Leaving Austin was in some ways easier, and in other ways harder than I thought. I miss my mom and dad the most, and also my cats. But on the day I left there were no tears, only excitement to be with Q again. On the day I left, June 29th, I talked to him once early in the morning and he was thinking they were not going to take him to the airport that day. But then I didn’t hear from him the rest of the day, I knew that they probably took him, I was excited, nervous, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. When I landed in Chicago, it took some time to get to the gate. I had to take a train to the international terminal, get a new boarding pass from the Turkish Airlines desk, and then wait to go through security again. Security took about 30 minutes. Then I was finally making my way to the gate when my cell phone rang…it was a San Antonio number.
“Hello?”
“Hey baby, where you at?”
“I’m in Chicago, where are you?”
“I’m at gate 16…waiting for you.”
“Holy shit, I’m almost there!”
The first hug in two months…it was ecstasy.
His air marshalls were nice, we were expecting them to be hard-nosed federal agents with no heart, but it just goes to show it’s not the job that makes the person. They let us sit together.
I was able to fit everything we needed into two big suitcases and two carry-ons. One big one held only clothes, with our Vonage modem and few spare cell phones shoved into pants pockets. Oh, and I shoved a keyboard in there too. The other big one, a hard-sided Samsonite case fit one desktop computer, one flat screen monitor (minus the base), three power strips, another keyboard, and enough cords, network cables, and power adapters to choke and elephant. On the carry-ons I had two external hard drives, two internal hard drives, two laptops, a video card, and I somehow managed to fit our other flat screen monitor (also minus the base) in there too. I had to unload everything each time I went through security which was once in Austin, once in Chicago, and like three times in Istanbul. I had it down to a science by then. Sending the hard drives through the x-ray machine that may times made me sweat, but nothing got wiped.
Besides the delay in Istanbul, everything went pretty smoothly. My visa was only $20 and that buys me 90 days. I can apply for a residence visa when we get our Turkish marriage license, or in the worst case scenario we can take a ferry to Cyprus and I can buy another visa on the way back in. Weekend in Cyprus…oh darn… 😉
The food here has been amazing. For breakfast we usually have bread, feta, awesome strawberry and apricot jams that his grandma makes, and olives. She also makes homemade yogurt that is super thick, and it looks and tastes just like the best phily cream cheese you’ve ever had. She laughs and thinks I’m crazy when I put in on bread. You get offered hot tea anywhere you go, even in stores. I used to hate turkish tea (rize tea) but over here it tastes so much better because it’s fresh. I drink it everyday now.
One thing Adana is really famous for is it’s lamb. Here’s an analogy for you- Kobe : Beef :: Adana : Lamb. The have a special breed that’s extra fatty, and extra finger-licking good. Now don’t get me feeling all guilty about eating cute little baby sheep, if you tasted it, you would understand.
We also both love that there is no pork here. He’s Coptic Orthodox and follows Old Testament dietary laws, and I’ve just never liked the taste of anything pig. Coming from a place where you have to ask them to keep bacon off your salad, it’s a nice change.
Food is ridiculously cheap over here. A kilo of tomatoes cost about 50 cents, and we bought two kilos of cherries from this cart for a dollar and a half. We also bought some apricots. I never realized this before, but I had never had a non-dried apricot! Tastes just like a peach.
Much to my relief, I was able to find some good peanut butter in the grocery store, if not I was going to have my mom ship some to me. I can’t live without peanut butter. The orange juice here tastes odd though, very tart. It tastes more like grapefruit juice.
More about my adventures in food next time!
This is the “ladies” side with bras, panties, cooking gadgets and picnic supplies to name a few. That bumpy red thing in the foreground is a sewing box.
The “mens” side where you could buy an entire outfit including leather jacket, jeans, and shoes. Down near the end they have a fake light house, scented candles, lamps and bedding.
Shoes, socks, more scented candles, a pocket calculator, a necklace, wind chimes, lingerie, velour pants, a baby dress, a photo album, and some sandals. I told you this place was random, and there’s more…
Turkish Delights 