Turkey Times

At a baby shower this weekend one of my friends asked me where Chris and I were going to live after we got married...in a house, in an apartment...

Wait, I thought, how does she not know we are moving to Turkey?

 

And then I realized, a picture is not always worth a thousand words.

 

The flag of Turkey in the last post was not meant to indicate that Chris and I are honeymooning in Turkey.

 

No.

 

We are in fact moving there.

 

The stats are as follows:

 

-Sarah teaching 3rd grade at Bilkent University Prep School (BUPS for short).  It is a bilingual American School.  http://www.bupsbis.bilkent.edu.tr/

 

-Chris, since he doesn't have his teaching certification, will be interning at all grade levels.

 

-Both of us will be working on our masters degrees at Bilkent University

 

-The gig is for 2 years.  Yes we will be home for holidays.

 

-I found out about ISS, the company that staffs all American schools abroad, about 3 years ago.  I was not then qualified to apply.  One must have at least 2 years teaching abroad, and 3 years stateside.  So getting a job this year was quite an honor.

 

-I was accepted in Nov. to the ISS program (http://www.iss.edu/), and Chris and I went in Feb. to NYC to a grand interview fair.  Over 300 schools.  It was insane.

 

-We narrowed our choices to Turkey, China, Malaysia and Japan, and went with Turkey based on salary and how much we thought we would enjoy our surroundings there.

 

-Not that it's any of your business, but the school is paying for our flights, our 2 bedroom apt., laptops, our masters degree program, relocation fees, visas, they're paying us a tax-free salary equivalent to that in the states, all of our health care is free, we still have summers off, and there will be doner kebabs at every corner.  yes.

 

-We leave sometime mid-August

 

-Our actual honeymoon is to Costa Rica.

 

So...that being said...who will be the first to visit Turkey?