opening and upward

2011-06-26T05:15:00.001+08:00

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Siena Cathedral

2010-09-20T01:21:00.000+08:00

A highlight of my visit to Siena was the cathedral, one of the most beautiful I've seen (and I've seen many!)

The outside was covered in fairy-tale pink marble, similiar to the Duomo in Florence.

One of the most unique features of the cathedral is the inlaid marble mosaic floors. "The most ornate of it's kind in Italy!"

The floors were created from the 14th to the 16th century, and are only uncovered for about 6 weeks every year. I was lucky to see them!

P.S. To clarify a post from a few days ago. I do not have bed bugs in Turkey. I think my hostel in Rome had bed bugs but I took all the necessary precautions with my luggage and clothes coming back to Tarsus. I was just dealing with the aftermath of being covered in bites for the last week. Today is the first day when the most painful ones (on my hands) are not causing me distress. I'm just glad I don't have them in my apartment! That would be awful.

Siena Cathedral - Inside

2010-09-20T01:13:00.000+08:00

The cathedral (Duomo di Siena) was simply beautiful outside and downright spectacular on the inside. According to Wikipedia, it was built between 1215 - 1263. It was serendipidious, since that was the small window of time when Moorish was all the rage in architechture. That meant striking black and white marble stripes everywhere!

Along the nave, there were all these littls busts of the Popes.

There was also a magnificent library with original frescos from 1500.

One week down

2010-09-17T23:38:00.000+08:00

Well the first week of school is finished! I came home Friday afternoon with the best intentions of going for a run. I sat on the couch for a moment to pet Charlie and then woke up two hours later. It was just that kind of a week.

To be clear, it was a good week over all, just busy with issues to iron out and meetings to have a such. I'm really happy with my students and feel like it's going to be a good year!

Now as a break from Italy photos, here's one of Charlie. I bought these oversize pillows to go with my low copper table (picture to come). I brought them inside while I was in Italy, and of course, Charlie finds them perfect for spending a day lounging. He's given up on his basket because on this pillow he can really stretch out.

Siena

2010-09-16T02:53:00.002+08:00

You know the crayon colour: "Burnt Siena"? Well, it's named after the Italian city of Siena, which was an entire lovely city built of red brick, before the 1530's (if I remember correctly).

I visited Siena as part of a "Tuscany in a Day" tour. which was in itself a bit of a mistake. You really can't see Tuscany in a day and you definitely can't see it as part of a massive group of 120 people split into 3 buses!

Still I made the most of the situation, and used what precious "free time" was offered to sit on the warm cobblestone pavement of the center square of Siena, This is where the famous horse race, il Palio di Siena, is run every year.

The city of Siena is a world heritage site and rightly so. It was the perfect place to sit and relax in on a warm, sunny, September day.

The trip that stays in your memory...

2010-09-15T00:28:00.003+08:00

I'm currently covered in HUNDREDS of small, incredibly itchy, bug bites.

This illustrates two things I've found true in my life:
1. Travel looks glamorous, but there's always a sacrifice to be made to see the world
2. Just when you think you've got everything planned and a good handle on things, there's a wrench in the plans.

Yes, so Italy has given me some sort of lingering souvenir. My best guess is bed bugs from the hostel in Rome I stayed in on the last night. The bites are concentrated along the backs of my arms and hands (which I tuck under the pillow when I sleep).
Now, I'm basically rubbing calamine lotion on like sunscreen and just trying to make it through the week. It's not like the first week of school isn't hard enough, let's do it covered in scratchy bites that completely distract me and put me in a foul mood! It's really unlike anything I've experienced before .

All of my luggage is out on the balcony, to make sure that I don't get any bed bugs in my apartment here!

On the positive side, I feel an even greater sense of accomplishment in the last two days. On Monday, I got 90 students successfully through a serious of 4 tests and with a team of teachers got everything proctored, graded and placed in one day! Today, I met two of my new classes, while scratching uncontrollably, in a dark, hot classroom (there was a town-wide power outage that somehow affected the school's generator).

I'm really hoping the bites start to ease up in the next few days...

More Italy

2010-09-12T21:10:00.000+08:00

What do you think these people are doing?

Group Tai Chi might be your first guess. But why the photographers?

An astute reader will put two and two together here - what famous landmark is in Tuscany?

If you guessed the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you're right!

And yes, I did give in and get my picture doing "Tai Chi" as well:

It was a bit embarassing, and I have no plans of printing it out to put up on the fridge or anything.

I took another, less touristy shot of the entire scene in Pisa, as well.

More pictures to follow of the rest of Tuscany. Now, I'm sitting in the Istanbul SAW airport waiting for my final flight back to Adana. Tomorrow is the first day of school (GAH!)

Kitties! Ikea!

2010-09-11T04:20:00.001+08:00

Two of my favorite things: kitties and Ikea. The making of this commerical is explained (with video) on a post from Jezebel.

Ikea - Cats / Happy Inside - (2010) (UK)

Florence

2010-09-10T16:50:00.000+08:00

I've arrived in Florence. It's really magnificient, and thankfully lives up to the huge expectations I had for the city. In my mind, growing up, it's always been a city of art, warm sunshine, and golden domes.

I came to Florence on perhaps the longest (and cheapest) way possible (bus Tarsus - Adana, flight Adana - Istanbul, long layover, flight Istanbul - Rome, train Rome airport - city, hostel for 6 hours, train Rome city - Florence). But it was worth it. Since Florence is such a small city, I just started out without looking at a map. I love "discovering" the famous landmarks without expecting it. There's something wonderful about turning a corner, and being surprised by this sight:

I'm not going to blog about everything I saw and did, because I'm only in Florence for three days and I'd rather be out exploring than in my hotel room blogging (Yes, that's right, I did actually splurge, cancel my 5-bed hostel room and book a real hotel room. Well, real in that it's in a hotel, but still cheap because it's a teeny-tiny single with a shared washroom!)

The inside of the Duomo was not as spectacular as the outside, except for the frescos on the dome:

Finally, another famous Florence sight: the Ponte Vecchio. I remember seeing a picture of this bridge, maybe in high school and being surprised that I didn't know what city it was in. Once I figured that out, I knew I needed to go visit it myself. It's simply stunning, and the colors are so vivid in the September light:

So yesterday's highlights:

Going through all the steps of the trip without any stress or tight connections (well planned, I'd say!)
Stumbling upon the Duomo
Seeing Michaelangelo's David (no pictures allowed.)
Eating massive amounts of proscuitto, parmiagiano regino and Florentine bread
The weather - sunny and much cooler than I expected (once again, I packed the wrong kind of clothes. Definitely one of my shortcomings as a traveler, I can't read weather forecasts and properly choose appropriate clothing! Oh well, an excuse to buy a sweater at H&M)

Luxury...coupons?

2010-09-05T15:23:00.002+08:00

I love travel. Part of that is treating myself to nice restaurants and spa days. This is hard to do on a teacher's salary!

I've always had my little bag of cheap travel tricks, like:

knowing when to splurge for a nice hotel and when to sleep on the airport bench (check the website Sleeping in Airports for tips and reviews)
booking trips way ahead of time to get dirt cheap budget flights (like Easyjet Airlines)
Splurging on a nice lunch (when the prices are cheap and I have time to walk off the calories) and eating a smaller, cheaper grocery store dinner.

Now I have a new handy trick - coupons! I hope you've already found out about this if you live in a major city.

For Canadian cities: TeamBuy
For North American cities: Groupon
For London: Keynoir

Most coupons are good for 6 or 12 months after you buy them. I started looking for NYC coupons a few weeks before I left and got some great 1/2 priced meals! In Halifax, we got food and fun (sock monkey puppets kits!). Now, I'll keep an eye on Keynoir and be ready for some 1/2 price luxury on my next trip to London.

New York City

2010-08-11T06:13:00.005+08:00

Back to blogging, although likely sporadically until I'm settled back in Tarsus.

A few posts to come this week about my trip to NYC, for those of you who may not have had a chance to visit yet. I'll post some photos and some random thoughts.

Early morning flight from Halifax to Newark, NJ. The Newark airport feels sadly familiar... I've spent hours and hours in this place - one LONG layover with Michelle on the way to London. That was at least in the classier Continental terminal. The less enjoyable experience was the 8 hour layover with Charlie. The cat. In the ghetto "other airlines" terminal. Just thinking about it sends a shudder down my spine. On a positive note, there's nothing like traveling with your cat as carry-on to make you appreciate solo travel all over again.

A view of Central Park and the NYC skyline from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum

My trip to New York reminded me of my trip to Egypt in January. Why, you might ask? Well, I'm glad I went but I won't be back! For New York, I had to see it - I had to wander the streets, discover the neighborhoods and feel the mood. I now will have a much better understanding of books, movies and films set in New York. (Nearly every key sight reminded me of some movie or another. It made me especially eager to re-watch Funny Face and Gossip Girl, oddly enough! But, New York City was still just that, a huge, busy, growling city. I went, I saw, I'll go somewhere else next time.

I only have two pictures of me in NYC - I hate asking strangers to take my photo.
Central Park, NYC

I lined up at the TKTS (1/2 price day of tickets for Broadway shows) and got a front row seat for In The Heights. Quite the treat. I always remember the front row seat shows. Early on, Mom took Kathy and I to Phantom of the Opera, front row. I kept freaking out because the pyrotechnics were so close they made my face hot! Then, in London, Heidi and I went to a modern dance performance in Covent Garden - seats still available? Front row. In that performance, we kept getting droplets of dancers' sweat flung onto us. And now In the Heights - no scary pyrotechnics and no disgusting sweat - just a lot of great singing and dancing. It was almost...magical!

Harvesting

2010-06-14T18:53:00.002+08:00

Many things that I see on a daily basis have lost their novelty. It doesn't surprise me anymore to see a car crammed full of 8 or 9 people. I don't blink and eye when the car speeds by a horse and cart trotting along the shoulder of the highway. These would be things I would take pictures of if I was traveling. But now, it's just life.

However, I was out with my camera the other day and turned to see this tractor rumbling down the road. I snapped the shot just in time, and it captures this time of year: family members harvesting their fields, bringing home the load of tomatoes, potatoes, or eggplant.

Lakelands School

2010-05-29T22:33:00.003+08:00

This is a scanned document that was on our family's private website. I thought it was interesting enough to share here as well. I think it's funny that I was so determined not to become a teacher, yet both my mother and my grandmother were teachers!

This is from my grandmother's school, Lakelands in 1934-1935. She would have been about twenty years old, I think. You can see her salary: Miss Giles - $95 per quarter. It seems the only other regular expense was chalk. Running a school in rural Nova Scotia in the 1930's seems pretty simple and cost effective!

Mini-Vacation

2010-05-24T17:29:00.001+08:00

I'm back from a great little weekend vacation. I went with some friends to see a different part of Turkey: Izmir, Pammukkle / Hieropolis and Ephesus. More pictures and descriptions to come!

Blackberries

2010-05-21T20:28:00.002+08:00

First, aren't those blackberries giant? I can't even tell you how sweet and flavourful they were. Yum.

Second, I'm going to have to break this incredible streak of consistent blogging. I'm off for a weekend trip with some friends. We're going to visit Izmir, Pamukkule, and Ephesus. Pictures to follow.

Painting - Step #2

2010-05-21T00:38:00.006+08:00

We are in the middle of a two day holiday - Youth and Sports Day. This means VACATION! Yesterday was spent at the mall. Yes, the whole day at the mall. Don't judge.

I did buy the most expensive pair of shorts you can possibly imagine. Here's the thing. I hate shorts, I had the way they look and I hate how they make me look like I'm off to go camping or something. But these shorts are just the right length, cuffed navy linen with a stylish belt. I loved them. So I paid full price. I better wear them every day this summer. Oh wait, summer in Halifax is not exactly my idea of shorts weather. So I'll have to wear them everyday in Turkey this spring and fall.

Now for the second day of vacation, it was a day spent painting. Yes, the whole day. Because the students were gone my friends and I had the art room to ourselves.

I had a fantastic time and nearly finished the "first draft" of one of my three canvases. I think these women need names so I can refer to them. I think I'll call her Gabriela.

She will, by the way, soon have skin and hair color. Also, I think I'll make the flowers in the frame cream. And finally, I can't decide wheather I like pulling the colors from the background for her eyes and lips, or if would be better natural. You'll have to wait and see.

A close-up of some of the colors.

Running music

2010-05-20T01:12:00.004+08:00

I'm picky about my running music. It has to be upbeat enough to motivate me to run faster and keep going, but I also have to like the lyrics and want to sing along (and I do, on the odd occasion I'm not surrounded by teenage boys in the school gym).

I made a playlist for May and I thought I'd share some of my new picks. Of course, I still have the usual Rihanna, Black Eyed Peas, and Kesha. But these are some bands you might not have thought of for running music!

Click here

Art Project

2010-05-18T08:45:00.000+08:00

In case you don't know, I was homeschooled from grade three through high school graduation. No, it's not something I bring up on first acquaintance, because I feel that there's a lot of baggage with the term "homeschooled." But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I certainly got a fantastic education. Another bonus was that I could indulge my passion for arts and crafts. Sure, I had to sit and listen / watch a teacher on video, but that didn't mean I couldn't do cross-stitch or paint at the same time! I have an elaborate cross stich that's probably 2 feet across that I spent almost a year working on (daily) while listening to classes.

All that to intro. I have no problem admiting that I get really addicted to art or craft projects. I can show you the meticulously painted porecelin houses that form an extensive Christmas village. I can show you fabric flowers. There was a rather unfortunate plastic canvas phase. A high point was my Book Arts class in University culminating in a final art show. But I've always been reticent to really get into drawing or painting, because I felt untalented.

Art class is turning me around! If nothing else, I'm back in the obsessive creative mindset that makes me feel happy and centered.

So, here I'll document my first foray into painting, with the first step of drawing on the canvas.
It's a series of three paintings, square, 60cm. Charlie is there for a size reference.

Each painting is a different woman's face (I'm going to try a Fauvist style), in front of a background of detailed florals (aka William Morris), with a matching painted frame.

I tried to match the personality of the woman in the frame with the floral pattern I designed and the style of frame.

The whole thing was inspired by a short scene I wrote for our Theatre Club students at school. It was entitled "The Woman in the Frame." Come to think of it, I should put a skit or two on here for you to read. I think they're super funny, but of course some of the humor is lost when performed by ESL students.

This is a close-up of the floral pattern (I'm much more comfortable doing patterns and florals than faces!)

You'll have to see how step #2 goes tonight!

A scary sight

2010-05-18T02:18:00.002+08:00

I saw this gruesome sight outside our school the other day. It is not for the faint of heart. In fact, I might have squealed and jumped a few feet when I noticed the dead horse / donkey staring at me from the garbage can. I almost went back with my camera to document, but I decided this blog didn't need such a disturbing photo - I prefer cats, cookies, rainbows and butterflies, you know?

But, my friend Cecile saw the same garbage can (it's only about 50m outside our school gate, and we must pass it to buy veggies, bread, meat or anything). She decided to blog about it, so I'll just link to her.

Even if you don't relish seeing an animal carcass in a garbage can, I still recommend Cecile's blog for interesting insights into the life of an expat in Turkey. Her latest post is about our experiement cooking artichokes for her happiness project.

The Expat Diaries by Cecile

Tickling a Pygmy Slow Loris

2010-05-16T17:48:00.002+08:00

This is a YouTube clip I saw on a Jezebel page about the decline of Hello Kitty. Go to the link if this is a topic that interests you.

I, however, just couldn't get past the cuteness of the Pgymy Slow Loris sticking his arms up for a tickle. Watch till the end for the full effect.

Art Class

2010-05-15T02:42:00.000+08:00

I've been taking a great art class with my neighbor and friend, Oriana Sutorius-Lavoie. You can see some of her own beautiful paintings on her website, Oriana's Artwork. Although she's trained as an artist and art teacher, she's at this school as an English teacher. She missed teaching art, and so we are the lucky recipients of a great Intro to Art class.

We started with all the basic drawing skills, which I sorely needed to practice. I'm going to show you a rather embarassing first face drawing I did.
Full disclosure: that one is not even the worst one. There's another to horrible to show that looks like a cross between an alien and an orangatang.

But, I've been practicing alot and I'm improving.

Our final project for the class is a series of three paintings. I've never done anything like this before and it's so enjoyable. Right now we're sketching the drawing onto the canvases and we'll start adding paint next week. I'll do another post showing you my inspiration and the first few steps.

One final note. I reluctantly admitted to Oriana that I still think coloring in coloring books is fun and she has the same addiction! I don't have to feel guilty about spending time with my markers and coloring book. Now I'm encorporating my love of patterns like those pictured into my series of paintings!

Canapes - Round 2

2010-05-12T13:39:00.000+08:00

Alright, I'll try not to turn this into a food blog. But, I have to show you another canape I made for our last "Girls' night out" party. First, a picture of the preparation. I always have my computer (with the recipe open as well as a tv show or movie playing). Charlie is a bit co-dependant, so if I'm cooking he'll either lie on the rug between the kitchen table and sink (requiring me to step over him repeatedly) or sit on the kitchen table (a bit unsanitary, perhaps).

I was inspired by Top Chef and the common theme of "Apples two ways" or "Pork Belly three ways." I decided to combine the snooty name with a mundane ingredient, thus: "Tostidos Scoops: Three Ways."

I wanted all fresh, organic ingredients (except the Tostidos, of course) and vegetarian.

I ended up with these three fillings:
Avocado, Tomato and Mango Salsa (My absolute favorite salsa recipe!)
Spicy Black Bean and Avocado
Corn, Cucumber and Feta Cheese

The mango salsa was the most popular. The color is beautiful, the taste is a perfect blend of creamy, sweet, tangy and sour. Try it!

Canapes - Round 1

2010-05-11T22:37:00.000+08:00

Canapes - Round 1
Galloping Horses (or "Mar Hor" in Thai)
Recipe from BBC Good Food Website

Yummy!

Preview of Upcoming Attractions

2010-05-10T13:58:00.002+08:00

Can I preface this post by saying that if you are feeling any wanderlust whatsoever, it may be aggravated by what I'm about to tell you. So you might just want to stop reading now!

I've already planned my travel calendar for the next school year. The earlier I book, the cheaper it is, especially with cheap hotels and budget airlines.
______________________________________________________________________

September:
Rome and Florence, Italy (Ramadan Holiday)

_________________________________________________________

October:
Istanbul, Turkey (Istanbul Eurasia Run)
Prague, Czech Republic (Republic Day Holiday)

____________________________________________________________________

November:
London, England (Kurban Holiday)
Marrakech, Morocco (Kurban Holiday)
________________________________________________________

January / February:
Tokyo, Japan (Mid-Term Break)
Hong Kong or Bangkok (Job Fair)
Munich, Germany (ISTA Conference)

________________________________________________________

April:
Athens and Santorini, Greece (Spring Break)

.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T14:52:00.010+08:00

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom.

If she and I lived on the same continent, I would make her Apple Oatmeal Quinoa pancakes for breakfast. Since we do not, I will make them for me (and make them for her this summer).

I think I've perfected my Quinoa pancake recipe. It is an "I'm in Turkey" combination of three recipes:

I took the topping from Smitten Kitchen's Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Sauteed Apples
(Because I have apples but no ricotta)

Then I took the bulk of the recipe from FitSugar's Banana Almond Oatmeal Pancakes
(Because I wanted to use oatmeal, but have no bananas... wait, that's a song...)

Then finally, threw in a bit of the recipe from Bob's Red Mill Quinoa Pancakes
(Because I have quinoa flour but no regular flour. And I also want the whole grains and protein.)

They turned out fluffy and delicious! I think I might really have perfected a quinoa pancake. Can I call it my own recipe if I've modified from four other recipes? I think so.

Carole's Fluffy Banana Quinoa Pancakes
Ingredients
1 cup quinoa flour
1 cup quick or rolled oats
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
**
1 egg
1 tablespoon honey
1 to 1 1/2 cups skim milk
**

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients. Separate egg, put yolk in with dry ingredients. Beat egg white until bubbly. Add egg white, honey and skim milk. Mix.

Heat skillet. Turn down to medium-low. Rub a little butter in the pan, pour pancake mix. Wait until the pancakes have numerous small bubbles, flip. Leave till equally browned.

Topping:

For apple pancakes:

Thinly slice apple. Saute till soft in small amount of butter. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, cook until a light sauce develops.

For banana pancakes:

Thinly slice banana. Once you pour the pancake mix into the skillet, immediately arrange sliced bananas on top. Press down. Cook as normal.

A teacher's job

2010-05-08T14:53:00.000+08:00

You might wonder what I do all day. I'll admit, my number of teaching hours at this school is very low compared to what I would be teaching in Canada. I have 21 teaching periods of 40 minutes, for a total of 14 hours a week in direct classroom instruction.

However, those fourteen hours are only a small bit of the work that' I did last week. Here's a breakdown of all the rest:

parent/teacher meetings (x5)
answering other teacher's questions
scheudled meeting with other teachers (x3)
scheduled meetings with administrators / librarian (x2)
finding materials for subbing
substitute teaching for sick teachers
meeting students for after-school extra help
presenting professional development session
attending professional development sessions
writing tests (x4)
grading papers
updating facebook (Grade 10 Macbeth page)
updating moodle (Prep research paper materials)
lunch meetings with students
answering questions from students
taking things to the printer and picking them up
proctoring other teachers exams (x2)

Part of the problem is my own fault, I created a perfect storm! I assigned research papers to all my Grade 10 students and Prep students, at the same time trying to teach Macbeth and get students to publish their Nanowrimo novels. Every single break or lunch period seems to be filled with students asking questions.

Craving Grilled Cheese

2010-05-06T00:40:00.004+08:00

it was going down the path to the dark side this afternoon, by allowing my mind to drift back to Halifax and all my favorite restaurants. This then led me to said restaurants web sites, like Coastal Coffee (Huevos Rancheros!), the Foggy Goggle (Mango Chicken Salad!) and Jane's (Grilled Cheese!)

Now, I'm just going to have to wait two months for the Canadian version (described as: "Grilled Cheese Sandwich with aged white cheddar & provolone cheeses and served with our own Tomato Butter")

so instead I decided to find a recipe that didn't just try to make a pale copy of the true original, but instead celebrated the ingredients and flavors of the Mediterranean!

Grilled halloumi with parsley and lemon salsa

It was delicious and satisfied my desire for gooey cheese!

Watch out, it's zen poodle

2010-05-03T20:30:00.004+08:00

This is Zen Poodle. He has a dragon designed in his fur.

Two things struck me in particular about the article, The Canine as Canvas ,from The New York Times. First, that it fell under the "Sports" section. I would have labeled it more of an "Art". Perhaps the editors felt that because there was an element of competition, it was a sport, but there can be competition in the arts too, no?

Another "Hmm" moment came while I read the text to accompany this poodle, the first place finisher:

"[The Groomer]spent more than six months turning a poodle into a buffalo, but changed her mind after her mother...died. A week ago she began grooming Missy, a friend's poodle."

Don't you just want to see the Buffalo Poodle? And don't you wonder what her friend must think about their poodle's new look? The questions are endless.

Taking time to relax

2010-05-02T17:39:00.002+08:00

It's been a busy week, so I'm doing a full weekend of relaxation (no grading or planning). I feel a little guilty about being so self-indulgent, because I imagine all the busy working mothers who need a weekend of pampering much more than I. But, on the other hand, just because there are other people who are more busy and stressed than I am doesn't mean I shouldn't take a day or two to myself!

This picture, by the way, is of me watching the sunset in the White Desert of the Sahara in Egypt. It makes me feel very relaxed (although I do think I need to focus on good posture!)

Saturday was spent drawing pictures of faces for an art class I am taking with my friend and neighbor, Oriana. I'm going to post more about that class and my work later.

Also, I've signed up for a creative non-fiction writing course, and I need to have a 4 - 10 page piece ready for Monday. Using my little Neo computer / typewriter makes writing on the balcony in the sun much less of a strain on the eyes. When I finish the piece and get feedback, I'll post it here.

Sunday started with a leisurely two-hour read of the Saturday E-edition of The Globe and Mail. Then a relaxing Turkish breakfast with friends. Now I'm on to the kitchen. I've found it enjoyable to do all my cooking on Sundays. I will make dishes to take as lunch all week, steam chicken, hard-boil eggs and make cookies to take for my Prep students when they finish their exam.

Moroccan Chicken for lunches
Steamed Chicken was a suggestion from the Australian Biggest Loser - it works!
Nanaimo Bars for the students (I said I'd bring them Canadian cookies)

My Jewelry Wall

2010-04-28T19:03:00.001+08:00

True confessions: I had to check if "jewelry" had one "l" or two. Even English teachers forget sometimes. I also can't remember if I've shared pictures of my jewelry wall before or not. I think not, so, now!

I have a lot of jewelry. Nothing very valuable (except my hard-earned South Sea Pearl earrings and my grandmother's Acadia school ring) so I don't feel the need to store or protect any of it. I found if it was just in my jewelry box, I only wore a few pieces.

Problem? Solution! I chanelled my inner Martha to create not one, but TWO jewelry boards from cheap bulletin boards, covered in purple satin.

The top board is for my necklaces, the bottom is for earrings. The earrings hang perfectly on a piece of handmade lace from Sintra, Portugal.

Kizkalesi Vacation

2010-04-26T20:09:00.000+08:00

Last friday was a Turkish holiday called "Children's Day." Yup, a whole day to celebrate children, which, in turn, means a day off for me!

For this particular long weekend, we decided to capitalize on the sunny, warm (not yet sweltering) weather and head to the beach. Kizkalesi (the name of the castle in the picture), a small beach town on the Mediterranean Coast.

You might say to yourself: "Carole does not strike me as a beach person."

Quite true - the combination of sand, sunscreen, bright sun and crowds of loud people does little to attact me and has never been my idea of a stellar vacation. However, one must make exceptions. To the beach!

(Of course, this is the first time I've gone in the last year and a half, my friends estimated they have gone over 40 times. )

We stayed at a lovely hotel, Angel Saadat, and enjoyed eating dinner and breakfast in the garden.

My friends (and next door neighbors) enjoying the view:

All in all a fantastic mini-vacation. Probably the first time in my life that I came home from the beach without a sunburn or headache!

Sites I Like

2010-04-23T03:19:00.012+08:00

When I considered picking up blogging again after a few months hiatus, I gave some thought to what exactly I had to offer to the blogosphere. There are so many more beautiful blogs, with more interesting stories, and more regular posts!

However, the perfect is the enemy of the good, and I decided to just forget comparing my meager offerings to others. Instead, this blog will continue to offer posts about my cat, random travel pictures, stories from teaching abroad, and, of course, links to other websites.

I've realized this is a skill (or perhaps a magnificent obsession) that I posses and many others don't. I spend a lot of time online, I read many blogs and news sites, I try to keep up with the latest programs (Which reminds me, have you tried Picaboo X? If you like Picaboo before, you'll be thrilled with the latest version).

And so, on to some of my online finds:
Smitten Kitchen

I just discovered this blog this week and have already made three recipes. I spent a good hour trolling the archives and bookmarking some 20 odd other recipes to try when the season is right.

Zucchini Saute
Pasta with cauliflower, walnuts and feta

Nothing but Bonfires

When I mentioned feeling inferior because of blogs with better stories, this is one blog I had in mind. Fantastic writing from an interesting woman. The most recent post had me laughing out loud.

Zunior

This was a rediscovery. This bizarrely-named site is a source for Canadian indie music. What I love is that you buy the digital download, not the actual cd. You'd think this would be easy to do on any website, but I have a hard time finding downloadable music that I can pay for (it's always easy to find it for free, but I want to support my favorite artists!)
Recent purchase? My Hands are on Fire and Other Love Songs

Finally, one of my travel planning secret weapons:

Kayak

If you're planning any international trips, use this site first! It compares all airlines for your chosen flight path and dates. (Although it doesn't include budget airlines. Try Wegolo for that).

I was looking for flights from Istanbul to Tokyo (my sister is moving there next year). If I just went with the obvious direct flight via Turkish Airlines I would pay about $1200US. However, with Kayak, I discovered I can save $500 if I fly with a stopover in either Moscow or Doha. One stopover to save $500? Worth it to me!

letting things go

2010-04-21T02:59:00.008+08:00

Among my many personality quirks is an innate ability to let things go on far too long. If it's not endangering my saftey, hampering my productivity or making me unhappy, I just ignore it. I ignore it until months later when I suddenly realize it's gotten to the point of ridiculousness.

For example, would you believe I lived over 6 months without a handle on the outside of my washroom door? I did. I just let it go. I pushed the door open to go in, and used the inside handle to get out. The only time I was slightly embarrassed by this arrangement was when I had guests over.

Also, I always used to hang my bathrobe over the edge of my bedroom door to dry. This fall, when I came back to Tarsus, the door had developed a horrible, ear-splittingly loud squeak because the constant weight had shifted it off the hinges (or something). Now, this was not just a squeaky door, I couldn't actually shut or open the door without fear of waking the neighbors. But I just let it go, and adapted by always leaving my door at a 45 degree angle - exactly enough space for me to enter the room, while leaving space behind for my closet door to open. That went on for some 8 months, until my houseguests fixed it while I was at work one day (how? I don't know...)

All this to say, I made zucchini bread last night in a broken oven. My oven heats up to a ridiculous heat, even at the absolutely lowest level. At first, anything I tried to bake burned.

But now I have a system. I heat up the oven at the lowest level. Then I turn it off and put in the cake / muffins / bread. Then I just turn the oven on and off again at regular 2 or 3 minute intervals until I sense it's baked. The zucchini bread recipe said it should bake for 55 minutes, but with my special oven and on-off method, it was ready in less than 30!

The chocolate zucchini bread I made was a mix of a normal zucchini bread recipe (with butter and white flour - gah!) and a healthy gluten-free recipe (with my new favorite baking tool: quinoa flour).

Which also reminds me: try baking with Quinoa flour! It's great for pancakes, or these fabulous muffins:

Raspberry Banana Quinoa Muffins

Charlie the dog

2010-04-14T17:15:00.004+08:00

One of my goals is to not blog about my cat often. That's just a little sad.

But I have to give you a Charlie update. Charlie is happily adjusted to being a spoiled indoor /outdoor cat. He sleeps on my bed, spends the day curled up on his fleece blanket in his wicker basket, and gets his Whiskas for dinner.

But something in the way I've been training him has turned him into a pseudo-dog.

It's a little disconcerting! He won't use the litterbox anymore, and instead needs to be let out first thing in the morning.

He also likes to go with me for walks. Not on a leash, mind you, just following alongside me. Taking out the garbage, going to the gym, or just heading to work, Charlie is right beside me. One morning, he followed me all the way up to my classroom!

He then has the annoying habit of sitting and meowing at the door of whatever building I'm in. It's just a little pathetic!

Charlie is king of the campus stray cats, so he's certainly comfortable in his world.

End of rope...

2010-04-14T02:46:00.004+08:00

It's generally pretty easy for me to manage my stress in my life here in Tarsus. No commute, a great apartment, and a simple lifestyle all adds up to relative peace of mind.

But for a variety of reasons the last few days have been jam-packed and pretty stressful. I'm feeling "at the end of my rope" which really takes me back to my years in Taipei, when I felt that way pretty much every day.

The easiest measure of stress, for me, is how close my tears are to the surface. When I'm "at the end of my rope" I cry if someone looks at me funny, if I stub my toe, and at any and all sappy videos.

Tonight was such a night. This video had me nearly sobbing.
Morning Cry: Shelter Dog Rescued

The good news is the dog was resuced and I only teach two classes tomorrow!

I'm back...

2010-04-12T18:27:00.001+08:00

Well, hello all.

I'm back at work, after a delicious holiday. Exactly what I needed. It gave me a chance to make some new resolutions to get me through the last 2 months of so of the school year.

They are simple things, that I believe will greatly add to my quality of life and happiness. For example: going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. It cuts out an hour or two of mindless television and adds in an hour or two of reading, exercising, cleaning or getting work done. A much more productive start to the day.

I've also decided to start adding concious breaks to my day. I've found myself going from day to day, with my computer always turned on and always focused on the next thing to do. That's really unnecessary. So I'm choosing to take thirty minutes in the morning to drink my coffee on the balcony while I read a novel. I'm also making a point of bringing my lunch to eat at school, and using my lunch period for personal time (instead of running to the cafeteria, scarfing down food and heading right back to work). So to start, I'm going to use my lunch period to blog. I think it will help to have a more consistent blogging schedule.

We'll see how things go. But to the best of my intentions, I'm back in the blogging saddle!

book covers

2010-04-12T13:22:00.001+08:00

One of my ongoing projects this spring has been to edit my novels and self publish them, using CreateSpace or Lulu.

This is a fun project, it combines all my favorite hobbies, writing, design, playing around on computer programs like Gimp.

Here's a question: Which cover do you like best? I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with any of them. But it's fun to play around. I created the first one, and the second two are cover templates from CreateSpace.

Amsterdam!

2009-12-02T18:30:00.005+08:00

I just got back from my trip to Amsterdam. It was Kurban holiday in the Muslim world, so all the schools had a long weekend. As always, I look for cheap flights and go wherever is far away and cheap! This time Amsterdam.

It was quite rainy and cold, but I did get some okay pictures when the sun came out. I think the last time I was in Amsterdam was Summer 2002, and I had a film camera! Those shots turned out great, but I only had about 20 pictures from that trip! So for this trip, despite the gloomy weather, I was determined to take lots of pictures. I'll put some up over the next few days. Here are three of my favorites:

Great, Free Christmas Music

2009-12-02T18:15:00.000+08:00

Christmas Time is ... here?

2009-11-14T15:20:00.002+08:00

Image via Wikipedia

It's finally turned cold in Tarsus. And by cold, I mean I've only had to turn on the A/C once for students this week.

With cold weather and the low point of the middle of Nanowrimo, I think it's the perfect time to force the introduction of the Christmas spirit. Growing up in Canada, it came pretty naturally. But I found in Taiwan and in Turkey, it takes more work and a longer frame of time to get the emotional connection.

So I'm starting today. Decorating (with all the decorations Kathleen and I bought last year in Sweden and Denmark), drinking Starbucks Christmas blend and listening to the many Christmas albums I've saved on my computer over the years.

One of my favorite things that I can't do here is go to a mall, listen to the cheesy Christmas music and window shop, see the ornaments at Hallmark and get commercial Christmas buzz. I've been trying to replicate the experience online, but it's really not the same. However, I did find this handy Hallmark ornament Christmas countdown thing.

Pigeon Homes

2009-11-03T02:19:00.005+08:00

While I was in Istanbul two weeks ago, I was walking along a street lined by a large rock wall. Much to my delight, I saw that someone had created a series of bird houses for the pigeons that were living in the holes in the wall. Not only that, each pigeon house was inscribed with the name of the pigeon who lived inside. It was pretty much the cutest thing I saw in Istanbul!

...

A rainy day at the bazaar

2009-10-30T03:49:00.004+08:00

Life is full of beauty if we have eyes to see it. Having my camera with me when I walk around a town certainly gives me a new perspective on the things I see.

A few glimpes of a bazaar in Turkey on a rainy day:

As You Like It

2009-10-27T16:13:00.000+08:00

Final post from London and the Globe. These shots are from the end of the performance of As You Like It. Because it was the final performance of the season, they had a special ending.

At the intermission, the audience members nearest the stage were handed pink and yellow roses. Later, at the end of the performance, the entire cast did their jig / curtain call as usual, before returning to stage with their own assortment of red and white roses.

The Artistic Director gave a speech, thanking all the pertinent people and summing up the season. Then, the actors wanted to say "thank you" to the audience by throwing roses at them.

Which then in turn, turned into a rose war with roses flying between audience members and stage actors. It was such a fun, charming way to end a season. The ending definitely made the performance memorable: As You Like It was my favorite of the three Globe productions I saw this summer.

I think this actor was excited that his rose hit the desired target!

2009-10-25T17:53:00.001+08:00

A happy memory

2009-10-25T15:12:00.003+08:00

Image by Andrew Hux via Flickr

I recently had an 'old' student of my find me on Facebook. I say "old" since she was my student in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2002 when I was still studying English Literature and planning to be a journalist. But that summer I spent in Hanoi was certainly influential. For one thing, I have NEVER been so hot and sweaty as I was teaching in that humid basement classroom. I remember teaching every day with my clothes wet through and sweat literally rolling down my face. But when I think of Chu Van An, I don't remember the physical difficulties, I remember going into a classroom packed with 20+ smiling students, happy to share desks and put up with the heat and the occasional stray chicken wandering into the classroom. Those students made me love teaching English. Whenever I think I should have been a journalist or a cake decorator and even a photo lab technician, I remember those students in Vietnam (and Taiwan, China and even some in Turkey) that came into class like sponges with smiles and left having learned.

I googled Chu Van An and found this beautiful shot of the school with students dressed in traditional Áo Dài.

Shakespeares Globe

2009-10-24T17:15:00.000+08:00

I spent a lot of time in Shakespeare's Globe over my weekend in London. As most of you know, there is a reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe on London's Bankside. The season runs during the summer months and ends in October (I was there the last weekend), since the theater is open-air!

Here's a shot of me at the Globe, taken during a tour of the theater. I look a little freaky, but it was the only picture I had taken of me all weekend, so I'll put it on.

Finally, the theater in the midst of a performance. There is a strict "no photography" rule, but I, and other audience members, thought that rule could be broken during the curtain call. One of the traditions at the Globe is to do a choreographed jig at the end of a performance, instead of the normal bows. This was taken from Love's Labors Lost. Notice my seat location. It was "restricted view" because of that column. However, I could see everything and it was far preferable to being a "groundling" and standing in the open pit at the base of the stage for the whole performance. (I did that once for the authentic experience but once was enough).

London Town

2009-10-23T07:01:00.000+08:00

I'm going to be jumping back and forth chronologically for the next few posts. I have pictures to share from my trip to that small village (with the fig ladies), my weekend in London and my time in Istanbul.

First, London. It was a great time to visit, Fall was in full season and it was a nice change from the continuing 30+ heat of Tarsus. However, I of course, didn't pack the right clothes and ended up needing to buy a new winter coat!

I spent the weekend focusing on Shakespeare. Seeing the plays, going to the museum, doing the tour, etc. London is overwhelming for me, because there are so many different aspects and parts I want to explore or revisit. One weekend is woefully inadequate.

So all my pictures from the weekend of Shakespeare-related except these two.

Fall at St. Paul's Cathedral.

And this photo, which perhaps needs an introduction. This is a man standing on top of the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. This is a continuing art installation, called One & Other. The artist did a lottery for any individuals interested in participating. From 35,000 applicants, 2400 people were chosen. They were each given a one-hour period of time over 100 days. So the Plinth was continually occupied by a chain of 'normal' people doing whatever they wanted. It was a fascinating idea and I enjoyed reading about it.

This man was on the plinth when I passed by on the bus. Yes, he's naked. He was spraying white paint on himself and doing something with an orange balloon. What he was doing might not be considered art, but as a small part of a larger whole, it's quite incredible.

Eurasia Race 2009

2009-10-20T22:56:00.001+08:00

So, the story from Sunday's race!

Back in September I read about the Eurasia Marathon (and 15K and 8K) and it sounded like great races. It's the only place in the world where you can run from one continent to another. The race starts on the Asia side and ends on the European side of Istanbul. So I registered for the 15km and started training.

Shortly after that, I hurt my knee. Then I decided to register for the 8km,as well. I had my flight booked to Istanbul and I was all set. However, over the last month, my knee has been causing lots of problems so I had stopped training completely and I felt like I was going into this race completely unprepared.

I felt great on the morning of the race, despite the rain outside. I had bought the appropriate chilly-weather race wear (in London) and had great new shoes. I headed to the start line pumped for being the hard-core runner who races cross-continents in the rain.

My little mental picture of a hard-core runner was destroyed when I arrived at the start. It looked like some sort of overblown national day parade! There was loud patriotic music and everyone was waving flags. The 'runners' were in fact an assortment of little old ladies, young children, women in high heels, and teenagers smoking! Most were carrying umbrellas. I asked an official if there was a separate start line for runners, but was told it was all the same.

So I elbowed my way as close to the front as I could get. Still, I was a few hundred people behind the start line. I had the timing chip on my shoe, so my time wouldn't start until I passed the start line, but I knew if all the people in front of me were walking, there would be a lot of dodging to do!

While everyone else sang national songs and waved their flags, I desperately tried to warm up in my smushed little patch of road. The gun sounded and off we shuffled. Then as I passed the start line, the shuffle slowed to a standstill! I guess the man who started the race was the mayor or something, because all the people in front of me stopped, took out their cellphones, and started taking pictures of the man.

By this point, my adrenile was pumping and I was MAD! I had passed the start line, so my time had started and these people were in my way. So, I used a skill learned in other Asian countries, the 'RUDE FOREIGNER ELBOW'. I just started elbowing my way forward, pushing little children and old ladies out of the way. I felt justified in this - it's a RACE - and knew that I would be somewhat excused because I was obviously a foreigner (people were staring at my race wear like I was wearing a prom dress or something!)

Finally, I got past the crowd that was standing still. Then it was on to the hundreds of other Turks strolling in front of me. It brought out my competive nature - I was going to beat those suckers! I started off running, zig-zagging back and forth to find little gaps between groups to run through. People were still waving flags and carrying umbrellas, so I would occasionally get hit in the face, but I lumbered through.

I started up the bridge, which goes across the Bosphorus. Midway through it has signs in English "Welcome to Asia" and "Welcome to Europe."

It was probably about 2 kilometers before I could run freely without having to dodge the walkers. At this point, I was finally surrounded by other 'runners'.

I crossed the bridge as the rain stopped and the sun light the minarets of the mosques of Sultanhmet. It was spectacular and I ran with my head twisted sideways to get a good view.

I kept running (no knee problems!) but another annoyance popped up. Cheaters. Now, I'll have to do another post another time about my impressions of the Turkish culture of cheating. But let's just say, it's considered in an entirely different light, mostly accepted and not considered an ethical shortcoming. As a Canadian who has grown up with an emphasis on fairness, I find it hard not to see cheating as a moral issue.

Anyway, the race was full of people who joined at any point they pleased. So throughout the morning, new people kept joining and running pell-mell ahead of me. While I knew they wouldn't be able to finish 8KM at that speed and that they wouldn't have chips and be in the results anyway, it was still frustrating! I felt like everyone was passing me.

I also had no idea of how far I was or how far I had to go. On the website, it said there would be km markers, and water stations every 2.5km. However, I soon found out that was only for the 15KM and the marathon. The 8 km was treated like a fun run, so I guess they didn't think we needed to know how far we were or our pace.

Finally, I was running down the hill towards the Bosphorus and I recognized that I was close to the Dolmache Palace, which was by the finish line. I thought I had another 3 km to go, but it was really less than 1km!

So I was able to really sprint to the finish, which felt great. Although there was no one to cheer me on at the end, there had a marching band, so it had the feeling of a grand ending!

At the end, I had to trade in my race number to get a little bag with a cheap white t-shirt, Turkish language certificate, and... a medal! I was pretty pumped. As a non-athletic, non-competitive person who really loves external confirmation and praise, a medal is pretty sweet!

The one upside to racing in a "fun run" is that it's pretty easy to end up on top!
I checked my results on Monday and I came in as the 16th female out of 450 female chipped participants. That might be my best result ever, and I'll just gloss over the fact that most of the participants were strolling!

Female 8KM Results

Whoo-hoo

2009-10-19T02:46:00.002+08:00

Well, I'm back, safe and sound (with only a minor hobble) in Tarsus.

The race went really well. I'll post a full play-by-play with photos soon.

I decided to run the 8km instead of the 15km race, which was definately the right choice. I was able to run the whole way with only a twinge in my knee. After the race, it tightened up, but nothing a little RICE can't handle. I have to admit, I'm enjoying the novelty of the whole 'sports injury' thing. And the experience of running cross-continents, from Asia to Europe, was totally worth it!

Belated Thanksgiving Post

2009-10-16T18:49:00.002+08:00

I assigned a journal entry for my students on Canadian

Image by laurenmarek via Flickr

Thanksgiving. The prompt was: "I'm thankful for...because..."

So, as always, I try to write the entry that I ask them to do, so I wrote this:

I'm thankful for finding my bliss and having the means to pursue it. How many people never find the thing that makes them truly happy? How many people dream of what makes them happy but are unable to realize it because of finances or other limitations?

Image via Wikipedia

I've found what I love and can pursue it. I know what makes me happy. I know what I find beautiful. I love patterns and colours, soft things and crafts, Shakespeare and costumes, fireplaces and rugs, hugs and hot chocolate, mulled wine and twinkle lights, trains and buses, books and cats. Beauty is all around and I have
the eyes to see and the heart to hold. Lucky me.

P.S.
I'm thankful for
the people I love who create more beauty in my life.
students who say thank-you

Countdown time!

2009-10-15T00:57:00.001+08:00

Countdown to Istanbul Eurasia Race!

Village Ladies

2009-10-14T20:05:00.000+08:00

Luckily for you, I took a trip to a village two weekends ago. This was highly enjoyable and also provided some much needed creative inspiration. Life in Tarsus is certainly photogenic, but the daily exposure sometimes clouds my photographer's eye.

So a new village, a new eye.
I saw these ladies sitting on the rooftop on the drive into the village. I immediately decided to walk back if time permitted. A few hours later as the sun was setting, I finally got out for a walk and these ladies were still hard at work. Can you guess what they are doing?

They are tearing apart figs into four sections, flattening them to lie in the sun and dry. Tomorrow you'll see what they do with the dried figs.

London

2009-10-10T06:08:00.002+08:00

Well, I'm in London. Finally, something to blog about! No pictures. Not because I didn't take any, just because I'm too exhausted to go to the trouble of transferring them to the computer and uploading them to facebook.

And so, London.

I traveled on Thursday. I left as the sun was rising in Tarsus, waving goodmorning to the school guards, and wheeling my small carryon down the bumpy cobblestone road. The shuttle to the airport picks up beside one of the archelogical gems of Tarsus: Cleopatras Gate. Supposedly, Cleopatra and Marc Anthony kissed under the gate, but really, how can you prove that?

I felt so relaxed and open to the experience on the shuttle to the airport. I realized it's the first time traveling without Charlie, so "traveling is fun again!" Then a local Turkish airline to fly from Adana to Istanbul, then Easy Jet to fly from Istanbul to London.

At the Istanbul airport, I had to break one of my literary boycotts. There are certain authors I prefer not to read, usually because they fall into the category of base, populist trash with no literary merit. Whoa, that sounded snobish. For example, most chick lit, airport mystery novels, etc.

I asked in the one bookstore if they had any English books. They had only one, the new Dan Brown book: The Lost Symbol. It was the proverbial rock and hard place. I was getting ready for a two hour wait and then a 3.5 hour flight. I needed a book. So, I swallowed my pride and bought it. So far so good. I finished half of it by the time we arrived in London and it certainly kept my attention. No literary merit, though. (Sidenote: went to Waterstones today to buy two long awaited books: the new Audrey Niffenegger novel, Her Fearful Symmetry (author of the Time Travelers Wife) and the new Alice Munro, Too Much Happiness (my favorite living author, bar none). Unfortunately, they were both massive hardcovers, causing problems both for cost and packing space. So Munro won, and I'll just have to wait for Niffenegger on paperback.

Arrived in London, friendly customs folk. EasyBus to the city, then bus and walk to the hostel. Quick drop off and then on to the evening's entertainment - a modern dance performance "Last Things First." As I was standing outside the hall, waiting for the doors to open, I was struck by how drastically my world changes in a day. How lucky / cursed we are to be able to go from one political / religious / social / geographical world to another with so little work. The perforamance was beautiful, albeit a bit hard to digest. Six dancers on stage in Victorian dress, all moving in super slow motion. It seemed much closer to acting than to dance, but the slow intentional movements did emphasis the dancers' body control.

More come with pictures.

Charlie Update.

2009-09-06T17:45:00.006+08:00

I'm well aware that I walk a fine line between loving my pet and becoming the crazy cat-lady. So I will attempt to keep blog posts this year from being too Charlie-centric. However, given that a majority of my readers are extended family members who are also 'cat-people', I assume you'll indulge me a little update post.

(This was Charlie arriving in Halifax. You get an idea of the size of his bag, smaller than a few of my purses. Convenient, though, for racing through JFK to make my connection).

So, Charlie had a slightly harder trip back to Turkey. Thankfully, this time, there were no worries about inspections or customs legalities. It was just a matter of getting through a 30 hour trip! The 9 hour layover at JFK was pretty quiet, but it was enough to decrease Charlie's patience for the subsequent 11 hour flight to Istanbul.

The hardest part, for me, was the washroom breaks. I'd take him to the wheelchair-accessible washroom in the airport or airplane, get out his little water bowl and dry food, as well as a small container with litter. This was recommended to me by a seasoned cat-traveler. Although he generally wasn't interested in any of these things, it was also a chance for him to get out of his bag and get to move his legs a little. But he would spend the whole time frantically exploring and looking for some sort of hole he could escape through. It tried to tell him that he was better off with me than exploring JFK airport or the belly of a plane, but he just was in 'fight or flight' mode, which frankly, kind of hurt my feelings!

Now that he's back in Turkey, Charlie has returned to his old self. He's back to being a totally co-dependent and loving. When I wake up, he's right there to jump up onto my chest and purr while I pet him. Then, when I get home from work he just wants to cuddle!
(This was Charlie's bath experience in Canada. I wore long pants and long sleeves and then got right in the tub with him so he'd have something to grip while Mom scrubbed. Charlie didn't like it, but it worked.)

Sadly, the bath that made him so sparkly-white for his summer in Canada was quickly undone. I let him out on the balcony which was just covered in soot. So he's back to being grey and leaving dirty little footprints on the seat when he finishes drinking all the toilet water!

Return to Blogging

2009-09-01T03:58:00.007+08:00

Well, I haven't been consistently blogging since April! I'll let you know what's you've missed in a later post.

First, you might wonder what inspired me to return to the keyboard?

Peaches. Giant peaches the size of softballs. I just thought the world needed to know!
Now this photo doesn't do them justice unless you know how large the bowl is. Trust me, it's a big bowl and those are massive peaches.

Overall, I'm relatively happy to be back in Turkey. I've come to grips with the fact that I don't enjoy change, and I seemed to get depressed at the end of every summer, every job, every trip, etc.

However, the fresh fruit is keeping me going! I was so inspired by the selection at the fruit / veggie stands, that I just bought stuff and brought it home.

Then I was left to figure out what one does with... figs? I mean, I like Fig Newtons, but I'd never even eaten a fresh fig before Turkey, let alone cook with one.

Thanks to the internet, I found and made a delicious meal:

Chicken with Fresh Figs and Wine Sauce (Via Two Fat Als)
and
Peach Quinoa with Flax & Nuts (Via)

Seriously - a great, hearty, healthy early-fall meal. I'll copy the quinoa recipe below since it was mixed in among the comments on the linked website.

And in other news, Charlie made it to Canada and back in one piece. He took awhile adjusting to the apartment in Halifax, but getting back to Turkey he felt right at home. He remembers how life works here better than I do. He wasted no time finding his favorite patch of sun on the kitchen rug.

Peach Quinoa with Flax and Nutes

1 cup quinoa, thoroughly rinsed and drained
2 cups skim milk (or soy or almond milk)
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch sea salt (optional)
2 medium peaches, peeled,pitted and diced (or 1 1/2 cups frozen peaches)
2 tablespoons flaxseeds, ground
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Place the quinoa, milk, allspice, salt and peaches in a medium saucepan. Bring to a low boil, stirring frequently. Cover pan and simmer on low heat for approximately 20-30 minutes until quinoa is tender. Top with ground flaxseed and chopped nuts.
Serves 4.

Summer

2009-06-12T19:19:00.002+08:00

This is a shot of my balcony, which has been getting a lot of use over the last few months. Spring in Tarsus was lovely, sunny and warm every day. I had many relaxing Saturdays spent with a coffee and a book in this chair.

Charlie is playing with a Hydrangea bush I bought. It was lovely, but it only lasted two days in the heat. For future reference, you can't leave Hydrangeas outside. Or, perhaps more to the point, I should not be trusted with live plants.

Image via Wikipedia

So, I haven't been blogging. It's not that nothing interesting has happened, I do often think about blogging. It's just that my lifestyle has changed. During the winter I was just coming home from work, falling onto the couch, and spending the evening on the computer and watching tv. I realized I wanted to make a change, so I've been working out, cooking fresh meals and such over the last few months. This, however, has severely cut into my "goof around on the internet time." But school is almost finished and my free time is coming back. I'll try to post some pictures and tell some stories I missed over the last few months. Thanks for sticking with me if you're still reading this!

Folk Dance Festival

2009-06-12T14:56:00.000+08:00

Our school holds an annual folk dance festival, which is one of the highlights of the school year.

The school brings in student troops from schools in Turkey and neighboring countries. There are also local groups that perform. It's a one day celebration of folk dance, and our school was full of over 1000 visitors for the event (which was held in a stadium that probably seats 200, but don't get me started!)

This shot is of some of the dancers from Bulgaria.

Our own students have a folk dance club, and the students have been practicing all year for their dances. Here are a few of the prep students I teach in traditional Turkish dance costume:

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Charlie's Escapades

2009-04-14T01:25:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, Charlie was supposed to take a trip to the vet. After a twenty minute battle of wills, I got him into his 'carrier' which is just a small black suitcase. He doesn't like it.

I headed downstairs and out to the front gate. Then I noticed the bag was a whole lot lighter. Charlie had managed to butt his little head through the space between the two zippers and weasel his way out.

Charlie hasn't been outside for months! He was pretty pumped. I was less than thrilled, because the five or so stray cats that live on campus are evil, wormy, scrappy little things that would eat Charlie alive.

Charlie was off, sniffing dog poo and hiding in the bushes. I spent 20 minutes trying to get him to come to me (with the promise of kitty treats). Then I spent another 20 minutes chasing him around in circles while he terrorized the other cats. The hour I had to take Charlie to to vet turned into the hour of trying to get him back home.

By the time that was finished, I had to get to a meeting and Charlie effectively postponed his vet trip.

After all this, my friend who has lived here a few years told me that the vet will do house calls, for a fee of 5 or 10 lira! That's like $5! Definitely worth the agony and toll of trying to get Charlie into the case and walking down to the vet's office with him meowing away.

That just goes to show you, there's always a way to look on the bright side when living abroad. Sure, the vet doesn't speak much English, the office looks like a mechanic's garage, and the range of medicine includes one pill and one shot; but heh, he makes house calls!

Mental Space

2009-04-06T23:00:00.013+08:00

Well, I'm still so happy to be curled up in my pjs, instead of trudging around Greece or Cyprus or Morocco. Vacation at home is pretty fun, I don't remember the last time I've had one!

I do feel like quite the "techno-dork", as some of the other teachers here call me. I've spent a lot of my time in the set-up pictured, curled up in my armchair, with my two computers and external hard drive and mouse splayed in front of me. But everything I need to get done this week involves computers and I can't stand just doing one thing at a time!

So I thought this might be a good time to mention a few of my favorite geeky finds. I read a lot of websites and try a lot of new things, so I'll just share a few recommendations. These are just the ones I can think of now. Kathleen suggested I add a whole page of recommendations onto my new website, which should be up and running by the end of the week. (It would be sooner, but I'm a perfectionist when it comes to design and layout.)

Fences

This is a quick and easy download, which will give you a small and simple program. Fences organizes your desktop. So, instead of just having rows of icons along the left hand side of your screen, you can organize them into little fenced-in areas with labels. You can hide some or all of your fences by double-clicking on the desktop. This is excellent for my work computer, because when I connect my laptop to the LCD projector, I double-click so the students can't see any of my icons or files!

Here's a screenshot of my desktop. If I double-click, the three grey boxes disappear! Simple, but useful.

From an article from Lifehacker.

Yale Open Courses

I wanted to take a Canadian Lit course at Dal this summer, but the dates didn't work out with my scheduled IB training. I was a little disappointed, I had been looking forward to getting back into reading and thinking about text at something above the level of To Kill a Mockingbird in the EAL classroom!

So I was excited to find a course on American Lit at the Yale Open Course. There is a syllabus and reading list. You don't have to register or anything: you just do the reading and watch the lectures online. It's free and easy. The reading list is full of books I should have read and haven't! Since I've got lots of spare time here in Turkey, I decided it would be a better use of my time (instead of watching old episodes of The Biggest Loser!)

Here's the course I chose:

ENGL 291 - The American Novel Since 1945
In "The American Novel Since 1945" students will study a wide range of works from 1945 to the present. The course traces the formal and thematic developments of the novel in this period, focusing on the relationship between writers and readers, the conditions of publishing, innovations in the novel's form, fiction's engagement with history, and the changing place of literature in American culture.

Better World Books

For the previously mentioned American Lit course, I needed some books! I could download some of them, but what's the fun of reading on a computer? So I started looking for the 10 or so novels online. With Amazon.com, the books were relatively cheap, but even at about $10 each, with the shipping, it was pretty pricey.

I wanted to buy used books, since I really don't see the sense in buying a book new. However, the problem I always used to run into was having to buy each book from a different seller, paying a lot in shipping and having so many different packages arriving.

But with a little research, I found Better World Books and it's an amazing site. The whole point is to reuse old books, to save them from getting dumped in landfills. Moreover, the money all goes to promote global literacy. So I could buy old used copies of the books for $3 or $4 and feel good about it! Ordering was easy and shipping was cheaper than Amazon. They sell new books too, so I'm going to try to do all my book buying from Better World Books from now on.

Visipics

I stress out sometimes about all my photos. It's tricky to keep them all organized, edited, and protected, especially when I keep switching computers. I've been continually backing them up on my external hard drive, but this means I had a lot of overlap. What do you know, there's a program for that! It's called Visipics, and it searches through my drive and analyzes all the images (instead of just looking at file names, which could be different).

Once it found all the doubles, triples and more, I could sort through the extras and delete them, knowing that there was another copy in another file. It saved so much memory! This would work for you even if you just have a normal amount of photos on your computer.

Foresight

2009-04-06T14:18:00.006+08:00

I've been going through childhood photos of Kathleen and me. Mom was generous enough to offer to scan in, one by one, the photos that Kathy and I liked the best. This is for a Picaboo photobook I'm going to make. See, the chances of me or anyone else going through the 20 some albums Mom has of our childhood is unlikely. This photobook is going to just be the best of the best to give Kathy and I some pictures to remember our otherwise completely forgotten childhood (both of us have almost no memories. Supposedly you forget happy childhoods and remember unhappy ones.)

Anyway, I found these pictures from our tenth birthday. Just another set of pictures of each of us with our Baskin and Robbins Ice Cream cake (the ice cream cake was repeated year after year - yum!)

But, Mom had foresight to take these pictures - minus glasses. This is what we looked like with our glasses on. Yikes:

petty rant coming...

2009-04-04T17:54:00.003+08:00

Image by buttha via Flickr

I think I'm a pretty easy-going type of person. I generally approach life in a patient and calm manner. This is easier to do in Tarsus where I have a low-stress job and lots of spare time. It's all very Zen:

I'm on my first day of Spring Break, and it's the first time in a long time that I've had a vacation but decided not to travel. I wanted to enjoy my pretty apartment, sit on the balcony and bask in the sun, enjoy eating well and getting my life in order.

But, the best laid plans of mice and men...

The neighbors left 4 (4!) dogs in their tiny backyard, which is about 6 feet away from my kitchen

Image by jaycobs via Flickr

window. These dogs have been barking on a regular basis since their owners left for vacation last night. Their barking causes the two dogs that live 10 feet away from my living room window to start barking too. Then it's surround sound barking in my living room. Last night I wore earplugs to bed and was still woken up in the middle of the night with the barking.

Okay, call me the grumpy cat lady if you want, but this is making me upset and anxious! Don't they use the sound of barking dogs to torture prisoners? I think I read that somewhere.

I've been googling "barking dogs stop" and there aren't alot of options. I did like this Barking Dog Site, which gave advice on what to do (Get a lawyer) and what not to do (Don't shoot the dog!)

I'm going to use all my inner Zen and summon my pacifist side.

P.S. I really like my neighbors. I'm not angry at them, despite the seeming passive aggressive tone to this post. (=

Sunday Morning

2009-03-29T20:08:00.004+08:00

I love my weekend mornings. I don't really sleep in, but I do spend the morning taking it slow. I open up all the windows, put on a pot of Starbucks Gold Coast blend coffee, put the "Chill Out Lounge" radio station on the TV, and curl up on the couch with a book.

Charlie, on the other hand, does the same thing he does every day: take a nap in the sun.

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Dubai at Night

2009-03-29T14:18:00.000+08:00

Our last evening in Dubai, the students were with their host families and the teachers had a free night to explore Dubai. We opted for a relaxed and opulent experience at the Madinat by the Burj Al Arab.

Returning to work

2009-03-24T01:30:00.002+08:00

Image by melolou via Flickr

Well, we're back in Turkey, safe and sound (though exhausted). It was quite the trip to Dubai, all students and staff had an enjoyable and educational trip. Sunday, after the festival had finished, was a full day! We met the students at the host school at 8am, and then spent the day on an open-air, double-decker bus tour. Half way through a sand storm whipped up and it all got very surreal! Even more surreal was continuing the journey from the hot, sandy beach, through the sparkly airport, on to plane after plane. Eventually we arrived in Tarsus, around 3am! After making it through my Monday classes, I'm ready to head to bed and hope the world looks better in the morning.

I'll post pictures tomorrow, but I thought I would give you an update on my mood: generally glad that I live in Tarsus and not in Dubai, yet overall depressed to have to finish a fabulous trip.

Dubai 2

2009-03-21T03:38:00.002+08:00

Another fabulous day at ISTA Dubai - this is turning out to be an experience far beyond our expectations (both for students and teachers!)

This morning started with site-specific ensemble work. Basically, that means that the student groups (ensembles) go with their ISTA leader and a few teachers to an area of Dubai in order to create dramatic work that interacts and responds to the location.

I went with the Writing ensemble to a medina that is created to resemble a traditional UAE souk.

We wandered through the area, then after some warm ups, the students broke up into smaller groups to create a dramatic presentation according to really specific directions. It was great to watch the students interacting with their surroundings (and the shopkeepers and tourists who were wandering through their 'stage') instead of seeing drama as contained to a traditional stage.

After we went to each area to watch the presentations, we went to a new area and the students had to adapt their pieces to fit into a new environment. It was brillant! (And, I got some great pictures and a Dome coffee - flat white - out of the deal.)

The medina also had a great view of the Burj Al Arab (sp?) which is the world's only 7 star hotel. I feel I know all about this hotel, because of my extensive experience with Discovery channel documentaries on the UAE and it's architecture.

Favorite LOLCat

2009-03-21T03:21:00.001+08:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

This makes me laugh. Charlie (my cat) has certainly crossed the line of addiction - he pretty much only drinks water from the tap. He also is not so great at arranging himself to drink the water from the tap, he inevitably gets his paws and face wet.

Dubai

2009-03-20T04:21:00.000+08:00

Well, I've finally made it to the UAE. After meeting so many wonderful girls from the UAE (in my summer camp job), I've been anxious to see it for myself. This is my first time in the Middle East and I'm loving the travel buzz. (Oh, and techinally I'm working too!)

So, long story short (because it's after midnight and I'm exhausted) I'm in Dubai for an English drama conference. I'm chaperoning 10 students along with another teacher from TAC. We're here for five days, and while the focus is on ensembles and workshops at the host school, we're also exploring all the wonders of the city.

Wednesday we spent the entire day at the mall. The one with the indoor ski slope. Enough said!

Today the conference began officially, and it was quite the day. We ended with all the schools and staff heading out for a "desert safari" which included something called Dune Busting. This means driving in a SUV over and across the sand dunes in the desert. It was like being on a really scary roller coaster. We'd speed up this massive dune, then slide down the other side at enough of an angle that I was sure the SUV would just roll over. Yikes!

The irony was that we actually did almost have a head-on collison on the highway driving home. (I think the UAE is notorious for the reckless drivers and fatal collisions. The newspaper said three people a day die from car wrecks). It was fine in the end, we got to the desert camp for the touristy belly-dancing / henna / camel rides / BBQ. More pictures to come.

Again, I don't feel comfortable blogging pictures of students, but here's a group shot.

Weekend

2009-03-02T03:07:00.003+08:00

It's been a quiet weekend, a nice bit of downtime after a bit of a whirlwind trip to Istanbul for some "professional development." The cold, damp weather in Istanbul caused my sinus cold to relapse, so I'm once again wandering around in my robe drinking echinacia tea. I appreciate the luxury of taking it slow when I'm sick.

Kathleen requested a picture of Charlie's new rats. I only got two shots before the battery in my camera died, so here they are. Long story short, Kathy and I brought home a brown rat from Ikea in Sweden. Charlie adored it and played with it like it was really a dead rat. So Kathleen picked up two more (white and grey) from Ikea in Edmonton. They just came and Charlie loves the white one. I don't know why!

Here's a shot with Charlie demonstrating his clear preference for white rat over brown rat. There's got to be some LOLcats caption about white versus dark meat in there somewhere!

Speaking of meat, here's a picture of my dinner. I bought the turkey tenderloins on Friday. But today I didn't have the energy to go out and buy the ingredients needed for the recipes I found online to make turkey. So I basically took whatever was edible in my fridge and made a marinade (orange juice, honey, garlic, dill, and herbes de provence mustard). Surprisingly, it tasted fabulous. I was pretty surprised. And, yes, I do still eat off of plastic plates.

Barcelona

2009-02-24T05:26:00.005+08:00

Well, I got stuck in my travel blog at the end of Madrid! I'm sure you're dying to know about Barcelona (insert - sarcasm).

But since Barcelona was my favorite city, which provided the most stunning architecture (Gaudi!) and my most dramatic moment (pickpockets on the subway!) and my favorite photos. So we'll start up again this week.

I'll have to post on the go - I'm off to Istanbul tomorrow for work. (Sidenote: I like that I get to travel for work this year.)

I still need to finish packing, so I'll just give you a little tease of Barcelona photos).
(And so Mom doesn't have to worry, the whole pickpocketing thing turned out fine in the end. Details to come.)

Oscars

2009-02-24T05:14:00.003+08:00

Image via Wikipedia

Well, whoo-hoo. I won my family's Oscar pool and my work Oscar pool. Out of the 24 categories, I picked 20 correctly. It helped that I saw EVERY SINGLE full-length English film. It's too bad I didn't get to see all the foreign films and shorts, because two of the categories I missed were foreign film and documentary short. The other two were sound mixing and editing, but, really, those are hard listen for.

If I had to make my own recommendations:
My favorite Oscar-nominated films this year:
The Visitor
Kung-Fu Panda
Frozen River

Of course, Slumdog Millionarie.

Day 9 - Madrid

2009-02-12T02:57:00.004+08:00

Day 9 - Madrid, Monday, February 2nd, 2009

Is anyone else getting as tired of reading my travel blogs as I am getting writing them? Urgh. They are going to get shorter from here on out.

So, my last full day in Madrid. I enjoyed watching the news: Roger Federer crying because he came in second place to Rafael Nadal in the Aussie open. Nadal is a Spaniard, so the news was a little biased.

I spent the morning at the palace of the Spanish

Image via Wikipedia

monarchy, the Palace Real. It was fascinating. The King and Queen don't live there, but they use it for receiving foreign heads of state and such. It was simply gorgeous, and fun to picture it being used for Obama or Stephen Harper. Actually, it's really hard to picture Stephen Harper eating a formal dinner in a sumptuous hall with six glasses.

It was still raining when I left the palace, so I decided to take it easy for the afternoon. I found a cosy corner of Starbucks, and relaxed with my London Fog (Earl Grey Tea with a shot of vanilla and steamed milk). I finished my book, the 2008 Booker Prize winner: White Tiger. Very enjoyable.

This was the statue outside the window of the Starbucks; Quixote and Sancho.

Although I'm sure Spanish food is delicious, there were just too many other options I've been craving. So, my lunch was a great Pad Thai at The Wok. This trip is one memorable meal after another: Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, etc…

The cold rain was really limiting my options for exploring the city. All the museums were closed for Monday and the prospect of wandering around with wet feet and chattering teeth was just not enjoyable. So I treated myself to a mani/pedi and then a nice bath back at the hotel.

It was around this point that I started to think about going home to Tarsus, where it’s warm and sunny and dry and I have a cat.

Day 8 - Madrid

2009-02-10T02:30:00.006+08:00

Day 8 – Madrid, Sunday Feb. 1st, 2009

Another rainy day. As planned, I packed up my stuff and left the cheap, homey hostel and left it at the Opera Hotel, where I had a reservation for the next night. Then I headed out for a full day of art galleries. Spur of the moment, I decided to start at the Museo Thyssen-Bournemisza and I was glad I did. It took me over five hours to go through it. I want to say that it was the best museum I’ve ever been to, but I can't really say that. What I can say is I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was wonderfully arranged, chronologically with numbered rooms, and a comprehensive audio guide that explained the progression between time periods and styles.

I enjoyed “international Gothic”, also impressionism, pointillism, neo-impressionism and expressionism. I bought beautiful posters of a Modigliani and Gauguin.

I'm starting to develop a list of favorite artists: Camille Pissaro, Mary Cassatt, Modigliani, Borne-Jones, Rossetti. I'm picking up posters along the way.

At the top level of the museum, In noticed something through the window slats – snow! First (and only!) snow of winter 2008 – 2009. Memorable. Big, fat flakes, settling on the palm trees and the pansies. Stunning. I left the gallery to go get a coffee on the ground floor and watch the snow fall.

This brings me to another point: my coat. Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft alay. I wore my ‘winter coat’ from Turkey. It’s a moderately heavy, grape-coloured wool.

In London, it was just too mild to wear a winter coat. And I had checked the weather forecast for Portugal and Spain before I left: sunny and in the mid-teens. Therefore, I thought I would plan ahead. I bought a spiffy trench coat and packed my winter coat in my suitcase for left luggage at Gatwick. Then it proceeded to be chilly and rainy in Portugal and now SNOWY in Spain. I was woefully under dressed. My thin trench coat and my short-sleeved shirts left me shivering in the midst of the be-scarfed and be-mittened (a word?) Madrid folks. I was cold. However, my hardy Canadian constitution served me well, and with some brisk strides I could continue my walk around Madrid without my teeth chattering.

Then, back to the Opera Hotel. I've discovered that I am a bit spoiled and do not like mid range hotels. I realize I have come to an impasse. Sometimes, I expect nothing, and therefore desire to pay next to nothing (like a cheap hostel). I get a bed, some sort of privacy and security, I’m happy. But if I’m paying more than that, I expect a hotel. And I’m discovering my idea of a hotel is a five star hotel. I want a bathrobe and slippers! A bathtub! I want dependable wireless and tea/coffee facilities in room. I want a comprehensive room service menu. I want bellboys who will run up anything I need. I want a variety of international digital channels.

This is not what I got at the Opera Hotel. Although I was paying what I consider a lot for a room, all I got is a little bed, little shower, no English channels, no robe or slippers, no room service, no internet! Yikes. It’s pretty, I’ll give them that much.

This is the benefit of my particular mode of travel. When traveling light, I like to change hotels as often as possible (unless you are sure you have a good hotel, like the one in Lisbon that had one an award). For example, in Madrid, I had one night in a tiny room next to Grammie and Grampy. But, I got cheap Laundry and paid nothing! Then the Opera, great location, but not much extra. We’ll see what tomorrow brings at the Arosa.

More pictures from the Museum:

Day 7 - Lisbon to Madrid

2009-02-09T05:10:00.004+08:00

Day 7 - Lisbon to Madrid, January 31st, 2009

It's not far from Lisbon, Portugal to Madrid, Spain. My preferred mode of transport would have been by train, but it was almost three times more expensive than flying. So I flew, and felt guilty about my carbon footprint.

I saved even more money, flying EasyJet with my only luggage a small carryon. They discount your ticket by the cost of a bag, which cuts the cheap price almost in half. The cost of my flight was less than the manicure/pedicure I got in Madrid's Chinatown!

But, backing up. I arrived in Madrid and was happy with my first night's accomodation, a small hostel. It was more like a bed and breakfast, my private room opened off of the living room, where the grandmother and grandfather of the family were having a nap in front of the TV! A little strange, but a nice taste of a real Spanish home, I suppose.

It was a sunny afternoon, so I wandered through the streets, packed with people. I was lucky to find out that most of the museums were free on Saturdays. I started with the Renia Sofia musuem of modern art. The highlight was to see Picasso's Guernica, which I remember studying sometime (maybe high school? maybe intro to art in university?) The rest of the musuem was a little disappointing, I realize contemporary art is not really my preference.

Back to the hostel. I was wandering back through the shopping street, Saturday night around 9pm, and the stores were still bustling and the streets were packed! It was like China! Like Christmas Eve at the mall! Crazy.I don't think I could live in Spain, they don't eat dinner until 9pm or later. I was in bed by then.

Day 6, Part 1 - Lisbon

2009-02-08T03:24:00.006+08:00

Day 6, Part 1 - Lisbon. Jan. 30th, 2009

Today was the day for my tour to the UNESCO heritage site, Sintra Castle. I woke up excited, although I dislike having to be ready for 8:30 AM on my holiday. I left the hostel and headed out onto the streets. The sky was still dark and the streets were empty. I was amazed at how dead the city was at 8am – although I suppose that makes sense for a country that doesn’t start eating dinner until after 9 pm!

I stood on the designated street corner, waiting for my bus. I waited and waited. Finally, I looked at my watch. It was 7:30 AM, not 8:30 AM! I must have accidentally set my alarm clock ahead an hour. I felt a little stupid, but liked having the chance to go back to the hostel and enjoy a relaxed breakfast.

Sidenote: did you know that the McDonald's in Portugal do not sell coffee! Sacrilege. On top of this, they sell beer along with the other soft drinks. That’s just wrong. What would Ronald MacDonald say? No coffee, yes beer. Alas.

On to the tour. The bad news was that no one else signed up for the Sintra tour I had paid for. The organization offered to bump me up to a more expensive Fatima tour which had other participants. Well, I had no real desire to see Fatima (a Catholic holy site) but I also had no desire to go on a tour by myself. So I agreed to the upgrade. It ended up for the best. Although I didn’t really appreciate Fatima, the rest of the sites were well worth the money.

The people I met were quite interesting. I met an epidemiologist from Lily Pharmaceuticals in Indy. Also, a nice flight attendant with Continental, on a layover with her husband.

We headed to Obidos, a medieval city built within city walls. I had a great time wandering around in the spitting rain, taking pictures and enjoying the white-washed walls in the rain.

I even had time to stop for a coffee in a small pastry shop. The options for coffee were big or small. I opted for big, which turned out to be smaller than a normal-sized teacup. A small was pretty much the size of a teacup! But the limited amount of coffee helped me get back to the bus on time.

Day 6, Part 2 - Lisbon

2009-02-08T02:48:00.000+08:00

Day 6, Part 2 - Lisbon. January 30th, 2009.

Then we were led on to our first church stop in Alcobaca. The Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça is the largest church in Portugal, founded in 1148. I was shocked, the church was so empty and sparse. The design followed the aesthetic required by the initial order of monks. There was absolutely no décor, only tall grey pillars and tall grey walls. These were accented by simple wooden benches and clear glass in the ‘stained glass’ windows. The highlight was two beautiful graves of the real Portuguese ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

Image via Wikipedia

We went on to another church, suitably the second largest church in Portugal. A highlight was the modern stained glass and the tomb of Henry the Navigator.

We had a delicious fresh fried fish lunch in a fishing village on the Atlantic, Nazare. The conversation was fascinating, discussing flights and upgrades, with participants from Canada, the US, Brazil and Portugal!

Our final stop was Fatima. I had never heard of this site before the trip, but I discovered it is VERY important to Catholics. Supposedly three children were out in the countryside, herding their sheep, when the Virgin Mary appeared to them, gave them a message, etc., etc. I found the whole thing fascinating, mostly because it seems that the entire Catholic world has accepted the story of these three, uneducated children!

My favorite part of Fatima was the massive collection of shops, selling all sorts of kitsch. Also, something I had never seen before: candles in the shape of different body parts, to burn with prayers for healing, I suppose. I hope no one is offended by this, but the first thing it reminded me of was the paper houses and cars that were for sale in China to burn at the temple and pray.

More Pictures

2009-02-08T01:04:00.000+08:00

More Pictures

2009-02-08T00:17:00.000+08:00

Back home!

2009-02-07T05:07:00.002+08:00

Well, I'm back in Tarsus.

I was thrilled to get home to Charlie (my cat, in case you haven't been following along.) He was just as excited to see me as I was to see him, all cuddly and purring. Bonus - he's all clean and fluffy! I guess that's a real draw for having your cleaning lady catsit - she may give your cat a bath, too. I'd love to have a video of her washing Charlie - it must have been quite a struggle, but Tulay (my cleaning lady) is very no-nonsense.

I'm exhausted and off to bed. Thankfully, I foresaw this, and planning my trip to end on Friday night, leaving Saturday to unpack, do laundry, organize photos and blog; then Sunday to get my feet under me for the next semester of school!

More tomorrow.

Day 5 - Lisbon

2009-02-05T05:56:00.006+08:00

Day 5, Lisbon, Jan. 29, 2009

I enjoyed a nice sleep in and since the power was out I bided my time, reading The Reader. Once the electricity came on, I had breakfast, and headed out to wander the streets. I eventually settled on the hop-on, hop-off tourist bus. Sure, it sounds tacky and inauthentic, but you really can’t beat it. I could wander around on foot all day and still only see part of the city. I could go home thinking all of Lisbon is a dump, when I had really just been wandering around some drug-ridden, dumpy neighborhood. The bus tour gives a good overview of the whole city and for a two-day visit, it’s important to see the highlights.

I tried to stop at a coffee shop to pick up a coffee to go for the bus ride. However, coffee-to-go seems to be a foreign idea in Portugal. The locals saddle up to the bar, order their micro-espresso, quaff it, and wander out. I obviously had unrealistic expectations. The server offered me a coffee in a clear cup designed for soda, but I declined.

Belem Tower

The Hop-On, Hop-Off Bus tour of Madrid was quite comprehensive. I got all the required pictures, and hopped off to buy some new trousers at C & A, then to see the Belem Tower (very photogenic) and finally to see the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, which was strikingly pretty. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, and one of the greatest examples of something called Manueline Art. This translates as very feminine, very detailed stone work. I think all buildings should be required to be frilly and dreamy like that. It suits my romantic side.

Then, I went on to one of the Modern Art museums, then took the bus back to the hostel.

Sidenote: I was very disappointed with Portuguese food in Portugal – it was definitely not as good as in Macau, especially the Bifana (pork sandwich) and the Patesis de Nada (custard tart). How sad.

More Pictures

2009-02-05T05:11:00.000+08:00

Blogger has a three-pictures-per-post policy, so here's another post with more Lisbon pictures.

More Pictures

2009-02-05T04:15:00.000+08:00

More Pictures

2009-02-05T03:17:00.000+08:00

Day 4 - London to Lisbon

2009-02-03T15:26:00.005+08:00

Day 4 – Jan. 28, 2009. London to Lisbon

Slow morning, shower, breakfast. Repacked my suitcase to take to Lisbon, as well as my massive new suitcase full of my Primark shopping spree clothes and my winter coat. I got it all packed up and then headed out to catch the EasyBus to Gatwick. Made a quick stop at Sainsburys to buy some food to take back to Turkey: Indian Korma sauce, Brownie Mix, Thai noodles, PG tea. I would have stocked up on rhubarb yogurt and mature cheddar cheese, but I don’t think they would survive a week in Gatwick Airport!

At the airport, I had to take a quick shopping trip for more English books from W & H and medicine from Boots to take back with me. I put my suitcase in Left Luggage, checked in and was shortly on a flight to Lisbon.

Something new happened on my flight to Lisbon – they couldn’t figure out how many passengers were on board!

It took almost an hour to try to get things straight, and even then they weren’t entirely sure what happened, they could only guess that a passenger checked in under two names! I didn’t have to be anywhere and I had a good book, so all was well.

Arrived in Lisbon, easy transfer from airport to bus to hostel. My first impressions of Portugal was that it was a lot like Macau. This is ironic, since Macau, until 1999, was a colony of Portugal. So it is more that Macau looks like Portugal and not the other way around. But the streetlights glimmering on the patterned stone pavements reminded me of Macau, and happy memories from last Spring.

The hostel lived up to my expectations. I had actually chosen to come to Lisbon for the sole reason that this hostel was rated #1 for HostelWorld 2008. A good hostel makes a good trip. I was not disappointed. I had a great room with a Japanese style double bed. The single room was set within a private flat style apartment, so I had a pretty much private kitchen, living room and washroom. Very relaxing.

Day 3, Part 1 - London

2009-02-01T03:21:00.005+08:00

Day 3 - London, January 27, 2009

A lovely relaxing wakeup and quick breakfast. Then back to Oxford street to Primark, again! I didn't have time the day before to get to all the sections before the crowds and my weakening forearms (from lugging shopping baskets) made me give up. Although I didn't really want to go back, it was worth it.

On to Starbucks for an Americano and reading a used Guardian. Found an interesting section on education and getting boys interested in Shakespeare, which I tore out to read later. Perhaps it would be useful for my students in general!

Then a long stroll down Oxford Street, popping into random favourite stores: Oasis, Uniqlo, Monsoon, Accessorize, Clarks, Ecco, and, my ultimate destination, Muji, to buy a new eyemask, which has been on my 'to-buy list' for a year!

I found a GREAT restaurant for lunch – Masala. It was authentic Indian Street food (minus the baceria and such, I assume). The extensive menu made it a tough choice, but I had a Dahi Puri (a light biscuit stuffed with chickpea mash and covered with yogurt, chutney, herbs and pomegranate seeds. Then a delicious butter chicken, which is perhaps my all-time favourite comfort food. I sat by the window, watching the afternoon rush of business people and grumpy Londoners while I relaxed and read my book (Douglas Coupland, The Gum Thief).

Day 3, Part 2 - London

2009-02-01T02:52:00.005+08:00

After lunch, it was up to the British Museum. I paid for the coat check to get rid of my coat and bag, and then also paid for the audiotour. I’ve found these little things make all the difference. If I don’t I end up tired and bored within minutes.But the audioguide made it all accessible. Especially enjoyable: the Rosetta Stone! I have such fond memories about learning about the Rosetta Stone in junior high. One thing surprised me: the fact that all these archelogical treasures come from places that are now Turkey! I suppose I thought it all came from Greece, but no. One of the largest exhibits was the Neriod Temple, taken from the city now Bodrum, Turkey. They even had pictures of the castle in Bodrum. I must do more research.

Also, a great question in my life has been answered. I’ll admit, I’ve always been a bit foggy on what exactly the “Elgin Marbles” were and why they were important. But now I now, and got to listen on the audiotour to all the imformation about how Elgin, the ambassador to Istanbul had decided to salvage these gorgeously carved slabs of marbles and bring them back to England. They have been on continous display (except for a brief interlude being stored in a Tube station during the war) for over 200 years! They serve as the inspiration for many poets, including Keats.

I also saw the sphinx head that influenced Shelley’s Ozymandius, which I dutifully memorized in high school and can still recite.

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled hp and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
.And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my works. Ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Day 3, Part 3 - London

2009-02-01T02:07:00.005+08:00

A few more pictures from the British Musuem:

Afterwards I went through a nice long stroll through Bloomsbury, then down through Covent Gardens, and headed to Leister Square.(On the way I found England’s largest travel book shop – very convenient for me, since I needed books for Lisbon, Madrid and Barcelona.)

At Leister square, I was struck by the number of movie theatres in the same ½ kilometer! At least 6 or 7. The British must do movie theatres differently! A little walk through Chinatown was more than enough to remind me why I decided not to go back to Asia this year. The smell! The creepy, greasy dead ducks hanging in windows! The indecipherable letterings! Yup, I love China, I love Chinese people, I love Chinese food, but I really don’t miss the smell and the dirt, and by golly, the pushing.

Dinner at a London – pub style place, which led to less than mediocre food. I think on future trips to London I will stick to ethnic cuisine. British food deserves it’s reputation. Oddly enough, my Coupland book takes a foray to London and has hilarious passages about the dangers of staying in youth hostels and the fact that all North Americans look like extras from Newsies when compared to their British counterparts. But perhaps the funniest observation is that all Brits seem to eat is sandwiches out of boxes – every store has an assortment of damp bread stuffed with subdry goopey stuffings, none of which looked especially appealing. When I had no choice but to eat one, I went with my previous rule of thumb – stick to ethnic – and had a Chicken Tikka Masala sandwich!

Then it was time for the theatre, the Wyndham, a tiny little place outside the tube stop. I spent a small fortunate for not-on-sale(!) floor seat for Twelfth Night, by Donmar Warehouse. But it was worth every penny. I was close enough to see all their facial expressions (and not the tops of their heads, which is all I usually see in my half-price or restricted-view seats.) The illustrious cast was an assortment of actors I recognized from television or film adaptations of Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejuidice, Bride and Prejudice and Lost in Austen.

The adaptation was fabulous, the best Twelfth Night I have seen. It was extrememly spare in setting and props, but the acting was magnificent. And the comedic roles were actually laugh out loud funny. I’ll admit, sometimes my mind wanders when I’m watching Shakespeare and although I know what’s going on, my mind is not actually keeping up with the dialogue. But I got everyword of this performance. It was a two and a half hour performance but the show was over before I knew it. Also, they glossed over the darker, depressing side, and it was just a play of pure joy and laughter. I left the theatre with a huge grin on my face, happy that I can enjoy the pleasures of Shakespeare (which I fear my students never will). I bought a cool mug with the faces of the stars of other shows by Donmar Warehoue on it, and I will take it to school and hope to inspire students with the dark portrait of Jude Law as Hamlet!

Day 2, Part 1 - London

2009-01-30T20:00:00.000+08:00

I started off my first full day in London with a purposeful shopping trip. Thanks to Kathleen’s advice, I headed to Marble Arch and got to Primark (a cheap, yet stylish, UK clothing store) for opening. And it was very good advice. I was one of about 10 women lined up when the doors opened. When I left an hour later there were hundreds of people in the shop. I went a little crazy – I bought a whole new summer teaching wardrobe. But it is certainly necessary; in hot climates (like Tarsus or China) there is just so much sweat and washing that ensure very little of my summer wardrobe makes it from year to year. So Primark helped me out with that and even sold suitcases so I can lug my stuff home!

The afternoon was spent at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I suppose it’s the eternal student / teacher in me, but I just love cool museums and learning new things. For example, I learned that the motivation for founding the museum was to continue the atmosphere of the Great Exhibition of 1850 (ish?) So that’s why the museum has such a mismash: British ceramics next to Chinese jade. I loved the fashion and British galleries, as usual. I also discovered the Turkish area – it was especially notable because it explains all the Turkish stuff in English.

Day 2, Part 2 - London

2009-01-30T19:08:00.006+08:00

Day 2 - London, January 26, 2009

Of course, I had to take a break in the café for a pot of Earl Grey tea and a raisin scone with clotted cream and raspberry jam. Yum.

Snother highlight of the V&A Museum was seeing the Booker Prize special exhibit. I’m probably one of the few tourists who said “I have two days in London, I must see the Booker exhibit at the V & A!” Although it was disappointingly brief, it was fascinating. It was drawn from a collector's works, and displayed numerous editions of some of the prize winners. Also, they had handmade books that are designed within weeks of the winner being announced. And as a former bookmaker, it looked like such a wonderful task to read a book and then try to make a physical representation.

After the V & A, I had to head back to the Clarks store I had stopped by earlier. I could SMELL my feet through my boots (while standing up), and I just couldn’t go to the theatre with smelly feet. So I bought a great pair of grape coloured suede shoes and a pair of socks. Then I sat down on a park bench in the middle of Oxford Street in the middle of the evening rush and proceded to strip off my smelly boots and socks! I think some passersby thought I was crazy. I threw out the pile of gross-smelling stuff and put on my pretty new grey socks and purple shoes. Problem solved. No smell and a much more comfortable walk. Have I mentioned I love Clarks?!

On to Waterloo station and a quick Marks&Spencers dinner on a parkbench overlooking the Thames. Rhubarb Yogurt!

I went to see Mrs. Affleck at the National Theatre. It was an intimate little space and the play was very well-acted. Claire Skinner was the lead (think evil Charlotte in the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice).

I realized sitting on the train home that I am glad I live in Turkey. The foremost reason? Things are so much cheaper! Also, Turkey has Watsons. And finally, when I blow my nose it comes out clean. Blowing my nose on the Tube, it was really grey. Eeew. That's probably more information than you needed, but I felt the need to remind myself of why I like Turkey (after such a wonderful day of museums, scones and the theatre!)

Mid-Term Break - London

2009-01-30T04:36:00.009+08:00

*Sidenote: I didn´t post in London, the wireless was sketchy. But I typed up all the posts and I´ll start putting them up with pictures now. I´m in Lisbon now, but I~´ll start my posts by catching up with the beginning of the trip - my time in London.

I left Tarsus at 6 am! It was sad to say goodbye to Charlie. I would feel better if I was leaving him with someone he liked, but I feel like a cruel mother to leave him alone with the cleaning lady (who he is afraid of) checking in once a day. I hope he makes it through without too much emotional damage.

I’ve been trying to get a picture of Charlie that showcases his quirkily deformed front legs. In this shot you can clearly see his pointy little elbows. Normal cats don’t have elbows, right?

After I left Charlie, I spent the next 15 hours in the process of getting to London. That’s the thing, you can travel cheap or you can travel fast, but you can’t have both. So a combination of shuttle buses, and Easy Jet flights got me to London for under $100 Canadian. Thankfully, I think I have “enjoying transit” down to an art form. It was like a holiday in itself, and it was a great time to get a head start on reading 1984 (the next novel for my tenth graders).

Once I arrived in the Gatwick airport, I was like a kid in a candy store, times 10! I had to buy a thick Guardian newspaper from W & H, then some toiletries from Boots, and a small feast from the Marks & Spencer’s food shop. I remember this feeling of bewildered wonderment from my other ‘returns’. The first time was in 1996, in Miami, after the trip to Siberia. We skipped a session of debrief and ran across the street to a big supermarket. Then we proceeded to spend the next hour wandering the isles, picking up items, drooling, discussing favorites, etc. I don’t think we bought anything; we just acted like starving people!

At M & S, I bought mature cheddar cheese, hot cross buns, yogurt covered cranberries, couscous salad, sushi, and… rhubarb-custard hard candies! My absolute favorite, and very tricky to find (outside the UK). Heaven.

The London hostel, Palmers Lodge, is a giant, old house. It’s good enough value for the 15 pound price tag for a bed in London. Sure, there were 12 girls in my room, but it sure beats a hotel room price tag.

Monday morning I started my London day #1. I haven’t been in London since 2004 – 5 years! It’s incredible, it all still feels very comfortable. However, two days is not enough time to do much of anything, so I had done lots of planning and prioritizing to ensure I could cram as much in as possible.

I started at Primark (a very cheap clothing store), because of a tip from Kathleen. Very good advice. I was one of about 10 women lined up when the doors opened. When I left there were hundreds of people in the shop. I went a little crazy – I bought a whole new summer teaching wardrobe. But it is really necessary – in hot climates (like Tarsus, China) there is just so much sweat you’ll always have to wash your clothes after wearing. And the washing machines are miserable on light t-shirts and blouses. Through in a few sweat stains )= and very little of my summer wardrobe makes it from year to year. So Primark helped me out with that, and even sold suitcases so I can cart my stuff home!

More London to come. Here is my favorite photo from my first day. A tourist coming out of the Tube, taking a picture of the Underground sign. Captures dusk in London, no?

Switzerland

2008-12-03T04:56:00.002+08:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's been a long time since I've blogged. All I can say is November was ridiculous. Between breaking my laptop )=, trying to write a 50,000 word Nanowrimo novel, taking trips to Switzerland and France, and making sub plans and recovering from subs, I just didn't have time to think. December will be no better - Kathleen is coming in 5 days! That's pretty exciting, but it also means I need to get my apartment cleaned, laundry done, lesson plans finished, and travel plans printed for our little Eastern European Christmas adventure (Denmark, Sweden and Latvia, here we come!)

But I do need to catch you up on some adventures, I'll be putting up some Switzerland pictures over the next few days. Here goes:

You know you're living as an expat in Asia too long when you go on a trip and find yourself stuck in a supermarket, wandering the aisles, staring at the food choices! In Switzerland, the wonders included massive amounts of cheese, chocolates, and... dyed eggs? For some reason beyond my understanding, the Swiss supermarkets sold a variety of multi-coloured eggs. Not for Easter, for... Novemeber? Any ideas why?

Zurich, Switerland has a claim to fame: the largest clock face in Europe. Yes, indeed. Now that I look at this picture, I think this is the other clock, not the big one. But really, do you care?

Finally, I would say a theme of my trip would be Swiss Chocolate. Yummy.

Charlie

2008-10-31T05:37:00.003+08:00

So, yeah, I haven't been posting recently. But it's entirely the fault of the Turkish censors who saw fit to block blogger (it's just like China. Okay, well, not that bad.)

Now we're back up and running, and my, how things have changed.

Well, do you want the good or the bad first?

Perhaps the bad in a nutshell. Some grade 12 students set off a homemade bomb on campus. I KNOW! I have bad nerves to begin with, add loud explosions and I get really jumpy! This wouldn't have been so bad, but it came just a few days after two nights with home invasion incidents on campus. This guy climbed over the massive stone wall that surrounds the school and our apartments. Once he got on-campus, he climbed in the window of the girls' dorm and hid under the bed. He got away when the girl freaked out, but then came back again the NEXT night! I was very paranoid, and checked all closets and hiding places thoroughly when returning home every day until they caught the guy. Things have settled down now, the kids who set the bomb got expelled and the intruder is in jail. But, I'll tell you what, that added some unnecessary stress to my life!

Now the good news. Just when things were getting really tense around school, who should show up but the best kitty ever! Here he is:

We have a variety of skittish stray cats around campus but this kitty was different. First, he looks a bit ridiculous - he has bizarrely bowled legs. So when he walks he wobbles side to side. Also, his face markings look almost like a mustache. The first option for a name was Lenin. Not so cute and cuddly. "Charlie" was suggested, for Charlie Chaplin (with the walk and the mustache) and it stuck. Charlie stuck too. He is the most lovable and dependent stray cat in the world! He is a well-behaved lap-cat, who likes to cuddle and purrs incessantly. I took him to the vet, so he got his deworm, deflea and rabies shot taken care of. He lives with me most of the time, but I still have to let him out to go to the washroom. Any hints on litterbox training?

After I let him out, I just go down my stairs and call "Charlie!" and he comes running from wherever he was hiding. It's so sweet.

A few missing items

2008-10-17T05:27:00.003+08:00

As always, Mental_Floss is full of interesting items.

I especially enjoyed What your house says about your politics (and not just because it had a Bernstein Bears illustration!)

It summarizes some of the features of a liberal's house versus a conservative's house.

What surprised me the most was the realization that I did not have a single item on the conservative list. How do I survive without a calendar? No stamps? You can imagine my linen pants with no iron.

But, on the other hand, if you need some travel memorabilia or a folk CD, you know where to come. Ah, the stereotype of a political liberal...

Things that make me happy

2008-10-15T00:04:00.002+08:00

This post "things that make me happy" could be subtitled "proof positive I am a nerd."

#1 - I'm getting a SmartBoard for my classroom! It's the first one for our department, and I think I got it because of the squeals of glee that came out of my mouth. I mean, come on, I'll use it every day! I have so many plans for saving my note scribbles on powerpoint and then posting class notes to my Moodle site. Whoopee.

#2 - I get to help administer the SAT's this weekend! And you know how much I love standardized tests! (You'd have to know me to know if that's an example of irony or not. Well, I suppose the post title is another hint). Actually, I'm doing the PSAT's tomorrow (volunteering) and getting paid to do Saturday. Score. I have such happy memories of sweaty palms and stubby No. 2 pencils.

Thanksgiving

2008-10-14T04:24:00.004+08:00

Well, if your Thanksgiving dinner looks like this, aren't you lucky!

I'm quite happy with my own Thanksgiving celebration, but it doesn't have a cranberry in sight.

Yesterday, another Canadian teacher and I decided that although Canadians don't really put much importance on Thanksgiving as a holiday, it would be a little depressing for all of us to retreat to our own homes and eat leftovers.

So we invited all the "guest teachers" (that's what they all the foreign staff at this school) out to dinner. It turned out to be almost all Canadians, though! There are 12 here. We headed to a favourite waterfall restaurant for some delicious Turkish cuisine. Have I mentioned how much I love the food here? This picture shows what I had for my Thanksgiving dinner:It's an Adana Kebab (named after Turkey's fifth largest city, Adana, about 30 minutes from Tarsus). Yum. Grilled mutton on flatbread. It's topped with grilled onion, mint, parsley and sumac. Add a squirt of fresh lime and enjoy!

Pictures of our dinner in the next post.

Thanksgiving 08

2008-10-14T02:46:00.002+08:00

Thanksgiving dinner for the Canadians (plus on Turk and one American) with no kitchen-time involved:

The table was full of plates with mezzes (appetizers), main courses, and fresh fruit (pomegranates and peaches!)

Another picture of our group. The lighting is not as good for the unfortunate folk in the back, but it does show the "spectacular" green waterfall beside our table.

A wise choice

2008-10-07T00:10:00.006+08:00

At my school, all teachers are required to be responsible for an after-school activity, be it a club or a service project. We were asked to make our choices in August. My first two choices were the Model United Nations Club and the English Drama club. However, both of those already had the required number of leaders. So I went with my third choice, an after-school tutoring programme that paired our high school students with students from the local public primary school. Supposedly, this is a way of giving back to the community. Our school is known for it's English education programme and our students tutor the younger students in English. Quite heart-warming, yes?

Well this was the first week for tutoring and it turned out to be nothing like I thought. I was a little disappointed. However, this week I found out that a teacher spot opened up with the English Drama club. Whoo-hoo!

So now I have a great after-school club. The students get to choose which club they participate in, and our club is all the high-achieving English class students (who all happen to be female). We have been doing improv and acting games to get the students to relax and let go of their inhibitions (a tough task for high school students). I know I might not seem like the stereotypical "theatre-type", but I do enjoy improv and acting. I'm no good at it, but I try! And I love trying to help these girls (who sometimes are painfully self-conscious!) become more confident in themselves and their abilites.

And, as an added bonus, our club goes on trips! And I get to go too! Our first trip is to Zurich, Switerland in November. It sounds like a fabulous experience. It's an assortment of students from international schools around Europe who work together in an intensive drama workshop. As a teacher, I get to participate in workshops for educators. I'm thrilled. Check out the website for ISTA (which is also the name of our club) International Schools Theatre Association

And in the "too cute for words" category: A website called YES we can (hold babies) which is full of pictures of Obama holding babies. Darling!

A few clips

2008-10-06T02:34:00.003+08:00

I, along with many Americans, found the Vice Presidential debate a good deal more interesting than the Presidential one. Is it just me, or has the race become Obama vs. Palin? Anyway, I was excited about the race just because of Obama, but now we have a worthy antagonist for our lofty protaganist! Ah-ha, the drama of it all! Now, let's just hope there is no tragic flaw waiting to be revealed. Although, if Palin did win, there would be one good thing to come of it: more Tina Fey as Palin skits on SNL! Fey's portrayal is spot-on, and there is just so much material to work with! If you haven't been watching, check out this skit about the Katie Couric interview:

And another brief diversion, my favourite, the Cobert Report. I found this because I was doing some research on teaching metaphor (to connect to Of Mice and Men). And I found a link to this skit: "A meta-free-phor-all" It's funny, but it also really drives home the point of what a metaphor is. I hope my grade 10s think it's as funny as I do:

Kapadokya #4

2008-10-03T04:13:00.006+08:00

I had trouble picking my favourite shots. But I know there's only so many pictures of fairy chimneys one can look at before they all look the same.

So the long list got uploaded to Picasa, and the short list of just the highlights is on Facebook. Check them out:

My Picasa Cappadocia Web Album:

Cappadocia

My Facebook Cappadocia 08 Album:

Kapadokya #3

2008-10-03T02:16:00.000+08:00

I've finished editing and organizing all my Kapadokya pictures! I'll upload the best to Picasa and Facebook and add a link here. Till then, here's one of the nicest kitties I've met in Turkey (resident cat at the hotel we stayed at in Cappadocia):

Kapadokya #2

2008-10-02T05:35:00.002+08:00

We drove through the city of Niğde (it's a soft g, just connecting the two vowels).
It was an oddly colourful little place, and we stopped for tea (I know!) at the fancy rooftop restaurant of the local hotel. This was the view:

There was also a local fort, looking very authentic. On top is the Turkish flag and the profile of Atatürk.

Me, in my one sweater (which Kathy tried to ruin with marshmallow goo!) and my inappropriate footwear, ready to explore Kapadokya. First stop? Tourist trap with camel rides. I settled for the photo op.