(Too many days, too lazy to count): Out of the silence…

…come some random thoughts from Istanbul.

1. Sorrrrrry! Ok most important update: I made it to Istanbul! Hahaha. Only 5 weeks ago.

The truth is that I was going to give up the blog. As all bloggers eventually must, I had to decide (a) whether I really want to be spied upon, and (b) whether I'm too lazy to provide people with the necessary tools for spying on me. To be honest, for a while I didn't feel like telling people what I was doing. Don't take it personally – if you know me well, then you know I have my moments. If you don't, well: I have my moments. Haha. Then I wanted to write, but so many things had happened and I just felt too lazy. Bad excuses, I know. And know I come out of the murk with some crappy apologies and crappier lists, but hey, no one's forcing you to spy on me anyway J

 

2. Turkish people are tough. I wouldn't mess with them if I were you. (when I hang out with Turkish people I feel like a silly little bird who thinks she knows her way, but really everyone knows she's lost…)

 

3. I think it's possible to get addicted to leaving things. Istanbul is always clogged with traffic and people and noise. It's true that I find it energizing. But I also really miss the rush you get when you're standing at the side of a highway, and there's nothing but the swoosh of cars going by and the future waiting for you at the other end. Is it only proud people who get a good feeling when they abandon things? Because in a way, abandonment is an act of defiance, and proud people are defiant. When you abandon a place or a person, you are saying that you think there are better things out there for you. So are all travelers assholes?

 

4. I get tired of hearing my own voice. Just look at #3 above, it sounds so snobby. So that's my 3^rd excuse for not writing in a while. (I don't think I'll ever understand the people who put a new facebook update every 5 minutes. Don't they get bored of themselves?)

 

5. Let's talk more about boredom. Maybe it's the chronically bored who end up traveling, not the proud. You get bored of one place, you move on. It's easy and it's fun.

 

6. It's pretty frustrating to teach anything to people who don't want to be taught. It makes me wonder – why teach? Clearly these people have better things to do with their time than to learn. I'm not sure whether I'm doing the right thing when I have to force students to learn things for an exam that they just couldn't care less about. In a way I respect them. I don't feel like making them learn any more than they feel like learning. So I wish I could just say to them, "Ok let's make a deal. I'll give you the average grade if you just shut up in class and let me teach the people who care." But unfortunately most 15-year-old girls wouldn't really understand. Especially if I say it in English. (haha)

 

7. Last week it hit me for the first time that I'm in a Muslim country. Once again, a little slow.