Another lost blog entry I never got around to posting...

So, to set the scene for this seriously late post, I had just moved to Istanbul after returning to Hawaii for 5 months to recover from the Tunisia experience. When I left Tunis, I had little money, the school I was working at had closed down temporarily during the Jasmine Revolution events and still hadn't re-opened, so my old boss at the archaeology firm I worked at on Maui told me to, "get the f*ck out of that country and come back here and work." Because it was February, it certainly wasn't a great time to be looking for teaching gigs, and I had little money, so off I went back to Hawaii's loving arms. But not without first stopping back briefly in Istanbul to drop off all my luggage because I knew instinctively that I would be returning to Turkey next to live and teach.

I fortunately have an excellent network of loving friends residing in Istanbul that helped me out, and continue to help me out, with my various travels and moves and storage facilities... (Sorry Ebam, I swear that I will get rid of that last suitcase this next visit)... And, Ebam, thank you so very much for letting me store my luggage at your lovely flat! You too Fezzy! And Murat. And Wicki. And Karen...

But I digress... here it is, this little snippet:
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I guess you could say I've been selfish with my ponderings lately, or that I don't have any ponderings lately or that I'm just too lazy to post my ponderings lately but truth be told I'm just too busy being scatterbrained. To bring you all back up to speed, I'm living in Turkey, presently in Istanbul the past 6 weeks but will soon be heading down to the southeast/ Anatolian region to teach at a university. Of course you all know how my Tunisian odyssey resulted...

Speaking of Tunisia, I have just returned from a whirlwind trip. Tunis still has me in it's grasp, I can say that. As well as another grip that has recently emerged. Perhaps more on that later on...all I know is that I definitely signed up for this adventure and I don't want my money back. To end the convoluted words here, Tunisia continues to be on my radar. I just hope my residency status there comes to and end soon as it is infuriating to have to pay $60TD every time I leave the country... Honestly, I have never been so broke living and working somewhere!

Some post Jasmine Revolution (as it is so inappropriately named) observations of mine: Ramadan during the heat of sizzling summer temperatures continues to fascinate me. This year seemed 'different' than last year. First there were no restaurants open downtown or in Lafayette that were serving food so I missed out on dining at all my fvorite haunts- Bombay Chawarma in my old hood being the most sorely missed indeed. As well the crepe place on Bourghiba. This also meant there wasn't much alcohol to be found during the fasting hours, but we did manage to find a few dissidents that allowed us to indulge in drinking adult libations behind closed curtains or doors. Next, taxis are still dirt cheap, don't have air conditioning (or drivers are still too cheap to use it), drivers absolutely abhor it when you 'gently' slam their door shut- which I instinctively do being from Hawaii, the land of "Maui Cruisers" as they are so affectionately called.

Ok more later as I need to catchup on some much needed beauty rest...