the heart resides.
I am so, so, so so tired and I’m not quite sure why. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this (only a hundred times), but this is my last week in Istanbul. Next Tuesday, I’ll head to Bodrum with my fam and we’ll get back a day before I fly home. This was a definite shock for me. For some reason, I just thought I had more time.
There’s something so strange about leaving a place that feels like home for an extended amount of time. When I left Lake Jackson, it was crazy to think about me living in Turkey. I couldn’t imagine it. For me, this makes perfect sense. But now that I’m leaving my home in Istanbul, I can’t imagine living in Lake Jackson again. That for me, makes no sense at all. I’m confused. My brain is scrambled trying to hold on to my life here while also preparing myself for life when I go back… Or maybe it’s my heart. Regardless, my heart will forever reside in at least two different countries.
I never talked about Cappadocia, but I don’t really feel like writing about it. It was amazing and the history overwhelmed me in the best way. I’m looking forward to taking my family back there.
We got back from the district conference in Çeşme late Sunday night after a 10 hour bus ride. It was wonderful. We arrived early Thursday morning after driving through the night and went straight to the beach. The water was clear and bluish-green. We exchange students really just enjoyed about time lounging around the deck that jetted out from the shore and soaking up all the sun we could. Which resulted in significant sun damage to all of our bodies. But hey, we’re all tan now. :) We lotioned each other. It was a great bonding experience. We gave our Rotary presentation Friday during the day and it was nice. We dressed up the next night for the big Rotary ball and mingled with Rotarians during the cocktail. Showing off the Turkish we learned. We met some exchange students living in Izmir and went out for a little ice cream and talked. Oh, and the strawberry limonatas were deliciously fruity. :) All in all, lovely time with the best exchange students around. Love you guys so much.
Monday, I spent the day with Alex around Sultanahmet because… it was her last day. It was sad saying goodbye, per usual. :/ The next day, I got up early and met Amanda at the grand bazaar for a lot of shopping. We budgeted over çay, the got straight to it. A successful day all in all. I bought a lot of Turkish delight. Get excited people. :)
Today was just a chill day with my favorite sister. :) I actually just got back from my last Rotary club dinner and the exchanging of the officers. Dude, they made me speak on the spot. That’s hard enough for me to do in English. Haha. But it was fine. And now I’m glad I was able to do it. I was shaking so much and Yasemin was laughing at me. We just chilled and had dinner and took pictures and I was so thankful to get to be a part of my club for this last special occasion.
I am wiped out, but tomorrow, I’ll head to Taksim to have lunch with Deniz and talk. Possibly say goodbye (not cool). I will be back next year.
This weekend, my main focus is finishing my shopping and spending time with Alara, and the rest of the exchange students that will leave while I’m in Bodrum.
The sadness comes in waves. Usually in the mornings, I feel sad. Then it gets better throughout the day as I forget. Random crying does happen but we try to laugh it off. Hahaha. It’s weird. But, it’ll be ok. It will be hard, but I’ll always be able to come back.
Time to sleep.
