four very Victorian looking chairs, neither appealing to look at nor very comfortable to sit on.  The two couches on the other hand are very pleasant and we are not really missing our five sectional vinyl red couch from Thailand.  Which we were always sticking to it and the sections would constantly slide around, separating ones torso from their feet!

We also have a roommate for the time being.  Gareth, who teaches with Stacy at her school and is from England, has been living with us for the past week.  We found out on Friday that he is no longer allowed to live with us; both our schools cannot overlook a male living with two females.  We are reminded how different Muslim culture is from the western point of view.  We are once again reminded that though we may not be Muslim ourselves, for appearances sake we must conform to their views.  On a more positive note we did make it into Ankara this weekend and had a house warming party with the other teachers from our company.  So, like in Thailand, we will enjoy our quite country life during the week and head into the city on the weekends for drinks and hanging out with friends.  

~ Randi