First Snowy Day

After much anticipation, and a teaser of sleet yesterday, this morning we have a blustery, truly snowy day. From the inside, I'm a lot more impressed by the wind than the snow. We'll see if I think the same later today. Some of my coworkers were hoping for a snow-day today. If that really happens, the threshold for "too much snow" is very low. I guess there's still time, but I very much doubt that we have a free day today.

Here's the view from the porch this morning:

Here are a couple photos of campus later in the day:

Winter is here!

Also of note, my mini-bus commute was rather exciting as we fish-tailed up the hill to the main road. When we arrived on campus, I wanted to applaud! On the way home, I got a ride from a coworker, which was much better.

Fall Semester Countdown!

Two more weeks of teaching to go... and yes, I'm counting!

The last three weekends have been crammed with grading and a bit of hasty planning :((( I've been forcing myself to use the Pomodoro timing system to keep focused (see http://tomatoi.st/ixka ), and it works, but I'm really sick of it. This is when it helps to have a little more experience in a job because you know when the assignments will pile up and can try to spread them out better. I didn't; now I cry, cry, cry.

In the meantime, the weather has finally turned cooler. It'll be close to freezing when I go to work this morning. The rest of the week is supposed to rain in the low 40s, which means icy rain overnight, I bet. We're keeping warm in the apartment all the same. On campus, the rooms are overheated, so students end up opening the windows--energy efficiency, what's that?

The final exams will be on December 23rd and 24th, and the grading day is the 25th. I've been told that we can grade at home--woohoo! I'm a bit vague on the next week or two, but it's not break. It seems to be a planning period for the Spring Semester and a tutoring time for students who will be taking the university entrance exam in the first week of January. Out winter break starts January 11. The big news is that Alex and I are going to visit his family in France for part of the break--this has been a goal for a looooooong time. From Istanbul, the flight is just over 3 hours to Lyon... not so bad!

Oh! It's 7am already--time to get movin!

Hat and Scarf!

Huzzah! I finally finished the hat and scarf! Now I can move onto the poncho.

Here's my lame attempt at a selfie: Self with Hat.

An Evening of Fil'm

Our friend Sibel, who got her MA at the University of Arizona, is a great film buff, and when she suggested that we see some short films together, it was a done deal! She has a membership with a group called Fil'm Hafizası (Film Memory), which is a pretty silly pun in Turkish. 'Fil' means 'elephant', and here is their logo:

They host a monthly short film series and this time the theme was "High Tension Night". Luckily, most of the films didn't focus on the slasher aspect of horror, even though there were a few gruesome moments. Some of the best features were:

Le Lac Noir dir. by Victor Jacquier (2011, Switzerland/France)

A big-toothy fish.... what could go wrong?

The Heat dir. by Bartosz Kruhlik (2013, Poland)

This one is real-life horror--much more gut-wrenching than anything else we saw.

The Small Assassin dir. by Chris Charles (2007, USA)

Ray Bradbury wrote the story, that is all.

Yours Truly dir. by Elvira Kusno and Ian Salim (2011, Indonesia)

Of these, I have to recommend Yours Truly above the others. It has a fascinating build-up and a couple more plot twists, which don't depend on a cameo from The Devil. Lucky you, it is available on Vimeo:

http://vimeo.com/20466527

Getting back up to speed...

So, I'm no longer behind by four sets of exams, one set of essays, a few homework assignments, and countless random attendance-related tasks. That feels better... now I just have to stay ahead of the game just enough to minimize the pointless stress. Really, this is about teaching more than it is about living in Turkey. In fourteen years of teaching, I've been trying to streamline my effort while still doing my best for the students' learning--sort of the "Cheaper By the Dozen" efficiency mode. If I it were up to me, I would just take more time to teach and learn at a calmer pace. Of course, it's not up to me, and so we rush to cram in as much material as possible in a semester, and the students are just as impatient to "get through" the language program. And, here it is, past seven already, so I better keep moving!

Homage to Oatmeal

I would never have predicted it, but I miss oatmeal... a lot. In Turkey, I have found perfectly acceptable muesli, but not just plain oatmeal. When I was in Michigan for Grandma Reed's funeral, I had delicious oatmeal--twice--which only fed into my obsession with the humble oats. Yesterday, at the market on campus, I found two possibilities. I recognized the word for oats (yulaf) but I didn't know the second words. I had to choose between yulaf kepeği and yulaf ezmesi. I don't have a smartphone, so I couldn't just look it up. I tried to choose by reading the recipes on the packages; one had what seemed to be muffins and the other had a pankek recipe. Needless to say, I chose the wrong one. I now have a bag of oatbran (yulaf kepeği). Well, with enough honey, nuts, and dried fruit, oatbran makes a fine hot mush. So, I think I'll go back and get the other kind too. (According to the dictionary, yulaf ezmesi should be oatmeal.) I can make pancakes with the oatbran later, I guess.

Welcomed back by a beautiful day

Well, well, I woke up to a beautiful day in Istanbul. In the afternoon, Alex and I took a little trip down to the Bosphorus in Sarıyer for a pleasant walk. There were lots of families out strolling, people fishing, people lounging on park benches eating sunflower seeds, and a few intrepid bicyclists, too. Some others had brought picnic lunches, complete with tea kettles, and propane tanks. You just don't want to run out of fresh tea!

The scenic views

The less scenic view of the pylons for the Third Bosphorus Bridge 

that are eating up the forest on the Asian side.