Kediler: Cats!

I know, we're not in Turkey yet... but this post is for your general amusement. There's something about Turkey, and especially Istanbul, and the unending love of cats. Here is an example:


*from //istanbul-turkey.blogspot.com

Now that shows real dedication!

My textbooks, too, constantly use cats as the topic for grammar exercises:

1. This animal is a cat. Bu hayvan bir kedi.
2. Cats are animals. Kediler hayvandır.
3. Some cats are big. Bazı kediler büyük.
4. A few cats are small. Birkaç kedi küçük.

This also explains why you will never, never become a fluent speaker of a language from a book.

Farklı şeyler 1999'da: Different things in 1999

First of all, in 1999, I could use about thirty words in Turkish and most of those were big numbers. Why big numbers, you ask? Well, at that time, the exchange rate was about 400,000 lira to 1 U.S. dollar. Very confusing for people with my powers of calculation. Since 2005, the New Turkish Lira has been used. Basically, they dropped six zeros, and reinstated a smaller denomination, the kuruş (100 YKr = 1 YTL). So now, the rate is about 1.22 YTL to 1 U.S. dollar. Also, there is the Euro to contend with. The Euro is stronger than the dollar; currently, it is .64 EUR to 1 USD.

When I look on Craigslist at sublets/temporary housing in Istanbul, the header will list a price in Lira and then in the detailed description will have the same number in Euros. Nice trick!

Başda: In the Beginning

Fortunately, Alex enrolled in the Near Eastern Studies program at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Unfortunately, it is far from friends and family. Fortunately, I find a job and a place for us to live right away. Unfortunately, the job is a spectacular disaster and our venerable cat, Miranda, dies from her thyroid problems. Fortunately, Alex is taking Turkish classes and studying full time. Unfortuately, learning Turkish is a slow process. Fortunately, I find a great new job teaching ESL at UA and Alex applies for summer language study in Turkey. Unfortunately, he doesn't get the Foreign Language Area Studies scholarship for the summer. Fortunately, he gets the FLAS for the next academic year and we both have summer teaching assignments. Unfortunately, Tucson is hotter than Hades during the summer. Fortunately, we adopt a darling cat, named Athena Kim, to keep us company. Unfortuantely, we have to find a summer home for her because, fortunately, Alex does get the summer FLAS! Fortunately, we are going to Turkey after all!