After 22 years at Islesboro Central School I began to search for a new position and Robert College found me. Sue agreed to leave her landscaping business in the capable hands of our son Dan with help from his partner Kim Lockrow and brother T.L. and we left home and friends to find our way 5,000 miles to our delightful house over looking the Bosphorus on the 65 acre campus of Robert College (RC), preserved and managed for 150 years since the founding in 1863 by two Americans, philanthropist Christopher Rhinelander Robert and Cyrus Hamlin, its purpose to offer an "American style" education under the Ottoman Empire; Robert College has been in operation longer than any other American-sponsored school outside the United States.
In this midst of the rambling city of 13 million, the campus is lush, and though densely developed, the buildings and infrastructure are tucked among the steep ravines so that there is an omnipresent sense of seclusion.
Our house, Power House, named for once being a power station for the school, was completely redone prior to our arrival: new appliances, new tile bath and kitchen, new floors, new insulated windows. We have been told several times how lucky we are to move in here and we totally agree: our view of the Bosphorus from our terrace is divine! And with the newly pruned shrubs and trees, Sue has an opportunity to get her hands dirty.
On our first free afternoon, Sue and I walked the perimeter, a good habit in a new locale, apt for island dwellers. Making a complete circumnavigation of the campus (there is a concertina-wire topped fence hidden away) is an arduous walk, up and down draws and gullies, enough to tighten your calves.
Our house, Power House, named for once being a power station for the school, was completely redone prior to our arrival: new appliances, new tile bath and kitchen, new floors, new insulated windows. We have been told several times how lucky we are to move in here and we totally agree: our view of the Bosphorus from our terrace is divine! And with the newly pruned shrubs and trees, Sue has an opportunity to get her hands dirty.
On our first free afternoon, Sue and I walked the perimeter, a good habit in a new locale, apt for island dwellers. Making a complete circumnavigation of the campus (there is a concertina-wire topped fence hidden away) is an arduous walk, up and down draws and gullies, enough to tighten your calves.
Outside the Yalı (wooden houses that line the waterfront, and, yes, that is an "i" without a dot) Gate is the Bosphorus, 25 miles of natural strait connecting the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, thence to the Aegean Sea and on to the Mediterranean. Here, it is less than two miles across but it varies from a little more than two miles wide to just under a half mile. On one side lies Europe, while the far side is Asia. East meets West. The familiar confronts the exotic. And here we are.
Yesterday we took a left outside the gate to walk along the waterfront; there, the first neighborhood is Arnavütköy, an Albanian fishing village settled around 300 AD, retaining the feel of an old village subsumed by a modern city, containing many seafood restaurants as well as a cobbler.
In our first night, not sleeping, I wandered to the bathroom and at 4:30 AM the first call to prayer began. I stood, transfixed at the foot of our bed, as one voice, pleading and intense, was followed by another and another and another each more distant, not echoing, not the same words even, but each thread weaving together; while one paused another emerged an octave higher layered with a third fainter but more plaintive, a chorus not from another culture but from a different world.
A different country, a different culture, a new house, a different job and thankfully, the same partner.
A different country, a different culture, a new house, a different job and thankfully, the same partner.
RSS Feed