Transition Complete - Last Post

I write this post with a mixture of success, sadness and excitement. Success because I feel we really have achieved a lot in just 3 months. Sadness because that's the transition process behind us - never to be encountered again. And excitement because our "normal"life starts today - as normal as a pilot's life (and his wife's) can ever be.

So just time for a quick reflection on what we faced when we arrived, and how we've managed.

- Set up a home - Tick. We have a lovely apartment in a lovely village. Its not anything fancy, but its ours. Filled with our own furniture and belongings, with enough rooms for visitors to stay easily, and a place to relax and entertain. We love it. Not a day goes by without me telling Paul how happy I am in my new home.

- Get registered in Turkey - Tick. Easy for Paul, the company did it. Took 3 months for me - and lots of extra "fees" to get it sorted. I've got a quiet 6 months before we have to start the whole process all over again for next year (better start saving ! ). But I'm still persona non-grata as I still can't get a phone contract in my name. Oh well - it stretches the communication skills to go and get a pe-paid package every month.

- Learn Turkish - Half Tick. Actually, I'm being hard on us here - we have a very good vocabulary base now. And I'm not sure I want to learn too much. They just speak back to you, and then we're stumped ! But I have started Turkish classes in earnest now. Had a grammer lesson this morning.  How am I going to learn to put my verbs at the end of a spoken sentence ? It was easy for my Latin A-Level as I never had to speak it - only write it. To say "I would like a white wine" you have to say "I white colour wine would like". Just as well I'm on a detox for a while as I'll need to get my head around this ! Or just resort to what I've been saying for the last 3 months - seems to work !

- Make friends - Tick. This isn't easy when you move to a new country but we do seen to have a lot of acquaintances in our little black book now - pilots on the same intake as Paul, people I've met from FB pages, my recently founded Book Group, and ladies from IWI. But it all takes time (and effort) to initiate friendships and keep them going. There are quite a few I know I will become good friends with though, and I look forward to getting to know them better.

- Find something to keep me occupied - Tick. I'm particularly proud of this. Board team member and Events Team Volunteer Coordinator of the IWI within 3 months of stepping on Turkish soil. At least Paul can go to work knowing that I'm not going to be bored or complain. 'Cos a bored Karen doesn't make for an easy life ! And I'm loving it.  Looking forward to our Christmas Festival on 29th November. Then there's a Spring Ball to be organised. And events and coffee mornings to attend. I'm also looking forward to working with some of the charities we raise money for.

Something else to keep me occupied - we're planning on getting a dog in the Spring - from a dog shelter that a friend volunteers at. Paul has written it as a comment on FB already - so that's that settled then. I'm very excited about that - a reason to get out walking on the beach a few times a day. Speaking of which - this was the view when I was our running this morning - the sand is grassing over now - its all very green down there. And the temperature is wonderful - around 13 deg. Loving it.

What else have we gained ? Try 3 kilos each !! Well we haven't actually - we are still the same weight as we were when we left Singapore (which was too heavy) but the fat seems to have shifted around ! So I started 9 day detox diet on Tuesday - I'd forgotten how hard all this dieting lark was. But the memory cells are coming back - learning whats good and what's not. My whole diet has been crap for the last 4.5 years !!!  And the roast dinners I've re-learned to cook since we moved into our new home will have to take a back seat for a while. A couple of weeks (days ???) and we'll reintroduce the odd glass of wine I hope. And roast potatoes.

And why has this fat shifted ? Because I hadn't realised exactly how arduous all our cycling was in Singapore - how many calories it burned off and how easy it was to do it. We've found a new route in Yesilkoy - its just a 5km stretch along the beach which can only be done outside of peak walking times (so about 10am or 2pm). We've only managed 3 loops so far due to all the dodging we have to do, but its better than nothing. But the cycling issue is one we still need to resolve.

So why has "normality" set in today ? Well Captain Yarnie has take to the skies again. As I write he is currently on his way back from Hamburg, on his first flight as a Turkishair pilot. He's on line-training for 10 flights - should hopefully be finished by 18th November.  Its been 3 months since he last sat in the cockpit and was very excited when he went off to work this morning. He looks so handsome in his new uniform.

To sum up -  it's been a rollercoaster 3 months since we arrived in Istanbul, and never again will we have the trials and tribulations of settling into a new country (unless Scotland becomes independent in the next 5 years !). But we have risen to the challenge and have enjoyed almost every minute of it all.

Thanks to all those who have taken the time to read this and follow our adventures. Time to switch back to good old FB for intermittent updates now. Signing off for the last time ...............