In mid-June we headed out to to our former home.... now in mid-August it seems so far away! We felt so blessed we were able to do this trip, based on such amazing support from family & friends. Dan's parents especially worked overtime while we were away from the farm for 3 weeks... they had a record number of new baby calves. Dan's cousin pitched in, helping out while we were gone, which we're thankful for!
Our first stop was a long layover in Germany. Since it was for most of the day, we headed out to explore Munich for a few hours. We enjoyed seeing the old churches, having a (non-alcoholic) drink, exploring the markets, and seeing how much the country-side reminded us of Iowa. Here's a picture collage of our short time in Germany.
Our next stop was to help out at a retreat for expats, lots of which were our friends! It was a blast to see so many familiar faces and catch up after being part of a that close knit community while we lived in Turkey. Our hotel was right on the beach and Amara (and her parents!) enjoyed hanging out at the pool or beach everyday!
Then we were off to our former hometown... we didn't know exactly what awaited us, since our American friends had moved back only weeks before and we knew things would be different after the earthquake.
We were surprised to find a lot of people back in town.... it seemed as busy as ever. The range of the state of buildings was amazing. Some didn't seem to have been touched since the earthquake and you could see huge cracks throughout the entire facade. Others we in the process of being repaired, with scaffolding all over. Some looked brand-new... although they probably weren't, they'd been repaired beautifully. Some were being torn down in front of our eyes, and others were already long gone. Everywhere we turned we saw something familiar yet different.
We found our old apartment complex. From what we understand, it's being repaired for people to move back in. As you can tell from the pictures below it has scaffolding around it. The complex right behind us was demolished as well as our friends' place just a few blocks away. Hopefully our place doesn't have any real structural damage and is just cosmetic, it's always hard to know.
We were blessed to be able to see a lot of our old friends. The week was full of visiting but we're so glad we got to share in a bit of their lives again. We had lots of Turkish tea and lots of other yummy Turkish food! We also got a bit of shopping in, for a few items we can't find in America! As you can tell from the pics below, Amara did great! I think she was a bit confused when we were talking Turkish, as in her recent memory she hasn't heard us speak Turkish. Our Turkish did come back to us quickly, and we were so thankful for that!
We stayed with our good American friends during our time in Van, and had so much fun with them! It was such a blessing to see them again. One day we went on a picnic to Lake Van, a tradition that's hard to pass up! We had a blast! Thanks so much for your hospitality!
Our time in Turkey wrapped up with a few days in Istanbul visiting friends, which was wonderful as well! Overall we're so glad we were able to spend 3 weeks revisiting Turkey. It was good timing as we feel like we're settled into our home and community here in the States now, but we want to stay connected to Turkey, as it's dear to to our hearts!
