books: read An Education by Lynn Barber on the flight back; her memoirs on growing up in England and becoming a rather cool and in some ways radical female journalist. (Only the second chapter lent itself to the current cinema version). Then I picked up the new English translation of Elif Shafak's book: The Forty Rules of Love (Aşk in Türkçe) last monday as a 'first-day of school' present to myself. I definitely enjoyed it, it was much more religious than I expected but in a very pleasant, all about love and being nice kind of way. I would recommend both books as interesting, easy, quick reads that are much more uplifting than any Orhan Pamuk book. Next on my list should be the history of the Ottoman and Byzantine history...but we will see if I can squeeze some Zorba the Greek or maybe even some Proust (??)...
movies: the movies of note that I have recently seen, besides the 3D IMAX of Avatar while at home, have been An Education in theaters, Julie &Julia and Nine. All of which have been delightful and inspiring; making me want to cook, live in paris and italy, be a creative genius like fellini, be as gorgeous as Penelope Cruz, and of course appreciate my advanced education in place of wanting a (fake/lying) rich, older man who wants to whisk me off to paris for the weekend....hah!
sports: with my new yoga mat spread out on my floor it serves as a constant reminder of what i should do every night before bed and every morning when i wake up, something to work towards I suppose. Also, the other day I signed up for Koc's new Curling team. Not sure if this team actually exists yet seeing as there is no space (even though there is a brand new ice rink currently housing the new hockey and figure skating teams), no money, no equipment and no one at the meeting actually has experience. also, did you know there are only four curling teams in Turkey? Not surprising, huh? hah! Well, by putting my name and email down on a piece of paper I figured I was at least one step closer to my Olympic dream of being on the Nicaraguan Olympic Curling team one day:)
school: ummm, first week down, lots of reading to be done, many greek words to learn, lots of history of Byzantium to understand. Oh, and I'm going to Berlin on a fieldtrip in March, how cool is that?!
thats it for now, must stop procrastinating my homework and also finish baking my first ever loaf of bread! hopefully it'll at least be edible, wish me luck...
