The Halfway Point

After several rain-checks and false starts, I've finally resolved to catch the blog up to date.  Here it goes.

Apparently time passes rapidly wherever we are in the world.  Currently, we find ourselves three weeks into the second semester and are amazed at how quickly the first half has gone.  

Two days after our return from Istanbul we struck out again to Pozantı with our good friends Laura and Can.  We spent two nights and three days in a mountain lodge reading, playing cards, talking, eating, drinking tea and - above all - relaxing.  We were so grateful for such a suitable follow-up to our frenetic time in Istanbul.  Connecting with friends and slowing things down was so restorative.

The community room where we spent most of our time

The 4-way fireplace with a beautiful view

The Taurus Mountains 

- enjoyable even when we weren't backpacking in them - 

Laura and Can

The next week we spent in Adana trying to resettle into daily life and jump-start our New Year's resolutions with mixed success.  Rest, reflection, and recuperation characterized the second half of our semester break.  With heavier workloads, new students, and an amazing week-long visit from Reuben, we certainly appreciated the extra rest beforehand.

Looking forward to the rest of the semester, we have much on the table.  Some of the things occupying much of our minds lately are teaching, traveling within Turkey, and deciding what to do next year.  Each are exciting, challenging, fun, and stressful in their own ways.  We have about three and a half months left of our semester and the weeks are flying by.

As always, we love and miss everyone,
Mike and Hil

Four Days in Istanbul - Part 2

As promised, here are more pictures.  We took far too many so I've been forced to show incredible restraint not to shove them all down your throats.  Breath easy.

Day 3

Archaeology Museums 

Mr. Yawn

The Grand Bazaar

Chora Church

View from the Walls of Constantine

Galata Tower

Day 4

Topkapi Palace

View from Topkapi

More Topkapi

And More

Deliciousnessosity at Chef Emer's

Homeward Bound

And now, the moment I have been waiting for...purely for my pleasure...pay no mind...

The Post-Trip Itinerary

Day 1

- Airport

- Preferred Hotel Old City

- Han (Restaurant)

- Hagia Sofia

- Basilica Cistern

- Hippodrome, German Fountain

- Random basement art gallery

- Grand Bazaar (closed)

- University of Istanbul

- The Aqueducts

- Spice Bazaar

- Supper

- Dessert

Day 2

- Bosphorus Ferry Tour

- Spice Bazaar - Lunch

- Galata Tower

- Istiklal Street

- Mano Burger - Birthday Burger

- Taksim Square

- Nevizade Street

Day 3

- Archeology Museum

- Grand Bazaar

- Cafe

- Church of St. Savior Chora (closed)

- Walls of Constantine

- Neoclassical Restaurant - Istiklal Street

Day 4

- Topkapi Palace

- Interviewed for a Euroliga Basketball documentary (Much to Hilary's mortification and my guilty pleasure)

- Chef Emer Restaurant

- Countless Souvenir Shops

- Airport

We were blessed with unseasonably beautiful weather, a million little things going seamlessly, and enough remaining sanity to get along with each other at the end of the trip.  Cool city, cool stuff.  Of course there is much more to the trip than can be shown in pictures or told in words, but I've reached the extent of my immediate sharing capabilities.

The End

Love and lots of other mushy stuff,

Mike and Hilary

Four Days in Istanbul - Part 1

Reading back through my journal entry from the first night on our trip, I think my biggest impressions from our trip were 1) an inability to grasp how incredible the reality of such a trip was and 2) an intense desire to fully appreciate and take advantage of our experience there.  I wished to honor the storied city and respect the good fortune that led us there.  

The result was four days of maddened scurrying from site to adventure to experience until our legs could carry us no further.  In short - we loved it.  Touring such a magnificent place that was new to both of us was so meaningful and special.  We want to hold onto the memories as freshly as we can for as long as we can.

On to the pictures...

Day 1

Waiting for lunch - Gözleme - at Han 

 Outside the Blue Mosque

 Hagia Sofia

 The Basilica Cistern

Day 2

 View of the European side from our Bosphorus ferry ride

 View of the Asian side

 The Galata Bridge

 My delicious Birthday Burger

 Nevizade Street 

More pictures from days 3 and 4 and a post-trip itinerary (to satisfy my insufferable fancies) to come soon.

Still loving and missing everyone,
Mike and Hil

We Still Are...

The first semester has reached its end.  We are proctoring several exams throughout the rest of the week, then our Winter Break officially starts.  The semester finished well and we are looking forward to some time off.  We have been without internet or television at home for a while now and though it has been difficult we have gotten by.  First world problems, I know...

Our İstanbul trip is on the horizon and we greatly look forward to that.  Reuben is coming to town in a few weeks.  We are really excited to spend some time with him and show him our new digs. 

Recent life has been interesting in many ways, but not in blog-worthy ways.  It seems that many life lessons are taught in tiny increments over long periods of time with low completion rates. 

Görüşürüz (See you later),
Mike and Hil

Rock Climbing in Anavarza

Happy New Year.

We hope everyone is feeling optimistic about 2013.  We are heading off to a cafe to reflect on 2012 and look ahead to the upcoming year.  Who knows what resolutions will come from this, but we're looking forward to pursuing them.

Just wanted to share some pictures from our recent adventure.  Friday afternoon our friend Luke asked if we wanted to go rock climbing and check out some castle on Saturday.  Our rock climbing experience is very minimal (I've never climbed outdoors) but of course we jumped at the chance.

Saturday morning we hopped on a bus and headed out to Anavarza Castle.  We loved it, but I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

Anavarza Castle

Once again, we love you, miss you, and wish you all the best,
Mike and Hilary

Prelude to Christmas

Due to the autumnal weather conditions and the notably non-Christian environment, Christmas approached with surreptitious swiftness this year.  Sneaky guy...

We decided to take action.  With the help of some festive music from Reuben, Hilary's phenomenal penchant for cookie-baking and some modest art supplies we were able to uncover some dormant holiday spirit.

Merry Christmas everyone.  We love you.  We miss you.  We wish you well.

- Mike and Hil

Hello, Everyone

Our blog has been a bit quiet lately, so here is a quick bite to eat.  Hopefully the video works.

Recently, we are pondering the many questions and life lessons that are thrown our way.  Of course we have no answers.  If the answers were so readily available, everyone would know them and there would be no questions.

That being said, we are trying to live intentionally and using our more solitary social situation to think about many big, vague things like What is? What was? and What will be?

We can't believe it's already December.  It does not feel like it at all here.  The year is going really fast so far.  I guess time passes regardless of location.

Happy Holidays.
Mike and Hilary