Living in Izmir, Turkey

Living in Izmir Turkey was a real experience for me. I was about 12 years old when we left to go there. It was exciting to ride in the big planes. We even got to see a movie, and for a 12 year at that time was very exciting. After the long flights we finally got to Izmir. We was suppose to be met by our sponser, but they were not there yet. Some how we had gotten to Izmir earlier than we was suppose to. Some people that we met on the plane was already meeting their sponser. They told us we could just ride with them into town. We all packed into the one car. It wasn't a small car, but it was still tight with nine of us, the driver and the sponser all packed in. That made 11 of us, not to mention all the luggage. Everyone was either sitting on someone or under someone...all squashed together. We did make it to our destination though. We was taken to where my Dad had to sign in and found our sponser. He took us to a hotel where we had to live for about two weeks. Our apartment wouldn't be ready for at least two weeks is why we had to stay that amount of time. At least it was summer and Mom didn't have to worry about getting us into school yet. During those two weeks we learned where most everything was. We went to the park and went swimming, and went to the movies alot. We found the thrift store where we bought stacks of comic books really cheap, read them, then traded them for another stack. We did alot of reading during that time. We didn't watch tv hardly at all, and was hardly ever at home. There was always something to do while we was there. We lived in Izmir for 2 years before we came back to the States. Those were some really good times.

As I remember it

Growing up I did alot of traveling. My dad was in the Air Force, so we got to visit and live in so many different places. Since we was always in a different area we didn't get to see our relatives as much as we would have liked. Sometimes we would visit my Granny and when I was real young (up to about 18 months I think) we would visit my other grand parents. The reason it was up to about 18 months was that was about the time my grandmother died. She was my Mom's mother. My mom's dad died when I was about 7 years old I think. I don't remember to much about them, but I do kinda remember them. My Grandfather on my Dad's side died a very long time ago. I never got to meet him. I remember my grandmother very well. We called her "Granny". I have several stories I will tell about her later. Their were aunts, uncles, and cousins that we would visit when we came back "home". I always think about those days as "the good ole days". When I get a chance I will be writing little short stories about different times of my life and what was told to me about different family members.