Our big news!

Last night, I wrote that I had big news that I was not able to tell, but today, permission has been granted, so here it is...

Yesterday we were looking for a car. Seyfi, Alara (with her friends Tigger and Bear)and I went car shopping, original the plan was just to look, then we found that the Turkish government was offering some sort of tax break (to help generate the economy (I guess). So, we bought a car, it will be ready next week. It's a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso. We've been looking at it for over a year.

You may be thinking, but aren't you moving to Belgium in six weeks? and the answer is yes, and we are going to drive there!

This is going to be great for more reasons than you could know. First, we don't have to worry about the weight of the things we are bringing, so I can bring all my heavy things!!

Second, It is an automatic! Which means I can easily drive it. I originally learned how to drive a standard car, but here in Ankara it is way to difficult for me to use a manual, so this will be a welcome change.

Third, we are DRIVING across EUROPE!!! I2m just to excited about that- It looks like we will drive from Turkey to Greece, get on a ferry to Italy, drive from Italy to Switzerland to Austria to France to Luxembourg and then Belgium (this is what the GPS on my phone is showing me!!)



I'm so excited about this trip! I realize that we are not going to have time to really 'tour' around, but it will still be nice to drive across Europe. Now, I really don't know how I am going to be able to last through these last six weeks!



I realize that it is time for Friday Favourites, but I was so excited about this news that I have decided to postpone FF for one week.

My Dad is Proud of Me

My life has some great men in it, my husband, my dad, my brother, my grandfather. Here's a picture of my dad with Alara. He likes counting how many pictures of him are on the internet.

My dad is very proud of me. I got my drivers license this year. I know, everybody has a driver's license, but I didn't, and I am thirty one years old.

Now, I know for any of you living in Canada or the States, it still might not seem like a big deal, but I didn't get my driver's license in those countries. I did mine here, in Turkey, and I did the whole thing in Turkish.

I've been in Turkey for eight years, and this was the first time that I finally felt completely comfortable and confident in my Turkish abilities. I went through the whole process the pre-course eye exam, the course, the written exam (made up of three parts, road rules, motor, and first aid), and the drivers exam and past on my first try.

I know that my dad (and to be honest husband and family) are very proud of me for doing all of this, but the reason my dad is so proud of me is because of the motor part of the exam. I did really well here, and I was able to talk about something that he knows lots about. Apparently he tells people a funny story about me calling the battery an 'accumulator'. You see, this was a new vocabulary area for me in both English and Turkish, and having never learned the words in English, I only really know the Turkish words- and apparently accumulator is a Turkish word.

My dad told me today that he is still telling this story, in fact he told it to some guy yesterday. Random people are learning Turkish! They know what an accumulator is!

I'm so happy to have done this exam, and to have been successful, it wouldn't have happened though if it hadn't been for the support of my husband (he's the one who taught me what an accumulator was in the first place, and more importantly how it works), my dad (all those long phone calls talking about what I had learned at driving school), and the rest of my family. Thanks guys!