i know, i know.

The best time to update loved ones on your life probably isn't in the midst of a bad week, but I'll go ahead and attempt it anyway. Its been over a month so I'll hit the highlights:

1. Christmas in Istanbul
I was worried prior to December 25th that I would wake up feeling super homesick, wanting nothing more than to snatch presents from under my parent's tree and frantically rip off the paper as I had for the past 22 years. But, to my relief, it mostly just felt like Thursday. The anticipation of Christmas was much worse. Anyway, I spent the day with Ali Mete and Dilara at a little gathering hosted by a really interesting Australian woman Dilara knows.

2. New Years
Aside from Alex and his family arriving on the 31st, absolutely nothing happened. I was asleep by 11:30. I sincerely hope you rang in the new year in a more exciting way.

3. Alex & Family
My first visitors to Istanbul and it could not have been any better. We did the standard sightseeing; I attempted to teach them the little Turkish I know (Sarah tried, Alex gave up after misprouncing the first time). Todd and Abby really loved Ali Mete, making it much easier to bring him along. They sort of took it upon themselves to be responsible for his general happiness and well-being. On Sunday night after I finished work, I took the train downtown to their hotel and stayed for 2 nights. We spent Monday night looking at dumb things on the internet, drinking, talking, and eating Dominoes pizza. (I fully cherish the moments in my current life that are so similar to those in my previous life that you almost can't tell the difference between the two.) All in all, they were here for a week and I would have loved nothing more than for their temporary stay to be a permanent change of address.

4. Barselona, İspanya
For the record, I know its normally spelled with a "c". However, in Turkish "c" makes a "j" sound sooooo this is the correct spelling. While I'm on the subject of the Turkish language, I should mention that my gradual learning has completely replaced any Spanish I have known since 8th grade. Except for my favorite sentence (Qual es la fecha de tu cumpleanos?), very little remains. And even though I would love to try this sometime, its not very practical to walk around only asking people their birthdate.
Anyway, I took the 3 hour flight from Istanbul to Barcelona and proceeded to tackle my friend John (from Mason) at the airport. We dropped our things at the hostel, located off La Rambla (the main little touristy stretch), and immediately began exploring. Prior to visiting, I didn't attempt to plan anything. Nothing. I left it to John... not because I was being lazy, but because thats not really my style of traveling. I'll give you the condensed version of our trip - pictures are already on myspace, some on facebook, and I'll post the rest on my picture site soon -
- Street "performers"... aka people dressed in ridiculous costumes made to look like statues. They didn't move, ever. It mostly just creeped me out.
- Rented bicycles allowed us to explore the city in style. Definitely my favorite part of the trip.
- Crazy graffiti everywhere. Almost every closed door was a canvas for street art. Some of it was pretty good -- I'm a graffiti snob since my friends here are too great for words.
- I have never seen so many dreadlocks in a 4day span. No joke.
- Paella and sangria.
- Head shops galore.
- Attacking birds on bikes, accompanied by this psycho little boy who we could not actually communicate with.
- Giant, anatomically correct, brass cat statue.
- And we saw some touristy stuff too.

*John, if I'm leaving out anything worth mentioning... feel free. haha

5. John in the bul
After our 4ish days in Barselona, John came to Istanbul for 3 days. Again, I took him around to some touristy things, but the weather was so bad here that some stuff didnt seem very practical. And its much more difficult to bring along a 2 year old when he doesn't have a companion. We ate good food, he got his shoes shined by a crazy person, we discovered that pringles can be eaten with salsa, and John got to experience a very mild version of what its like to party here. Some friends DJ and were opening a new hip-hop club, Complex, so we went. It was emmmmmpty but I still had fun. We arrived back in time for John to grab his bag and catch a taxi to the airport.

6. Boys
I want to dispel circulating rumors: No, I don't have a boyfriend. I have been seeing some guys off and on, but I think I'm down to just one now and pretty happy about it. But its not a serious thing and, no, I don't really want to elaborate (haha). Generally speaking, I like Turkish guys. But I'm over the back and forth game. According to Dilara and Ahmet, I've just been meeting the wrong types of guys. So maybe one day I'll actually let them introduce me to some more intelligent, interesting men. But, for now, I'm content with what I originally had said before moving here: No boys, thanks.

*I will say though, my interaction with guys has greatly improved my Turkish. I guess now I'll have to resort to normal methods of learning a language.

7. Friends
Beste is my sister, no question. She's introduced me to the majority of people I know here and I love her for it. Both of my American friends, D and Andrea, are permanently leaving Istanbul within the next month. So, I'm in the market for new Americans. Its not that I only want American friends, but there are some jokes that just don't translate ("thats what she said" for example).

8. Other random things
I haven't seen tortilla chips anywhere since I got here and that might be the most depressing thing about being away from America. Laundry is absolutely never ever finished when you have a 2 year old. I wish I was at home for the inauguration - it must have been a really incredible experience. Jerry Springer is among the many, many American television programs shown here. (I don't watch tv, but I've heard about it) I miss tv. My parents are coming to visit in March. Sam+Tam are coming in May. I'm already counting down to both. I recognize that I've been bad at keeping in touch. Hopefully my life will get back to normal now.

I miss you all.