Life in Britain Test

I passed my Life in Britain test today! It's one of the requirements for applying for settlement as Dave's spouse in the UK. If you're curious about what the test is like, try a mock one for yourself.

I'm happy I won't need to study anymore!

Relax, it's Friday!

Adventures with Uncle Geoffrey

Uncle Geoffrey has lives in Urla, a town close to Izmir (the third largest city in Turkey). He's lived in this country for over 30 years. Dave has been to visit before, but this was my first time. Here is Uncle Geoffrey's home. It is surrounded by summer vacation homes, so about 1 in 10 are occupied in the wintertime.

We came across the Sunday market, which was a great place to pick up fresh fruit and vegetables. We bought almost all the ingredients for one of our favourite recipes, cous cous au poulet. We found dried paprika and tumeric, as well as some delicious dried figs I couldn't stop eating.

A very full shopping bag.

The oranges are very cheap at the moment, about 1 Turkish lira, (maybe 70c NZ money?) a kilo. Delicious freshly squeezed juice.

We explored lots of coastal towns, enjoying lots of local lunches. Often we ate mezzes, grilled fish, moussaka and doner kebab. Artichokes were in season, and I also enjoyed trying new things like fava beans, spinach dressed with lemon and olive oil, Turkish bread, and aubergine salad as well as old favourites like the delicious baklava and kebabs. Knowing that we were seafood fans, Uncle Geoffrey took us to a few of his favourite fish restaurants by the sea.

We met a few friends in Alaçatı... and went on the hunt to find the B&B owned by Uncle Geoffrey's friend, Antje. We eventually found her by asking the local German butcher.

The windmills are being restored at the moment.

It's a pretty old Greek town.

Closer towards the harbour, we spied flamingoes. They're the first to arrive back from their annual migration, followed later by the storks.

View from the castle in Ceşme.

A market in Sirince, a hilltop village.

One of my favourite stops was the Temple of Dionysus, where you can wander at your leisure amongst ancient ruins, olive trees and daisies. I couldn't resist making a daisy chain, though I definitely couldn't do a Greek nymph impression due to my winter layers!

Thank you, Uncle Geoffrey for a lovely visit and winter break. Hope to see you again soon.

Ephesus

Yearning for a bit of winter sun and to escape from the DIY for just a while, we visited Uncle Geoffrey in Turkey last week. We were lucky to have some fair weather and sunny days, on the only overcast day it was quite fortunate as we went to Ephesus and needed the sun protection and good lighting for outdoor photography!

Ephesus, or Efes in Turkish, is an ancient Greek and Roman city. It was the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World - now only a single column and some ruins remain.

Inside a modern structure, you can see the structure and mosaics of some beautiful terrace houses. The platforms are transparent so you can admire the flooring as you wander from level to level.

Uncle Geoffrey led a dawn Easter service at the impressive stadium here in the 1970s. It would have been an atmospheric setting.

We heard an owl hooting in the distance...

Lots of impressive carved details.

Lots of mogs! This one is tourist-watching outside the Library of Celsus.

House Rabbit

Quite a few people are curious about Marshall because it's a bit unusual that he's a house rabbit. Their questions are usually about whether he's toilet-trained (yes!) and where he lives. He has free range of the kitchen/dining room at all times, and the door to the living room is open when we're able to supervise him coming into the room as there are wires to keep from being gnawed.

He was rather overweight from a bad diet when we adopted him, so he's been slendering up on a healthier kind of rabbit pellet, and lots of space to run. He likes his creature comforts and I think he likes his new life. There is a radiator pipe that runs next to his hiding box where he usually sits, bottom against the warm pipe! He's also partial to sitting on carpet and a good view out the window.





Marshall seems to have forsaken the outdoor life - despite having a lovely run he often prefers to stay in his carrier. During the evening, he likes to entertain us with lots of flying leaps - hopefully we'll have enough recordings for a video soon.

DIY Business

Sorry its been a bit quiet on the blog front lately!

We've been quite distracted with our house warming party and a whole host of DIY home improvement projects at the moment! The party was last weekend, and was a 60s themed event to show off the house in all its 60s splendor.

We've been very busy working on the house as well, in the New Year we have already just about finished another room! The study did have some amazing wallpaper, but unfortunately it had to go. Heres the room before we got going:

Here is Char on New Years Day stripping the wallpaper:

Then a rewiring job on the power socket, and new phone, data and coaxial sockets:

Then filling hundreds of small holes all over the walls - very strange! And then new coving and a new paintjob - still drying on the walls as I write:

Although the new colour is not at all yellow like in this picture! iPhone photos...

So that only leaves - new lighting, new skirting, new door, new radiator, paint the window, new carpet. Easy peasy!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Thanks for joining us through the blog this year and for all the support, it's been a roller coaster ride full of happenings. We moved three times, I did three different jobs, we got married, went on a month long honeymoon, bought our first house, adopted a house rabbit and so many other things! We have been busy sorting out our new home, learning how to do lots of things we never knew we'd have to do. So far, Dave's installed network cabling, we've redecorated our spare bedroom and we've learnt to put up coving (it's the decorative plaster strip between the wall and the ceiling). We've also got our new shower in so no more cold showers, yay.

Lots of love,

Char and Dave (and Marshall the rabbit)