Well, I have finally had some days off and its great! Yesterday I went for Turkish breakfast with my friend Julie (Canadian!) and her twin sister who is visiting from Korea. She showed me this amazing place in Cihangir where you get a huge platter with 4 kinds of cheese, home made butter, olives, cucumbers & tomatoes, hard boiled eggs and all the fresh bread you can eat unlimited Turkish chai and the absolute best part... a little plate with fresh clotted cream and fresh honey, with tiny flecks of honeycomb in it!! Heaven.

After breakfast we walked to Sultanahmet and wandered around the spice bazaar so that I could buy glasses and cutlery for my new apartment, which I am moving into today and tomorrow! My place is this beautifully restored 2 level apartment in a heritgae building with spiral staircase, beautiful balcony, view of the city, marble countertops etc. etc. It's hands down the nicest place I have ever lived in. It's just 2 blocks from Istiklal Caddesi, which is where the night-life, cafes etc. and only a couple blocks from the Metro station! I am sooo excited! It's in a borderline-ghetto little neighborhood, which is full of character, little old ladies reeling baskets up and down their balconies to the street so that can put bread etc. in them and then they reel them back up! Awesome!

The other day I was wandering home from work with my friend (Julie) and we were stopped by this group of Korean ladies who were part of some organized tour group and they asked if we could take a picture, so we said of course, but then they stood next to us and posed? We were a little confused, but we just went along with it and smiled and were like "okaaaay...that was a little random...why would they want strangers in their picture?" THen we realized that they thought we were Turkish when they said in broken English that they thought we were beautiful and then they called us "Miss Turkey" and we were just like "thanks....?" We burst out laughing as soon as we were far enough away to not offend them, we didn't have the heart to tell them that we were actually Canadian and ruin their "authentic" Turkish experience! ha ha, so funny! That is one of the nice things about living here, I really don't get singled out as a foreigner when I am walking down the street, not like being in Egypt and Jordan where it is SO obvious! Here I don't blow my cover until I open my mouth and then there's no hiding it. Istanbul is just so huge and heterogenous that nobody really pays attention to you if you are just going about your business day to day.

I get my Turkish residency on Monday, so that's great! I know I have been a terrible blogger, but to be honest, I haven't been doing anything interesting other than working! My students are wonderful, hilarious and sweet. I really love them! I hope that Tim rates this blog better than the other ones, but I guess it gives me something to work towards! ha ha ha!

Love you all!

xoxo