New Adventure begins: The Plane Ride

So many people asked me to create a blog on our adventures and where God is taking us on our big leap of faith, so I'm starting this one: The Cha Cha Family Adventures.
Our blog page is http://bethchacha.blogspot.com/

One year ago, Bogie and I felt the urge/call to apply for the D.O.D.E.A. to work as a teacher on base schools around the world.  We weren't sure where this trip was going to take us, but we were hoping for South Korea since Bogie has family there it would have worked out ideally.  God had another plan and Bogie received an offer for Turkey on the Turkish/American base located near Adana (3rd largest city in Turkey).  The Turks call it mini-America.  I've only been here one evening so far, but I'm not so sure I'll agree with them.  So, we'll see how my feelings change as I increase my time here on base.  I think I see how Turkish people who have never seen America, could think that.

The story on how the whole process went is a long one and will probably be covered in later posts.  Too long for me tonight.  Tonight, I want to concentrate how the trip out here fell into place and how I feel at the moment.  

The day of the flight I had a few dear friends over in the morning to see us off and we had breakfast together and they helped us pack and label our baggage.  Gwen, Emily and Tandy and various members of Bogie's family.  

We left the house around 1 pm to the airport, and on the way one of the screws under the van holding up the plastic protector for the engine/front bumper came off and the plastic was dragging.  I tucked it under, but that's just a quick fix.  Now our niece has another thing to take care of on the van (we left it for her use).

At the airport we said good-bye to Bogie's parents and nieces and nephews and ate some lunch.  Take off was at 5 pm.  The day before our trip, we recievd a call our Delta flight had been cancelled and we were rescheduled for Air France.   Boy, were we spoiled; blankets, pillows, our own customizable TV screen with remote.  France sure knows how to treat their guests.  Food was good and they fed us twice.   
Here's Bogie's take from an email he sent out:

"As some of you know, we have made a major change in our lives by moving all the way to Incirlik, Turkey.  I am now working for DODDS (Department of Defense Dependent Schools).  There is an air force base in Incirlik with K-12 school, and that's where I am stationed at for now.  The move was something that we were praying and thinking about for a year, but not the location.  We were offered Turkey in late July and didn't have much time to prepare ourselves for the big move. 

We left Chicago on Friday around 5:10 pm to head towards Paris-DeGaulle (last minute change by Delta, we were suppose to fly to Amsterdam but was notified that that flight got canceled and that we would fly with Air France) around 8:35 am local time (that's 1:35 am in Chicago time).  Afterwards, we flew from Paris at 9:55 am and arrived at Istanbul, Turkey around 2:15 pm.  Around 4:55 pm, we left Istanbul and arrived at Adana, Turkey around 6:20 pm (that's 10:20 am in Chicago time).  From the airport, we got a ride from the principal to a hotel, and that's where we are at right now.

Along the way, we have encountered some minor inconvenience and one major inconvenience.  The major inconvenience is the fact that our checked-in baggage didn't arrive with us.  We should get it by now, hopefully.  Some minor inconveniences were having our bags checked at three different places (Chicago, Paris, and Istanbul), not getting our boarding pass right away (at Istanbul, they couldn't print our boarding pass because they couldn't find us in their system until much later on), Turkish security guard at Incirlik not letting us in until we had proper ID, even though we did for first time teacher in the system, and our children getting very tired and making it more challenging for us."


When we got here, I was shocked how third world the area is and was not expecting that based on the pictures I've seen over the internet.  It's going to be an adjustment, but I think just being so tired after not sleeping for 24 hours straight it all came down on me pretty hard.  I was very homesick already and started to cry when Bogie's sweet and caring principal asked me how I was doing; the flood gates started and I questioned why we did this move in the first place when we had it so nice at home.   I hope and I'm sure my faith will be restored when I give it more time.

So far, everyone here has welcomed us and has made us feel welcome tangibly and emotionally.  Hopefully today will be better for me.  It's going to take me a while and I miss all my friends in Chicago BIG time.  Hopefully, I won't cry today.