Week one is a success!

It's so beautiful here right now! Bright, bright, warm, breezy days. We hear it might be the last hurrah of summer (the temperature is supposed to drop quite a bit next week), so we are trying to enjoy it while we can. A couple days ago, Mike and I went for a walk along the Bosphorous near the Kabataş ferry docks and milled around with the commuters and pleasure seekers there. If it's nice tomorrow, we're thinking we'll go back and hop on one of the ferries out to "the islands", where there are no cars and possibly even a little scrap of nature.

I'm feeling good this weekend, having survived my first week of CELTA. Yesterday, each of us taught a twenty minute lesson to real English learners. For mine, I worked on asking for phone numbers with a group of beginner students. There are a lot of things that I want to do differently next time, but it feels good just to have a little teaching under my belt.

I feel a lot of support and encouragement from our teachers and fellow students. And the view can't get much better from our school. Here's what I see when I lean out the window:

Not bad, right?
Love,
Eleanor

Settling In

Coming to Istanbul has been unlike any travel I've ever done. This past week, we've been doing the tourist stuff, but at the same time, we know that we are something different from tourists. It's nice, because we have been able to take our time and take in Istanbul's marvels at the pace that they deserve. But it's been frightening as well, knowing how much work we have to do to make ourselves a home here.
We've made some serious headway, though, and today I am feeling really good. Yesterday we moved into a studio apartment in the Harbiye neighborhood. It's within walking distance of our school and Istanbul's only organic market, which happens every Saturday. Check out our haul!

It feels good to have a stocked kitchen, a cozy apartment, and even (gasp!) homework to do. Routine is my refuge right now, the more of it the better (I don't speak for Mike, of course). We start school this week. Orientation is on Monday, and classes start Tuesday. I'm excited!

We still have lots of sightseeing that we want to do. Last week, we took a cruise up the Bosphorous on the public ferry. We drank cup after cup of çay on the boat, and then had fish lunch when we stopped at Anadolou Kavağı, a village at the mouth of the Black Sea. The next day we saw Topkapı Palace. Our photos don't even begin to convey how enormous it is. Courtyard, within courtyard, within courtyard. The tiles in the harem are amazing.

More soon, when we have some news about school, or maybe after we check out the Princes' Islands!
Love,
Eleanor