So, when I started this entry it had been cold and wet and miserable for the better part of a week. Then, I woke up one morning and realized that the inevitable settling in of winter had been replaced, however temporarily, by late-summer-like conditions. Making the most of the sunshine, by walking extensively and frequently around my neighborhood and the neighboring neighborhoods, took priority over continuing with this entry. In fact I never did come up with much to write about, so here's a whole paragraph of fluff about the weather. Wishing you all well from this corner of İstanbul. [View Full Entry]

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“Why do Turkish people always say ‘yes, please?’” asked the two backpackers in my living room, after a few weeks of surveying the Turkish Mediterranean and Kapadokya. I felt myself going back in time a little bit, to my earliest experiences in this country. Curiosity brought them here, as it had me during my first visit. I wonder if they were as charmed and dazzled by it all as I was. Now they’re back home, processing the blur of new faces, foods, bus/boat/train rides, hikes, hotel rooms, salt water, breathtaking landscapes, and countless funny episodes that d [View Full Entry]

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time flies by as usual... [View Full Entry]

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Let me begin by assuring you that what I post on this blog in no way represents the views of the State Department or the Critical Language Scholarship program. Bir kaç hafta önce şair, yazar, ve çok ilginç olan Sunay Akın'ın Oyuncak Müzesine gittik. Müze Anadolu tarafta ve gitmenizi tavsiye ediyorum. Biz de çok şanslıydık çünkü Sunay Bey'le tanışıp konuşmasına dinledik. O kesinlikle çok kibar, yetenekli, ve misafirperver biri. Müzesindeki eyşaları da anlatmayı seviyor. Çok güzel bir gündü! We were lucky enough to [View Full Entry]

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Let me begin by assuring you that what I post on this blog in no way represents the views of the State Department or the Critical Language Scholarship program. Bugün benim otuzuncu doğum günüm! Dün akşam teknede kutlamayı başladık. Canlı müziği, güzel yemeği, ve iyi arkadaşlar harika bir akşamı yaptılar. Bugün çok şımarıyorum. Bu sabah Van Ahtamar'da güzel bir kahvaltı yaptık. Sonra Brian'le hamama gittim. İlk hamama gittiğimi çok beğendim. Hala çok rahat ve tertemiz kendime hissediy [View Full Entry]

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Let me begin by assuring you that what I post on this blog in no way represents the views of the State Department or the Critical Language Scholarship program. Bu yazı çok ertelediğim için özür dilerim. Her gün kendime yarın yazacağımı yarın yazacağımı söylüyorum. Sonunda yazıyorum çünkü boş zamanım var ama hiç ilham almıyorum. Neyse, umarım fotoğraflarımı beğeniyorsunuz. I've been putting this off for weeks. Today, I've finally found a few minutes of free time, though no ideas of where to [View Full Entry]

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Let me begin by assuring you that what I post on this blog in no way represents the views of the State Department or the Critical Language Scholarship program. Bu hafta İstanbul fırın gibi olmuş. Blogum için çok ilginç şeyler şimdi yazamıyorum maalesef. Hava bu kadar sıcak olurken düşünemiyorum. Ayrıca pazartesiden cumaya öğleden sonraya kadar sadece derse gidiyoruz. Neyse İstanbul hala çooooooook güzel ve hayat iyi gidiyor. Halenur Hanım (benim Türk annem) dün İzmit'ten geldi ve Beşiktaş'ta buluşup [View Full Entry]

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Let me begin by assuring you that what I post on this blog in no way represents the views of the State Department or the Critical Language Scholarship program. Dear H1N1, Oh, the time we’ve spent together! You first saw me in DC, and found me to be irresistible, though it would take you a full week to work up the courage to introduce yourself, you coy little devil, you. You yawned through our meetings in DC, and made not a peep as we passed together through airports, crossed an ocean, and visited no fewer than three continents. Mum was the [View Full Entry]

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Let me begin by assuring you that what I post on this blog in no way represents the views of the State Department or the Critical Language Scholarship program. This entry's title, "yaz," in Turkish can mean either "summer" or the command form of the verb "to write." And, indeed: Bu yaz, yazmalıyım ("I should write this summer"). I have decided to do so here, in both ingilizce and in türkçe, as I have a small and beloved bilingual audience. I might occasionally throw in a bit of "Tarzanca" too (literally, the "language of Tarzan," but this is commonly used to [View Full Entry]

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We leave the hotel in roughly an hour. Dulles International Airport. Frankfurt International Airport. Atatürk International Airport. In less than 24 hours, life starts over again in Ortaköy, the swanky neighborhood on the Bosphorus where I will be passing the summer. Stay tuned... [View Full Entry]

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