My first day in Istanbul!

Such a crazy day it was! I woke up to the call to prayer, which is really a unique and beautiful thing. I had no idea how loud and clear it could be heard through the city! David and I took the kiddos to their Swim lesson (a good 35 minutes away from their house by Minibus). They hurried off, so david and I sat for a few minutes, then went shopping.

Our first stop was to get a notebook so that I could write down all that I was learning about the language. While I was in there, I was startled by the forwardness of some of the late-teens early-twenties guys. As I walked from one end of the pretty small store and back, I noticed that he was following me, and as I stopped to look at something, he would stand no more than a foot or two way, behind my shoulder. After I got the jist that he wasn't easing up at all, I turned towards him and glared, and from then on he kept more of a distance. :)

We stopped at two grocery stores and a little restaurant and picked up the kids, and headed back to the house. The kids had friends over, so it was chaotic, with kids running around, screaming, fighting, yelling, hitting each other...and I still haven't gotten to the point where the kids actually LISTEN to me, so it was really overwhelming. Learning their schedule has also been tough.

That night, while the kids started to watch the movie for their sleepover, I went out for a walk to the coast. It was easy getting there, and I took a lot of pictures, but it had already turned dark when I started to head back. I made my way from the coast across a main road, up to the mini bus road (which both run parallel to the coast), but from there it was all a blur. The little streets and businesses all look so similar, and I ended up getting SO LOST! I was on streets that weren't even on the map that I had. And...then I heard the boom of thunder, and the flashes of lightening, and I knew I was doomed. I picked up my pace, but soon enough, it started DUMPING. And after a few minutes, the puddles started forming, and little streams of water ran down the streets, so my feet were soaked up past my ankles, my sweatshirt was pretty much soaked through, and my hair was so wet that it was dripping down my face. So I wandered up and down the streets for more than an hour, just trying to figure out where I was. Eventually I gave up and walked down to the Minibus road, found a landmark, and then I could recall where I was going. It was a very interesting experience. :) At least I know I got a lot of exercise! :)