Hos Geldiniz!

Well, after many hours of traveling and waiting we finally made it! I was hoping to make it on here earlier to send an update however I forgot how things can work in this country! I seem to break the internet every where I go.  It works in our apartment until I try and sign on. Then I thought I'd enjoy a cup of coffee at a cafe while updated everything and everybody.  I'm remembering what its like to be flexible!

I'd like to share with you my travel experience here.  It was quite the trip!
First my flight left at 10:52am from Des Moines.  Another teammate and myself left from there and we were meeting the rest of our team in Chicago.  My parents and I get to the airport in plenty of time after stopping at my favorite coffee shop one last time for 10 months.  We get to Des Moines with plenty of time to spare.  However once there I find that I'm unable to check-in for my flight.  After waiting some minutes I finally caught someone's attention at the ticket counter.  After searching and calling of airlines she informs me that I was reserved on these flights but I was never issued an e-ticket.  I frantically begin calling the man who bought the tickets for our team.  Ring, ring ring.... voice mail! He wasn't there.  I thought, "What am I going to do? My flight LEAVES in less than an hour."  The woman finds the number of the travel agency and the Lord graciously put me in touch with our agent.  I proceed to tell her the situation.  All I hear is silence... She says she'll call me back as soon as she can.  Finally about 20 minutes later she calls me back and informs me that I know have been issued a ticket.  I have 30 min. to go through security and get on the plane.  Luckily its a small airport and it was a Thursday morning.  Not many travelers!  Praise God he allowed things to pan out that way and get me here.

From here we met the rest of our team in Chicago and traveled to Frankfurt Germany.  The flight was 8.5 hours which can go by quickly with 2 movies, a TV show, many snacks and my iPod.  From Frankfurt we traveled to Istanbul and safely arrived in the country around 1:15pm.  We knew from here we needed to get our city and thought a bus would be easier with all of our luggage.  We find a bus and buy our tickets only to realize we had to wait 5 hours before we could get on our bus! We passed the time by asking each other questions, playing UNO numerous times with different rules, and cards!  Our bus finally left at 8pm.  From there we were on the bus for 1.5 hours then the bus went on a ferry for about 30 min. then back on the road again for 2 hours (all the while making numerous stops to drop off and pick up other travelers).  By the time we arrived in our city it was 12:15am.  All city buses were done running for the night and we realized our city is the only city in the country that doesn't offer Service buses from the station to our final destination.  We had to take taxis! But we finally made it to our apartment a little after 1:30am and sent the men on their way to their apartment.  Once there we stuff ourselves and all our luggage into the elevator only to find at the top that we could not get our apartment door open.  We tried for 15 min. then called people in the States who lived there last year to find out the "secret trick" to get the door open.  By the time the day was over and done with and we were sleeping in bed it was after 2:30am.  Travel was about 31 hours and we slept for about 4 of those.  We were exhausted but we were safe and all our luggage miraculously made it! PRAISE GOD! Thanks for your prayers!