I have been in Turkey for one year. A full year of living in a country where I am not part of the hegemonic culture. Being an outsider in a different land has allowed me to observe Turkish culture closely…
Category: Expat
We have a Christmas tree, it is decorated, there are lights. It is official. I am grown up-ish. The tree may be fake and only four feet tall, but is is cheery. I am also holding a Holiday party. There…
Last week was Kurban Bayram or Eid al-Adha, the second religious holiday after Ramadan. It is a festival of sacrifice, and charity. Animals, usually sheep and cows, are sacrificed to represent Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son. After the sacrifice…
Last week was the Kurban Bayram, the Islamic holiday of sacrifice. I will give details later but I am recovering. We had a half day of work on Thursday which was great because it coincided with Thanksgiving, then Friday and…
I had a lovely Thanksgiving meal tonight. Bulent and I were invited to a friends, where there was great food, good conversation and good friends. After I came home I got a call from my parents on Skype. They had…
I have hosted Thanksgiving for the last three years. This year is my first year that I am not hosting. Because I lived in San Diego and my whole family lives on the East Coast Thanksgivings usually included close friends…
Life is progressing here in Turkey. I finally feel as if we are settling in. We have bought a car. We have recovered from H1N1. Life is good. Last night to celebrate our auto purchase we went out to an…
Seriously self-loathing. Right. Now. So I have no money. I have money but I don’t *have* money. I have a bank account, I have a salary, hell… I got a bonus for Turkish Teachers’ Day. But I still don’t have…
Pretty lazy actually. Tonight I had McDonalds delivered to my door. They do that here. All the fast food places deliver. They have little mopeds weaving their way all around the city delivering Big Macs and Whoppers to the lazy…
I have not been writing lately. As usual I have an excuse. I have been sick. I developed a fever in Antalya which morphed into nightly fevers and a nasty cough. Some of the kids in the first row of…