Monday, December 13th, 2004

Well, today was frustrating. I attempted to get my Turkish residence permit and was defeated by red tape and bureaucracy! I had been working with the international department at Ankara University to get a residence permit to replace my visa, since I will be leaving the country for Christmas in England, as well as possibly going to Bulgaria for a while. We had sent all the necessary letters to the police, talked to the right people, etc. So I headed out to the police station to get the thing taken care of. Well, all was not well. The guy at the station decided that what the international department had sent him was not enough. He wanted my papers from the TÖMER language institute. So we had to go there and convince them to release the papers. They finally did, so we went back to the station. Then he decided that those papers were not enough, so we went back to AU to get more information. And returned again. He then decided that because my forms had dates from 2004 on them that he would not issue the permit unless I could get a new paper with 2005 dates! So, basically I was screwed.

I can still come back to Turkey, but I’ll have to spend more money on another visa. Argh. Something that would take 20 minutes in the states took all morning, and we still didn’t get what we wanted! I should be used to these things by now, but I still find them quite frustrating. And the thing is (I’ve learned this from other experiences), another worker the very same police station would quite possibly have given me the permit. It happened at TÖMER when I first registered. I got no where with one person, then came back when a different person was working and had no problems. I hate power trips!!!!!!!

Anyway, tomorrow I leave for London. My flight is very early, 7:45 a.m., so I’ll be up at about 5 to get ready. Oh well, I can sleep on the plane! I’m really excited for this trip. I’ll start by spending a week or so in London with Leah Stuckey, a friend (of course, many of you know her) from the states who is studying at Le Cordon Bleu London Culinary Institute. She’s finished her semester and is hanging around for a while before she goes home to celebrate Christmas in the US. So we’ll hopefully tear about London and get up to lots of mischief! I also have quite a few friends in the London area that I met during my year spent there after high school, so I will see many of them if everything goes according to plan.

Then, around the 20th or so I’ll head south to Wiltshire to be with my Aunt Liz, Uncle Ian, and cousins Stuart, Victoria, Georgina and Anneka. It will be wonderful! They live in a small village named Kilmington in the beautiful countryside of southern England. I spent one Christmas with them in 1999 and had a marvelous time. On Christmas day the entire village goes to the local pub, the Red Lion, and has a big celebration. We also eat lots of tasty food, drink tasty beers, and basically relax and enjoy life! I CANNOT WAIT! I love England, and being with these family members that I do not get to see as often as I would like is something that really makes me happy.

After this, who knows? I’ll go back to London and spend some more time there, but I’m not sure when. There’s a reunion party for where I worked on the 8th of January, so I’ll be sure to go to that. Also, my friend Andi Curran is living in Switzerland, but might come to London for a while to see me. Or maybe I can go there? Who knows? I’ll return to Turkey on the 21st of January, so it really is an extended holiday. But I can’t wait; I’ll be wonderful to see the place I called home for almost one year. I’ll continue to update this blog while I’m there, so keep checking back. The updates may be more sporadic, but they will come. I promise!