The Sweet Life

What a difference a week (actually eight days) makes. That’s how long we’ve been in our Caddebostan home. Caroline, Luke and I are able to spend our days at some new and exciting playgrounds, a pretty park or walking around busy, tree-lined Bagdat Street with it’s many shops and restaurants. Oh yeah, I didn’t mention the beautiful boardwalk that takes us along the sea to Caddebostan Plaji (the beach!). It’s not Lighthouse Beach, but it’s cool water and sand and it keeps us plenty entertained. We are also just a 15 minute bus ride to Kadikoy where we can jump on the ferry and zip over to Europe for the day, something we’ve been doing weekly since we got here, but now the trip isn’t painful! And when we don’t feel like being outside – well, you saw the view. It’s not bad to look at from the air-conditioned living room ;).

Since the move, all that cooking I’d been doing has taken a back seat to those good restaurants I mentioned. Turkish food is delicious - from the grilled meats to vegetable and olive oil dishes to the desserts. I’ve never seen nor eaten such amazing baklava and other sticky treats such as kadyif with ice cream on top. Then there are the delectable Magnum ice cream bars – vanilla, caramel and a chocolate layer all dipped in another layer of delicious chocolate. Matt and I discovered these during Istanbul Part 1 back in 2002, but they’re even better than I remembered. And lastly, Caroline and I finally tried, “the waffle” today. It’s a waffle (obviously) smeared with chocolate and filled with whatever you like. We chose bananas, strawberries and kiwi (healthy ;).

Caroline, Luke and I leave Turkey July 10 (Matt will join us August 6 after a short stop in London). It’s hard to believe that our time in Turkey and our time abroad is coming to an end. I’m very excited to get home, but I have wonderful memories from this experience… and I’m glad we got to end it on a “sweet” note.

Mary

Movin' on Up!

Our Istanbul experience changed considerably a week ago. Thanks to the generosity of Didem Altop, the director of Endeavor Turkey, and her parents (its their apartment), we moved to a new home in the posh seaside community of Caddebostan. We are living on the 20th floor with an amazing view (see the photo above) and have a 10 minute walk to the sea and only a 15-minute bus ride to the ferries to the European side. It has been a great change for us. There is so much more for Mary and the kids to do and the relaxed, beachy feel to the community is great. Our new locale will only make the rest of our time in Istanbul that much better.

Back in Istanbul (with kids)

We arrived in Istanbul, one of our favorite cities in the world, on May 16th. We were very excited to be back. The experience was going to be very different than our around-the-world adventures six years ago, however. It was not going to be simply exploring Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque and all of the other major sights on the European Side, watching the Aya Sofya glow in the setting sun from the hostel roof deck with a cold Efes in hand and avoiding the persistent carpet salesmen. No…this time it included ten more weeks, two kids, living on the Asian side and WORK.

Some may wonder what we are doing in Turkey anyway. Well, I received an internship through Endeavor, a great organization that supports high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging economies. I am working with a company called PIWorks (www.piworks.net), a mobile network optimization software and services company, in Turkey this summer. They are looking to raise some venture capital or “angel” money this summer to grow their business and take it to the “next level”. My experience as a private equity and venture capital attorney was a good fit for them and I could also help them with their strategic planning, corporate governance and organization development and anything else they threw at me. Basically, I am their consultant for the summer and do whatever they need me to do.

Our first five weeks in Istanbul were both incredibly fun and immensely challenging. We used our first few days before I started working and every weekend since, to go out and explore this great city. We enjoyed sharing all the places we visited last time around with the kids, including Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofya, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Market and Taksim Square. It is so fun to see familiar places through the eyes of toddlers – even if it means trying to catch a squealing 1 ½ year old racing through the once quiet, serene interior of a mosque.

The weekdays proved to be quite difficult, however. Luke chose to stop using his pacifier and began waking up screaming and angry in the middle of the night (and staying awake at 5:30 am). The sleep deprivation this caused, combined with the feeling of isolation that resulted from living in a part of Istanbul far from the city center with few English speakers, no expat community and no car (and poor public transportation options), left Mary longing for home and our support network there. Over time, we settled in a little bit and made the best of it (and Luke starting sleeping better as well). We are so grateful for the support we received from our parents and friends to help through this difficult time (including a much-needed visit by a familiar face- Ed’s girlfriend, Courtney). And thank you to the creators of Skype…we couldn’t have done it without you.

We look forward to the remainder of our time here in Istanbul. This is a special place. We also are very excited to get home and see all of our friends and family. We have been living abroad for 6 months now. It has been incredibly rewarding and such a great adventure. But…we can’t wait to sit on the deck in Chatham watching the sunset, relaxing with our family and friends and thinking back to all the amazing things that we have done this year (with a cold Sam Adams in our hands).

Matt

Viva Italia!

We were thrilled to arrive in Milan. Our time in Italy would give us the chance to see family and the beauty that Italy offers… and we couldn’t wait to get our first taste of that thing that tells us God REALLY loves us – gelato!

We arrived late in Milan and spent one night and one day there. We visited the very impressive Duomo and the kids tasted their first-ever gelato in front of it. From there we got a bag of warm, salty focaccia bread and headed to the fountain in front of Castello Sforzesco to meet cousin Giovanni. (His grandfather and my grandmother were first cousins). Matt and I had not seen him since we attended a football match with him in Verona back in 2002. He took us for a nice walk around the streets of Milan. Caroline, who was slow to warm up to him initially, was holding his hand by the end. You would have thought she was showing him around.

That evening, we got on a train to Viareggio – a seaside town in Tuscany. Upon our arrival, cousin Gaia (Giovanni’s sister) was there to meet us and take us to her home in Lucca. We were all tired, but so pleased to be at our destination. The last time I saw Gaia and her now-husband Nicola, life was very different for all of us. They were not yet married and were living in a different home, we were fresh off of our “Big Trip” and, oh yeah, neither we, nor they, had children yet. Now, there are four kids between us. That’s what five short years will do, I guess. Alice in almost 3 and Luca is 10 months old. (I know, Luke and Luca meeting in Lucca – you can’t make that up!). When her kids and my kids met, another generation would know each other. Our grandparents were smiling down.

Gaia showed us to our rooms, which was really our own wing of the house. We hadn’t planned to spend all of our eight nights and nine days with them, but the kids (and we) were so comfortable in that house and in those beds that we were compelled to stay. It was one of our most restful and relaxing times in recent memory.

Lucca is a beautiful city in Tuscany. It is known as the only city in Italy with its walls fully intact. Cars are not allowed in the streets of the Old Town, so it is just people, dogs and bicycles. We got some exercise running on the walls and also took Gaia and Nicola’s bikes with child seats for the kids.

The weather in Lucca, though forecasted differently, was always sunny and warm. We walked on the walls and in the beautiful squares with the kids every day, found several playgrounds (I wish we had a count of all the PGs we’ve visited since late January), walked into and by Lucca’s many churches, ate lots of pizza, pasta, fish and did what we could to find the best gelato in town.

Our favorite times were spent with Gaia and family. Caroline and Luke had lots of fun playing with Alice and really enjoyed sweet, little Luca. We spent a couple of great days (Mothers’ Day being one) at a beach club with them in Viareggio. It was pre-beach season, so not crowded, but warm, breezy and pleasant. We even swam! The kids loved playing in the sand and the girls flew a kite. We had some of our best meals in Viareggio. You can’t beat a seafood lunch right by the sea. The crab with fresh pasta and homemade ricotta cheesecake stand out in my mind. Mmmm!

We did take a short bus ride to Pisa and all enjoyed seeing the Leaning Tower, but that was about it. As well seasoned as our young travelers are, that was not a good day for them. When traveling with small kids, you have to know when to pack it up and go home. After seeing the tower, having lunch, and avoiding raindrops, that’s just what we did – we jumped on our bus and went back to Lucca.

The night before we left, we celebrated Nicola’s birthday with him around their big table where we’d had so many great meals. Our time in Lucca was amazing. It was a different pace than we usually move at, but so restful and enjoyable. It was so pleasing for me to see Gaia and her children (and Giovanni, too) and to know that our familial connection is alive and well… and now extended.

Our time in Italy came to a close with a half-day in Bergamo. We probably would never have visited this place, except for the fact that our flight to Istanbul left from there the next morning. What a great surprise it was! Cita Alta, the old part of the city up on the top of the steep hill offered amazing views, quaint narrow cobblestone streets and beautiful old churches and municipal buildings. We decided to splurge a little bit for our farewell dinner – complete with apertifa, homemade pasta, wine and our final gelato. Italy will always be one of our favorite places on Earth. Until next time, Arrivederci Italia!