Turkish Game Shows

Turkish Game Shows are awful. They make them sooo dramatic. The contestants always have a sob story, intended to make it seem that they morally deserve to win. Sometimes the contestants perfom during a few minutes of the show, if they are talented in some kind of dance or song. The shows draaaag on forever, lasting about an hour. Just now the contestant's mother was in the audience and had to be escorted out becuase she started to hyperventilate and have a panic attack.

I mean really people, this is assanine!

Update-immigration is slow...

OK, so here's the immigration update.
The lawyer will take another 2 weeks to get the stuff into the US government. Granted, that's if nothing is held up. So after that we will wait for 4-5 months to know if the US government believes that we truly intend to marry and if we have a valid relationship.
This shit sucks. But I'm trying not to focus on the sucky parts. Alaattin has to leave Istanbul for the summer anyway (for seasonal work), so I'm planning on spending the summer in the US, I think I'll arrive late June. I want to be there for the 4th of July - its been 4 years since I got to celebrate the 4th! I love the 4th of July. Canada still regards "the Queen". Ew. I mean 'ew' not as in the queen sucks but as in the idea of being a subject of the queen sucks. I'll be in AZ for a few weeks to see my cousin (LOVE YOU VEDA!!!).
Beyond that, its already 90 degrees here in the day. Its kinda funny, because it doesn't seem HOT to me. Today I wore a skirt, tee shirt and denim jacket. I know its crazy, when I type it I see how crazy it sounds.
The heat is coming though, in the summer it gets up to 115 degrees. Yes, its also humid here, but not tropical humid. For the reason of the heat I don't mind being away for the summer. Plus I'd be lonely here without my darling

Step #1: WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today we sent the complete package to the lawyer via Fedex...weighing in at 1 kilo! $70! Full of paper! So the first step of what we need to do is DONE!

It was such a relief. This week we went to the US Consulate to notarize our statements of intent to marry. It wasn't nerve-racking for me, and I don't think it was for A either. We SWORE to the consular officer (tsk tsk). That ran us $50. (Nothing in this country is free.) It would have cost us $150 or more to do it through a Turkish notary because it was in English, would have had to had a professional translator translate before notarisation.

So the package is sent. It will arrive to the lawyer on Tuesday. Then 5-10 biz days to be sent to USCIS. Then we wait for a LOOONG time, at minimum 3-4 months, before the next step. I organized the package neatly-all of the papers labeled in page dividers to make it easier for the lawyer.

I'm kind of kicking myself in the ass for not doing all of this sooner. But keep reminding myself that everything in the Universe happens at the right time, when its supposed to happen.

After that, we went to see our friend who has a silver jewelry shop in the Grand Bazaar. We had tea and chatted for awhile, he always hates to see us go. I ogled a lot of the jewelry, he makes a good deal of it himself and its all really unique stuff.

Then we went to browse wedding rings. Again, the rings here are gorgeous and the styles are very unique. We looked at a number of them in one shop, but of course were not ready to buy. The salesman got shitty with Alaattin when we were leaving because we didn't buy anything. One more instance when I'm sure that every party involved was happy that my Turkish isn't good enough to bitch people out for their rudeness.

Then we went to a beautiful park next to Topkapi palace, near Sultanahmet and the St. Sophia. Lots of grass and trees! I laid in the grass and watched the storks in their nests in the trees above. They were flying about - their nests are huge! The Bosphorus (the strait that connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, on which Istanbul is located) is traveled by storks on their migration route (among many other kinds of birds) from continental Europe to Sub-saharan Africa.

Lovely day.