...and this is how the love story starts

When I first went to London my regional area of focus for genocide/ethnic conflict resolution was the Balkans, former Yugoslavia. (I had been to Croatia & Slovenia once 3 years ago). I even took Serbian-Croatian language classes, and last Xmas spent 3 weeks traveling Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia & Kosovo. Arrived back in London and decided I hated the area and there was no way I was going to look for work there.

My first trip to Turkey was at the end of June. It was after my exams and a treat for myself-I was still recovering from a pretty bad concussion/head injury from a violent assault on the street in London in May.

Anyway, lots of Brits vacation in Turkey and a Brit friend and I found a cheap holiday there so we went. Our second eve there we went to eat in a restaurant. The waiter was a bit too cheeky and a little rude. I was having a MAJOR fat day---it was 115 degrees F and I was bloated as hell, on top of ending a very stressful exam period full of fried food and tons of beer.

So the waiter comes over to our table and asks me if I'm preggo! (I really couldn't blame anyone for thinking that, but asking???) I said no, I'm just fat. He asked me if I was sure and if he could touch my stomach. I told him to get the fuck away from me. Well he didn't. Lucy and I were going to leave the eatery and walk on the beach, but the waiter and the manager kept us there talking & laughing until 4:30 am.

And the waiter was Alaattin. For him it was love at first sight, for me yeah he was gorgeous, but just eye candy-the Turks are generally a beautiful people.
That week my head was spinning. It all seemed so unreal, so fairytale. (But that's the way I always knew it had to happen for me-the guy loves me at first sight and then does everything possible to get me.) I had been through 2 months of hell and a stressful previous 18 months and needed a major change. Yeah its fun traveling all over God's green earth, but its also lonely as hell.
He told me he wanted me to be his wife after 3 days. Said he knew I was the one for him the first time he looked in my eyes.

After I left Turkey he called me every day. A few weeks later, I went back for a week to make sure. I knew I had no where to go come Sept, throw a dart at the map and go. I put money away 5 years ago before I started uni for when I was ready to "begin life".
I had no intentions of moving back to the USA and didn't want to stay in the UK.
Turkey is actually a great place for me to be career-wise. Couldn't have happened more perfect-it’s an up and coming political and economic powerhouse. And international politics is my gig, soo...
I came to Istanbul the day after my housing contract expired in London. We were engaged that day.He's been a true God-send for me, coming into my life when I was struggling like never before to keep the colors from running off the canvas of life, like a chalk drawing on the sidewalk in the rain.