White Cloud to Mother Bird

So, it's finally happened. From now on this Blog will be considered to be filed in the "archive" section, and there'll be a new and improved, but most important SINGLE, place to go to keep up with LB news. My new, and ideally final, Blog is finally here, courtesy of Nomadlife-thanks Dody! Hey, I warned you it would happen.

Epic

Whoa, I just watched this crazy little 8 minute clip about media and news in the year 2014. Check this puppy out from the Museum of Media History site.

Nomad Life

I also wanted to include that I've created an account with this kind of Blog collective called Nomadlife. You can read up on it and check it out yourself if you're interested. I already have a site, but haven't started posting there yet. Eventually I think I'll use it as my main blog. Why? Well, to be perfectly honest, I think "nomadlife" sounds so much cooler than "blogspot". Okay, so that's true, but also because I think the idea is pretty sweet. Anyhoo, I'll keep you guys posted, but I won't make any sudden changes without announcements and links, don't worry. I'm not sure when the transition will take place, though, seeing as how I'll start my job soon, I think I won't have time to fiddle around right away.

Host Family

Two nights ago I moved in with my new host family. I think it will be a "happily ever after" type story. There is a mom, Berna, who is thirty-three, and a teenage daughter, Bensu. The mom works two jobs, one out of her home that has something to do with import/export, and the other with a real estate company. The daughter is really excited to have me there, I think she's a little lonely. Oh, there is also a pet bird, a blue parakeet named Gigi. The apartment is in the same neighborhood as my old host family so it's nice to live in a familiar area. I have my own room, and even my own wardrobe, which is awesome! In the summer I think it will be really awesome, because the apartment has a balcony all the way around the outside; and it is also so close to the Saturday fruit and vegetable pazar. It's literally less than 1/2 a block away!!

The past couple of weeks have been a little crazy. I've been helping out with Aiesec matching and reception activities, which included a three day matching mania where we didn't leave the office. The past few days I've been trying to take care of extending my tourist visa and applying for a residence permit. I've been to the police station so many times, they recognize me there now, which I'm not sure if it's good or bad. I've even made a friend there, Fulia, who has been taking English courses for two or three months twice a week for a couple of hours. I sat with her one day and we had a conversation so she could practice her English. I also had to go to some building, I'm still trying to figure out what the hell it was and why exactly we went there, that they didn't tell us we had to go to until we showed up at the station. Anyway, the whole reason we did things this way was so I wouldn't have to fly back to the states just to get the special Aiesec visa, but I'm starting to think it might've just been easier and cheaper to do it that way. Everything seems to be in order now, though, and I'm supposed to go yet again to my favorite place, the 5-0's, to pick up all my stuff on Monday.

I'm also supposed to start my new job on Monday. I'll meet with my manager, Bülent, today to talk more about the job description. Afterward, Onur, Berk, Ufuk and I were going to have a BBQ, but seeing as how it's been raining all day today, we postponed it. The rain has really been making everything green, though. I'm really starting to see why this place is called "Green Bursa".

New Photos

Hey guys,

Just a quick little "Howdy do" to let you know that there is a new link to the mmf photos site. If you've checked it recently, you'll see a link to a new album called Uludağ.

By the way, I haven't solved the problem of all of my posts displaying in the right-hand column under the heading 'Previous Posts', so when you visit a page it would be best to just scroll down and look at the pictures. If you click on a post, you run the risk of not being able to see all of the pictures in the album.

Happy Anniversary!!

First, I just realized that it's Joe and Sara's anniversary today so HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! Second, thanks Auntie Juantita and Robin for your comments!! Congratulations Auntie Rob and figuring out that posting comments business! :) Yes, they have TP and all those kinds of goodies, but I will say, at the risk of grossing out some guys, that it's a lot harder to find tampons here.

I will miss Loni's graduation and I'm sorry about that. I am going to start at my office next week, so I'll let you all know how that goes. I really want to to come home for Joey's christening and I just found out it is going to happen on June 25th. When I go in on Monday, I will talk to my manager and see if it is possible for me to make it back. I've heard that they are pretty understanding when it comes to time off if you ask in advance, but I'll be asking for about a week's worth and I'll have been working there only about a month so we'll see.

I think that at least at first I'm going to live with a host family. I've been weighing my options and am almost positive that's what my decision will be. I won't live with them the whole time, just a few months, but during that time I won't have to pay rent, which is nice. Like I said, I'm not positive, but things should start to pan out by the end of next week.

The Haps

I'm happy to see that some of you are posting comments. Let's keep the good times rolling, eh? I've been tinkering with the MMF Project photo album main page. I took the suggestion of Bro Joe and added the cities from which the OC members come. I wanted to make some adjustments to the pictures, but right now the network is kapooey and all of the photos are there, so that will just have to wait. By the way, you can find that site by clicking on "MMF" under "Bursa Photos" on the lefthand side of the screen or just click here.

So, let's see, the past few days have been pretty great. Two days ago I hung out with Diane and Jafet, from Mexico, and Daniel, from Nigeria. We cooked some Mexican food and danced to some African music. The best parts were when we would try and imitate Daniel's crazy African dance jumping. Jafet was the funniest.

Yesterday I interviewed some of the new Student Nominees (SN's), the students who are preparing to be matched to a traineeship abroad, from Bursa to test their level of English. It was a pretty good time. Most of the ones I encountered could comprehend very well what I was saying, and I tend to speak a little quickly because I'm a native speaker. Some of them were better at responding, organizing, and generally just expressing themselves.

Today has been kind of a free day. I've used it to catch up on things like my Blogs, and I'm trying sort out this whole cell phone business so that I can finally be contacted via a telephonic device. I'm happy to say that at least I've heard back from the Support, so that's a start.

Tomorrow a professor from England is coming in to give a training session for the Aiesecers. I am going to go to that, and then on Wednesday I am going to help out with some of the reception activities planned for him to show him Bursa-like a city tour, lunch, etc.

Also, I'm sorry to say that it is Daniel's last week here, so I think we will have some kind of Nigerian culture night as well as a goodbye activity/party for him.

Rome wasn't built in a day

I said farewell to my mom today. Our mini Turkey tour has ended and we both have to get back into the grind. I promise to talk about our adventures soon, but I wanted to share something that has been (well, to be honest, shoulda been but it wasn't) in the works for a looong time.

I finally have started to work out that whole pesky pics on the internet thing! I have big plans that will turn out to be one sweet network of blogs serving as photo albums, buuut who knows if I can pull it off. I've been playing around with some stuff and have created the web address for what will be the launching point.

You can find that address by clicking here. It looks bunk right now, but that's just because I was experimenting with uploading a few photos. In the future it will just have some links and the photos will be in the other blogs. Anyway, I hope I can keep on it and actually make something that will turn out remotely like my vision.

More to come on my little holiday and photo posting progress...

April Fools...or is it

As most of you know because of my mass email, I will stay in Bursa and begin a new job. I want to apologize for the mass emailing and blogging with such big news, but it happened quickly and I wanted to let all of you know as soon as possible.

Also, my mom arrived a couple of days ago in one piece with no cast!! She still has to wear a brace, though. Things have been a little crazy with the end of the project, so the past couple of days we haven't had very much QT. After today, though, it will be much better and we will have mother daughter time galore! :)

Hopefully I will be keeping up my blog more often like I did when I was in Jena.

Oh, and by the way, I know it's around April Fools Time, but no, I'm not joking...my mom really is here and I really will be working in Turkey. Just wanted to make sure.. :)