We're Ba-ack...

We got back to the big K yesterday morning at 6:30 and have just been recovering ever since. I haven't posted in a few days because I haven't been feeling well.

On Tuesday evening, we went to the Four Seasons Hotel for dinner because we had read that they have the best hotel restaurant in Istanbul. Not hard to believe, really. And everything was delicious, including the complimentary appetizer the chef sent out to us that was a shrimp cake topped with gnocci. Then, we had sweet corn lobster bisque. Ummmm, hello! So yummy. We shared a little pasta starter: tagliatelle with cream sauce and mushrooms. And I had lamb shanks for my main course and Huzz had the Sea Bass. And then for dessert, we shared the warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. And it was the kind of cake the oozed out rich chocolate fudge when you cut into it.

The next morning, I woke up with 5 mosquito bites on my arm, around my elbow. Well, I thought they were mosquito bites, but they quickly spread all over my body, focusing on my head and ears. I got hives.

I remedied the situation by taking Benadryl regularly until we got back yesterday, but I was still miserable and they seemed to be getting worse. So, I called the medical clinic and we went in. The doctor gave me another histamine blocker to use with the Benadryl and I think I'm slowly getting better. Since last night, the hives have focused on my hands, though. My fingers are about twice their normal size and look like sausages and they itch so bad!

We are going to a play tonight at the local college with our friends, Matt & Jonna. I am just hoping I can focus on the play and not scratch myself to death during the performance.

I will try to post the rest of my pictures from Istanbul and finish telling stories. I have another pretty funny story, involving an aqueduct and a shoe shine!

There are some things we're not meant to see again...

On Wednesday, around noon, I started to feel funky.

I went to lunch at 12:30 and managed to eat a little bowl of pasta with marinara sauce and headed back to my classroom. I laid my head on my desk and slept for a few minutes.

At about 2:00, I ran to the restroom and saw my pasta again.

At 3:00, I saw it again.

At 4:30, it made a third appearance. And at this point, I was confused. I hadn't eaten that much! That is when I stopped by my teaching leader's room and told her I wouldn't be at work on Thursday.

I got home around 5:30 and hoped I was done being sick. When things come up out of my body, I feel very sorry for myself. I cry. I had been strong until this point, since I had been at the school.

When Huzz walked in the door, home from English club, I cried. After I assured him I was okay, he went to go play basketball for a couple of hours and I stayed home. I thought there was nothing left in my stomach.

At 7:30, I proved that theory wrong. Huzz got home at 8:20. I laid motionless on the couch for a couple of hours and decided the best thing to do would be to go to bed.

I laid down in bed, Huzz covered me with the blanket and I immediately sat up and grabbed the bowl. Wonderful Huzz stayed next to me and rubbed my back while I heaved uncontrollably for several minutes. When all was over and my head was sweaty, I cried again. Woe was me.

I fell over and went to sleep and woke up suddenly at about 1:45 am and did it all over again. It looks like that was the final kicker, thank goodness.

I thought I was going to die. I was still feeling a little off last night, so I called in sick again for Friday. I think I'm back to normal now, but it's good I'm playing it safe. I am officially on spring break now! Two weeks of bliss. 4 more days until we leave for Istanbul!

Time to start packing!

No Home...

As I came out of our apartment building this morning, I noticed an abundance of stray dogs. It's like they all came out of hibernation this week. Do stray dogs hibernate? And I got to thinking about it and realized I had heard a lot of barking last night. I continued on my merry way to the bus and when I glanced at the little park to my right, I saw at least 10 stray dogs, running around, fighting and yapping. One little chihuahua-type dog ran right in front of me and looked startled, as chihuahuas tend to do all the time.

All of a sudden, I noticed there was an Australian Sheperd-looking-type dog right behind me, sniffing my bag that was holding my shoes (I was wearing my wellies), water bottle, hard-boiled egg for breakfast, and my actimel that keeps my tummy in check.

I jumped and ran out of the way like a little girl.

I love dogs! I'm not afraid of them, and my theory is the bigger, the better. But I'm scared of stray dogs. They freak me out. They're so scraggly looking and they look like they might have some bloodlines that should be familiar to the common dog-lover, but not quite, and they are scavengers. They're stuck between domesticity and wildness, and they go back and forth without a moment's notice. I was afraid this dog might bite me. And give me rabies.

And then, she just stood there and looked at me all pitiful-like and I think she had been smelling my bag for food. I didn't tell her about my hard-boiled egg.

But I just felt so bad for her. I feel bad for all of these stray dogs. If they didn't freak me out so much and if we lived in a country where there were decent vets and if there was a humane society-type program, then I'd be very tempted to take in a stray, or at least give them to the shelter.

But I'm not. Maybe it has something to do with the dead ones I've seen in parking lots, on the side of the roads, and in the gutters. I dunno...maybe.

Oompa Loompa...

Sorry about my last post. As my title stated, I was losing it. I was in a weak moment and needed to moan about it.

Not that everything's all better. I'll just try not to do that anymore. I don't enjoy listening to people complain about their situation, so I won't do it to you all.

But seriously, have you ever been in a situation where you just felt helpless? I feel this extremely heavy weight on my shoulders and I can't seem to shake it. It is encouraging to know that in 3 months and 14 days, my feet will be on homeland soil again. However, it has also made me impatient. I want to go home now!

Jeez, I sound like Veruca Salt.

And I'm sure that sometimes, Huzz feels like Violet. "Can it, you nit!"

Anyway, I'm really trying to stay focused and keep my head down. My memory verse last week was, "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge. The fear of the L_rd is the key to this treasure." Isaiah 33:6

He is my foundation and nothing else can compare to that...even home. He is my home. Does that make sense? It makes sense in my mind, at least.

Everybody hop on over to Hannah and wish her a happy 1st birthday! She's so cute. We got her a stroller for her baby, since she's walking now. I hope she likes it!

I'm Losing It...

Have any of you ever just passionately disliked your job?

Like, hate it?

If you have, or do, help me out. Tell me how you keep on going. Tell me how to get up in the morning, without feeling sick to my stomach. Tell me how to write the term reports that are due next week. Tell me how to have patience with my students. Tell me how to discipline without anger and annoyance and attitude. (The 3 A's - hehe) Tell me how to get through until June 12th. No wait, June 13th. We were just told today that the last day of school is actually on Saturday, June 13th because we have to have the awards ceremony for the students! Silly me, I would've thought that was scheduled for the last day of school on Friday. I mean, that is what every other school does.

So, we have been forbidden to fly out on that Saturday because our attendance is mandatory at this thing. That's not it, though. That evening, there is a "Summer Ball" that we are required to attend with the parents.

Seriously.

It's this junk that keeps me from enjoying any part of being here. I just want to leave...yesterday.

Could It BE Any Colder...

There is something wrong with this picture:

Can you tell what it is?

Yes, we are inside.

Yes, my students are wearing coats.

Why, you may ask? Well, today, my thermostat started to drop drastically. It started off at a comfortable 23 C. That's what it's set at. For all y'all who don't know Celcius, that's about 73.4 F.

Within a half hour, I watched the temperature drop down to 17.5 C. That's 63.5 F, people. That's when I sent my teaching assistant to find out what in sam hill was going on. She was told they were changing the filter in the furnace.

I watched it drop down to 16.0 C. That's 60.8 F. The F stands for FREEZING. That's when my kids' lips started turning blue and one of them asked me if it was going to snow in the classroom. We all put on our coats and tried to "toughen it out." I'm a very motivational speaker sometimes.

The fix-it man (if you can really call him that) stopped by at the end of the day to say it probably won't be fixed tomorrow. I told him (he speaks Russian) that it dang well better be because I have twenty students whose tails will freeze off if it's not fixed. He just looked at me with that Lady, I have no idea what you're saying and I don't care look.

And here's a glimpse into ex-Soviet living.

This is called: Here's a fancy-schmancy electronic thermostat so you can see how hot or cold your classroom is, but we don't trust you, even enough to control the temperature in your own classroom, so we're going to put a plastic case over the thermostat and a LOCK so that this one maintenance guy in the building can decide if your classroom's temperature is conducive to learning or not.

A New First...

Well, today was an....interesting.....day.

Huzz and I are staying at his parents' house now and woke up in time to go to late church this morning. We also woke up to light snow flurries, and a dusting that occurred overnight and stuck to the roads. The roads were great this morning...

After church, we came home and grabbed a bite to eat. Then, I headed out in my father-in-law's car to go visit my treasured friend, Angie. We had big plans to escape to a nearby Starbucks and sip away on their Peppermint Mochas and I wanted to try the Salted Caramel Apple Cider. We did not make it there!

Angie hopped in the car with me and I very carefully made my way down the hill that they live on and stopped at the four-way stop. No one was at the intersection, so I proceeded to cross and all of a sudden heard Angie yelling. I turned to look and saw green coming at us, so I floored the gas, but we didn't get out of the way in time.

A green pick-up came from the street on our right side and slid through his stop sign and hit the back right passenger door and sent us spinning on the road. Do you know that sound, when your car is hit? BANG!

The side airbags deployed and one of them hit Angie on her arm. She is alright, but will probably be sore and I'm guessing she'll have a bruise.

The driver of the truck was nice about it all and admitted fault several times. I am just so relieved both Angie and I are okay.

Angie commented a few times about how nice I was to the other driver. I'm not one to get angry when I'm scared. I was just in shock, I think. My hands were shaking through the whole episode, though. Talk about adrenaline rush!

So, I am the in-law, who has earned the out-law status by wrecking my father-in-law's car!

Oh, boy.

My gracious father-in-law is also just glad we are both okay. I am also very glad the accident wasn't my fault! Although, it was the first accident I've been in when I've been driving.

After the police and paramedics came and I wrote my statement, Stephen and his dad had showed up and Stephen took Angie and I back up the street to her house. We drank peppermint tea instead and just enjoyed each other's company.

Angie, even though today didn't go quite as planned, I am SO happy we were still able to sit and talk. This will surely be a day we'll never forget, huh?

CFA Numero Tres

It is 12:21 am and I am still awake, as my wonderful husband is still awake.....studying. Bless his heart. He started studying for this exam back in February and really hasn't stopped for too much.

All of his hard work and dedication towards this [stinky] test will finally come to an end on Saturday, when he shows the silly CFA people that he knows his stuff!

We will be starting off the day with a very early morning breakfast before he heads to the test site. Don't worry, people, I'll make sure he has a super breakfast, full of protein and goodness for his brain matter. Last summer, when he took the CFA Numero Dos, we did the same thing and I'm sure the eggs did a wonderful job of holding his appetite until his Chipotle run at lunch break.

Yes, he already looked it up and found that there is a Chipotle by this year's test site, too.

I am learning Stephen can be a little superstitious!

Please keep Stephen in your thoughts, especially on Saturday. He has worked so hard. He knows his stuff, so I'm just praying that he keeps a level head and remembers the things he has been studying. I know he is going to pass.

I will love him no matter what, though. Because that's why I married him.

I do really hope, though, that this is the last time I, I mean he has to go through this.

I Am Having Bloggy Issues...

Okay, so what do you think of my new get-up here? I have been spending the last couple of days, surfin' the internet, looking for neato blog templates. The background you are now looking at is not a template. It is me, resorting to what I know how to do: fool around with fonts and colors.
I have usually considered myself to be a computer-savvy-type chica. However, somewhere along the line, people who are really computer savvy have learned this thing called "HTML code". I do not know how to do this. I have been told (by my husband) that it is an "easy language to learn." He said this before he tried to figure out how to import a template for me and failed.
Plus, I am having enough trouble learning Russian right now, thankyouverymuch.
So, you might see my "template" changing a lot for awhile, until I either figure out how to import a free template that I absolutely love, or I am going to get REALLY good at manipulating the very limited fonts and colors that blogger offers its users.
Oh, sure there are websites that offer to custom design a template for you, but it runs about $80. This seems silly to me. But maybe once I start making some bucks, I'll fork over the money.

You have just witnessed me, basically venting my blogging frustrations on you. I'm sorry.