:)

Us at Gaudi's Park Guell
Park Guell
On our way to the park with fresh baguette :)

La Boqueria-largest food market in city

Park Guell

Emre in Bari Gothic-old part of Barcelona

La Boqueria candy

Beautiful artichoke flowers :)

Here we are going into our 3rd week in Barcelona. Emre has been so very busy with work as he is nearing the end of his contract and is applying for numerous grants to be able to continue his research and on top of that doing work for Cyprus and for Barcelona Universities. But in the midst of it all he just found out that his work contract has been extended for 12-18 more months! This means he can continue to work for Cyprus University from Barcelona. So, as long as we can renew our visas and get the correct visas soon then we can stay! and if not, well, I'm still applying for jobs in California..so we'll see what happens.

I've been applying to the few english speaking jobs that are available but there aren't many. Before the summer is over we plan on taking a 2 week intensive spanish course and hopefully that'll help things. In the meantime I will be keeping very busy doing emarketing for a friend of mine from grad schools upcoming website 'Green Ventures Connect'. I'll be doing all marketing, blog writing, creating newsletters, soliciting for ads etc.. unpaid however until we start getting hits and money from ads..hopefully soooner than later!

Last night we went to a happy hour for the American Society of Barcelona, a big group of expats here, and we made some new friends, and after went to the top of a hotel nearby and had a glass of spanish champagne while listening to live music-a perfect night!

I've included some pics here of more of our wandering around the city lately, enjoy!

Love,

Carey and Emre

IN LOVE

Fresh seafood market near our apartment
Sagrada Familia by Gaudi-short walk from our house :)

1st day-1st sangria


1st cava (spanish champagne) on our balcony the 1st day

Beautiful green park near our place

Another Gaudi building with Emre

Emre with 'Jamon' huge aged legs of meat-some at 60 Euros per kilo!

...with this city!!!! We are so in love with this beautiful place!

As the plane was landing in Barcelona a couple of days ago, Emre commented 'This place better be **bleeping** good'. As you all know we have gone through a lot to get here, and thankfully with first impressions it is even better than we imagined. The city is architecturally absolutely beautiful. Everywhere you look are huge ornately decorated buildings and most are surrounded by huge green treees and green areas-how different from where we just were!

As we walk around it has the great anonymity of a big city, very diverse, multi cultural and just has a great energy in general. The beach is gorgeous (forgot camera that day, so will get pics of it soon)...people are very friendly, there is music in the streets most everywhere, tapas restaurants on most every block...wonderful gelato.. feel..pants..tighter..already :)

We stayed in the heart of the city the first two nights but have now moved a little further out to our apartment for the summer. It is in a great quiet area full of small boutique shops and tons of cafes. This morning on the way to Sagrada Familia (sp?)--the amazing building by Gaudi in the photo...we stopped for a 'cafe con leche' (coffe with milk)--see how AMAZING my spanish is already..ha!..and a crossiant at a tiny french run cafe..., heaven :)

As of tomorrow it's the start of some normal work day stuff so that we can make it possible to stay here longer. Emre will get to work, we'll apply for our social security like numbers, I'll apply for as many jobs as I can possibly find and start preparing to teach english private lessons.

We are SO enjoying our time so far..will write much more soon, thanks for coming on this journey with us, and come and visit soon!

Barcelona by Morning :)

We leave tonight!! It'll be a 9pm 'nap' until 2 am, shower, taxi ride at 3am to Larnaca, Cyprus airport, 6am flight, one hour layover in Athens, and Barcelona by 10.30am....... see you in Spain!! ;)

Love you!

Almost there!

Emre's KungFu moves..entertainment at the hostel
May Day Parade in Larnaca, Cyprus-so many mullets on display we lost count

Emre's birthday night

Us with good friends Christos and Stella-Emre's bday

Found this smoking hukkah doll on display in North Cyprus. Emre says this is how Turks like their women

Italian pasta lunch at the hostel made by our Sicilian friend Matteo (holding the pasta)

Almost! Last time I posted we were ready to buy our tickets and run away run away!! but...Emre's boss had other ideas. He's needed to stay to get some work done here before we head to Barcelona. But what we do know is that it is agreed that we will be leaving no matter what by the end of May, and thanks to Emre's hard work and putting in 12 hour work days we will probably be able to leave by the end of next week! The idea is to have a few days of actual vacation time in our new city before we buckle down and get to work. Can't wait!

We've found a 2 bedroom apartment right in the city centre which we will move into on June 1st. So, come and fill the second bedroom all of you! :) My mom and step dad are just days away from buying tickets to come at the end of July for a week or so...soooo excited! I love you guys and cant wait to see you! Grandma and Al, let's talk, would love to see you asap..you mentioned July...Emre's parents are also coming at some point...let's organize! :)

My Spanish is coming along fairly well. I spend minimum of one hour a day studying so lets hope its enough to get me by to start. The woman who we are renting the apartment from suggested I do what she did when she first moved to Barcelona (she's from the UK). She charged 20 Euros per hour to teach private english lessons. She is leaving behind all of her lesson plans etc. for me to use. On top of that plus my job searching a great friend of mine from grad school has come up with a brillant online business idea and has recruited Emre and I to help out. I will be doing all of the e marketing and am very excited about this idea, I think it has really great potential! I've started doing a lot of research to do that role and am very excited to get started. Will keep you posted.

This past Saturday was Emre's 33rd birthday. I've posted a few pictures. We had a great time! The same friend who has loned us her old apartment until we leave, invited us to have the bday party on her new roofdeck. Lots of great food and drink--good times good times :).

It is getting really hot in Cyprus--in the 90's most days. Sweaty fingers slipping from the keyboard as I type. No, seriously. SO hot. Barcelona's cooler temps will be so welcome!

That's all for now I suppose. Time for an ice coffee to cool down! Love and miss you all dearly!

VIVA SPAIN!!!

On Monday night we were having the conversation of what to do next as we were afraid the visa was not coming as it had been nearly one month since we applied. We were weighing our options and feeling a bit bummed that the dream hadn't come true for the moment.....we went to sleep, woke up, called the embassy and GOT OUR VISAS!!!! They are good for 6 months, and by that time the idea is that Emre and I will have great jobs and be able to renew our visas and stay longer. Here's hoping!

We will get our plane tickets today but should arrive next Wednesday. We've arranged a nice 2 bedroom apartment in the Gracia area of the city (right near the city centre). And so--the 2nd bedroom is waiting for all of you to come and visit!! Wine and tapas on our balcony, walks to the beach, amazing architecture, beautiful parks, driving to south of France...see you soon!!!

More Athens Pictures

Emre and I at the bar on the top of our Hotel in Athens with view of Acropolis in background
Dinner in Athens

Emre and gelato ;)

Emre and I at the Parthenon

Me and ancient Greek things...

Visa Application Submitted for Spain!

Look! In Cyprus you can buy pure msg and placenta soap all in the same shop........uh-umm..

The University Hostel where we stayed for two weeks on the right hand side. It is located in the old town part of the city right next to the 'green line' that divides the city from the Southern Greek side from the Turkish North side.

A day at the beach :)

Emre at Nissi Beach

Last Thursday night we spent carefully getting everything ready, all of the paper work, to give to the Spain Embassy. We got up really early on Friday morning to be sure to get there right when it opened in the morning. We skipped up to the door so happy we could finally apply. Then, a sign greeted us telling us that the Spanish Embassy is closed today for a Spain public holiday. Unbelievable! So...Yesterday morning we went and finally submitted everything. They said it should take 15 days and up to one month for the visas. Yaaaaaaayyyyyyy!

And so now we wait. I have started to teach myself some spanish, and am looking for jobs online as well as a temporary place to live when we first get there. We have a few friends of friends who live in Barcelona that I am going to arrange to meet as soon as possible in order to help me to find a job. Some have contacts in the health industry and some with the UN so hopefully something will pan out-at least until I know better Spanish :)

Emre is busy with work here and we have been spending a lot of time catching up with friends. On Saturday we borrowed a friends car and went seaside. It was a beautiful sunny day and we even jumped in the water for a swim. Love this weather! I'll post some pics here of our day at the beach. Also, a picture of the hostel we were staying in (grandma and al this should look familiar to you ;).

This coming sunday is easter here so everyone has work off and most people are with family. Thnking of doing an easter lunch here though because the size of the porch at our friends house where we are staying is amazing!

Enjoy the pics! I'll post some from Athens as well--see you here again soon! Happy Easter everyone :)

Cyprus

And so we have made it to Cyprus. Unfortunately no internet at the University hostel we are staying at so I haven't been able to update the blog. Tomorrow we move into a friends house who is going away to Thailand for a couple of weeks. She needs someone to water her plants and we need a place to live-perfect!

We had an amazing time in Athens before arriving here. We managed to make it to the Acropolis this time and took a lot of pictures which I will post next time as they are on my laptop. Will write more details of Athens then too...

For now, we have been harshly reminded of how slowly things move here and with lack of any logic or reason whatsoever! The Mediterranean sun produces a truly unique mentality. Today we will finally go pick up our Cyprus residence permits and with those we will go to the Spain Embassy tomorrow morning to apply for the Spanish visa. Then, supposedly, we should be good to go in a month..hopefully sooner!

In the meantime we are enjoying the warm weather--in the 70's and 80's each day, and are excited to borrow a friends car this weekend and go to the sea and join the vacationing British swimming hopefully :)

See you here in a few days when I will post pics and write more.

Love and miss you all!!

More Mykonos

Mykonos

Mykonos is one of those places that I have dreamt about going to for so many years...so many years of watching the travel channel :) ! We arrived at 7pm and started walking around right away. Despite the darkness and despite the blowing rain I was so annoyingly excited to be there!

We went for a small dinner along the harbor realizing Mykonos isn't cheap and maybe it's just fine to only stay one night :) We then walked to 'Little Venice'--a quaint area, white washed as the rest of Mykonos, but right on the waters edge. We sat overlooking the water and watched the rain fall. Just perfect.

The hotel we stayed at was owned by the same family for many years. The man who showed us around to our room was the 80 year old father of the man who picked us up at the ship. The family was just so friendly and helpful. We made an early night and the next morning I was so excited that I couldn't sleep anymore. Knowing that we only had the one morning there (our next ship to Athens left at 2:15pm) I couldnt wait to get going!

Woke up at 6am..we ran down to the harbor because for that moment the rain had stopped and sun shone all over the hillside of the white washed buildings. We tried to take some self portrait pics here :) We had breakfast overlooking the sea, and spent the rest of the day wandering in and out of cute little shops. It. Was. Perfect. Now I can cross another one off my bucket list ;)

Here's a bunch of pictures... Love you and miss you all!

Turkey to Chios, Greek Island

March 22, 2009

Chios to Mykonos

We are now on the boat from Chios to Mykonos. The boat is HUGE! I have never been on a cruise ship so this is so exciting! Emre and I have decided to take a boat whenever possible instead of flying—so much cheaper, tons of room, and what a view!! I’ll post some pics of the boat here.

Our night in Chios was spent drinking some bad village wine, asking for a manhattan drink and getting whiskey mixed with dry martini mix??? Never ceases to make me laugh what happens when you order a seemingly well known cocktail when in Europe—you never know what you are going to get :)

This morning I woke up just after sunrise because when I opened my eyes I saw the sun shining on the water outside our window. It had rained the entire day before so it was so beautiful to see the sun shining on the deep blue Mediterranean. And there was even a rainbow! We spent the day walking around. Saw the biggest fish for sale I’ve ever seen (see pic), and the sun actually came out through the rain for awhile. We were so happy we took a picture of us squinting. The village reminded us a bit of mountain villages in Cyprus. Once you got away from the main harbor where it looks all nice, the buildings were much older. See the picture here with Emre and the doorway that would barely fit him. Another island of short people!

Right now the boat is bouncing a bit on the waves, it is cloudy but I can see the sun breaking through in some spots. I hope some of it lasts until Mykonos. I cannot wait to see what memories we make there!

history

A few facts on Chios, where we go tomorrow, that I just learned:

Chios claims to be the birthplace of Homer the poet
Birthplace of the ancient mathematician Hippocrates
Birthplace of Oenopides, ancient mathematician.
Oenopion, a legendary king, is said to have brought winemaking to the island.
Archermus (6th century BC) sculptor
Athenis (6th century BC) sculptor
Bupalus (6th century BC) sculptor
Glaucus (7th-6th century BC) prominent early welder; credited by Herodotus with inventing "the art of welding" (Histories, 1.25)
Ion of Chios (c.490-c.420 BC) learned writer of prose and poetry, historian and philosopher.
Theopompus of Chios (378-ca.320) rhetorical historian

moving on...

Hello! Emre and I are just about to sit down to dinner with his family but I wanted to write a quick note. We are leaving tomorrow (saturday) morning to take a ferry to the greek island of Chios. It is just a short 45 min. away. We will spend the night there and on Sunday afternoon we will take another boatride to Mykonos. We arrive there around 7pm and will spend the night, leaving the next day at 2:15 on a boat to Athens. We will spend two days in Athens getting Emre his Cyprus visa then it's finally on to Cyprus.

phew!

And all of that going around is CHEAPER than flying from Izmir, Turkey to Athens. Neither one of us likes to fly so this worked out great! :) and we get to see two greek islands on the way..I remember so well during college I lived in one bedroom in a house to save money and shared the kitchen and the bathroom. I would lay in my bed at nights watching the travel channel until the morning hours. One time there was a show all about Mykonos and oh how I dreamnt that some day I would go there. It seemed like such a far away dream at the time in my one room in Lincoln, Nebraska. Now, it's hear and I am ecstatic and so thankful :)

I will take plenty of pictures to share on our journey. Let's just hope there's no 'perfect storm' brewing anywhere heehee

Love you all!!!!

Finally a Visa!

Me and Emre's second cousin-sweetest girl!

Emre and his sister Ebru

A view of the sea and mountains in Izmir

Men praying outside a mosque

Mystery meats at the grocery store. I miss tofu :)

This morning we went to the Greek Embassy to apply for Emre's visa for Greece so that we can apply for the Cyprus visa from there, and he was approved! So, we leave for Athens on Monday and will stay there for two nights as we were able to find a budget hotel that has non life threatening reveiws on tripadvisor ;) This will give us time to get his visa and also have a day to go around Athens and see some of the sights. yaaaaay!


Here to entertain you are a couple more random pictures. One is the meat section of a local grocery store we went into yesterday. I'm told it contains intestines, lung, liver, hearts, and some other mystery stuff. yum yum.