Back in the U.S.-- just barely

(Justin) We're behind in posting because we've been busy moving to the U.S. Eventually, we'll post pictures of my parents' visit and our trip to Antalya.

We had plenty of goodbyes from friends before we left. Some of our friends graciously are housing many of our household items in the hope that we'll be back in August, or sometime soon enough.

Leaving was very tough emotionally, and then I was almost physically prevented from leaving Turkey at passport control in Istanbul. Joni and Elias got waved through but the system flagged me; there was a problem.

An immigration officer at the airport walked me to a line of people having stayed in Turkey illegally and waiting to receive their punishments and learn what they needed to do to leave. I chatted with the officer a bit in Turkish and he took me to the head of the line. He even had me translate for another person in line who couldn't speak Turkish. I was thankful I could communicate, or else I'd still be in that airport. Turns out, when I resigned my teaching position and the school informed the labor office, my work permit was canceled and so therefore my residency permit was cancelled -- I was thereafter living in Turkey illegally.

I had to sprint through the airport to get photocopies made, pay a fine, and bring all the paperwork back to the officers, then go back through passport control, where there was another delay as the officer had to call to make sure everything had been taken care of. I arrived at my gate after everyone had boarded, and then had to go through the hassle of again being searched and such. I was one of the last passengers on the flight -- just barely made it back to my worried family and we took off on time.

A LONG time (2-hour delay in Chicago waiting for our plane to be de-iced!) and another connection later we arrived in Cincinnati, where Joni's parents were waiting and drove us to central Kentucky, where we'll be based for an indefinite time. We're all still recovering, but the transition to the new time zone is going well so far.