The Settling In Process

Now that I've been in Turkey for 6 weeks, I am finally beginning to really settle in. Sure, I was settling in before too, but it was more about settling my belongings into their spaces in my new apartment, settling my clothes into the closet, settling the money into a budget, settling the newly discovered foods etc into my diet etc. It was a physical settling, if you will. But now that I have most of my routine set and I am focused on how to BE here in the physical sense, I am beginning to allow myself to settle in the more emotional and psychological sense. I am making friends (and I have loved sitting back and allowing the personalities unfold... there are really GOOD people here), I am finding my way around the city and the beginnings of the culture (the tip of the cultural iceberg, to quote my administrator), I am allowing myself to unfold. I know from my past experiences in other cultures and countries, that this can often take a year (sometimes less, sometimes more... but generally a year), and it feels good. I feel some of the old parts of me (that I thought died in my last experience... not because of the place, but because of me), parts that I really liked and missed, are awakening. Sure, the bloom is furled a little tighter in some ways than it was when living internationally was my only norm... but, it's undoing... I'm blooming again into the person I was becoming a few years back before I allowed myself to get side-tracked and shut down. This settling in process will be so much more sweet than bitter and it's good to know that it's happening.