Okay, NOW you should be jealous

I'm having a hard time containing all my giddy energy even though it's 11pm my time and I should probably start winding down. Why, you ask? It's partly because I still haven't slept more than 5 hours in about three days, and I'm a bit delirious. It's also partly because I am hopped up on the caffeinated tea I had this afternoon and after dinner (Turks drink tons of tea in lovely little cups...more later). It's also partly because I spent the day with my colleagues and feel like I just landed the sweetest teaching job ever (more on THAT later too)...but mostly you should be jealous of me because of where I'm going to dinner tomorrow night: Egirdir.

I dare you to pronounce it.

It's a cross between Eardear and Eyurdear (the g's are pronounced more like a y here, and that r at the end is rolled a bit, but don't even GET me started on the many delights of the Turkish language. That's coming sometime this weekend). But isn't it incredibly beautiful?

My colleague Mehmet, one of the most generous and wonderful people I've met in a long while, is from this region, which is particularly known for its fish. This town is about a 45 minute bus ride/30 min car ride from my house. So, we're going there for a fish dinner tomorrow night. Then I'll be around this weekend studying Turkish and checking out my city (which I toured a bit today with my colleagues). I work on Monday, then at some point I'll head to Istanbul for a few days in an overnight bus (where they serve tea and cupcakes and watch movies--on the bus, that is). Then I'll hopefully come back for Bayram, the end of Ramadan. I'm hoping to ingratiate myself to a local family (maybe Mehmet?) and enjoy some local food. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on tomorrow's dinner. Life is so, so sweet.