FAMILY

REVIEW: 2020 – COVID, YouTube, + Turkey Travels

ADOPTION, ANNIVERSARY, EVERYDAY LIFE, EXPAT, FAMILY, HOME, LOCAL, OUR FAMILY VALUES, OUR FAMILY VISION, REVIEWS, TRAVELS, TURKEY, YEAR GOALS Catie

Living in Turkey has some great benefits but when come to COVID, they are (semi) serious about their restriction and lockdowns. Due to those restrictions Jason and I shared our sushi and reflection questions with Sofia this year.  I am now sitting here on a 4 day New Year weekend lockdown writing out our 2020 REVIEW for this week. It will be the earliest I have gotten out a review. 2019 Review took me until April 2019. 2018 Review was in February 2018.

FIRST OFF: ADOPTION

Everyone always wants the updates of Sofia’s adoption. So instead of making you search for it, I have put it first on the agenda.

2018 was ‘technically’ the year we became parents. In 2019, custody of our daughter was legalized. We hoped our surprise private adoption would be finalized in 2020, but unfortunately it is delayed until 2021. Thankfully nothing can be ‘undone’, but we are just having to wait longer until everything is finalize.

If you are just joining in … you can find our adoption information here: Announced our adoption plans! (Adoption video #1 on our YouTube channel, but you can view the adoption playlist here.) Decided we had to move to America for said adoption plans….Then decided not to move to America because of an unexpected but exciting private adoption opportunity that came up here in Turkey!

SECOND: COVID

2020 has been an odd year for all. Turkey did not miss out. We had 3 months of strict restrictions and lockdowns last spring. In June, they started lifting and we ventured to a seaside town for a few weeks to get out of the city. We have cautiously made the most of our freedom and are thankful some family came to visit.

Unfortunately, as winter is approaching the covid numbers are rising again. We are already back on some partial lockdowns, and it looks like the winter will bring even more restrictions once again.

THIRD: YOUTUBE

Due to our adoption, we have placed almost all travels outside of Turkey on hold until all of this adoption stuff is complete and for 2019, we stuck close to Izmir. We SAID we were going to share these travels but it wasn’t until COVID that I got back into my website work and editing videos for myself! I hope you have found our content to be more all-encompassing of our lives as the Funk family – balancing life, work, expat living, mini-travels, and parenthood.

Our recap of 2020:

I did something a little different this year to share our year via our Following The Funks YouTube Channel. I started back on our FollowingTheFunks website and videos this year and it has been so rewarding!

This video has a TON of pictures and videos we have NEVER shared before with you (if anyone has been around since 2018, you would have noticed I took a crazy amount of time away from Instagram with all the transition going on in our lives). This April/May I finally buckled down and started producing content again – if not for you, then for our family to remember our lives here in Turkey.

Since there is not much explanation for anything in the video. So I did want to write out a quick recap of some of our memories over 2020!

  • January was normal life – work, Catie with her projects, and Sofia learning to walk more steadily. I think the most amazing part of this last year is watching Sofia grow from baby toddler to full on toddler child. (Is that a thing?)
  • February Sofia took her first airlines flight and we visited some friends in Istanbul. She then came down with the flu and we spent the rest of our week in the tiny airbnb apartment.
  • Jason also took a trip to the USA. It had been over a year since he had seen his family (remember I went 2 times in 2019?). He was able to visit our 3 new nieces and nephews and celebrate with his family at his Grandpa’s 90th birthday party.
  • Meanwhile, Catie took a solo trip with Sofia (on her second airline flights) to see her friend in Adana, Turkey. Sofia did unfortunately throw up all over me at the end of our arriving flight.
  • In June, most of the restrictions started lifting. We stayed closer to home but we thankful to take Sofia out daily at this point! Let’s just say that reentry into semi-normal society in a global pandemic is a lot like culture shock.
  • In July we decided to give ourselves a break from Izmir and skipped out to a little beach town called Kalkan. We stayed 3 weeks and enjoy each week with a different family/friends. The freedom to move around was refreshing (yes, we were cautious and wore mask). You can see a playlist from some of our summer here and what travel was like during COVID-19 in Turkey).
  • August was low key for everyone but Sofia. Jason changed out her crib to a toddler bed, gave up her Paci completely, and was potty trained. Oh and I am sure there was always coffee involved!
https://followingthefunks.com/category/black-sea-road-trip/
  • October came and went in a blur – literally… as I write this, I can’t remember what we did. I did a pumpkin decorating workshop and macaroon workshop with friends. Otherwise, it was a lot of normal life, Turkish breakfast every Saturday morning, and a lot of friend time. Oh and Sofia’s first fall party.
  • At the end of October, our city of Izmir was hit by a 7.0 earthquake. We were at home and experienced 15- 20s of strong shaking, which was very scary. Thankfully our home is fine but there are areas in Izmir that were devastated. Around 20 buildings immediately collapsed, over 100 people died, and 500+ buildings are scheduled for demolition.
  • November – Sofia turned two! This is the turning point for Sofia language! She started making sentences, and by the end of the year we were have two-way conversations (not just yes or no stuff!).
  • As well, a couple of Jason’s cousins came to visit us and we took them to Cappadocia and Istanbul. We are so thankful the new COVID restrictions and lockdowns didn’t start until after our cousins left.
  • In November, we had high hopes that our adoption would be finalized. We waited almost a year for this court date. But it was disappointing that it will be delayed until 2021. Thankfully it does not undo anything that has taken place. It is so surreal to think that we announced her to everyone in May of 2019!
  • In December, we enjoy filling our lives with advent activities to celebrate Christmas. This also included a last minute plan to spend a weekend out at a farm with friend. Sofia’s was able to ride a horse which is a daily topic of conversation still.

Last but not least! Our new contributor at Nia’s Corner:

Nia, a fellow expat living in Izmir, Turkey, joins Following The Funks as a contributor writer back in the spring. I am SO thankful for her insight, knowledge and thoughtfulness she puts into every post she writes over at Nia’s Corner! You haven’t seen her post these last couple of months because the earthquake effected where she was living. She has had a lot on her plate finding a new home and moving. I am hopeful you will get some more content this 2021.

You can find the complete list of her writings here. I think you will find more than a couple that will entice you! Thank you Nia for all you have share here on FTF!

WRAPPING IT ALL UP:

It is crazy to think we are in our 5th year of this journey. We are hopeful that 2021 will bring finalization of Sofia’s adoption as well as her USA immigration paperwork. If all works out then by the end of 2021 we should find ourselves in the states finalizing Sofia’s citizenship!

If anything I am so thankful I did this to remember all the GOOD 2020 held in the middle of a crazy global pandemic and restrictions and lockdowns in Turkey.

Thanks for letting us share our lives with you and being part of our 2020.

Jason + Catie + Sofia

Comment below and let me know about some of the questions below:

  • What is your best thing about 2020?
  • What was the hardest?
  • How did you grow for the better this year?

TCK Life: Finding Time to Teach Passport Language and Culture to my TCK

2020, EXPAT, EXPAT KID, FAMILY Nia McRay

So, you’re not a teacher, but you want your TCK (Third Culture Kid) to be able to go back to her passport country for a semester of school, university, or perhaps just the option for her to live there easily when she is an adult. One of the benefits of cross-cultural life is having perspectives from multiple backgrounds, but you’re afraid your TCK is so disconnected from her passport country that she may not be able to assimilate to her “own” country. 

A big part of that is language and culture. Your TCK likely picks up her passport language from you or your spouse, but not everyone feels confident teaching their child to read, or homeschooling to ensure their child has the education their passport country requires for university. If you’re not a TCK yourself, it may surprise you how much language and culture is taught by the community you live in. There are idioms that your uncle taught you, a way of behaving in certain places that you learned by being there with other members of the community: the way one behaves in school, on public transportation, in a shop, at a funeral—these things are culturally informed and taught by the whole community with a shared culture. 

This may feel overwhelming as a parent of a TCK. “How am I supposed to replace an entire community of teachers for my kid?” you may wonder. Don’t worry. You can’t. And you don’t need to. Sure, you need to be intentional about teaching language and some culture, but one of the gifts of being a TCK is having an outside view of a culture that is seen as your “own.” So, do what you can, remembering that your TCK will have different struggles and advantages because of their upbringing, and that’s okay. That said, there are some ways you can teach your TCK her passport language and culture abroad.

Here are three tips to help teach your TCK her passport language and culture:

1. Take (even small) opportunities as they arise.

TasteslikeTurkey.NiaMcRay.TCKlife.passportlanguage.1.JPG


When your child asks why you do something one way while all of her friends in your host country do it another way, take the opportunity to explain culture. This helps your TCK differentiate between the host culture she interacts with daily, the culture of their home, and the culture of their passport country. It can lead into a conversation that teaches your child more about the values you hold as a family.

2. Small, regular lessons are better than trying to shove a bunch of information in your kids before you visit your passport country.

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Say your child is enrolled full-time in school in her host country. Fifteen minutes daily of working through some free printables from Pinterest can seem like an insignificant amount of time, but if she’s getting that manageable amount of exposure, it can really make a difference over time. This is especially true if you are intentional and strategic with what you are doing with your child in those fifteen minutes a day.

Trying to do a crash-course over the summer isn’t working with the grain of your child’s brain, and ultimately won’t yield the results you or your child want. That will just frustrate both of you. Growing slowly and steadily is always best.

Once your child is able to read in her passport language, exposing her to books (and e-books) that are classics from her passport country, or history books will allow her to grow in an understanding of that national narrative and culture.

3. Prioritize. Prioritize. Prioritize.

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What are the most important goals for your TCK? Is it knowing the language their grandparents speak? Is it university opportunities in your passport country? Is it life skills in a passport country? What is the importance in ratio to the learning your child needs in your host country? That ratio should show up in the time they spend learning. If you haven’t read my blog post on helping TCKs through culture stress or in figuring out how to choose educational plans for your kids, check them out here and here, respectively.

Essentially, list your long-term goals for your child in order of importance, and put the effort in. Be prepared to sacrifice to make those most important things happen. Maybe it’s worth hiring a tutor for your TCK. Maybe it’s worth changing your educational plan to incorporate more of your child’s passport language. It may even be worth moving to a city with an international school, or sending your TCK to boarding school. Do the research to find out what’s best for your family. 

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Remember, it is worth the investment of time and effort of thinking strategically about your kids’ upbringing. As you’ve chosen a non-conventional lifestyle overseas, your children may require non-conventional approaches to their education. And an investment in your child’s future is never a waste. 

Your turn!

  • What are some ways you are helping your TCK learn her passport language?
  • How do you find balance in your family?
  • If you don’t have a TCK, what are some ways that you or your kids’ can learn more about another culture?
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Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive

TURKEY RESORTS: Grand Yazici Club Turban

2020, FAMILY, HOLIDAY, HOTEL, TRAVELS, TURKEY Catie

*** Pre-note: As I wrote over on my Top 10 tips for choosing an All-Inclusive Resort in Turkey post, all hotels are required to abide by strict rules for reopening and hosting guests. Please visit the Grand Yazici Club Turban website for this information.

After reviewing three all-inclusive 5-star resorts in Marmaris area, I can tell you without a doubt that my interactions with the Grand Yazici Club Turban and their staff were by far my favorite. 

Travel writing looks different in Turkey. Typical professional courtesy emails don’t always get through to the correct representative. I have considered translating my emails in Turkish (as not all ‘English’ speakers are created equal as well). Plus, Turkish hotels (unless they are a large chain), are more accessible and happier to communicate with over the phone. 

However, Club Turban had no issues responding to my emails. Jülide at guest relations was terrific, easy and quick to communicate with via email. 

Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive
Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive

On the west edge of Marmaris city starts a chain of beachfront resorts and hotels; the first hotel you will see is the Grand Yazici Club Turban. If you want the night-life of Marmaris with the privacy and luxury of a resort, this is the perfect location. 

Built in the 70s, it is the first resort in this strip of the area. Turban, the owner, asked to build on the once government protected land to host future conferences and governmental workers. Since Turban has passed away, the family business has continued under the brother and sister duo; the brother is owning the one class up Club Turban, and the sister possessing the nearby Grand Marmaris Palace. Both are only open seasonally, usually March to October. In the winter, guest can enjoy snowy wintery activities while staying in the family’s smaller 18-room hotel in Uludag.

Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive

The hotel only looks like it has been here much longer than its 30 years because the hundreds of tall pine trees scattered throughout the grounds give it an earthy, old neighborhood feel. The hotel was very strategic about building around the existing trees, even to the point where balconies and roofs created holes and corners to allow for their lean into the buildings. 

The 459 room resort provides several types of accommodations; 224 of which are villas. Whatever style room, you would like, they most likely have. 

The Main Rooms: Our room was located in the main building which two years ago was considered the adult-only section of the resort. Now open to any guest, the main building rooms range from 40 m standard rooms to the 210 m Presidential suite: standard room, one bedroom Suites, two-bedroom suites for families, all with balconies facing towards the resort and thermal pool.

Villas are available as well.

Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive

Arrival by car, we were greeted warmly in English by the gate staff, and our car was taken for parking. I am still unsure where the car was parked but there was no need to worry about it, and it is included in your cost.  After the quick check-in, we received our bracelets and information sheets with the services information and a map of the 41,000 meters grounds. The concierge, Huseyin, a 20-year employee of Grand Yazici who works at the winter hotel in Uludag and in the summers here, kindly showed us to our room. 

To our surprise, a beautiful arranged tray of fresh fruits, nuts, dried fruit and cookies accompanied with wine and whiskey were delivered to our room. For marine and executive rooms, extra included services are given such as breakfast to the room upon request, a baby buggy, and flowers upon arrival. For those living the ultra luxurious life, services such as a butler, golf car, and private pavilion are available for a fee. 

Guests have the option of 6 different pools located throughout the grounds; including a ‘relax pool’ for guests over the age of 14 years old, indoor heated pool, a thermal water pool, and a special children’s pool and slides. Otherwise, private 330-meter beach comes set up with sun loungers and umbrellas for guests every morning.

Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive
Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive

One will never go hungry here. The main restaurant serves breakfast, late breakfast (which makes me think of the hobbits and their 2nd breakfasts), lunch, dinner, and even a midnight Soup (which we never stay up late enough for).  As well, there are snack bars, coffee breaks, and early lunch and supper options for children.

Outside of the central area, guests can enjoy the pool bar, beach bar, my favorite – the Coffee Corner, and the kids favorite, the Lemon Cafe, where they can get free ice cream whenever they want.  Week-long guest receives one included al la carte meal from either the Chinese Restaurant or the Kebab House. The La Pergola Italian Restaurant, Mavi Seafood Restaurant, and the newly opened Steak House are all extra cost.

Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive
Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive

During the day, Mini Club programs run all day for ages 4 and up. Babysitters are available for younger ages at an extra cost. 

As well, entrance to the Turkish Baths, Steam room, and Fitness are included with additional services at a fee. In the evenings, guests can enjoy a mix of entertainment, from 9 PM entertainment show like magic or acrobatics, live music every night at 9:30, and on the weekends alternating Disco and “White dress” parties. Like most all-inclusive resorts, doctor, spa, fitness area, beauty center are all available at an extra cost.

Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive

Repeat guest receive priority and perks like booking for al la carte restaurants and discounts for all spa services. 

The Dalaman Airport caters to guests heading to Marmaris area and this hotel. If needed, the hotel arranges transfers to the hotel. While we had a car, there is a mini bus to Marmaris that guests can catch at the entrance of the resort every 10 minutes for 3 TL.

If you are interested in this hotel for a large conference. The Club Turban has the largest in the area fitting over a 1,000 in the main area. The large room can be split into 3 smaller rooms and customizable services are provided as needed for your conference. 

Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive

Some final and personal thoughts:

For $110 a night for a standard all-inclusive stay, I felt that this hotel is worth every penny. 

Their goal is to make the guests “holidays unforgettable and happiest time by providing high-level service.” 

CONS: 

Being a large resort means that it also comes with lots of guests. Upward of 1,800 people can be on the property in the peak of high season. Other than the crowds of meal times, the noise around the grounds is minimal. 

While the colors were neutral tones, I found the sitting room set to be dated. Out of all that, it wasn’t a deterrent from going back, which we did by the way. Being a 40-year-old hotel, that is really impressive.

Most rooms do not have a view of the sea, but for us, it wasn’t necessary. 

PROS: 

Our suite was one bedroom and one sitting room with two bathrooms. The rooms were amazingly spacious with room for our clothes and bags to be tucked away out of site.  I love being able to unpack at a hotel. Always makes it homier when you can empty your luggage. 

The AC is self-regulated, and each room comes with a ceiling fans. I LOVE BOTH of these things, and I loved that BOTH of them worked well.

The showers have on-demand hot water and excellent water pressure. This gal with thick hair loves BOTH of these things when she has to wash her hair.

Travels Marmaris Turkey Grand Yazici Hotel All-Inclusive

Because of the trees, shaded sitting areas where plentiful given us space to work and relax outside and away from the sun (which my white skin does not like). 

The size of the hotel means they can provide the best entertainment and services for their guest.  This property is fantastic for families because the hotel offers suites with a sitting area for families to enjoy together. As well, the evening activities are for both families and couples. Heads up though, not all of the entertainment starts until late May or June.

Now I need to know…

Have you stayed at this resort before?

What did you think?

What is your favorite or not favorite part of staying here?

***Disclaimer*** For my travel article, I received a tour of the hotel and grounds. I also received a discounted stay with a complimentary upgrade to a suite in the main building.  As well, we enjoy an Al la carte dinner with the guest relations personnel, Jülide, at the Chinese Restaurant. However, regardless, all opinions are my own.

2019-Review-2019.FollowingtheFunks-Review.Turkey

REVIEW: 2019 – Adoption, Rebranding, + Visitors

ADOPTION, ANNIVERSARY, EVERYDAY LIFE, EXPAT, FAMILY, HOME, LOCAL, OUR FAMILY VALUES, OUR FAMILY VISION, PODCAST, REVIEWS, TRAVELS, TURKEY, YEAR GOALS Catie

What better way to get back into the game. I said this last February(2018) when I finally published our 2018 Review. I am breaking my ‘how late can a year review be recorded’ by publishing this 2019 Review halfway through March *cough* April!

Jason and I forwent one of our favorite traditions of grabbing sushi and go through my list of year-end questions. Instead, we celebrated with our friends at their new home across the bay. It was a fun night of good food and some game-playing, topped off with entering the new year while on our drive back into Izmir.

FIRST OFF: ADOPTION

2018 was ‘technically’ the year we became parents. In 2019, custody of our daughter was legalized. Our private adoption will be finalized in 2020. 2019 started in weariness, uncertainty, and trusting the Lord for His plan; it finished with a celebrating with certainty that we have a beautiful 1-year-old daughter, Sofia Marie.  Due to our adoption here, we will be around for another 2 years in Turkey to complete the necessary paperwork.

If you are just joining in … you can find our adoption information here: Announced our adoption plans! (Adoption video #1 on our YouTube channel, but you can view the adoption playlist here.) Decided we had to move to America for said adoption plans….Then decided not to move to America because of an unexpected but exciting private adoption opportunity that came up here in Turkey!

SECOND: REBRANDING

Due to our adoption, we have placed almost all travels outside of Turkey on hold until all of this adoption stuff is complete and for 2019, we stuck close to Izmir. We SAID we were going to share these travels but it just hasn’t been practical right. There are so many parts of our lives that just don’t revolve around travel even though we are ex-pats! Also, because our status in Izmir is a temporary one, I hope this website will eventually be more all-encompassing of our lives as the Funk family – balancing life, work, expat living, mini-travels, and parenthood.

Hence the change of name from FunkTravels to FollowingtheFunks! We hope you will stick around longer than what Izmir, Turkey has to hold for us. (Don’t worry, we are still here for another couple of years!)

THIRD: VISITORS

One of the BEST parts of 2019 was all the visitors we had. While Jason and I would love to think it was due to us, we know it is because of an adorable little baby. Several friends came down from Izmir or ‘popped by’ for a night on their way somewhere. Thank you all for coming to see us!

Finally, here is our recap of 2019:

  • My parents stayed for 10 weeks with us here in Turkey and saw Sofia grow from 6 weeks to 16 weeks! That is a lot of growing they got to be a part of! We took them around Izmir, down to Ephesus and up to Pergamon.

FollowingtheFunks-Review Ephesus Turkey

FollowingtheFunks-Review Pergamon Turkey

  • Spent a weekend showing my parents Pammukale, Hierapolis, Laodicea, and Sardis.

FollowingtheFunks-Review Pamukkale Izmir Turkey

  • February we said goodbye to Catie’s parents and started ‘solo’ parenting again. 
  • In March, we celebrated year 5 of marriage in Kusadasi with our sweet Sofia. We took her to the beach for the first time. 

FollowingtheFunks-Review Anniversary Izmir Turkey

FollowingtheFunks-Review Izmir Turkey

  • In April we took Sofia for her first major roadtrip to Istanbul to meet some of our old friends there. We also had the honor of hosting the Keil family in Turkey!

FollowingtheFunks-Review Istanbul Tulips Turkey

FollowingtheFunks-Review Izmir Turkey

  • In May, our friends, the Bradley family, came to visit for a few days.

FollowingtheFunks-Review Ephesus Turkey

  • Also in May, we celebrated adding twins to our nephew and nieces clan and another nephew joined in October!
  • But most importantly, we finally received legal custody for our adoption of Sofia and we announced her to everyone! We felt like we could start to breathe normally and relax more.
  • At the beginning of June, our friends the Rowells (our South East Asia traveling buddy) came for a week and we literally rented a house in Bodrum for a week and did nothing. It was AWESOME. And we spent a weekend in Alacati with the Cruz family. The flowers were in full bloom!

FollowingtheFunks-Review Bodrum Turkey

FollowingtheFunks-Review Bodrum Turkey

FollowingtheFunks-Review Alacati Turkey

  • June brought some sad news that one of Catie’s friend(definitely considered family) passed awake. She went to the states for a dear friend’s funeral while Jason was a rockstar at solo parenting. She also got to see the twins!

FollowingtheFunks-Review

  • A few weeks in the summer we passed it like a true Izmirlian with some friends at a summer house. Sofia took her first trip out to sea.

FollowingtheFunks-Review Izmir Turkey

  • Sofia’s also had her first major sickness which left us taking her to the hospital for a fever.
  • In September, we finished our 3rd year living in Turkey. Sofia went to her first Turkish wedding.

FollowingtheFunks-Review Turkish Wedding Turkey

  • At the end of October, Jason’s parents, Wanda and DeWayne came to visit! We took them to Ephesus and Pamukkale!

FollowingtheFunks-Review Izmir Turkey

FollowingtheFunks-Review Pamukkale Izmir Turkey

  • November – Sofia turned one!

FollowingtheFunks-Review Sofia First Birthday Izmir Turkey

  • Again Catie left Jason for a wedding of one of her bestie’s in the states. (Don’t worry Jason has just made a trip to the states!)

FollowingtheFunks-Review

  • In December, after a lonnnngggg 5+ years, Catie got to snow ski once again in Uludağ. Our family spent a few days together enjoying a cozy ski lodge friends and lots of snow!

FollowingtheFunks-Review Uludag Skiing Turkey

Some other random thoughts:

If you are wondering:  We still think our car is the best purchase of 2018…. about all the modes of transportation we used in Izmir, and then (finally) bought a car at the end of the year in 2018! (Maybe we should do a video about it and allllll the things that comes with owning a car in Turkey one day…)

If you haven’t had a chance, you can still read about things to do IN IZMIR and day trips from here.

Several words come to mind as we think back to our year: parenting, hurdling over all the legal hoops, hardship, but so much more joy. It is fair to say that our lives have now been rotated to revolve around Sofia! But now that she is a year old, we feel there is some ease that is coming back into our independence.

WRAPPING IT ALL UP:

When we started this expat journey, we committed to 3 years of overseas life. As we enter our 4th year living in Turkey, we can’t wait to see what God does next. He has been so good to show us how great of a community we have here in Izmir especially in this season of change and unexpected blessings.

2019 finished out in a blur and all of a sudden it’s April 2020 (even though I started this post a month ago!). While we have not been overly present here on social media in the last few months, it does not mean that we’ve been lazy! We have so many good things to share as we are finally adjusting to the work/parent life balance.

THANK YOU for sitting around when our posts have lulled and being part of our 2019.

Jason + Catie + Sofia

REVIEW: 2018 – Unexpected changes to say the least

ADOPTION, ANNIVERSARY, EVERYDAY LIFE, EXPAT, FAMILY, HOME, LOCAL, OUR FAMILY VALUES, OUR FAMILY VISION, PODCAST, REVIEWS, TRAVELS, TURKEY, YEAR GOALS Catie

2018 finished out in a blur and all of a sudden it’s February 2019. While we have not been overly present here on social media in the last few months, it does not mean that we’ve been lazy! We have so many good things to share (especially one monumental one, that we CAN’T share fully yet).

One of our favorite traditions is to grab sushi and go through my list of year-end questions. There’s always WAtooto many questions, but it’s good for conversation.

You can grab a more simplified worksheet for your next year-end review by emailing me here! I’ll send it your way ASAP!

Several words come to mind as we think back to our year: re-direction, adoption, preparation, joyfulness, and hardship. Sometimes I get to the end of the year and can think about how we have missed documenting our journey here in Izmir, but every year, this recap shows me HOW MUCH WE HAVE!!!!

Here is our recap of 2018:

?Jason and his brother rewrote and relaunch bltn in January.

?Spent a week in Istanbul, the city we met in,  loving on our friends’ kiddos!

?February was rainy in Izmir, so we decided to skip town and head to our friends in the desert. Traveled to Dubai to visit our dear friends then onward to Abu Dhabi. 

FunkTravels Desert Safari Dubai UAE

?Jason ran his first race! I am SO VERY PROUD!

?Celebrated year 4 of marriage in Chios, one of the Greek island just a ferry ride off the coast of Turkey. (We chat about this trip in Episode050 of the podcast.)

?Made it to 2 more Greek islands, Lesvos and Rhodes (blog post series on this with 8 tips for traveling to the Greek Islands from Turkey!) 

?Explored the area of Marmaris, Turkey and a quick pop-over to Rhodes Island, Greece 

?Finished our podcast at episode 50 (here is the reason why) and moved over to starting some videos on YouTube to share our expat life in a more visual way!

?Celebrated adding a new nephew to our clan and rejoicing in 2 more coming in 2019!

?Made our annual visit to the states to visit our family and sneaked in a week trip to Nashville for touring and Catie’s work.

?Finished our 2nd year living in Turkey  (Update coming one day!)

?Spent some time visiting our friends in Adana and took a day trip to Gaziantep (which we hope to share about soon too!)

?Enjoyed a day off the coast of Foça with some friends!

?Surprised Jason for his birthday

?Celebrated Izmir’s Independence Day properly since moving here.

?Announced our adoption plans! (Adoption video #1 on our YouTube channel, but you can view the adoption playlist here.)

?Decided we had to move to America for said adoption plans….

?Bought a house (yep, didn’t really announce that one)

?Then decided not to move to America because….

? Unexpected but exciting private adoption opportunity came up here in Turkey!

?Took a weekend to road trip to less-traveled historical sites near Izmir with some awesome people! (Can’t wait to share this road trip with you all!)

?Didn’t leave Turkey for 6 months which left us with some fun traveled around Izmir exploring a Car Museum, a Cable Car, and a couple of posts I FINALLY published about things to do IN IZMIR and day trips from here.

?Catie’s parents came to visit and celebrated Christmas with us!

?Catie has her first major Travel Writing Publication!

?On the side, Catie started advocating for cleaner, safer beauty products via @catiecleancollection and started a little travel shop @deartravels – both will help fund our adoption! 

?Jason and I both read 29 books each!

?Talked about all the modes of transportation we used in Izmir, and then (finally) bought a car at the end of the year!

DON’T FORGET:

You can grab a more simplified worksheet for your next year-end review by emailing me here! I’ll send it your way ASAP!

THANK YOU for sitting around when our posts have lulled and being part of our 2018. We can’t wait to share our big news with you soon! So, stick around!

Jason + Catie