Monday 2 November 2009

October Roundup

It's been a busy month. With school starting again, I've been kept insanely busy. It's been a good start to term though. I was adamant that I would be stricter this year and it's worked mostly. Though as the weeks are passing, the kids can smell my true personality and are starting to have a laugh. But I prefer it that way. Though I did have a 3rd grader grab my arse and say 'Masallah' the other day. That's just wrong.

In other news, I hosted a Halloween party in my flat the other night. It was a lot of fun. Especially as Turks don't really know what to make of fancy dress parties. They got the idea though.



In case you can't guess. I was Michael Jackson.

I remember house parties back in Blighty and I remember the absolute carnage. I never really threw them myself because you could be fairly sure your house would be absolutely wrecked by dawn (not a particular person, I mean sunrise - though Dawn was a clumsy bastard).

But when I woke the following morning (hangover-free I might add. probably due to giving up smoking and being 'of the age' where the room starting to turn is a red flag to switch from booze to juice) the house was pretty much tip-top. Was it the Halloween gremlins at work? Not far off actually. There were Turkish women present.

99.8% of Turkish women have acute OCD. The dishwasher had been filled. The empty bottles had been moved to the balcony and the rubbish taken out. Absolute bargain. All I had to worry about was constructing a fry-up.

This month also saw Ramadam (remember the festival with the fasting and stuff?). That was cool. I managed my token 1 day again.

I quit the fags!

We also had the 29th October festival. This commemorates the foundation of the Turkish Republic. Quite a biggy in terms of public holidays.

Some other exciting news is that Best Buy is about to launch its first store in Turkey just down the road. Media Markt opened its doors to people who'd been queuing through the night last Wednesday. Soon we're going to have 4 or 5 electronic megastores right next to each other and right next to me ...oh dear, the geek within is getting a little too excited about all this.

I stopped smoking.

Something strange happened today... Winter came. People say that this is what happens in Izmir. One day it's summer, the next it's winter. The air is filled with the smell of coal burners and I rushed out and bought myself and new electric fire.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. My flat now has a new sofa and a brand spanking new LCD TV. So much for the plans to get in shape. I can now watch Deal or No Deal with such clarity that I feel I'm in the studio, crying with them.

Most exciting of all, my brother is coming for a flying visit with the kids tomorrow. They're coming to surprise my dad on his birthday. So, if you see my dad, don't tell him please. It's a surprise.

Oh and did I mention that I've stopped smoking?

5 comments:

Nomad said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nomad said...

Halloween is my favorite holiday but this year I was (deeply) under the weather. Figures, this was the only year I convinced myself into getting the jabs for flu and then one crowded dolmus ride and this!

After twenty something years of smoking, I gave it up about two years ago. It was surprisingly easy and didn't do that namby-pamby way of reducing down to zero. I'd have surely broken at the first tremble of stress.
It was, to coin a phrase, cold turkey for me. I decided that in order to be successful I would have to limit my beer drinking during the transition. Here is a post I wrote about it and there is a tip there that you might find useful if you are having cravings.
http://nomadicjoe.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-i-quit-smoking.html

Good luck.

Salty Miss Jill said...

Was that cheeky third grader congratulating you on quitting smoking? Masallah, indeed!

Anonymous said...

Hello from Australia. I have just finished reading your entire back catalogue, after stumbling across your blog yesterday.

I have laughed, and truly enjoyed your writings in a very nostalgic way. I lived in Turkey several times over a period of ten years and know it and the people pretty well. Wonderful place, wonderful people. I've got a daughter who's a halfie like you. I wrote my Master thesis on Turkish-Australian children and their identifications.

I'll be a regular reader from now on.

Sagol, and gorosuruz.

M.

Anonymous said...

well done for stopping, and thnx for the blog :)