Turkey

We left Sofia, Bulgaria on December 25th on a night bus for Istanbul, Turkey. We stayed in Istanbul for one night and then went to Goreme, Cappadocia (Central Turkey) on December 27th on another night bus. We stayed at the Nomad Cave Hotel, in an actual cave, in room 204. It was cold and dark- perfect for sleeping. We spent several days hiking about the ridges, valleys, and canyons. We went on a hot air balloon ride on New Years Eve! I rode a camel! We explored underground cities from the 7th century and ate lots of good Turkish cuisine. We found churches in the caves around Goreme dating to the 8th century with large well preserved frescoes and giant Latin crosses. It was a wonderful time, but perhaps the best part of the entire vacation was the company that we had- each other!
Hagia Sofia
drinking yummy pomegranate juice, one of our favorite past times. Blue Mosque
No, I did not buy this felted wool hat, but I had to try it on!Our favorite rug salesman in Cappadocia!
Climbing in a frozen waterfall in the Kilchlar Canyon.
Walking on a frozen creek bed in the Guvercinlik Valley.
The Sultan hot air balloon company getting ready for a flight. Nice day for a hot air balloon ride!

Landing and deflating the balloon. Gordon balancing on a frozen sand dune.
A nice view from the canyon above Kilchlar (Sword) and Kizilchukur (Red Rock) Valleys.
Whoa- look over there!

Awww, so sweet and peaceful!

Waterfall, Xmas Eve

Gordon and I went with three friends into Northern Bulgarian about 1 hour from Sofia to go check out a waterfall and some caves on Christmas Eve.

Istanbul, Turkey- take three!

WE HAD AN AWESOME time this weekend in Istanbul, Turkey!


As some of you might not understand, Turkey is a negotiators paradise.
That means bargaining for almost anything you can think of.
A quick and efficient trip... one Turkmenistan carpet traded for a 3rd generation 40 gb iPod, four small pillows cases made of old Turkish kilims, a pair of 100 year old donkey transport bags from Turkmenistan for 100 EUR, one ceramic floral tile, four pairs of silver earrings for 50 YTL, two body butter lotions from The Body Shop (two for the price of one holiday special) and several gallons of pommegranete tasty sweet yet with a lasting bittery and rewarding taste were consumed.

Friday we went on a tourist cruise boat that was almost sunk by a huge cargo ship's wave carrying items down from the Black Sea. We saw the ship, very large ship, and then realized we were sitting on the bow of the boat, about 2 feet above the water level on some cushions. Before we could gather our items and flee to higher ground the wave was upon us and I was soaked from the knees down because of the water drainage hole in the bow which I was positioned directly above.
And on Monday Gordon received a new camera that he has been drooling over for the past year or more, so get ready for some new awesome inspiring pictures to come with his Olympus E-510 SLR 10.0 megamixel.
We are still hot on leads to next years teaching contracts. We are looking into mostly Africa and South America, but we will go almost anywhere.

Wilson, the cat

Our boss has plenty of animals: two dogs and six cats. Fred is a curly white Poodle and Floyd is a wavy haired Black Russian Giant Terrier; a clumsy puppy, yet large. They adopted a cat the first month they were here and named her Sofie and a few weeks later she gave birth to four kittens. They also brought a cat named Wilson with them from the States, who was an adopted stray found by their son, George.
Above is our housemate Jess, the boss' wife Linda, and me, in the snow the other day.

Floyd Black

Wilson is a loving handsome black and white male cat, a few years old. He is cuddly and soft and an excellent hunter, maybe it is because he has opposing thumbs? Often when we are cooking we open a window to let out the beautiful aromas we create, and in will come Wilson. He hung out with us for about 4 hours yesterday, lounging about our sofas and bed. He took several naps, groomed himself and received several full body massages.

We are seeking joint custody...

Snowy Birthday

I love the snow! What a wonderful birthday gift from above!

I woke up Saturday morning to Gordon saying "The Security Guard was almost right- I think it is more than 8cm!" I was so excited, I bounced up and opened the blinds to see a flurry of snow falling from above and at least 6 inches thick covering the ground!

It is now Monday, November 12th and it is my bday and it is still snowing. Although, it did rain yesterday and melt most of the ground cover, it is white again. Yeah- I will get to wear my snow boots to school tomorrow!

My wonderful hubby made me a delicious chocolate cake, from scratch. He is so amazing!

Some neighbors, colleagues and friends were able to join us in the celebration.

Even the Cangiano family joined us in the fun (the President's kids and wife- Linda). The kids were great- Celia(4), Grace(6), and George(8). It is nice having kids around, it makes a person feel so much younger, I love their enthusiasm- especially when they are all hyped up on sugar! The above picture was taken when they were getting all bundled up to go home and delaying the process with balloon sword fighting.

Halloween

We had a Halloween Party for our friends and colleagues on October 31st. I was the road runner, Gordon was Red Sox baseball player (of course) and there were a plethera of marvelous costumes. We desired to have the theme of fracture fairy tales and kittie lit gone wrong. We had the three blind mice with the farmer's wife who cut off their tails, fro-white, jill who fell down the hill, the little red N-gin that could, Alice Cooper in Wonder Land, and many more.

Our school had a parade at the end of the school day and each section (5 grade levels with 7 sections in each) were to pick a theme and prepare a sign and cheer to show spirit. My section decided upon the theme of "Blingers".