I have been a) not very well, b) watching the ice-skating - which I keep mistyping as staking, never mind - b2) drooling over Stephane Lambiel because I can, c) having more blood tests, d) killing cockroaches, e) buying books - impressive considering I left the house about twice this week - I've got nine new books. I blame the British Council.

And now Néa and Johan have arrived so we have a very full flat! Today are also local elections so everyone is getting ink-stains on their fingers (so they can't vote twice) and also this means the campaign buses are gone. Hurrah!

* posted by nat 11:17 AM

Monday, March 22, 2004

Yesterday morning I saw leylek, and although there were only two or three of them and they probably had got lost, they were definitely migrating.

So that means summer is officially here!

* posted by nat 9:50 AM

Friday, March 19, 2004

I had lots of fun in my saz lesson this morning. I didn't (can't) do much playing, but singing along to all the folk songs works fine as well. Also, I got to play yet another saz - a small and beautiful one that he's had since he was young. The minute you take a hold of it you can feel how loved it is; it's gorgeous to play.

Perhaps it is time to go out and haunt second hand saz shops.

Stuff I taught yesterday.
To a group of late ele forty-odd-yead old housewives: "I am not menopausal!"
To some of my company beginners: "Revenge, revenge!"
To my 1-2-1 business student: the fact that "I am a confident person" does not mean "I keep other people's secrets."

Quiz time!

I am the sonnet, never quickly thrilled; Not prone to overstated gushing praise Nor yet to seething rants and anger, filled With overstretched opinions to rephrase; But on the other hand, not fond of fools, And thus, not fond of people, on the whole; And holding to the sound and useful rules, Not those that seek unjustified control. I'm balanced, measured, sensible (at least, I think I am, and usually I'm right); And when more ostentatious types have ceased, I'm still around, and doing, still, alright. In short, I'm calm and rational and stable - Or, well, I am, as much as I am able. What Poetry Form Are You?

* posted by nat 2:35 PM

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Also, there is a poison arrow frog sanctuary in Costa Rica.

Hmm.

* posted by nat 10:09 AM

Hello. The sun is shining. Woo!

I had a very exciting weekend. Not. I went up to the clinic on tuesday and had the vast amount of blood tests, joy. Results tomorrow. They fed me lots of tea and pogaca (which unfortunately happened to have a cheese filling, but I was past caring by that point, and I wouldn't have got out of there if I hadn't eaten it), and then they told me how much it was going to cost and I havd to have another cup of tea.

Then I walked home from Kızıltoprak, stopping for bagels and several more cups of tea on the way, and going very slowly, and taking vast amounts of Iboprufen - it took that long! On the way I also managed to achieve buying a pair of bright blue Nike trainers. I blame the blood loss. They were in a sale though, so nothing too terrible. Further down I went to D&R and almost bought lots of books, though I settled for two.

Then I got home via the veggie man and worked myself up to making carrot and dereotu soup. I think I overexerted myself rather as I made about fifteen portions. So half of it is now in the freezer. Then I watched 'The Office' which I have decided is very scary.

On Wednesday I was thoughtfully woken up just after 9:30 by drilling going on in the next door apartment. Not good, especially as they're drilling in the bathroom which is evil, as it sounds like they could arrive in our bathroom any minute. I survived in the living room until lunchtime, at which point I decided I didn't fancy carrot soup and instead made a vast amount of Moroccan chickpea stew. Yay! Eventually the drilling got too much so I went down to Remzi and perused more books, but eventually I bought a jigsaw puzzle. It is a very cool jigsaw puzzle; it's a National Geographic one and it's of a frog. I also found the Narnia books translated into Turkish. It really doesn't work when Aslan is just 'Aslan' in Turkish. I also think they could have translated Prince Caspian as Prens Hazar - but then again, that's a perfectly normal name here, too.

Went back home, there was a bathtub outside on the landing and they were still drilling. I think they were still drilling at about half past eight, but as I fell asleep not long after that I assume they stopped.

Today I took a taxi to work, and am currently in negotiations about changing my timetable (more kids, but no travelling). Go me!

* posted by nat 10:06 AM

Saturday, March 13, 2004

I traversed over the Bosphorus and up to Sisli yesterday, out on the boat and not too cold, into a taxi and promptly getting lost, got to the muayenehane just after 2pm to be told, "but your appointment's at three!" Never mind, I got seen early and ended up in there for nearly an hour being generally poked and prodded about, so today I am suffering, but I am back on the Iboprufen, (YAY!) and have to start taking the stronger stuff, which I am not looking forward to as it will make me even more sensitive to sunlight than I am already - bring on the SPF 30 - and we'll know in a month or two if it's doing any good. It might not. Let's hope. The specialist is fab, anyway, now he has pointed out what's going on it makes sense, and has sent me for a heap more blood tests as well. I love private healthcare. Things actually happen!

Not that there IS much sunlight here at present, and the city is full of loud, obnoxious election vans, as local elections are coming soon.

* posted by nat 11:29 AM

Thursday, March 11, 2004

I don't know which I am more bemused by, the "Oh my god your hair has gone I am so shocked I must scream at the top of my voice" reaction, or the complete inability to notice.

The best reaction though, was this one: I went for pseudo-coffee with Hakan yesterday, as I bumped into him on Bagdat and neither of us had anything concrete to do. There was much rambling about Turkish folk music and setting it to electronic music. The mind boggles. Over lunch I pointed out my hair. Hakan looked at me, gaped, and then fell off his chair.

Need painkillers argh. More snow is forecast argh.

* posted by nat 10:16 AM

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Hairdressers' are strange, strange places. Daria has been trying to drag me down for weeks, and still being on the not-feeling-very-well train I thought, oh well, why not, and then I thought while I was at it I might go for something drastic. Loni wouldn't let me go until she'd taken a photo, and then Daria dragged me down and we presented ourselves in the salon and I pointed to a point around my shoulders and the assistants squeaked "Ooooooooo!"

I sat down and they brought me tea and then they cut my ponytail off, at which point I thought about changing my mind, but obviously to no avail. then I got all washed and tidied up and dried and the curls are back.

So I am over a foot of hair the lighter and have to go home for the 'after' picture now. Came into school and waved the ponytail around to much double-taking from people, and the general consensus is that it a) looks good and 2) makes me look younger. Not sure I needed that, but! (If you know the picture here it is shorter than that!)

Anyhow my brain is feeling brighter if not my body, and I am thinking about going to Zanzibar. I quite fancy Zanzibar.

10pm ETA: Finished the antibiotics! Body still lousy! I have been nearly TWO WEEKS without a single Iboprufen and it is not good, not good at all, aaaargh, going to see the rheumatology bloke on Friday, and he had better say 'yes it is absolutely fine to take way too many of those pills' because I cannot go on like this I want to be able to write properly on the whiteboard again, and reach things in the top cupboard, and not hurt, argh!

* posted by nat 2:54 PM

Saturday, March 06, 2004

I have not dropped off the face of the planet, it's just snowing again. This is getting faintly ridiculous, as I'd just put all my winter stuff away. So I got it back out again.

I am also not being very well, watching vast quantities of DVDs, and discovering the joy of taking taxis into work.

The kids and I are learning the present continuous today - useful stuff such as 'he's picking his nose' and 'he's writing on the desk, teacher!' It's difficult to do TPR with them when I have no energy at all, so it's very slow and relaxed TPR ('I'm sleeping' is my favourite mime of the moment.)

* posted by nat 2:01 PM

Monday, March 01, 2004

I'm still dead, and now have flu on top of everything. For some reason I am at work. For some reason I seem to have a work ethic. For some reason other people don't. For some reason I am not best impressed. Can't imagine why.

It made for a hilarious 1-2-1 this morning, however, as the businessman had a nasty cough and I spent most of the lesson sneezing; ever so musical. Neither of us could keep a straight face about it, however, so he has cheered me up immensely and I have remembered why I drag myself into work.

In other news, my entire social sphere seems to be collapsing around me. And I'm not even doing anything - well, it's not anything I can do anything about anyway! I think I will come back and try and comprehend what the hell is happening later on.

* posted by nat 10:00 AM