a cabinet of thoughts

Sunday, February 20, 2011

the charm of istanbul

http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/bosphorising/

Thursday, February 17, 2011

more pamuk...

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/The-museum-that-was-written-down/21427

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

So, when visiting my friend Kaitlin (from Wellesley) in London this past weekend besides just relaxing and hanging out in her flat with her friends from University, I had a short list of things to eat and see this time around:

- fish, chips and beer

- tea and scones and clotted cream

- seeing the objects from my turkish archaeological excavation on exhibit in the British museum

- indian food (which i sadly did not photograph but thankfully did eat the very first night and it was indeed delicious)

- other ethnic food

and then since I hadn't planned much else and sort of made it up as I went along I visited a few other museums which I had never been to before but they were absolutely lovely and I'm very glad I made the time instead of returning to my old favorites.

- the Geffrye Museum

- the Wallace Collection

- the Courtauld Gallery at the Somerset House

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Christmas! v.2010

updated pictures from Christmas :)

Life Abroad...

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Cultural Heritage Trip to Gaziantep last weekend...

pictures from the southeast....an area known for archaeological sites and food!

Cultural Heritage Trip to Gaziantep

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

strange turkish sayings...

one of the funny and rather old fashioned things I enjoy about Turkey and the Turks are the little funny things they will claim and will really believe. Sayings along the lines of 'if you go outside with wet hair you will get sick' and therefore you will never catch a Turk with any pride outside with wet hair. So, okay, I'll go along with this when it is cold and rainy out....but in the middle of the summer when my hair will dry faster in the hot humid air than it would using up electricity and arm strength blowdrying my hair, really?? anyways, I've come to appreciate these idiosyncrasies over the past year but the other day I heard one that just absolutely tops the cake: yes, it was the end of November but it was sunny and 70 degrees outside, so it certainly felt like late spring and no one was wearing a coat. And so I had on my cute flats with open toes, not sandals mind you, just opened toed flats. I was with two Turks walking to lunch and we were talking and at one point my friend made a comment telling me I must be cold because of my shoes. I said no, it was gorgeous out, no reason to be cold. Then my other friend pointed out, first in turkish and then translated for me that if my toes get cold I will get diarrhea...!! seriously, that was first I had ever heard of such a connection....not sure I believe, but I do think I may spread such strange beliefs around the world, or at least to America, purely for entertainment purposes. Of course if anyone has scientific/medical proof that this is true, please, do enlighten me.

ps. also I've updated a lot of my picasa photo albums so if you get bored you can check them out

lv.em

an american thanksgiving in Turkey...

So, a Turkey bird is actually called a Hindi in the country of Turkey and it is extremely hard to find one around the end of November. Supposedly they are more popular for New Years...but luckily some of our helpful and dedicated classmates tracked one down to ensure the authenticity of our holiday dinner!!! and just so there is no confusion I was only present to supervise and document the cooking of the turkey, I take no credit for actually cooking it....only for cooking the mashed potatoes, carrots and turnips, and the mulled wine.