Aşkım

Istanbul is hot. VERY HOT! Like I have said, Istanbul pretty much skipped spring and shot right into summer just like that... bam. Its been in the 20-30 degree celsius range for a whole month now and its just now June! I do love it and I am not trying to complain but this is something pretty new to me. I have never really felt this kind of hot. Eugene is humid and makes you gross and sticky while Central Oregon is hot but its dry and usually windy so its not as bad as this. I pretty much feel like I am living in a sauna! But again I LOVE IT! 


I have been thinking, and writing and thinking more and more about how I feel towards leaving this place. I will miss it with all my heart, but thats ok it just means I will make that much more of an effort to come back. I love the city, I love Istanbul's rich culture, change of atmosphere around every corner. One minute you are in the old city enjoying some çay while winding up and down the streets to the screams from the simit guy while the next minute you could be walking through the sea breeze along the Bosphorus relaxing and contemplating how many people in the vast history of this place have walked this exact spot. Sometimes I find myself craving the crowded modern streets of Taxim and maybe even Bebek where you can grab a starbucks (although over priced) and do some shopping. These are great places for people watching. Yet other days I want to see mosques, churches and go back in the past and truly try to understand the ever changing atmosphere of the city. 

If you feel like you need a little bit of sea, you can take a trip to the Marmara or the Black sea each only an hour or so away. There are so many wonderful things to see at each. You can watch the industrial ships line up as they wait their turn for the ok to pass through the Bosphorus. Which is a sight to its own. Watching one of those massive football field sized boats try and pass through the straight is amazing, I still stop and watch thinking its going to hit something knowing they never do. You can also visit the small fishing villages along the way, taste the fresh fish sandwiches and the homemade yogurt. Oh the yogurt!! I will miss all of it, all the time, every day! There is nothing like yogurt in Istanbul with a little honey in it. yummm.... 

Two of the things I will miss most are obviously Ece and Ege. I am already sad to be leaving them and I still have a couple more weeks here. I started to notice all the little things that make me love them and also made me realize how much a part of my life they are. Ece for example, I will miss her "that its wrote that way" whenever I try and teach her the correct way to write a letter or a number, she wants to write it her way. She also uses this phrase when I correct her grammer, "but ashley its said like that." All I do is smile and say "oh ok Ece." I will really miss her stories, yes Ece makes stories on paper and "reads" them to me. She will make a bunch of scribbles (her "words") then sit me down and read me the story. She has a huge imagination and an even bigger story teller act that she loves to show off. Every morning she has to have her "huggies" in order to wake up, she run to me and says "huggie, huggie" and you must give her a hug to start her day off right. This is the most adorable way for me to start my day as well. I will never forget playing mommie and baby (mostly because I will remember this "game" as one of the most affective ways to put a child to sleep!) Even the game of "who will get under the covers first?" will forever be stuck in my head as a great tactic to defeat the "I dont want to go to bed cause I am not tired" child. She is much easier to put to sleep then Ege and for that I am thankful!

Ege is a remembrance of another color. I spend most of my time with the little monster and therefor feel closer to him even though he recently went through a " I want my mommy" only phase. I wont miss stepping on his thousand apon thousand of cars that's for sure! Or the fact that the first words out of his mouth in the morning are " I want to go to the car". I have never seen a kid with more of a car obsession. Another trait I wont miss is his ability to turn everything, and anything into a huge mess which I then have to clean up. I will miss his " I love her forever song" how he turns the word "you'll" into more of a "ooollll" sound. Or the way he laughs when he is trying to cry. He never falls asleep easily and requires at least 30 minutes of reading and singing. He is a wiggler and a talker. He loves to give kisses and that I will miss very much, also his toddler smell, its so new and fresh like newborn puppies! 


So many memories, so little time left, but a huge future to look forward to back home, and someday I will come back and see them by then I hope Ege can eat his food at one sitting and that Ece will be able to read and write knowing I helped her begin!