Home!

Hey everyone! I'm so so sorry it's been a while - it's been quite a couple of weeks. I'm home now, in the states. It's nice to be home, but I do miss Turkey! The food, friends, the culture - but I'm happy to be here and with my family and cats and with my car and I can communicate so easily with people here! Most of you probably know, a couple of days before I came to the US a couple of big things happened - I finished my job and the day before that, my boyfriend and I broke up. Going back is going to be a little tough, I'll be without a routine or a solid person but it will be a good challenge. I'm not sure what the plan is, stay in Turkey or come back to America. It's a little stressful but I'm sure things will work out.
I usually don't go into personal stuff on my blog but you're probably curious what happened with the boyfriend and I, because I've been writing about him for such a long time now! I wish I could blame it on guys being pigs or something like that, but it was actually me. I just kind of drifted away and became distant. I don't think it's an abnormal thing to happen in a relationship, especially when you're young. He hadn't changed, but I just wasn't the same Sally anymore. Now that it's over it's a little tough because there was no good reason for me to act like that, and I wish I could have made a little more effort but I just didn't have it in me. Anyway, it's part of life and new doors have and will continue to open! Wish me luck with the new adventures to come!

A few days before my last day at work, we arranged a social gathering for staff and students at WSI. It was a lot of fun, besides the pouring rain everyone had to walk in! Here are some pictures from it:







Here's another Turkish carpet out to dry.



A nice mosque in Ortakoy.



And, home! Actually this is North Carolina. I live in Virginia but last week we drove to South Carolina to a cousin's wedding. It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad I was able to make it.





So...delicious...



Just a few hours later I'm shoving a delicious 5 Guys bacon cheeseburger in my face...I love America.

We went to a pretty park for a picnic as part of pre-wedding festivities. It was fun and some part of the landscape look very similar to VA and some parts are pretty different than VA because of the palm trees.







After the picnic we went contra dancing - it was new for all of my family but we all had a blast. The musicians were great too. I hope I can do it again soon! If you ever have an opportunity to do it - DO IT! Don't worry about your experience, your age, fitness level, height or anything!





We also got some lovely beach time, fortunately there was a breeze, otherwise it would have been too hot!

On Sunday, before the wedding, we went into Charleston to walk around. I drooled over many of the houses. I would have loved to have been able to go inside one of them - maybe next time!













This house had a joggling board in it's yard. A joggling board is like a bench but you can bounce just a little up and down on it. It's something that originated in the south, I think in South Carolina, and it was common to find them in gardens, dating back to pre-Civil War.



My family at the wedding.



Instead of a wedding cake, everyone brought pies which was a fun and tasty idea. My parents sliced ALL of them earlier so the 180 people in line don't waste time cutting them up. We had to fight people off until the bride and groom came and took theirs first.



Yay Spanky!