Scary

The weather seems to have passed some tipping point in the last week. Today it was very Seattley and by the time I finished class at 5 it was basically dark. It's rather scaryI can already feel the weather getting to me. I want to avoid blaming it all on the weather because I don't want to reify the idea that I just get sadder when the weather sucksI don't want to make it any more true than

Day 12 Retracing the Steps of Paul at Ephesus

Everyone was eager to explore the ancient city of Ephesus as the Pacific Princess arrived in Kusadasi Turkey. Surprisingly this port city is a clean modern seaside resort currently undergoing a boom in tourism including many Brits and Irish folks who are buying condos in the area.We docked next the new Cunard Lines Queen Victoriaan impressive large vessel. The dock area is a nice shopping ma

The most eastern country of the West and the most western country of the East

I read in the paper the other day that Turkey has offered to mediate the dialogue between the Obama administration and Tehran assuming it actually happens which I have some reservations about. This is so revealing of Turkey's political situation. What does Turkey have to gain from acting as mediator Turkey sees itself as the bridge between East and West as Erdogan's Turkey's PM governmen

Off the beaten track n Istanbul

If you were thinking of visiting Istanbul you might wait until 2010 when the city will be showcasing its culture. In preparation they are upgrading parks and buildings. If you want to avoid crowds you might want to come now.I spent the day with Shirley a Kiwi living in I

Canyon Walks and Bar Crawls

After 8 weeks back in the U.K. the lure of some sunshine was just too great to ignore. As Stan and I now both work in schools and they were all about to close for half term we thought why not After trawling the internet for an evening we came up with a cheap late package deal to Kusadasi Turkey. It didn't take us long to snap up the dealWe were staying in a small hotel just a few minutes walk

Istanbul

Finally got to one of my original goals. If there are many spelliing errors....sorry unusual keyboard. Devil of time uploading photos from today so might finish blog about Istanbul when I return to England. First day run around getting to hotel going to touristy spots eating finding computer that I can use

Steady Rollin'

After the high is always the comedown. It came this week with among other things realizing that my classes have gotten less and less satisfying realizing some of the ways in which an Obama administration will fall short on its promises of change Israel employing lobbyists and silly frustration with girrrrrll issues. But that's all okay. There's always the selfcorrection and things are st