The final days of the school year are upon us and while I've been extremely busy setting one foot after the other on a new (and insha'allah better!) career path, I am also back here once more to wax poetic. I haven't been in the best of spirits artistically speaking, and so I am now dedicating one hour of every day to "uni-tasking". Getting that one thing done that I've been meaning to get to. As is so often the case, I have allowed myself to be distracted by gadgetry and routine to a point where I had almost lost touch with that which has brought me this far.
To reiterate an exercise that has kept my travel motor running since I first left home for Germany in 2005, a few special thanks are in order to those that have supported me thus far in my journey to find what it is I want to do and the best way to get it done. To Nico Bellissimo for telling me never to forget where I came from. To my family for always bearing with me through my mishaps in planning trips back home. To Jennifer Creamer at the University of Pittsburgh for setting me up with a contact in Istanbul that I could have previously only dreamed about. But mostly to my one and only Azra for being there with me through the trials of the past year and a half while somehow making it seem like just a few short months.
My MO has always been to stay curious and get out into places in the world where I am pushed beyond my comfort zone. Teaching in Istanbul has certainly done that much for me, but I somehow failed to visit places in canim Turkiyem that are truly off the beaten path. I await much from the year to come and the first half of 2014, which should be a thriller of a year. Trips to the beekeeping hills of Artvin, the canals of Eskisehir, the pools of Pamukkale, and many more abound! Other projects I foresee being able to complete include a fresh uptake of the trumpet, improving even further my German, French and Turkish language skills, and one update per week of this blog before I try to take it to the next level.
Do one thing everyday that scares you, says Eleanor Roosevelt. Well, spinning eight plates at once scares me and it has felt a bit like I've been doing that for the past two years, but I am going to pare those down to just a few and spin them like a master. Wish me luck and I'll catch you on the flipside!
To reiterate an exercise that has kept my travel motor running since I first left home for Germany in 2005, a few special thanks are in order to those that have supported me thus far in my journey to find what it is I want to do and the best way to get it done. To Nico Bellissimo for telling me never to forget where I came from. To my family for always bearing with me through my mishaps in planning trips back home. To Jennifer Creamer at the University of Pittsburgh for setting me up with a contact in Istanbul that I could have previously only dreamed about. But mostly to my one and only Azra for being there with me through the trials of the past year and a half while somehow making it seem like just a few short months.
My MO has always been to stay curious and get out into places in the world where I am pushed beyond my comfort zone. Teaching in Istanbul has certainly done that much for me, but I somehow failed to visit places in canim Turkiyem that are truly off the beaten path. I await much from the year to come and the first half of 2014, which should be a thriller of a year. Trips to the beekeeping hills of Artvin, the canals of Eskisehir, the pools of Pamukkale, and many more abound! Other projects I foresee being able to complete include a fresh uptake of the trumpet, improving even further my German, French and Turkish language skills, and one update per week of this blog before I try to take it to the next level.
Do one thing everyday that scares you, says Eleanor Roosevelt. Well, spinning eight plates at once scares me and it has felt a bit like I've been doing that for the past two years, but I am going to pare those down to just a few and spin them like a master. Wish me luck and I'll catch you on the flipside!
