Wednesday, January 31, 2007
My just reward
At long last, I have heard from my august employer that I've been "promoted" to Assistant Professor, or Yardimci Doçent ("Yard. Doç.") status. Whee! Now maybe I'll get the respect I deserve! Or maybe not.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Our pearly whites
Remember Elvin? Well, her parents (Durul and Sehnaz) are dentists, and Meltem and I both recently availed ourselves of their services. Neither of us had been to a dentist in many moons, so it was long overdue; plus, we're happy to give them the business. As we had known for some time, Meltem had to have a wisdom tooth out, so we did it last night. Poor thing is a bit swollen and achy, but otherwise OK. If she lets me, I'll post a picture of her holding ice to her jaw or something. (Me, I had all four of mine out years ago, and the rest of my pearly whites – well, yellows – are just fine, thank you very much.)
Here's something cool: In the waiting area of Sehnaz and Durul's office there is a big picture book by some Turkish photographer in which he has pictures of various people along with quotes from them as to what they think the meaning of life is. One of the pictures is Durul seen from the point of view of a patient, holding up his dentist's instruments and grinning; his quote is "To feel happy." Amen!
Here's something cool: In the waiting area of Sehnaz and Durul's office there is a big picture book by some Turkish photographer in which he has pictures of various people along with quotes from them as to what they think the meaning of life is. One of the pictures is Durul seen from the point of view of a patient, holding up his dentist's instruments and grinning; his quote is "To feel happy." Amen!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Gretnablog is born
Forgot to mention in my little travelogue that whilst in Mount Gretna, we showed Susan how to make her own blog (it's ridiculously easy, everyone should do it). Check out Gretnablog for some exceedingly handsome photographs.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
In which we break the silence
Hi all, we're still here, sorry for the delay and thanks for your patience! I thought I'd just post a few pictures and comments from our recent trip to the US of A.
We started our sojourn at Mom's secluded manor in West Hartford:
(Note the subtle yet effective placement of the Christmas wreath over the garage doors. Unlike the folks next door, who installed a 15-foot inflatable Santa next to their house!)
Two things were particularly enjoyable for me in West Hartford: Eating and mocking the cat. Here I am combining both activities. Note the palpable frustration radiating from bloodthirsty hooligan Ashton as he searches for crumbs or bits of ham... but neither is forthcoming! Moohoohahaha!
Our West Hartford days were ornamented by visits from several friends, including Barbara and Neil, who came in the company of Dennis and their adorable progeny, Antoinette (better known as Tiny Toni). Tiny Toni was a major cutie, especially since she was just figuring out how to smile. Here she's saying, "Get this balding weirdo offa me!"
In West Hartford we also made a date with my brother Greg, who hosted us at his own stately pleasuredome.
Having bathed West Hartford in our glory, we proceeded to Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania, where we were hosted by Dad and Susan (as well as Jasper) in their little mansion-in-the-woods.
The ever-personable Jasper was a big hit as usual:
One neat thing we did in PA was go to a farmers' market in nearby Lebanon. Meltem was particularly fascinated by the Mennonite farm girls who were working there. Here's a photo she took in which she was pretending to take a picture of Dad and me, but in actual fact was surreptitiously zooming onto the unsuspecting Mennonite chick behind the counter (note her little white bonnet). Fiendishly clever!
(A telling observation: In Turkey, any group of people who cling to a highly conservative form of religion, dress distinctively, and keep to themselves is a group of people you should be very, very wary of. In the States, they're a tourist attraction.)
Anyway, another thing Mount Gretna is great for is walks in the woods. It was cool and misty, which makes such treks even more evocative and enjoyable.
Also, while we were there Meltem leaped at the opportunity to do an afternoon watercolor-painting lesson with the local art teacher. Here are Meltem and Susan posing with their instructor in her studio.
Anyway, that's a brief sampling of the fun we had on our US odyssey. Hopefully it won't be 15 more months until we find a reason to go back!
We started our sojourn at Mom's secluded manor in West Hartford:
(Note the subtle yet effective placement of the Christmas wreath over the garage doors. Unlike the folks next door, who installed a 15-foot inflatable Santa next to their house!)
Two things were particularly enjoyable for me in West Hartford: Eating and mocking the cat. Here I am combining both activities. Note the palpable frustration radiating from bloodthirsty hooligan Ashton as he searches for crumbs or bits of ham... but neither is forthcoming! Moohoohahaha!
Our West Hartford days were ornamented by visits from several friends, including Barbara and Neil, who came in the company of Dennis and their adorable progeny, Antoinette (better known as Tiny Toni). Tiny Toni was a major cutie, especially since she was just figuring out how to smile. Here she's saying, "Get this balding weirdo offa me!"
In West Hartford we also made a date with my brother Greg, who hosted us at his own stately pleasuredome.
Having bathed West Hartford in our glory, we proceeded to Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania, where we were hosted by Dad and Susan (as well as Jasper) in their little mansion-in-the-woods.
The ever-personable Jasper was a big hit as usual:
One neat thing we did in PA was go to a farmers' market in nearby Lebanon. Meltem was particularly fascinated by the Mennonite farm girls who were working there. Here's a photo she took in which she was pretending to take a picture of Dad and me, but in actual fact was surreptitiously zooming onto the unsuspecting Mennonite chick behind the counter (note her little white bonnet). Fiendishly clever!
(A telling observation: In Turkey, any group of people who cling to a highly conservative form of religion, dress distinctively, and keep to themselves is a group of people you should be very, very wary of. In the States, they're a tourist attraction.)
Anyway, another thing Mount Gretna is great for is walks in the woods. It was cool and misty, which makes such treks even more evocative and enjoyable.
Also, while we were there Meltem leaped at the opportunity to do an afternoon watercolor-painting lesson with the local art teacher. Here are Meltem and Susan posing with their instructor in her studio.
Anyway, that's a brief sampling of the fun we had on our US odyssey. Hopefully it won't be 15 more months until we find a reason to go back!
Friday, January 19, 2007
We're back...
To our legions of loyal fans: We're back in Istanbul, hale and hardy. Well, one of us is hale and hardy. The other one (me) was felled the first day of our return by a vicious bug, which feels suspiciously like the enteritis I had last summer. I'm starting to come out of it, but eeewwwww. Anyway, pictures and commentary (of our travels, not my enteritis) to come soon!
