Day 16: 6th and final country - into Turkey we go! Thessaloniki to Istanbul

We'd asked if we could stay an extra day/night, but our hosts sadly told us no, that they had another family booked already, but that we could stick around until 2pm.   We were all awake by 7:30am local time - I think we've transitioned - ate breakfast and we were out the door headed for the beach by 8:15.  The water was glassy still, a nice chance from yesterdays waves that the boys had a hard time navigating.  The water was shallow for a few yards but then quickly dropped off to deep, so the boys had to stick close to the shore.  We collected more of the beautiful purple and coral colored rocks that we'd been picking up yesterday.  They are wonderful!  Not sure yet how I will use them, but I'll find a way!  

Josh took Luke back to put him down for a much needed morning nap and started getting the apartment cleaned up and packed out.  I sat and watched the boys delight in the water and the sand and breathed in the therapeutic smell of the sea.  I didn't want to leave.  It seemed like I couldn't dip my head under that salt water too many times before coming out for good.  The ocean had become home to us on the island and this was really the first time I felt like I could truly relax.  Like my painfully heartsick home was being rubbed with soothing balm.  The boys were so carefree.  There was no complaining about heat or thirst or fatigue or boredom.  It felt as close to home as we could get.  The Mediterranean is 45 minutes from the base - there will be water.  Pools.  Sprinklers.  But not the sea.  I'm not complaining, just trying to come to terms with it.  I knew all this, but having this place by the sea I think just solidified it all in my mind.  I'd left the Atlantic and our beach adventures there behind and then got another little taste of it at this place.  It pulled back up all that love I have for the sea and made it all hurt again that we won't be near it.  Yes, very trivial in the grand scheme of things, but with all the emotional and physical fatigue that has come with the last two weeks, it seemed at the time, difficult to process. 

Aristotle was born over there!

I ducked under one last time and came out with a heavy sigh, ready to barrel forward - ready to follow the Lord into whatever he has in store for us in this new land we are driving to.  A little heavy for the travel blog - perhaps.  But all stuff I want to be able to remember - so growth and trust can be tracked.  

We headed back and finished packing the van and tidying our place and headed back to the same restaurant for lunch.  After lunch we loaded the boys, said our goodbyes to our wonderfully gracious hosts and drove off to meet our new land.  The mountains faded behind us and the land became more brown and barren as we approached the border.  We kept seeing signs for entrance into Turkey and with each passing sign I found myself growing more and more uneasy.  I was confused trying to process through what I was feeling.  I've not had an qualms during this trip with leaving one and entering another country.  There really has been no to-do about it all, at any point. No official border, no signs, no guards.  Passing into Turkey was very different, as we'd anticipated.  The customs process was lengthy, and seemed a bit intense to me.  People were edgy, pushy to weasel their cars in front of others in the long line and the folks in the booths asking for documents seemed terse.  I suppose all very fitting for that type of process.   

We made it through the border, stopped to take a bathroom break on the other side and drove on to find gas and somewhere to exchange our Euro to Lira- all with the prayer that nothing would go wrong, since we'd realized between Thessaloniki and the border that our 2nd phone had gone missing.  We'd loaded two Portuguese cell phone with more than enough minutes to get us to our new home, but we've now lost both of them.  Talk about an uneasy feeling - goodness.  I hopped in the drivers seat after our bathroom break so Josh could sit in back and feed the boys the dinner we'd packed.  It was 7pm local time and they were clamoring for food.  I drove more cautiously than I have the whole trip.  I'm not sure why.  I suppose I have to be honest - my thoughts wandered to all the possible scenarios.  I'm prone to buying into all the media hype just like every other person and I've let my stuffy, sheltered, gullible and fearful mind go places about the Turkish people and the Turkish country that made our drive uneasy for me.  I'm not sure what I expected would happen, but I found myself a bit surprised that no one was forcing us off the road or telling us to go away.  Embarrassing, yes.   I'd let my imagination run wild.

I had noticed an aching pain starting in my chest all the way up my left side into the base of my skull.  It started slowly, but was pounding harder and harder the further we got into Turkey.  I found myself gripping the steering wheel as if my life depended on it and the more I thought about how fearful I'd been of crossing the border, the more embarrassed of myself I became.  We found a gas station that would take our credit card and that had wifi so Josh could contact the host to our place here in Istanbul since we had no phone to call him once we arrived.  I sat and watched the station attendant fill our van and let the tears stream down my face.  He was just a man making money to feed his family.  There were women and children walking around, some with head coverings, some in short shorts and tanks.  There were men and women eating and drinking and laughing and resting.  
People are people wherever you go.  No one was looking sideways at us.  No one was out to get us.  No one cared a lick about who we were or what we were up to.  It wasn't until then that I realized the main reason why crossing the border was so difficult for me.  It wasn't just because of my ignorant fear, but because it just finalized everything.  Up until then this trip had just been a crazy trip.  And CRAZY it has been!  I've been able to kind of forget, not intentionally, that we are moving and that is why we are even on this trip.  It's been a grand adventure, yes, but has felt more like a strange drawn out vacation that hasn't really been a vacation for rest.  Crossing into Turkey finalized everything for me.  Other countries were just passing by.  We drove into them, through them and out of them enjoying the culture and food as we went.  Turkey though, is where we will stay.  It's our new home country.  While our trip still has a few days left, our destination country has been reached, regardless of whether I want it to be here or not.  It yanked up all the heartache of leaving the island and our precious time there and our precious friends there.  As I buried my face into Josh's chest last night and cried I found myself frustrated but thankful that his heart doesn't work the same way.  He just keeps his genuine smile in it all and is truly and honestly so excited for the change.  It's just the way he works.  If it hurt him as badly as it hurts me, I think I would hurt even worse.  And the boys, though emotional as all get out, have been really wonderful all along.  There have been struggles, but they have done great!

We drove in and out of small towns that lined the highway, got caught up and lost 25 minutes in construction and finally came into the city in the dark, in crazy traffic.  I was white knuckled driving sandwiched in the experienced city drivers.  We arrived at our place and Josh took the iPad in search of wifi to contact our host.  The boys and I waited for 30 minutes or so in the van, parked on the sidewalk on a tiny street.  I was nervous at first and then humbled by watching the people passing by.  Mothers with babies in strollers.  Couples, friends, children.  A woman tripped and a man darted across the street to help her up and be sure she was ok.  He kept looking over to check on her and asked multiple times if she was ok.  A couple guys stopped and few and stroked the back of a stray cat.  Josh came back and we met our hosts friend who let us in.   
Josh addendum: My failure as a leader was once again revealed in a lost cellphone- I had it in my pocket when loading up in Athens and then it was gone! No big deal, just driving in two foreign countries with NO COMMUNICATION!! Not to mention that I had to call our Airbnb host in Istanbul when we arrived to get the keys! But God is gracious and merciful, and this is especially revealed in bone-head situations like the one I had gotten myself into. I went looking for a payphone and an ATM(still no Lira), and instead found an ATM and a TurkCell store that was OPEN at 9:30pm on a Saturday, and the proprietor spoke amazing English and sold me a prepaid phone, sim card and enough minutes to call my host in Germany, which I did right there in the store. So once again His blessing are poured out- we found the place, got in, and now have a new Turkish cellphone(all of it cost me less than 60 bucks, 20 of which is minutes on the phone!).

It was well after 10 by the time we got everyone down and quiet.  We've noticed a big difference in the places we stay where the hosts are not present, or anywhere near for that matter.  The ones where the hosts live in another country tend to be a bit dirtier, less stocked, less straight forward and therefore less comfortable.  This place falls into that category.  It's wide open, has AC and is a place to sleep, so it works well in those respects.  With places like this, however, we miss where the hosts meet us and show us everything.  It's a game trying to figure out how everything works, from the toaster oven to the wifi and the water heater.  There's a clothes dryer here, which is crazy!  It's all in Turkish, so we kind of just pushed buttons and turned knobs until it whirred to life.  ha!  

We have a down day in Istanbul, so that will be our next post.  Thank you for following along with us and for your prayers and encouraging words.  We are still in awe at the way our Lord protects us and continues to provide in beautiful ways along this trip.  It's a grand adventure for sure, complete with a vast arrange of emotions and unexpected experiences.