Spring Has Sprung... Almost.
Well, I’ve been back from my wonderful break in Germany for about 2 weeks now and I feel as if I’ve plunged back into life here at full speed. I will attempt to catch you up now on what life has been like since I’ve returned. It’s taken ME about two weeks now to catch up on what life is like since I’ve returned : ) A lot of changes have taken place yet much remains the same. Such is the nature of life I suppose.
The 2 week break time for me signified a lot of things. It marked the renewing of my visa for another three months time here, it put a period to the end of my first three months of adjusting, learning the culture and just learning the “game” that I play in everyday here; What the players are as far as challenges and requirements and benefits go for life, teaching, and living in the Turkish village community, my group’s community and the international Church community that have become my friends in Antalya. It was so good to be removed for awhile to give my mind a rest from constantly processing all the new here. I played, spent time with friends, enjoyed some of the amenities of an already developed and settled place, and rested. It was beautiful. By the end of my time there I was ready to return and anxious to see my community here, feel the warmer weather, and get back to my room (which was on loan for 3 weeks to a visiting couple here) which feels the closest thing to home and grounded-ness that I’ve got here.
Antalya welcomed me warmly with wonderful and smooth travels back and a warm evening breeze. I was delighted to see some of the new construction that went up even in my short time away and also comforted to see all of the familiar sights that only 3 months ago had seemed so strange and foreign. I surprised all the kids the next day by coming over to the house in the evening when they were all over playing together. They welcomed me with a huge dog pile on top of me and I felt loved. For the next week I went over to the Hudson’s each day to teach them alone, as the Albers still had some family visiting from Canada. For Valentine’s Day I threw a little party for the Hudson girls and Judah complete with pink popcorn, heart pizza, sugar cookies, and “I Love Lucy” while the lucky parents went out on a date. We had a blast even if we did spend half the night in candlelight due to the finicky power supply. This week I started back into the “normal” schedule with all the kids back over at the Albers and we are all re-adjusting to having our school focus and best attitudes on.
All in all, I feel like I’ve taken 2 steps forward and 1 step back. You see when I first arrived back in Antalya I was so refreshed and the air was so warm and beautiful… I would wake up each day and the birds were singing and the flowers on the almond trees even beginning to bloom. But I should have known and taken into account that it is only February still. The rain and cold has come back here and there- both in the weather and also in my everyday life. Things are better in the way that now even if I realize that I STILL can’t understand much Turkish, and the buses are STILL unreliable, and I still have to work hard at motivating the kids- I now have relationships here, and can see how God is working and blessing the time. He is teaching me volumes and hopefully blessing those I work with through me. He is stretching and molding my character and giving me awesome experience and a different world perspective in the meantime. These are huge gifts that I know God is giving me and I am so grateful. This week I have been helping out by watching the kids and cooking extra in order to help the Hudson’s prepare for the birth of their new little one this weekend. Gail will go into the hospital Saturday morning to have a C-section performed and then they will be a family of 6. I will also be helping out more during this time. Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts and encouragements… they make me stronger and sustain me!
All my love,
Ashley
The 2 week break time for me signified a lot of things. It marked the renewing of my visa for another three months time here, it put a period to the end of my first three months of adjusting, learning the culture and just learning the “game” that I play in everyday here; What the players are as far as challenges and requirements and benefits go for life, teaching, and living in the Turkish village community, my group’s community and the international Church community that have become my friends in Antalya. It was so good to be removed for awhile to give my mind a rest from constantly processing all the new here. I played, spent time with friends, enjoyed some of the amenities of an already developed and settled place, and rested. It was beautiful. By the end of my time there I was ready to return and anxious to see my community here, feel the warmer weather, and get back to my room (which was on loan for 3 weeks to a visiting couple here) which feels the closest thing to home and grounded-ness that I’ve got here.
Antalya welcomed me warmly with wonderful and smooth travels back and a warm evening breeze. I was delighted to see some of the new construction that went up even in my short time away and also comforted to see all of the familiar sights that only 3 months ago had seemed so strange and foreign. I surprised all the kids the next day by coming over to the house in the evening when they were all over playing together. They welcomed me with a huge dog pile on top of me and I felt loved. For the next week I went over to the Hudson’s each day to teach them alone, as the Albers still had some family visiting from Canada. For Valentine’s Day I threw a little party for the Hudson girls and Judah complete with pink popcorn, heart pizza, sugar cookies, and “I Love Lucy” while the lucky parents went out on a date. We had a blast even if we did spend half the night in candlelight due to the finicky power supply. This week I started back into the “normal” schedule with all the kids back over at the Albers and we are all re-adjusting to having our school focus and best attitudes on.
All in all, I feel like I’ve taken 2 steps forward and 1 step back. You see when I first arrived back in Antalya I was so refreshed and the air was so warm and beautiful… I would wake up each day and the birds were singing and the flowers on the almond trees even beginning to bloom. But I should have known and taken into account that it is only February still. The rain and cold has come back here and there- both in the weather and also in my everyday life. Things are better in the way that now even if I realize that I STILL can’t understand much Turkish, and the buses are STILL unreliable, and I still have to work hard at motivating the kids- I now have relationships here, and can see how God is working and blessing the time. He is teaching me volumes and hopefully blessing those I work with through me. He is stretching and molding my character and giving me awesome experience and a different world perspective in the meantime. These are huge gifts that I know God is giving me and I am so grateful. This week I have been helping out by watching the kids and cooking extra in order to help the Hudson’s prepare for the birth of their new little one this weekend. Gail will go into the hospital Saturday morning to have a C-section performed and then they will be a family of 6. I will also be helping out more during this time. Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts and encouragements… they make me stronger and sustain me!
All my love,
Ashley
posted by Ashley at 10:12 AM
1 Comments:
somehow i missed this post! glad i "found" it and got to hear how you are doing :)
izehi
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