Sakintepe

There's something to be said for the carefree nature of expat life. You measure your things by how much they weigh and how easily you would be willing to part with them, not how nice they are or how much sentiment they carry. It is a trained response to the craziness, the surprises that come our way regularly.

Well, Sometimes those surprises are really awesome. We were in class on Friday with about an hour of school left when we received an email from a school affiliate saying that he had some cabins free for the weekend and that anyone willing to make the trek up to Bolu could stay for practically nothing. A few hours later Kendall and I were bouncing along a snow covered interstate on a bus. Our friends Brittany an Michelle came with us and we're enjoying our impromptu trip. 

                          

This place is run as a sort of retreat run by an expatriate from Montana and his wife, who grew up as an MK in Iran. They are super friendly and were nice enough to pick us up in town and haul us a couple thousand meters up into the mountains. We are enjoying the view, which is smothered in about 3 feet of snow and loving the cabin which has this bizarre turkey meets mountain west charm. 

Arriving Bundled

Nice dogs are a definite bonus here. 

Brittany showing us some thigh-high snow.

Their place is amazing and overlooks this nice valley. You can't really tell here because depth perception is skewed because of the snow, but this is a really massive expanse. 

We went tubing down the hill. It was amazing.

Action shot.

Dogs like to tube too!

Kendall decided to take a nap in a snow bank. 

You can see the amount of snow the night before on the picnic table.

A great place to just relax. This is where I blogged this from.

The sun came out and it was beautiful.

Unfortunately, I am not a talented or smart man. I fail at tubing and the ground taught me a lesson. 

I will have to make up a gnarly story to tell my students. 

We miss all of you and hope to talk to you soon! -b+k