Let the tour begin!!!

Wow. Sorry folks that it has been such a long time since the last entry, Erin and I filled our last few weeks with goodbye activities as well as packing, so by the time we got to the end of the night we were exhausted.

First off, Thank you to all of you SLO friends for a great 10 years of good times and experiences. We capped off our last evening in SLO with a trip to the Cliffs where we had a great time with many friends who dropped in. And check out the sunset that happened that night, gorgeous; a great way to end our residency of SLO.

Sunset at the Cliffs

So now the A & E Tour of Cali has begun. It started with some true SF experiences including being stuck in traffic waiting for the toll plaza on the Bay Bridge. A tremendously cold and misty night at AT&T Park to watch the Giants beat the Red Sox and watching a rally for some pride weekend activities; all of which we deemed a San Francisco Treat (Ding Ding), especially the topless yoga happening at the rally.

We survived the "Candlestickiness" Erin's crew from elementary school

The view from Dolores Park, SF

We then went to Patterson to help celebrate the 90^th birthday of my Grandma, a great opportunity to see family and say some goodbyes. There was a great turn out of people to honor a woman who has lived a great life filled with great friends, a wonderful sense of humor and so much life experienced. My grandma and several of my other relatives expressed excitement for our new adventure and they all encouraged us to experience as much of life as we can. The more and more we talk to people about the next few years the more I become excited for the trip.

Since we are so very excited Erin and I have broken into our Turkey books to map out the places we want to visit as well as to learn about the History and culture of the country we will soon call our home. Now that we know more about our future home we will begin sharing more Turkey fun facts or events. Hopefully one of these events will inspire you to come visit us soon. So here it goes:

Fun Fact #1: Camel Wrestling: December marks the beginning of the Camel-wrestling season in Turkey. Unlike its cruel cousins the dogfight and cockfight, this is a sport based on cunning and dominance as opposed to viciousness and bloodshed. During the mating season male camels naturally will wrestle each other in order to establish dominance and win the hearts of the prize females. When camels are very young they will be purchased from Iran and begin their 4-year training to learn their own strategies and special moves. During the wrestling season the camels are brought to a stadium where their prize (a female camel) is paraded in front of them. Like the once wild animals they started out as the camels are then placed in head to head competitions that last 10 min. each and eventually lead to one camel being named the winner of the match. The winning camel is awarded the female camel and up to $25,000. Now, come December, you will all know where you can find Erin and I, we’ll be at the wrestling matches. For a preview of the excitement check out this you tube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvq5gDuclS8

Don’t forget to keep checking the picasa we album below. I continue to add pictures to it. See you all later.

A SLO and Painful goodbye

Let the tour begin!!!. Now that we are basically done with work and are only 2 weeks from no longer having an address in SLO we have started to make sure and say a proper goodbye to the city we have loved and lived in for the past decade.

It started with a week of goodbyes at the school where we have lived, learned and grown over the years. It was an emotional experience saying goodbye to the women that have acted as friends, mentors and on occasion stood in as mothers (when needing advice on dealing with Charter, or whether or not to go to the ER for stitches). ASI has been a place where we grew as teachers and gained the skills that we will carry with us in our future adventures.

Now that we are down to 10 days in SLO we have kicked in to high gear on the central coast bucket list (things to do before leaving town). Instead of telling you all about it I have put a link below to a Picasa web album. Check out the pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/102431173849443461259/ItSSoHardToSayGoodbye?feat=directlink

How many more things will we squeeze in? Stay tuned?

Leave your cranberry sauce at home...It ain't that kind of Turkey

After considering your feedback, and weighing the offers from both schools the decision has been made. I hope you are all ready to come visit us in Turkey.

Before our Spain offer fell through I never would have considered Turkey as a place to go, not know anything more than it was in the "Middle East" (a moniker that seems to provoke a little anxiety in our relatives). As we have talked to people and done a little more research on the area we are getting more and more excited every day.

The sad news is that we have to start saying goodbye to some of the place and things that we love about the central coast. This morning as part of a birthday present for myself we went and purchased a new DSLR (for those who need to know it's a Canon t2i). The woman that owns The Photo Shop downtown was so kind and helpful and truly excited in our upcoming adventure. I knew Peggy from back in my film camera days and she still remembered me today when I walked in. I will miss living in a place where you know people and they know you.

We also went out to Avila to enjoy the beautiful weather. We stopped at Salisbury to wine taste and I said goodbye to an old friend Devil Dog Red. Then we met Andi and Dave for drinks

and a walk on the pier. We both agree that it is a good thing we are going to a beach town when we are in Turkey, we would both miss the beach too much.