cut the sugar

realised today i have not written anything here for the longest time...

truth is - i seem busier writing emails and letters and notes for my classes...

no time for taking some time off and reflecting on turkey and how things are going here for me.

work has been busy lately - with a whole new scenario provided by my new students + summer is over...which sucks really, considering my slight tendency towards tanorexia! i miss the sea too - some places here are just heavens of mediterranean perfection...with unique scents and colours. now that the weather has (temperamentally so) started to change - we are getting blustery storms more and more often - and the city seems to elope in a haze of grey clouds and mist... kind of mysterious and decadently fascinating...yet... no good news for my permatan vocation!

have started to know up close the national (and private) health system here and will get to learn more, i figure - especially after having unfortunately been diagnosed with diabetes. the news did not come as too much of a shock... but the most hilarious side of this new clinical chapter of my life comes from exploring the absolute void the turkish market offers to people suffering from any kind of medical condition that requires a special diet... there seem to be no alternative to the carbs laden / fat overload / sugar rave party / salt funfair that the turkish cuisine can be. sure - food here is amazing and tasty to say the least - but the entire population seems to be oblivious to the global trend of actually trying to avoid having a heart attack before age 30. namely - everyone seems to be extra fond of meat + bread and pastries + fast food + fried stuff + salt in every form or way. i guess economic development will bring in health consciousness and different habits (fitness, diets and the lot) but for the time being i find myself staring at the supermarket shelves with the look of somebody afraid of being used for some candid camera joke. never mind - i guess...but it kind of makes it harder to figure what the heck one is supposed to eat in the unlucky case he / she has some kind of food allergy or intolerance.

having said that - i will forever praise and admire turkish doctors and their flawless ethics, their kindness to patients and their sound, reliable ways. their facilities and clinics may look a bit fuddy-duddy at times - but there is no trace of any arrogance or shortness in the way people get treated here. in case of any clumsiness - the apology usually is offered with mannerism and some very welcome laughing opportunity. like ... went for a scan the other day and while picking up my papers and radiology images from the lab counter - a doctor was kind enough to explain rather matter-of-factedly: "sorry... but if you look at those pics...forget about the first six...they are from someone else's kidney" -- which somehow did crack me up... but these are all chaps who studied abroad and regularly travel for conferences in europe and america. i am becoming fonder and fonder of doctors, really - as here they seem to be the most liberal, open-minded and cultured -- plus...they have seen the world outside...whereas 96% of turks have hardly been on a plane, let alone applied for a visa to a foreign country.

clinical notes aside - have recently been hooked on a lovely retro tune passed by a friend - "where do you go to - my lovely?" by unbelievably uncool looking peter sarstedt - a poor indian bloke whose name was funked up by making it sound more (german??) european... the song came out in 1969 and has a bizarre, repeated waltz-like tune to it. i have yet to put my finger on it - but, hell, does it move me. i just cannot get enough of its unusual, melancholic vibe.

i guess i definitely have to cut back on the sugar - but still have a bit of an oversweet side deep down.