Photography

I sooooooo want to do the photography course run here by the IWI (International Women of Istanbul) NOT the WI where you bake cakes, make calendars, have knitting competitions etc.......

I have been trying to improve it myself but everytime I think my photos are getting better I find my focus is not great or I haven't quite got the subject in the right place grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Anyway here are some of my "better" photos!!



My beautiful daughter




My handsome son


Together....

Dolmuş

Went out on the Dolmuş today to Istinye Park shopping mall. The first time I did this I got lost haha but now I've got it down to a fine art! Anyway on with todays news, got to the shopping centre no problem so we come out and get on the Dolmuş to come home, paid for 3 people "Uç tane lütfen" it was absolutely packed to the rafters on the way home armpit to armpit - get the picture? Anyway people start to get off and I find we are the only ones left on. The driver turned round and blurbed some Turkish at me of which I only understood a couple of words so I said I didn't understand. He then reached into his money pot and gave me 1 lira back and said "iki tane, çocuklar something something something!!" I think he meant that children were cheaper or half or something I don't know. Anyway I was amazed that on a packed bus he'd remembered exactly how much I'd paid and how many I'd paid for and then decided to refund the extra, WOW!!!

On a guinea pig hunt!

I have decided to get the kids a guinea pig, we always had cats in the UK but a cat here isn't practical because we couldn't let it outside and that is unfair. So we go into a petshop and ask (in Turkish) if they had any, unfortunately he didn't but he told us to go into the vets down the road and ask there.

Went into said vet and asked there, the guy on the reception beckoned for another member of staff who spoke english (thank god) so I asked her and she then 'phoned round 4 different pet shops for us trying to find one for us!!! Success we have found a shop which sells them, unfortunately they don't have one at the moment but should have more next week YEAH!!!

Alex Swimming

Alex's swimming is getting better by the day! He learned to put his head under today, something I never thought I'd ever see him do! He is also becoming more confident at swimming in the deeper end where he can't touch the floor. YEAH!

Feeling more positive!

YAY back to feeling positive again, had to drag myself out of negative mode because I cannot go back to feeling how I did last November as it was not a nice place to be.....

I have to focus on the positives of being here. The weather for one, where's the rain??? We went to the beach today, I can't tell you how wonderful that was, the kids happy all day in and out the sea now we couldn't do that in the UK, well of course we could but the beach was not 20mins up the road lol!!

The swimming pool just downstairs hmmmmmmmm do we have one in the UK NOOOOOOOOO! The lovely Turkish bread picked up warm from the shop, the lovely sea view we get from our apartment, the fact that I WILL have a car very soon YEAH!!

Beach pics!




Summer fun by the pool!

Rough couple of days

Had a rough couple of days, seriously wanted to be on the next plane back to the UK and decided I cannot live here in this "dump" for the next 2 or 4 years. I think a few things have contributed to this a) seeing friends/family b) having the freedom of a car c) bacon d) roast dinners. There are loads more reasons I can think of but I'd literally be here for hours.....

Back "home"

Here we are back in Istanbul after a 3 week holiday in the UK. As we touched down in England I immediately felt "home" however with this feeling came sudden concern - how would we feel about going back would we be ok? Walking through Birmingham airport and the first person I see is Mum I've never been so pleased to see someone in my life!

The next couple of days I spent in Coventry I went to Asda to pick up a few bits for our holiday in Yorkshire, it felt wonderful to be walking round an english supermarket mmmmmmm Cadburys mmmmmmmm bacon mmmmmmmmm Walkers crisps ooooooo I could go on......I got so excited shopping I even thanked the girl on the till in Turkish hmmmm.

Seeing people I haven't seen since last summer was lovely, catching up with friends, family, the kids teachers at their old schools it felt wonderful.

We had a fantastic 3 weeks the only thing which spoilt it was the bloody weather it was awful, rain rain rain rain rain rain etc you know the score! It was that that helped me to come back here otherwise I think it would have been so much harder to leave.