Okay, I've been a bit scarce around here. So here's a quick recap (aka procrastinating another ten minutes or so before diving into hardcore studying for my Turkish final)
School: Busy busy busy! The workload here is heavily weighted towards the end of the semester here, so while this is technically "the last day of classes", I still have four more classes in the next two weeks. And three finals and three projects still to go. So cue the caffeine. I need to conduct original research for all three projects, do a ton of reading and writing, and then studying. My Turkish final is tomorrow morning (on a Saturday!!), and then I have two more finals in my grad classes, which is unheard of back at home at CSUS. Who does finals for a MA TESOL??
Istanbul: Spring has arrived and everything is in bloom, especially the tulips for which the city is famous. The weather is warmer for sure, but is still fickle. One day it's cool and grey, and the next bright blue skies with a bit of humidity. I hear summer here is rather nasty, but now it's nice. It reminds me of home actually (Virginia, that is), and while I can't wait to go back to California, I'm not looking forward to the heat. Plums are in season, and the fresh fruit here is so delicious. I am going to miss Turkish cuisine.
Work: I'm still debating applying to a summer teaching camp in July in Poland, as well as one at the UCDavis Extension back at home in Sacramento which would overlap with the first week of school in the fall semester. Both are tempting. Now I just have to convert my résumé into a proper CV. Any tricks or tips from those academic types out there??
Travel: I'm still not yet sure at this point when I will be back to the US. (See above re: camp in Poland) When I do get back to the US though, my roommate here has invited me to visit her in Boston, a city I've not yet seen, and then of course, I want to spend at least a couple weeks in Virginia to see my best friend and her new baby daughter as well as my other friends and family.
We've made the plans for Russ' trip here to Europe, and booked the tickets, and will be getting the hotels soon too. We both arrive in Amsterdam on June 12, spend a week in the eastern Netherlands and Germany, and then two days in Amsterdam itself, and then head over to Dublin on June 21 for a few days there before Russ heads home on June 24. I will be heading down to Cork for a few days after that to visit a friend, her husband and her handsome little boy. After that? It's still up in the air.
Spring Break: Awesome! I will write more details later, promise, but for now, let me just say that southeast Turkey is absolutely gorgeous. It reminded me at points like California meets Virginia meets Germany meets Italy. If you guys ever want to travel somewhere international, I highly recommend Turkey - no, seriously. The country is beautiful, it's cheap (check the Turkish Lira against the dollar, yo), the food is delicious, the people are so friendly and hospitable, and you really can see and do a lot - and *touch* things! I climbed through an ancient city, Termessos, which Alexander the Great couldn't conquer, I explored the grand amphitheatre - seats for you and 25,000 of your closest friends! - of Ephesus, I scrambled over the mountainside with the ancient Chimera, naturally-burning fires that predate Christ, I swam in the cold blue Mediterranean, I strolled the pebbly beach of Konyaaltı in Antalya, and drank tea with Kurdish carpet sellers in their shop while playing with genuine Van kittens.
Aka Turkey = f*cking amazing. Come here. You will not regret it. Photos will get posted to my Flickr sooner or later (the Flickr loader is way slow), but they are all up on my Facebook. (If you can't find me there, let me know).
Souvenirs: I'm getting lots! Shopping here is cheap and lots of fun. So! What do y'all want? (Please be in mind that bringing back rugs and nargile would be at best challenging, so please don't ask for one of those, and please remember that I am a poor grad student living on my savings right now too.) What can I bring you that's cool from Turkey? Well, Turkey is known for its textiles (scarves, peştemal aka towels for Turkish baths, clothes), ceramics, tea, spices, nazarlık (aka the "blue eye" charm which wards away the evil eye - google it), and lots of other stuff. The chocolate here is also very good, so I'll be bringing a bunch of that home. Just let me know. I do already have a few things picked out for people, so you might be surprised. You can always email me privately too at mercurialmagpie at gmail dot com.
Oooh.. I should go study now. Fret fret fret.
*love*
