Category Archives: Turkey

Day 416 in Beijing: Installing the Air Conditioning Unit, Part 5

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Testing to see if the air conditioning actually works.

Testing to see if the air conditioning actually works.

After all that craziness, we supposedly had a working air conditioning unit.

Just like in the USA, when someone installs something, you always want to make sure it works right before they leave the apartment.

Well, this is doubly true in China because all of the controls are in Chinese script and we sure as heck can’t read those instructions.

So, we let our landlords check it and then explain it to us.

They seemed to have bought the most simple remote control because this one only has about 5 buttons and we’ve seen some that have over 20.

Yes, over 20 different buttons for a simple air conditioner.

Thankfully, when our landlord pushed the power button, the air conditioning turned on and it works perfectly.

We could not be more thankful and happy to be living where we are and to have the amazing landlords we have at this time.

Also, thanks to the wonderful installation guys and the quick work they did.

Overall, it probably took about 45 minutes to remove and install the air conditioning units.

By the way, it has been hovering around 95-100 degrees a day in the past week in Beijing.

Luckily, Jill and I have been sitting by the beaches in Turkey and will soon be headed to Greece instead of having to deal with the heat and pollution of Beijing.

 

Day 407 in Beijing: Goodbye Gulzar!

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Gulzar, Jill and me just before ordering dinner.

Gulzar, Jill and me just before ordering dinner.

Gulzar was our roommate for the past year and we recently bid her farewell.

It was a sad moment, as well as a joyous moment, for all of us.

She moved here to go to get her M.B.A. from Eseune Business School, which is a bsuiness school, based in Spain, which also operates here in Beijing.

My dear friend Nuria introduce us to Gulzar and she has been our roommate for the whole school year.

She is the kindest, gentlest, and sweetest person we’ve met in China so far.

We have sort of adopted her as our “daughter” here in Beijing and feel very close to her.

Gulzar is from Xinjiang, in the very far West of China, and is Muslim.

That means, because of the way the Beijing government is run, she can’t actually go to a Chinese school here in Beijing because she can’t get a hukou.

The hukou basically allows you to register in the city you are living in and get medical help, entrance into schools and other things that most of us take for granted.

So, if Eseune hadn’t let Gulzar in, she wouldn’t have been able to go to graduate school in Beijing or other parts of China outside of Xinjiang.

It is also Ramadan right now so we made sure to wait until the sun had set to start eating and we took her to a Halal Palestinian restaurant just a few blocks from our apartment.

The food is very similar to Turkish food, and we all love Turkish food, so it was a very nice way to say goodbye and congratulate her on her graduation with an M.B.A.

We also were able to congratulate her on her engagement to Nadir, who we’ve met, and hope that they have an amazing wedding and a very happy marriage.

We are incredibly sad to see our “daughter” leave us but, as parents, we knew this day would come and we are proud of everything she has accomplished, how much fun and joy we’ve had together, and know that we will see her someday, in the future, and will celebrate again!

By the way, the shirt that I’m wearing was a birthday gift from Gulzar to me.  It is a classic Uighur style shirt and I love wearing it.

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Day 404 in Beijing: And We Are Out Of Here!

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A beautiful view of the mosques in Istanbul.

A beautiful view of the mosques in Istanbul.

I hope you enjoy the next week or so of blog posts because I won’t be able to update them much since Jill and I will be in Turkey and Greece.

We leave today and return on August 15th so we will be gone for exactly one month.

We have been in China, non-stop, for 7 months and are extremely excited to get away and have some peace and quiet.

Istanbul will be busy but we will be hanging out with friends, and some family, and just enjoying it for the first week.

Trust me, compared to Beijing, nothing is busy and anywhere is quiet.

Jill has been to Turkey three times and I’ve been there once so we have some familiarity with it and the people.

We have always loved going there and meeting with people who are very open and friendly.

We will start, and end, our trip in Istanbul.

We are going to go to Cappadocia and do a balloon ride through the Fairy Chimneys.

Then to Pammakule to see the perfect blue waters and natural white thermal pools.

We are also going to other parts of Turkey but those are the highlights.

We will then go to four different islands in Greece including Naxos, Paros, Santorini and Mykonos.

We will spend about 3 days on each island and Jill will be able to celebrate her 41st birthday on Naxos.

Last year she celebrated in China and we think this is a very nice way to celebrate Jill.

Who knows where we will celebrate her birthday next year?  The world is our oyster!

We will head of Athens for two days and see the sites and then head back to Istanbul to finish off our trip and grab our flight back to Beijing on the 15th of August.

I’ll do my best to post a few pictures of our travels and hope you enjoy them.

I’ll be doing more full blog posts when I get back to Beijing and have time to sort through everything and figure out what I want to write about regarding our trip.

Here are a few pictures from Jill’s past visits to give you an idea of what we will be seeing and doing when we arrive in Istanbul.

 

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