Sunday morning in the Fertile Crescent. It's been a very productive, and social, morning and it is only 10:30 am. After yesterday's debacle of, and as a result of, drinking some rum/coke's Friday evening and watching "Constantine" with Keanu Reeves and great cast including Tilda Swinton and Rachael Weiss (actually a good flick). Waking up with an ever-so-slight (ahem) hangover, I opted to wait until noon to go for a run... It was, nevertheless, a difficult run and yoga session that followed. A few realizations: don't drink 3 rum/cokes on a Friday night; it's already too hot to go for a run in the afternoons here- especially with a hangover; most importantly, I've been hit with "spring fever"!
I'm loving this feeling- of lightness, of sunshine, of positive, of future endeavors, of the coming summer... Hawaii!!! This is such a great shift to live completely in the present- as sometimes I shift too much into 'future mode.'
So, that was yesterday's 'debacle'- which isn't really too bad of a debacle. I mean, I had fun Friday evening with Solo_ojo, I had some great exercise on Saturday, and now I am back to 'normal' this Sunday after passing out early last night. What is 'normal' anyway?
High on life post run this morning, I put on some burlesque music (yep, that's right), started brewing some coffee and... planning for my future... Luckily, the internet had been spotty all weekend, so plans for that got squashed immediately. I delved further into my 'wicca' mood with some Nag Champa incense, Mexican chocolate soy candles and luscious Brazilian coffee straight from my back-up french press- which isn't great, but I'm glad I have the back up! Thank you Rachael (if you are reading this) for gifting me that little treasure when you left G-tep last summer!
Seline and Benny came over to soak up the morning rays on my deck, and Solo_ojo soon followed. What a lovely Sunday morning, the 4 of us shooting the shit about America, Turkey, future-forward thinking topics such as: solar-powered windmills, immigrant communities, Bodrum summer vacations, desires, fantasies, realities, LIFE. Yea, good times indeed. The duo is off to the zoo today. A perfect day for this excursion. I remember going to the G-tep zoo with Azadeh the winter before last. There was loads of snow and not a soul around... Fun day.
I'm headed downtown to soak in the day. It's that kind of glorious day today. There is this guy who has a 'curiosity-shop' of sorts. In my opinion, I am always curious about the things in his place as they are a bit different than typical bazaar stuff here. He has a lot of books on Anatolian history and archaeology. His store is the only place that I can find copies of "Anatolia Actual Archaeology Magazine (in English). Expensive as a copy is (20TL each), it is worth it. He has a book that I want (100TL...), so I'm in the mode that I want to keep returning to check it out and establish more of a relationship with him and his family. With my sparse Turkish, and their lack of English, it is always brief, but I love communicating with them. This issue is full of history/current archaeological expedition news from Istanbul, Zeugma, (the forgotten kingdom of) Alalakh and Tell Tayinat (the capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Patina), Gordion and Sardis, etc.
Anatolian history is so captivating. The earlier periods, the better- in my humble opinion. So, yes, the Çarsı is on my list today of places to visit, as well as Zincerli Bedestan, etc. It's also probably a good day to eat some delicious kebap, mostly because I hardly ever eat Kebap here... This being one of the 'things' in the back of my mind in terms of difficulties of getting access to health foods here. I like those days when I just give in and eat loads of kebap.
Yesterday a few of us went out for a late lunch to my favorite Syrian restaurant a short walk from my apartment. Ahmad accompanied Solo_ojo and myself. It was such a lovely day walking around the hood. The first day to wear light clothing and actually sweat! It is certainly an indicator of events to come in a few short weeks. I predict that in 2 weeks it will be pretty hot already.
Last weekend I was in Izmir. I love that city. I love it out in Narlidere hood. It's so pleasant to just be right on the water- even without a beach. I realize how much I miss living at the beach. It is my life. I've never been so far away from 'the beach' in my life for such an extended period of time. I need the water. I need the constant motion of water. Some people need mountains- and the static almost quietness of mountainscapes. I love this as well, but it is not 'natural' to my body. I certainly adapt and think I could live in the mountains for a while... but the beach is 'normal' for me. Living in G-tep is not 'normal' for me, but it is fine. With neither beach, nor mountain nearby, I have adapted to a landscape of rolling hills. It doesn't feel 'normal' though...
Perhaps this is why I feel I live more in a state of looking to the future lately. We were discussing this just this morning over coffee. Feeling a part of a community is the key to healthy living. I wear different hats here to get around this feeling. It suffices, but I need an expanded community. A community of like-minded individuals (I'm thinking outside the 'workbox' here). I have a lovely, small, community of like-minded individuals that I love and adore here. It's nice to share our experiences. Yea, it's been a perfect morning.
I'm bouncing all over the place here with this post today. I believe I will have some interesting news for ya'll next week though...
So, that's all folks...
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