Duniya Photos: Birthday celebrations.

It's been nearly four months since I moved to Istanbul and I have to say that I am really enjoying the experience. Don't get me wrong I have my off days where I feel so lonely and homesick, that sometimes I feel my eyes well up with tears that threaten to overflow and the lack of language skills make me feel like an Alien that has just landed on another planet that can't seem to communicate with the locals but on the whole I feel like I have made the right decision coming here and am enjoying myself.

To be honest I was kind of dreading my birthday coming up, I thought that it would highlight how much I had left behind and break the illusion that I had created of a wonderful new life. However to be honest it has actually shown me that there is a lot of love for me in Turkey. I started celebrating my birthday three days before the actual date and I still have one more celebration to complete lol.

I was totally stunned and overwhelmed with emotion to see that my students in Cerkezkoy where I teach 2.5 days a week went out of their way to mark my birthday. I was surprised by gifts of flowers and two birthday cakes as well as a birthday breakfast. I do not think my students realised how much their actions meant to me, but they nearly had me in tears. To know that you are loved and appreciated by your students is a beautiful thing, it makes teaching worth while and to celebrate with them was a very bonding experience.

As well as the warm and heartfelt celebrations with my students I spent sunday visiting the Princes Islands, just a short ferry ride from Kadikoy with a group of friends. It was a relaxed day full of fun and laughter and a little pain as my nose got sunburnt, but hey that's life, you can't have it all. Then that evening I received my third birthday cake from my house mate Demet (I am on cake overload right now and my waist is showing it)

Monday the actual day of my birthday I went out to dinner with my housemate Demet and my American home girl Hali.... We absolutely adore a chain restaurant here called Midpoint and decided to check out the Taksim branch after hearing such rave reviews. Needless to say I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. The view over the Brospherous was breath taking and I have to admit if I ever manage to get a romantic date I am going back there with Mr dreamy ( a girl can wish can't she?)

I managed to over stuff myself on the most mouth watering Fajitas that I have managed to find in Turkey so far and the guacamole was to die for.

Now you would think after so many celebration that I would have had enough but oh no not me, I don't do anything by halves, I have another celebration on saturday, we are planning to head over to a Pakistani/Indian restaurant in Taksim where I can stuff myself with spices and curry until I am fit to burst. I am so excited about this, I just hope it lives up to the hype that I have created in my head. After, I will take my curry smelling over stuffed self to a nice bar/club to have a boogie if I can manage to move that is.

So happy birthday to me, I won't reveal my age on here as apparently a woman never tells her age but I have to say I have throughly enjoyed myself and have a good feeling that this is going to be a wonderful year for me, maybe it is wishful thinking, maybe it is the truth who knows, part of the excitement is waiting to find out which one it will be. So good night my lovelies and I hope in all this madness I find time to write to you again soon xxx good night and sweet dreams. xxx