Our Fırst Days in Turkey

     Our fırst week and a half here in Turkey have been extremely busy and full of good things. Christine and I have met some wonderful people, both Turkish and American, seen some beautiful and historic places, and been treated like absolute royalty by the school, Tarsus American College. Both of us. From the moment we arrived, Christine has been treated like one of the faculty. She's been included in every meeting and event, received everything I've received, made many friends on the staff, and has been asked to work as an instructional aide for the elementary school. And she has just been asked to be a paid teacher at an adult English school just around the corner from our campus! She is really enjoying life in Turkey.
     The evening we arrived is typical of how things have göne. We were met at the Adana aırport by our headmaster, Mr. Hanna, and Ramazan, one of the school's drıvers. We were driven to our new campus apartment, arriving at around 11:30 pm. The apartment was clean and immaculate, fully furnished, and the fridge stocked with groceries, including five bottles of Efes, the best Turkish beer!

Heading for Turkey, and still thinking about Spain

It's Thursday, August 15. Two days until Christine and I take off for our adventure in Turkey. We've been pretty busy packing and storing things away, but I'm taking a little break to write. I'm sure I'll have much to say about teaching and my life in Turkey in the coming months, but now I'd like to write a bit about my experience in Spain this summer. I walked the Camino de Santiago, from St. Jean Pied de Port, France, to Santiago de Compostella, Spain, from May 16 to June 19. 500 miles in 35 days.

Getting Started

Well kids, this will be my first post. I figure it's a good time to get started. Christine and I will be leaving for our new home (for two years at least) in Tarsus, Turkey, where I'll be teaching English reading, writing, and speaking to Turkish students at Tarsus American College. I'm pretty excited about this since I discovered in my first year of retirement that I needed to do something new and exciting rather than sit around the house, so I'm off to this new adventure in the Middle East. I recently returned from a fantastic two month trip to Spain and France. I spent five weeks hiking across northern Spain to the city of Santiago. There Christine met me in front of the Cathedral of St. James (as we had planned) on a chilly and rainy morning. We then had the time of our lives traveling together in Spain and France for three and a half weeks before returning home from Barcelona, Spain. I think I'll write more about all of this, especially my thoughts and experiences hiking alone in Spain, in the near future. For now, I'll close and try to learn more about what I'm doing with this blog. Take Care, Mike