little moments
in the course of my day, there are lots of little moments that i
realize i need to stop and treasure.
for example:
yesterday, i pulled out my 1.10 YTL in change to buy my token to
ride the metro to work. i slid the coins under the glass to the
man and as he gave me the token, he did a funny little dance
movement with the coin. he slid it towards me like he was dancing
with the token-- that's the best way i can explain it, but it made
me smile and i was happy he was enjoying his job.
also, after (what i thought was) a horrible lesson i taught, one
of my students came up to me....
may i tell you something, camille?yes, of course.thank you for giving us that lesson. it was the best lesson i've
had since coming here.really?!?!yes, it was really useful for me! thank you so much.this little exchange made me smile and feel really good for the
rest of the night.
little kindnesses, small things-- i need to slow down sometimes and
realize how important they are and how they add up to something
greater.
I'm learning.....
Today I gave a presentation to my Turkish class about America,
in Turkish! I had been fretting about it for a week or so but
it went well. I read what I wrote, answered everyone's questions,
and drew a FABULOUS map of the USA on the board.
Here, ladies and gentlemen, is my first little essay entirely
in Turkish. It's not perfect, it's very basic and completely
in the present tense, but whatever.... I'm learning!!!!!
***************************************************************
Amerika bir çok büyük ülke, arasına Meksika ve Kanada. Amerika'da
çok insanlar var. Elli devletler var ve ailem Colorado'da ve
California'da. California çok güzel; okyanus, dağlar, ormanlar,
ve çöllar var. Okyanusu çok seviyorum ama San Francisco'de okyanus
çok soğuk ve büyük köpek balığı var. Köpek balığından korkuyorum!
San Francisco'de insanlar merkez geziyorlar ve kırmızı tröleybüsde
biniyorlar. California'da en iyi şarap var (kırımızı ve beyaz), çok
bağlar çünkü orta California'da hava aynı Italya'a gibi. Ormanlar
California'da çok meşhur cünkü ağaçlar çok büyük, uzun, ve eski.
Amerika'da tarihi yerler var. Bir dağ var ile yüzler taştan, onun
ismi Mount Rushmore. Washington D.C.'de bir siyah duvar var, onun
ile Vietnam Memorial. California'da büyük kırımızı köprü var, onun
ismi Golden Gate.
Genellikle tatilde insanlar gidiyorlar Hawaii'ye, New York'a,
Florida'ya, fark etmez cünkü Amerika çok güzel yerler var.
Colorado'da insanlar gidiyorlar dağa kayak yapıyorlar. Her yil,
arkadaşim Las Vegas'e gidiyoruz. Las Vegas'ta biraz kumar
oynuyoruz (biraz!!).
Amerika'da nefis yemekler var. Mesela, Amerikan kahvaltasi;
yumurta, meyve, tost, kahve, ve meyve su. Ama en iyi kahvalti:
gözleme veya Fransiz Tost ile akçaağaç şekerli sos.
Bayramlar var ama en sevdiğim onun ismi Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving'in
Kasımın sonunda. Thanksgişving'de aileler toplamıyorlar ve yemekiyorlar.
Mesala bir çok büyük hindi, patates ezmesi, sebzeler, kırmızı yaban
mersiniler ve helvacı kabağı turta. Thanksgiving en sevdiğim ile ailem.
harika!!!!!
ok................ we are not moving! i am so happy. selin and
i had a discussion about apartments and after spending many days
in a post-real estate agent funk, i proposed that we talk to our
current landlords about staying.
yes, they raised the rent, but only by 100 YTL.
the rent is lower than most places around us AND it is furnished.
and by staying here, we will avoid paying emlak fees, another
deposit, and having to buy furniture. that makes me feel good
because i really love our apartment, the street, the neighbors,
and the little businesses that we frequent.
anyway, it's a huge relief and i'm just really happy that we are
staying in the same flat.
post-sevgiler gunu aftermath
i wish i didn't care so much about valentine's day, but it's
one of those holidays that has become horribly ingrained in
my mind. i guess all the years of making cute valentines for
classmates in school just sticks with you... sinks in your
bones and makes you yearn for a really nice valentine's day.
ahhhh well. but like selin said on valentine's day, it's one
of these holidays that doesn't matter. we should really feel
free to tell people how we feel EVERY day, not just 1 special
day out of the year. i think that's absolutely right.
i'd still like to have a nice valentine's day at some point
in life though-- is that so wrong??
goodbye, kombi
the water heater self-destructed today.... actually, i'm not
surprised since selin and i have been taking "russian roulette"
showers..... you get in the shower with warm water, knowing
full well that you have between 1-15 minutes of hot water and
then at some point, the water will become ice-cold.... not very
conducive to shower-taking or for relaxing while you shampoo
your hair.
i made some adjustment on the kombi (water heater) this morning
and water ended up pouring out like niagara falls.... giving me
and poor little siyahkedi heart attacks. i don't think i did
anything crazy to it, but apparently i pressed the
wrong button.
a panicked phone call to selin ensued, followed by a rather
swift visit by the repairman-- thank you!
çok teşekkur ederim!siyahkedi thanks the repairman.... it's too snowy to NOT have
the kombi working!
****
and now i am at my favorite little internet cafe in taksim. they
always offer me tea and give me the computer closest to the
heater, so i like them. they are thoughtful.
i'm still feeling ill. not horribly so, but i'll be really happy
when this cough leaves me. i just think that constantly coming
in and out of the cold air has made this cough stick around.
but i'm slowly weaning myself off of..... um...... pastilles....
what are they called in english??! cough pills? cough DROPS!
yes, cough drops. mmm. delicious. (ugh)
regarding the danish cartoons
well, i am flattered that anyone cares about my opinion regarding
the mohammed cartoons that were published in denmark (and various
other newspapers).
i haven't seen the cartoons in question, only heard about them from
friends and from the media. i know there's one of mohammed with a
bomb tucked inside his turban and frankly, yes, i can see how that
is
extremely offensive to muslims. i think most westerners don't
know that one of the fundamental beliefs of islam is that mohammed
is not depicted in any way--
ever. allah is not depicted either, nor
or any other figures associated with the koran. the reason for this
is to focus on the message of the koran, not on mohammed. it's the
message that is important, not the messenger. i'd highly recommend
the film "the messenger" if anyone is curious about how important
this is for islam. "the messenger" is about mohammed, but you never
see him. instead, it focuses on the birth of islam and events that
happened in mohammed's life.
this concept is different for most westerners as we are constantly
exposed to images of jesus, mary, god in his throne up in heaven,
the devil, etc. this has been a constant in christianity (as far as
i know) especially since the middle ages. i think of all the churches
in europe with their vaulted ceilings, painted with images from the
bible; of the churches with ornate stone carvings of satan tempting
adam and eve, or of people suffering at the hands of evil/illness
because they don't believe. imagery is very important.
for islam, it's different. the first passage of the koran that was
revealed to mohammed said "READ" -- reading and learning for yourself
is the most important thing. not looking at images and focusing your
belief or thoughts on them-- it's more important to read for yourself
and form your own opinion. i respect that. i think islam is extremely
misunderstood by the west and this whole controversy really highlights
that for me. on one hand, i think most moderate muslims may find
these cartoons offensive, but they wouldn't do anything about it. but
since there are such grave misunderstandings right now in the world
about islam, it motivates people to act out and to speak up about
this. i believe in the freedom of speech and of the press, but i
also believe that completely offending and insulting an entire
religion speaks to stupidity and insensitivity.
so..... i understand both sides of the issue, but it's not really about
these cartoons. i just hope that this controversy will bring about a
wider dialogue about islam and the west, and perhaps a greater
understanding of muslim beliefs.
and as a sidenote, i am by no means an expert on these issues, i am
just stating my personal opinion. :)
snowing.....
it's snowing again today. i barely left the apartment yesterday
since the weather was so horrible, but at the end of the day i
decided to walk to taksim and go see "kurtlar vadisi irak." this
is a turkish film that was just released here and is (i've heard)
the most expensive turkish film ever made. now, i saw it in
turkish, so i can't comment too much on the story... i can say
that it was shot really well, the actors were superb (billy zane
and gary busey are in it, too.....!), and the music was great.
it was really, really anti-american (well, anti-american military)
and was interesting to watch. i would really like to watch a
version with english subtitles at some point, because i'm sure
i would enjoy it a lot more. i think if anyone is interested in
a middle-eastern perspective on the war in iraq/american military,
it's worth seeing. it is, of course, a work of fiction set in
current times... so it's not 100% accurate, but it's well-done
and worth seeing.
take it kolay......
friday night, checking email really quickly for the first time
in a few days. i was really ill with strep throat (or bird flu,
who knows?
KIDDING!) but i'm much better now. i think the change
in the weather prodded my illness into fruition, but thankfully
it has passed.......
i also started working and taught for 6 days in a row. so between
that, being ill, and my turkish class..... i have been a very
busy person.
enes and i were joking today about our lame
"turklish" english-
turkish mix of language. i notice i throw in turkish words
here and there when i talk to people, but since i started
taking this class, it has gotten worse. the phrase of the
day was
"take it kolay..." (kolay =
easy in turkish).
for some reason, saying this made my day today. "hey man,
calm down! take it kolay!" alright, maybe you had to be there....
but turkish is going well. i have learned the present tense
and today we worked on positive/negative question structures
and how to answer negatively. by the end of the 5-hour class,
as per usual, my head felt like it was going to explode. it's
a lot of new information and although i'm doing well, man....
turkish is DIFFICULT, yo.
example of some of my amazing turkish knowledge:
siz calisiyor musunuz? (are they working?)
wall street'te calisiyorum. (i work at wall street.)
masada kalem var. (there's a pen on the table)
ok.... as we say in turkey, "yavas yavas" -- slowly, slowly....
take it kolay.
