One summer night in Seattle, two pairs of eyes met as they were gazing across a crowded room. While dancing, Jon casually asked, "Has anyone told you that you are beautiful today?" Beyza blushed as she said, "No." "Good," Jon said, "because I wanted to be first one to tell you."

Was it by chance that these two paths should meet? Perhaps, Jon Black and Beyza Polat thought that this was merely a chance meeting. After all, Jon was simply a "Joe" trying to make ends meet in the Seattle area. He was working two jobs in attempts at floating his own business (that never quite made it as you'll see). Beyza, on the other hand, was from Istanbul, Turkey and only in the area visiting her sister for the summer at the University of Washington. Improving on her third language, Beyza was actively pursuing business English credits.

Their first date was at a nice restaurant overlooking Lake Union, the Seattle skyline and the Cascade Mountains in the distance, the sun setting behind them. From that moment they were inseparable. They labored to see, taste, and experience what Seattle and the northwest had to offer. Jon taking pleasure in playing the tour guide.

After many conversations, romantic dinners, romantic views, excursions, nights salsa dancing, and a few margaritas in a hamoc in the garden, they knew the summer was coming to an end soon.

But soon the couple parted, and as they found themselves emailing each other, chatting on ICQ until dawn, or with an occasional phone call, they soon started feeling that something about this was different.

Later, Jon dropped the entrepreneaurial idea, moving on to a position with N2H2, an internet filtering company. He soon worked diligently on securing an internship for Beyza in the Marketing and Sales department. By summer 2000, Beyza was on her way back to Seattle for the internship, and again Jon and Beyza were together. Once again, they pursued all activities that Seattle and the northwest had to offer. But by the end of the summer, Beyza had to head back to Istanbul to finish her last year of undergraduate studies.

In late February of 2001, Jon found himself moving to Istanbul where he quickly found a job teaching English as well as doing some freelance writing on the side for a English-Turkish business magazine. Beyza soon graduated from University of Galatasaray in June, and despite the Turkish crisis, was quickly employed as a Travel Marketing Coordinator for a Turkish portal. By November of that year, Jon was asking Beyza's parents for permission to have her hand in marriage.











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