Before I came here, a year seemed like so long and I was so scared to commit myself to this for so long but the year actually passed by quickly. At the beginning of course I counted the days and then the days became months but now it is actually 365 days and I have another 12 months to go seeing as I have renewed my contract.
Now that date seems far away but I guess every day at a time and before you know it the time is up.
I didnt do anything special for my year of being here but let me fill you in on the past few weeks....
I was invited to attend a different 'au pair coffee' on Sunday 2nd September and went with Lacey. Most of the girls that go are French speaking Canadians but I had the chance to meet another Australian girl named Vicki and really got along with her.
Here are the girls from the coffee
It was a shame though because Vicki left a fortnight later. On a good note though I got to go to her farwell party and met all of her friends who are super nice. Here are some photos of our night out!
Huw, Vicki and I - the aussies!!
Vicki is now working her way through Europe so hopefully I will meet up with her sometime soon if it works into my schedule. She just finished a contiki tour of Turkey so now she is just seeing where the wind blows her.
The following night I went to another girls farwell party (everyones leaving!!!) and she had organised a cocktail party where we all wore dresses and headed into the city to one of the more famous bars in Zurich the Kaufleuten (sp??)
Seeing as I had actually had 3 hours sleep the previous night I didnt want to go out but I was committed so I went but left early. It was good to see some of the girls and say goodbye to Patricia but it was an early Saturday night for me... the group shot...
So with that weekend over it was time for me to start looking forward to the following Thursday. Lacey, whose boss is a pilot had secured us first class seats to Antalya Turkey for the cost of taxes only which was only like 82 francs (about 82 aussie dollars!!!) So after trekking out to Laceys house late Wednesday night we then woke up at 4am Thursday morning to be on out 6.45am flight. The surprise of the day was then the opportunity to go and sit up in the cock pit with the two pilots. We got to see the takeoff and enjoyed watching the sun come up and then also to see Kai land the plane which was perfect!
The 5am shot
Beautiful sunset
Reto - the other pilot
Not many people get the chance now to go in the cock pit of a huge plane so I was so grateful to be able to experience that. After 3 hours and a time change we landed in Turkey with 30 degree plus weather and the issue of getting to our hostel.
After some wandering, sweating and more wandering we finally agreed on a cab to the suburb of Kaeici in the oldtown. We luckily had found the best hostel which was run by a super cool aussie guy and we got upgraded to a twin room for only a little extra. We talked to Mike for hours on what to do and see and then set about the city.
With Mike, better than Lonely planet.
The whole time there we had perfect weather, met some of the nicest travellers ever and really explored every corner of this booming city.
We went on 3 different boat rides where we went to the famous Dudan waterfalls on one and also on our day trip ride we went to an island in the middle of the Antalyan Gulf and jumped off the boat into the ocean! It was so warm and clear and we got to float around on those huge orange jackets. We had a lovely lunch and got to spend quality time with our new friend Lisa.
We ate great turkish food at the same restaurant 4 times, drank apple tea, went shopping like crazy at all the different bizzarres selling everything from tea cups to prada bags and also just relaxed!
Great food,
Warm water,
and the fleeting chance to cool down for a moment.
We did alot of drinking (!!!) while away and also got to see a live Turkish cover band which was cool. Whilst away I bought a mini hubbly bubbly and some really nice tea cups. The Turkish lira was so similar to the swiss franc so we didnt spend alot of time converting things in our head, we just new that Turkey was alot cheaper than Switzerland.
It was such a nice holiday that it wad a shame to go home. This holiday was different from alot of our other trips in the sense that we did alot more leisurely things like shopping and going out in stead of having early nights and spending the days packing a tonne of sight seeing in. It was a nice change and Lacey and I had the best time.
We got to fly home again sitting in the cockpit for some of the time but the best bit was being able to walk out and inspect the plane with the pilot himself. We got to have photos and see what makes a plane fly!
Here are some of the photos of the scenery that I got to enjoy in my 4 days in Antalya...
Thank you Kai and Lacey for giving me the chance to fall in love with Turkey!!
So then the past week was busy as always so it was nice to go out again Friday night and have a picnic by the lake Saturday.
Had a quiet night in on Saturday night and got pizza and a few movies with Lacey.
Nicolas and I invented a new game.
We have fun sometimes ;-) Also now just on the lookout for a new camera as I dropped mine in Turkey (!!!!) Kind of annoyed but it is really important to me, what makes it worse is that my ipod died only a few weeks ago so I had to buy that also! Its red though so I am happy!!!
Have a good week and see you all in 10 weeks, I am so excited xox
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