Haircut :)

My last haircut was one year ago... it was about time, I think. (This was the best of several awkward photos.)

Treading Water

Phew.... it's exhausting doing nothing, especially when that nothing must be done at a desk in an office. Since the middle of May, when the teaching part of the semester ended, I've been doing much too much nothing. I was actually grateful to spend the last two days of grading proficiency exam essays. The one good thing is that I had hours and hours to study Turkish vocabulary on this cool website, where I created a study file for myself with 2,851 words.
Yesterday we finally got the email of mercy which announced that we didn't have to come to work on Friday. Seriously, the exams are graded and the summer courses are planned, but no one knows their teaching schedule for the summer. There would have been even less nothing to do.
...and now, vacation. I can do nothing wherever I want!

Sadberk Hanım Müzesi

We finally visited the Sadberk Hanım Müzesi, a local museum which is full of interesting antiquities (from 8 thousand years ago, even) and other fancy stuff from Ottoman times. The gift shop had only a few postcards, so this image doesn't really do justice to the span of the collection:

From bottom left: 18th century embroidery, 19th century embroidery, 

16th century ceramic pitcher, 16th century tile

While we were there, another English speaking group was finishing up their tour, and the most important thing one man wanted to know was whether there was a McDonald's or Burger King nearby. *sigh*

How the Semester Ended

So Many Good Intentions Here

By far, it wasn't the hardest semester I've ever taught. It just didn't gel. So, the good news is that it's over. 

This weekend has been quite rainy, so I'm getting a slow start. I want to get out of the university zone, but I'm not thrilled about sloshing about in the chilly, wet air. Alex went to the archives today, and if all goes to plan we will meet later to have dinner at a Thai restaurant. Much better than pathetic green jello failure!

Violence in the Garden

Or, the Tragedy of the Unsprouted Seeds

 The Horror!

 Ripped to Shreds!

 The Suspect

Who me?

[Radio Silence]

Excuses:

1. It was a bumpy return to work after spring break.
2. My new Turkish class eats up 10 hours of my week.
3. The coffee maker broke.

Seriously, the demise of the coffee maker has slowed me down! Black tea is not working its magic. Today's mission--get a French press. I looked at new coffee makers and they are much too expensive (the one we had was a hand-me-down). 

The Turkish class is a big commitment; it meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30 to 9:30pm, plus travel time. The class is going pretty well, even though I am one of the weaker students in terms of speaking. I suspect I could probably explain the grammar more clearly than our teacher (but not in Turkish, of course). There are six of us who show up regularly. Three of our classmates are not that comfortable with making mistakes or any sort of ambiguity. That puts some tension in the class because there will always be ambiguity when learning a language. Oh well...

We only have two more weeks of teaching left this semester. Then there'll be final exams for classes, then a pretend-to-work-in-the-office week, then the exit exam for the English preparation program, and then a one-week break! Huzzah for the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel!!

A Glimpse of a Past Istanbul

Fascinating images of Istanbul before the bridges were built across the Bosphorus. Ignore the orientalist commentary though, which may be easy to do because it's in French...

Bosphore (1964)