The update cometh!

Hello everyone! Here I am, catching you on the flipside... of the world! There's an awful lot to catch you up on, I'm not sure that I'll have enough time tonight.

Firstly, let me just say that I am ecstatic to be here with Oğuz in Turkey. I am amazed at how natural it feels. I look around and feel completely at home!

"The last 24-48 hours" in the US:
That quote is from my mom, when she was trying to describe to Oğuz, in as nice a way as possible, the utter chaos that was the lead-up to my departure. Ok, so some slight miscalculations were made. I underestimated the true magnitude of the whole making-the-apartment-empty-before-leaving thing. Getting rid of the unnecessary stuff in my life was the really easy part, things went to the Salvation Army in droves. But I guess I've never needed to make this distinction before, between things I need/want and I will take with me to a place where I have nothing else, and things I need/want that I will store for some undetermined length of time, perhaps to recover later, perhaps not. ::scratches her head:: I don't know, it just proved harder than I expected when the time came.

As a result, I packed one bag more than I planned. This in and of itself is almost a non-issue, because I already could not handle all the baggage that I was taking. So this made it just a little harder, and a bit more expensive. No matter. Toward the end, my packing may have been a little haphazard and emotional, but all in all I still did a fair job. Back to the trip!

Arrival:
The flight was excellent. In the end my dad rented a car for me to drive to JFK, and that was the best thing EVER. I got there in plenty of time, traffic was a breeze, my luggage fit in the vehicle and I could still see out the back... it was perfect.

Now, I do consider myself a smart cookie, but I will now admit before you all that I had a bit of a security problem at the airport. When I was going through security, the nice man asked to look in my bag and of course I said, "Sure!" Imagine my utter embarrassment when the nice man pulled out a big ole bag of silverware, complete with butter knives. Obviously a public threat! See, when I was trying to ensure that my luggage wasn't overweight, I innocently threw the (quite heavy) chunk of metal into my carry-on!
Butter knives, people! I was escorted out of the security area and back into the unsecure area because of butter knives! And of course cursing myself the whole time. What to do? Pay to have my carry-on checked? Preposterous! Those knives had a date with the trash can, that's for sure. Which was also pretty lame, because they're very cool, otherwise I wouldn't have brought them at all.
Turkish Airlines saves the day! They let me check my carry-on for free, yes, FREE! That brought the grand total of bags checked to me alone to 6. Yes, 6. I got some looks. I had to rent two carts at the airport.
Ah, but it was all worth it when I walked out on the other side and Oguz was waiting for me. Oh sweet patience, how it has been rewarded! I can say my feet still haven't touched the ground, but I need to specify that it is completely metaphorical. More about that in the next chapter...

Homeful (n) - the opposite of homeless:
When we arrived at ODTÜ, the university where I would begin my career as a teacher of English, we were accomodated at the guesthouse. However, unlike when you're a guest, you have to pay for it. But that's ok, it's still cheaper than a hotel. So the next day, on Friday, I take the exam and have an interview before a committee. The exam was a breeze. Not so breezy that I finished super early or anything, but I was quite confident that I rocked that thing. However, in the interview, the guy I've been talking to for months expresses serious concern that I can't commit to any longer than one year with them.
Mmmmmkay. I totally mentioned that from the very beginning. Dude! I walked out of that interview and told Oğuz we should look for an apartment. How does one going about looking for an apartment in a city one knows nothing about, without a car, and with sporadic access to the internet? By walking. Lots of walking. We walked and walked until the soles of my feet hurt when I got out of bed the next morning. Turns out that posting For Rent signs on trees is more popular than you might think! We called many numbers, followed many leads, walked many roads, looked at many apartments. We went in armed with a hand-drawn map of northern Ankara, with the neighborhoods we were interested in marked and crude approximations of where the listings we found on the internet might be located. It was fantastic!
In the end we caved and went with a real estate agent, who was very helpful, and drove us around from place to place until we decided on one.
Our accomodations at ODTÜ lasted until Monday morning. On Monday morning, however, we hadn't quite picked an apartment. So naturally, we piled all of our luggage into a taxi, and then transferred it into the approximately 10x12' room that is the real estate office. Behind chairs, around desks, all of our luggage remained for the rest of the day... or at least until late afternoon. It was pretty funny. In the end, we chose an apartment on the 10th floor of a large building, which is part of a group of buildings, high up on a hill, a couple blocks from the real estate office. Hooray for homefulness!
I love the view. Pictures will come soon.

As will the rest of our Big Fat Turkish Adventure! It's after 1am here, so I bid you goodnight, good evening, and fare well til next we talk.