Ramble On

First thing’s first: I AM DONE WITH GRAD SCHOOL! I have turned in all my papers, finished all my classes, passed comps, and completed all my presentations. It feels great to come home at night and not have schoolwork to think about. About two months ago, my cousin Cara and I were talking about her upcoming trip to Istanbul. She told me about her great set up and it sounded like it would be a great way to celebrate the completion of my Masters degree. So I bought my ticket for the day after my last class. After two months of craziness involving much more than just school and work, I am now on the other side and looking at job searching, apartment searching, and just figuring out the next general steps for life. I am so excited to see what unfolds. Since there is very little certainty in my life, it’s probably best I just stick to writing about what I know, and that is mainly what has already happened. So I will do my best to recount the even...

After having gone to bed so late, we definitely woke up late the next day. I got up to try out the fitness center at the hotel and had a great time listening to the odd Turkish radio choices pumping at full blast over the stereo. When I got back, Cara and I got ready and then headed out for our first crack at the Istanbul mass transit system and to see what the Spice Bazaar held for us. We enjoyed the cheery tune the turnstiles play when you slide in your token to gain access to the trains. It sounds very much like when you win an extra life in an old school video game. Istanbul is built on seven hills. They are VERY steep hills and the city, in all its modernity, has dec ided that no one should be forced to walk them if they don’t want to. So you can take these underground funiculars down or up the hills as you please for a mere 1.75TL. Taksim Square is perched on one of these hills but our hotel was very close to the tram stop so transport was a breeze. ...

I started each day at the hotel with a trip to the fitness center. The floor to ceiling windows in the smallish room overlook the square and I found myself able to block out the painfully outdated radio selections just by watching the crazy flow of traffic around the square. The cars weave in and out of each other and the nonsensical traffic patterns of the square itself make for an almost mesmerizing distraction. I also found that when I did put on my iPod, The Hold Steady and Rilo Kiley made my morning that much better and at certain points, the traffic seemed to be pulsing with the beat. Cara was kind enough to let me have her hotel breakfast because she usually doesn’t have time to eat before work. Well, while breakfast couldn’t replace seeing the original frescoes in the Aya Sofya or steaming in a hamam, it certainly was a fabulous way to start the day. They had acres of food laid out: Breads, pastries, fresh fruit, dried fruit, omelette station, meats...

My day started off with more weird music at the hotel fitness center, another fabulous breakfast overlooking the whole of Istanbul, and a little bit of misdirection from our hotel’s concierge. There is a very out-of-the-way Byzantine church in the western suburbs of Istanbul that was supposed to have wonderful mosaics that I wanted to see. I asked the concier ge how to get out there via public transport. She said I should just take th e number 87 bus and then she gave me very specific directions for where to wait for this bus. It was easy to find the bus stop she was talking about, but after waiting for a half hour there and seeing every other number bus except the 87, I decided she was wrong. Cara had also told me that they had been wrong or unknowing in other areas before so I decided I should ask someone else and try and find it on my own. Then, I was walking back to the hotel and passing the bus stop that the concierge specifically told me to ignore and there, sitti...

And then it was my last day in Istanbul! I too k a little more time in the morning to leave the hotel because my day wasn’t as jam packed as the others had been. I decided I wanted to walk around the city a little bit more and not use public transport very much. That was always my favorite thing to do in Paris. Whenever I had spare time, I would fill it by walking wherever I was going, no matter how far. It helped me get to know the neighborhoods, and get a better feel for different areas. I notice a lot more around me. One thing I got very loud and clear on this day walking around more was that being a blonde in Istanbul makes you extremely consp icuous. I didn’t feel like a target so much as I just wish that I wasn’t so noticeable as a tourist and immediately identifiable as American. In an y case, walking around the city felt a little stranger due to that. I went from the hotel and walked down the steep hill to Dolmabahçe Palace. I didn’t intend on g...

This is a poem for Good Friday that my Aunt Jill sent my mom years ago. Since it is Good Friday today, I thought I'd share it with you all. It's from a collection of works called Waters Under the Earth (Canon Press) by Robert Seigel. This Lenten season has been a particularly meaningful one for me. I don't know that I really understood the journey of lent or the joy of Easter (other than assured receipt of mass quantities of chocolate, and maybe a pretty new dress if I was lucky) before I was an adult. It's strange for me to think of how disconnected I was from my faith for most of my childhood. It felt like something that happened around me and that I was only marginally involved in, simply because I was present for it. Now having taken ownership of it and being an active participant, the words I've been saying for so many years have sprouted new branches of understanding. The liturgy I've said for so long has formed deep roots and a structure from w...

I used to enter contests all the time. Sweepstakes, lotteries, games of chance, filling out surveys for gift certificates, etc. If it took less than 5 minutes to enter, I always did it. I never won anything. After COUNTLESS attempts at beating the odds, zilch. It's a typical story. I've never really gambled because I don't feel like giving my money away. It's too hard to come by. So in the last few weeks, I've taken a different approach. I've entered things that actually required skill to win and had some pretty good experiences. The last two weeks at my local trivia night, my team has taken home top honors and a $50 bar tab. I'm not going to take the credit for this because it has largely been due to the older brother of a college friend who plays with me. He knows the sports trivia cold and that's always where I crumble. But we've been riding high on our victories and we've also won a bid in the annual trivia tournament of champion...

I was reading the Post's profile on some pumpkin dishes that have recently been added to some DC area restaurant menus and immediately resolved that I would bake the season's first loaf of pumpkin bread on my day off tomorrow. HOLY moley, I am excited about that. I also kicked off my very own fall concert series with a really fun show at the 9:30 club. I had the unexpected but very welcome companionship of two friends from South Africa who now find themselves in DC, and we had a smashing time. Despite the rain and the rushed trip to the gay sports bar post-show, I had an interesting evening thinking about Stars and how they are a very different type of performer than I have seen in a long time. About this time last year, I was meeting some of my favorite people on earth to go see my favorite band on earth. A U2 show really is that, a show. I say that I'm going to see shows all the time but they really are just performances of people who play music that I like to hear...

I feel like I'm sitting on the edge of a long journey about to happen. I felt excited and rarin' to go at the outset of last year's first year back in academia. Now that I'm approaching the real beginning of year two, many things are different. I feel that I actually have a marketable skill and that I will actually get a job when I finish school and this is somehow frightening and amazing at the same time. My mom used to tell me about getting her masters and her PhD and I used to think, there's NO WAY I can ever do that. That's way too much work. Here I am just two classes and one exam away from my degree and I can hardly believe it. I had a summer full of travels and adventures, and I keep having to remind myself that this is not a dream, that I actually can do and have done these things. As I approach the end of my academic life (I hope...), I start to wonder how I'll actually fare in the world of 9-5, five days a week, two weeks vacation per year. ...

Here are a few things that are making me love this place even more, after 20 years of coming here every summer. -The salty crust on the top layer of sand at the point and the soft sand underneath: Crème Brûlée sand. -Watching the thunderheads rolls in and the anticipation of a thunderstorm at the beach. -The fascination of the young ones with seashells and other beachy objets trouvée s - The hotness of the sun mitigated by the breeze off the ocean, mixed with the smell of suntan lotion -Morning runs down to the point, and then coming back to a cold hose shower outside - License to eat unlimited quantities of ice cream -Evening games of Scrabble, Cranium, and crosswords - Watching my little cousins grow up I have the love of my family in my soul, the ocean water in my veins, and the kiss of the sun on my skin. This week makes me so happy.

Just a few quick notes having already touched down in Atlanta and with a short layover until my final leg. Lots of Chacos every where. This gladdens my heart as I think that Chacos are God's gift to feet. But a surprising amount are popping up here in Atlanta and I guess it's just unexpected because of the locale. I would not be surprised if I were at, say, DEN or SLC. I just purchased soft serve frozen yoghurt for breakfast. I couldn't resist the temptation. It was as creamy, cold, sweet and delicious as I hoped it would be. It feels very strange to be coming back in the pinnacle of summer, as I have just left a country in winter. Granted, it was a milder winter, but it is strange to see people in shorts and sandals and feel the oppressive humidity everywhere. I am also excited for the extended daylight hours. The sun was setting at about 5:45 in SA and here I'll get a good three extra hours of daylight. To me, this is the best part about summer. ...

I can see why most South Africans stay on the garden route for multiple weeks. Each town has its own feel and different things it offers. You could spend a few days in each town. Since we're trying to fit the whole country into three weeks, we haven't had that luxury. But we have seen quite a bit. I think we saw the best thing Plett has to offer this morning as well. We got to go to the Robberg Nature Preserve for a morning hike to the seal colony and surrounding beaches. We encountered about 4 other people in our three hour hike as well as pristine beaches with crashing waves, and some gorgeous landscapes. The hike was a bit challenging as well, we hike along a rock wall and had to pick along some difficult and steep terrain for a few parts. It was really enjoyable. The seals were fun to watch for a while too, but they smelled to high heaven and most of them were asleep in the sun. There were a few playing in the water and I kept replaying the Planet Ea...