watermelon

(i)

my schedule at school is very different during the summer. most university students have left town - so the classes are now filled with older students, professionals, company managers.

teaching older students is sometimes easier, sometimes harder - but it definitely grants me a wider array of topics to pick from: relationships, parenting, work etc.

seemingly, in a class filled with 30somethings and 40somethings there is always a greater variety of perspectives and feelings, expectations, perceptions of society and priorities. oddly, i keep on finding that turkish working women are very different from their european, let alone american counterparts. first of all because usually women here quit work as soon as they start a family and secondly because they appear to be of just two (2) kinds: either very exhausted and silent or very ambitious, arrogant and opinionated.

when i am doing trainings for companies - it is mainly for some big multinational names that have their production lines here in izmir. textile, food, baking products, tyres, spare parts, jeans, tobacco groups - there are legions of factories nested around izmir's airport... and i always enjoy learning about how they work and what kind of working environment they offer.

i also like talking about my students' family life - what they hope for their children, what kind of relationship they have with them.

i often tell myself i am very grateful for this job - what i enjoy best about it is that it keeps my eyes opened on other people's feelings, hopes and opinions. many people i know, especially after having children, seem to live in a kind of one-way lane; never turning their eyes to glance a little bit further and rarely thinking out of their box - and out of their pockets too. so far, somehow i seem to have collected a long list of jobs lacking both career stature and future prospects - but they all have indeed allowed me never to grow up much, which might not be too bad, after all.

(ii)

days are long, full of light and heat and as i write this the wind is blowing fast and dry.

summer is a beautiful season around here and i enjoy being outdoor - as long as i am granted my daily, humongous portion of watermelon.

i could eat myself into a coma with watermelon! and here the slices you get are huge, sweet and as red as blood.

(iii)

got a call from my former boss the other week. it was a lovely surprise and i was smiling from ear to ear + he was in such a good and silly mood that i kept on laughing. i am the type of person that treasures immensely small things like that. i usually go out of my way to stay in touch and to keep in contact in a very personable, sharing, open way. i could spend hours writing emails to friends and receiving news and nice messages from them is perhaps one of the best parts of my daily life. some people seem to have a gift for staying in your heart and living abroad and away often calls for a level of generosity, humour and spontaneity in relationships that few people are able to communicate. but if they do - that is about as special as fresh watermelon in the blazing heat of turkish summer!