Well, Peter has now been in Istanbul since early August and Shannon, Abby and Luke since mid August.  A lot of things have happened since then.  We won't try to chronicle every event, but we will begin to keep track of what's happening in our lives.

So, Peter arrived without a hitch, moved into a small temporary flat in Cihangir (pronounced 'jee han ger') near Taksim Square in the heart of Istanbul and started work in Neşanteşi (ne' shan te she) at the International Catholic Migration Institute.  His work is going well.  In fact, this week they are hosting the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration.

Shannon is getting the family settled into our new apartment in Ulus, which is on the northern end of the European side of the city.  We've recently had a bit of a setback, however, with our residence permit.  Peter received his no problem early September, but, Shannon and the kids won't receive theirs till early January.  This means that Shannon won't be able to visit her mom in Paris the end of September and the kids won't be able to travel with their school teams / clubs.  Very unhappy, sad, and angry about Turkish bureaucracy!

View from our balcony during a storm...


Abby and Luke are settling into their studies at the Istanbul International Community School.  It's an IB curriculum and has a wonderful campus west of Istanbul in the middle of nowhere.  It took us 2 hours to get there by public transportation when we went for orientation and the first day of school.  It takes the kids about an hour in the morning on the bus but two hours in the afternoon.  Thankfully there is wifi on the bus so they can get their school work done.

So, now we've got you up to date on our first weeks in Istanbul!  More to come! and come visit us!