Scary days

Back home, in the US, people are gearing up for the 4th of July holiday and the fireworks however, here in the UK I am nervous we might see "real" fireworks. Yesterday two car bombs were found not too far from my office and today a car drove into the Glasgow airport terminal. I seriously can't believe I will spend my 31st birthday being overly cautious about what might happen. I'm really missing the freedoms that I felt back in Denver.

Ireland

I went to Dublin last weekend with Pete, Gwen and Mike. We had a wonderful time and tried to get a good grasp of the history of the city and country. While we were there, we did an Irish music publ crawl which was quite fascinating. Below are a couple pictures of the band and our favorite libation (Guiness, sometimes with a touch of blackcurrant liquor). The city was cool but definitely more for socializing and less for it's architecture. I think we spent a couple hours each day in the pub of our choice.

Holiday pictures

This is part of the Turkish team that I taught. They really welcomed me with open arms.

Here are some more pictures from Turkey. The resort we stayed at was simply amazing. This is sunset.

Pictures from Mom's visit

Me enjoying one of the better Belgium brews.

Mom at London Bridge. One of my favorite sites in London.

Turkish delight

I am in in Fethidye, Turkey this week teaching Internal Audit courses to the folks in KPMG's Turkey practice. This place is absolutely gorgeous, we are the Mediterranean coast with Cyprus to our South and Greece to the West (no, you can't see either). I honestly don't believe I have ever spent time at a more beautiful beach complete with loads of sun, stone beach and salt water. We are near "the blue lagoon" and can see the lights of the city during sunset. The Turkish team are amazing; they listen to me speak English, talk amongst themselves in Turkish and then write information in English. I am in awe of people who have such a grasp of varying languages. (Did I mention that the emcee of the events speaks about 5 different languages... fluently; it is verey cool to hear him switch between them so easily.) I will definitely have pictures to post once I get back to London.

On a totally personal note, I've had a very emotional day. I received word that I have a new nephew! Chip and Laura have been blessed with a South Korean son, Owen Bird. The received their referral last week and hope to pick him up in September or October of this year. If you are interested, you can go out to his blog (thank God for the internet): http://www.owenbird.blogspot.com/ and have a look at pictures or just read his story. How truly spoiled am I to have all these nephews and neices in my life!

I am having such a dichotomy of emotions right now: I am beyond words at seeing one of the most beautiful places in the world had I not made the decision to move to London but I want to be in the US to see, love and spoil all of my neices and nephews. What a curious place to be.