nişanlıyım!!

so as many already know, this week ben & i got engaged. we are both THRILLED!!! below i will try to capture a bit of the week that led up to this, and the story of the proposal...

on tuesday i flew to izmir, a city on the coast of the aegean sea, for a week of recruiting students. izmir is a beautiful city, set on a lovely bay of the aegean.

i did some recruiting with the help of a student translator, melda-- she was very sweet!
one night i was taken by some colleagues to downtown izmir to tour the bazaar and have dinner at a fish restaurant.
one thing i really like about izmir is the old buildings you find. some of them have very different architecture than anything i've seen in ankara.
this is the ferry-boat station
this long stretch by the water is where you'll find izmir locals at dusk, having a picnic or a romantic rendez-vous

this arch boasts a quote from ataturk, 'i love izmir & the people of izmir very much.' well put.more beautiful old buildings-- this one was the french consulate i believe

horse & buggy rides, or 'fayton,' are tradition in izmir. though, based on some of the ones we saw hopping curbs & nearly missing colliding with passing cars, i think i'll stick to walking!
beautiful sunsets on the water

and friendly stray dogs everywhere
...which brings me to the night of the engagement. for the past week, ben had been telling me about a fish restaurant that his friends were raving about, that i should try while in izmir. he told me a friend who knew the owner had made a reservation for me, and that they would 'take care of me' (bring food without my having to try my turkish skills with ordering). i agreed, and on thursday evening i went to the restaurant for my 8:30 reservation. to me, this was kind of late... but soon i'd find out why.

shortly after i sat down, i caught a glimpse of someone i thought bore a strong resemblance to ben. after taking a second look, i realized that WAS ben... walking up to my table! ben was supposed to be in istanbul, so i was very surprised to see him. he was a bit flustered & i thought even teary-eyed (which was nice, but we had only been apart for two days, so... a little out of the norm). he said he couldn't let me enjoy this dinner all by myself, and then he asked me if i was ready for another surprise: he took a small box out, opened it, and placed it on the table in front of me, and then asked if i would marry him. as ben tells it, i didn't answer him. but really, it took me a minute to catch my breath and not become a blubbering mess. i did eventually say YES!

the sun was setting at this point, and everything was PERFECT.

my beautiful ring

engaged! and proud of it ; )

this weekend back at home we did some more celebrating, and ben (as usual) was a total ham for the camera. aunt aydan, i'm sure you are not a BIT surprised!

i could not be happier to be marrying ben! we have much to plan, but for now, i'm going to sit back & bask in my newly engaged status. WOOHOOOOO!