We spent a few days in Istanbul with our friends Haley and Batu after arriving back from Paris. We also saw friends that we met at their wedding and spent time volunteering with a couple of weeks ago when we were in Istanbul before the Athens/Paris trip.

One of the evenings, Haley and Batu had plans to help a friend so we went out to dinner with their friend (and now our friend) Seth. Seth is originally from Southern California but has spent the last couple of years in Istanbul. He is one of the most cheerful and kind people I have met and is SO fun to be around!! We had a blast hanging at a coffee shop and also went out to dinner with him, I think we spent around 5 hours all together without a dull moment between the coffee shop and dinner that evening.

A couple of days ago, we started our quarterly "alone week" which is a short stint this time around but it still is giving us the opportunity to adventure on our own. Austin left with Domino to spend a few days driving and camping, I stayed in Istanbul to spend more time with Haley (and Batu) and also have some quiet alone time exploring the city (mainly the Kadikoy area) alone. Haley and I got some great one on one time chatting one afternoon on their porch over Syrian coffee and it was incredible to get to know her better in a one on one setting to hear her story. She has such a deep passion for people and helping people and the Lord is using her in so many ways here in Istanbul! I am so grateful for her and our new and growing friendship :)

The day that Austin headed out for our alone week, a group of us got brunch all together (classic Turkish breakfast). The crew was Austin, me, Haley, Batu, Seth, and Kendall (a girl we met when we were here for Haley and Batu's wedding fall 2022). It was fun reuniting with Kendall and hearing about her life the past few months! She spent the last 3 months in Athens and loved it.

We (Haley, Seth, and I) gave Austin a traditional Turkish send off as he headed out. The tradition is to spill water behind the person as they leave and “Su gibi git su gibi gel” is the Turkish saying for this send off which essentially translates to “may they go and come back like water flows”. At the bottom of the page there is a silly video of us sending off Austin.

Turkish breakfast with Kendall, Austin, me, Haley, Batu, and Seth:

Haley and I didn't get the memo to look and laugh at each other ;)

Haley said the sidecar was comfier than Batu's scooter, ha. Sorry Batu!

Seth was clearly very excited for the sidecar, haha!