Our New Place!

After 5 weeks of living in limbo and dealing with apartment fiascos, we finally have our HOME for the next 2 years! Our complex is called Hilpark Suites and is BRAND new. There may be 5 other people living here and that's it. We have an entire floor of the parking lot to ourselves (which is kinda creepy) and it seems like we have our own personal gym, play area, and pool since we are the only ones using them. There are also some not-so-great things about living in a new place. Our first day here, the management noticed our shower was flooding the apartment below and they spent an entire week gutting and replacing the shower in our bathroom. Our alarm system needed some tweeking and a few of the A/C units weren't working properly. So we had Turkish workers in our apartment DAILY for 10 days. This would have been much easier to handle if I spoke Turkish and if Matt hadn't been out of town for 7 of those 10 days. But all the security guards and management crew know me ("Miss Angie") and my usually naked children and have been very good to us.

As I posted on Facebook, I spent my first week here with no furniture, no internet, no phone, no washer/dryer, no husband, and no lights but the ones in the kitchen and hallway. It was quite an adventure. But now, 2 weeks and several IKEA trips later, we have beds and couches, internet, telephone, washer/dryer, husband/daddy at home, and light fixtures in every room. We still don't have closets or anything to put toys in so we are living in shambles and wearing wrinkled clothing from off the floor, but soon enough we will be more settled.

Unfortunately, "Blogger" takes WAY too long to upload pictures, so you can see pictures through Facebook HERE.

I'll post pictures of our FURNISHED apartment once we actually have real furnishings.

During our first week here and with Matt gone, I had to discover fun things to do with the kids. First stop, the WONDERFUL play area in our complex that we visit almost daily. And we LOVE having a yard! The kids are always playing outside and throwing rocks in the fountains


The second activity was the POOL. We were all bathing-suited up and ready to play when Chase slipped in the over-chlorinated pool and came out of the the water screaming. His eyes were instantly red and swollen and he couldn't open them for 2 hours. As I was trying to calm Chase down, Amelia started screaming. She tried to pee (yes, in the pool) and the chlorine had burned her coochie. I took both screaming kids back upstairs for a shower. I sprayed the shower head in Chase's face to rinse the chlorine out of his eyes and it completely traumatized him. He screams bloody murder whenever you put him in the shower. Anyway, Chase finally fell asleep and woke up with much better eyes, and Amelia was able to pee. The management happened to see me leaving the pool with 2 screaming kids and I told them what happened. It was then they told us not to use the pool, as they haven't balanced the chlorine yet. Uh, thanks. But once we CAN use the pool, it should be really nice :)

With Matt being gone, I was forced to brave the crazy streets of Istanbul and DRIVE! My first few outings were just to the grocery store 1/4 mile down the street. But soon I dared to go to my favorite mall - Istinye Park. It is fabulous. Tons of fun shops, restaurants, markets, and bakeries. I can't wait to visit them all! The kids only care about the toy stores, waterfountains and french fries.
Our past few Saturdays have been spent at IKEA looking at furniture for the house. What an adventure! The first time we went, we were there for 6 hours. We had 5 carts full of beds, couches, tables, chairs,...and when the cashier swiped the credit card, it was denied! Matt was furious. He had called the credit card company to inform them we'd be spending a lot of money at IKEA in Istanbul that day, but someone didn't "get the memo." Matt spent the next several minutes on the phone with Citicard and I can't remember the last time I saw Matt get that upset. And the thought of leaving ALL that stuff behind and doing it AGAIN was awful. Fortunately, the card went through and we got some furniture. We have made 2 more IKEA trips since then and know there will be more in the future, but we are getting very sick of IKEA, especially when you can't ask anyone for help. I'm mostly getting sick of eating in the cafeteria. But I'm not sick of the ice cream cones - neither are the kids.

After a long day at IKEA, it was SO great to get to visit with my dear friend, Elise, and her husband, Dan. They were vacationing in Turkey and stopped by for dessert on their last night in town. We LOVED to see you, Elise and Dan!! And believe it or not, this is the best picture we got together :)

This past Saturday, the weather was INCREDIBLE - partly cloudy and warm with a slight breeze. What is better than that? Oh yeah, being outside in that weather, walking along the ocean and eating incredible food, which is exactly what we did. We played at a park (for Amelia's sake) then went to Mama Pizzeria along the Bosphorous. The food was AMAZING (and had the tab to prove it), and it was wonderful to sit outside and feel the energy of the city. We then went for a nice walk along the waterfront and of course stopped at the exercise machines for Amelia to play on - her FAVORITE thing to do. These exercise spots are EVERYWHERE and Amelia often prefers to play on these things than on an actual play structure.



Well, I am too tired to even think of what else we've been doing or what has happened, but we are having fun and enjoying life in Istanbul.

Motherhood is Still Hard in Turkey

I don't know what has been wrong with me the last few days, but I am a big grump. Everything is frustrating me. Chase won't stop getting into and climbing onto everything, Amelia won't stop whining, the kids are sick of their toys/books/DVDs (Amelia has every song and word in "Hercules" memorized) and therefore hang on my legs all day, our housing situation has been annoyingly difficult, we keep getting lost everywhere we drive, and we are tired of going to the mall everyday. I am trying to have a good attitude, but it hasn't been easy. I am hoping things will get better when we move to our permanent apartment and can feel more settled, have more of our "stuff" from our air shipment, and have more things to do. It WILL be better, I will be happy, my kids will by happy...(positive mantras)...

And speaking of "apartment," we FINALLY have one!!! Yay! And we move in this weekend! YAY!!! Since we didn't get the apartment at our favorite place (big bummer), we chose our next favorite place - Hilpark Suites. (Yes, there is only one "l" in Hil). It is a brand new complex with lots of amenities - pools, gym, indoor and outdoor play areas - and our flat has a nice little yard (or "garden" as they call it). It's right in the middle of an old, Turkish neighborhood, so it has a rustic feel, which is cool. It is also in walking distance to play areas, grocery stores, outdoor markets, and Amelia's preschool (if she goes). And it's really close to Matt's work so it'll be easier to share the car. We're excited. Hopefully we made a good housing choice since we had to make it rather quickly - we needed something (anything) fast since we technically need to be out of our current residence by Friday. I'll post pictures of our apartment next week. Stay tuned.

Despite my bad attitude, we are still having fun. They opened the pool at our residence last week so we went for a swim on Memorial Day. The pool was so deep, Matt couldn't even touch, so the kids took turns riding on his back as he tread water. He got quite a workout.

She came up with that pose all on her own

Chase loves the water

Excited that it's her turn to swim

We are seriously at the mall everyday. Everyone at the toy store and grocery store knows who we are. We're like family now :) And they seriously treat us like family. My darling little blondes are ADORED by the people here. Workers in various shops wave us down as we pass by just to touch Amelia's hair, kiss her cheeks and even give her free stuff - like dolls, bouncy balls and candy. The people in the toy store pick up Chase, carry him around, and kiss his face and tummy. It's a little crazy, but the Turkish people are incredibly friendly and are so sweet to my little ones. I love it.

Here are some of our "Akmerkez Mall Moments":

Watching the dogs and cats at a pet shop. We check in on them daily.
The kids love to play in this water fountain

The toy store got a new riding horse one day and Amelia HAD to ride it.

Riding the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ship

Amelia's hands-down favorite ride: the swings. Morning dog liked them too :)

Chase likes the Pooh Bear ride - the swings are too scary.

Racing daddy on the motorcycles

It has been raining the last few days so we've been forced to be creative indoors. We put pillows on the floor and hop from one to the other trying not to fall in the lava, we turn the lights on and off saying "gunaydin" (good morning) and "iyi gece" (good night), and take lots of showers and baths, just for fun :)

Here's hoping for a great move-in weekend and a happy family (especially mommy)!!