swimming, cooking, waiting

(i)
spent the morning swimming. the pool i usually go to is a stunning indoor facility with one side overlooking (through an amazing ceiling window) a perfectly kept park. what i love about swimming is that it puts me in the most peaceful place and kind of seems to make me think very straight. some years ago i considered swimming exhausting and tedious -- and somehow lonely too... i just feel the opposite way now and could not live without it.
the best about this pool i go to now is that it is hardly ever crowded. the only people who take an interest in swimming, it seems, are a group of elderly ladies - who are too sweet and funny for words. they are all enrolled in these bizarre "aqua gym" classes - taking place every thursday afternoon. about a dozen of these ladies join in, looking like proud, oversized testudines ready for a migration across the ocean. guided by this over enthusiastic pint-seized girl who jumps around for an hour or so, they keep going like a pack of cheerleaders training for the super bowl. from the back of the pool, where i keep to myself... it always looks like a crazy routine...with a dozen of puffy, old-fashioned swimming bonnets bobbing around the water to the rythm of music pumping in the air. and when i say music...well, no chopin or new agey calming tunes... i mean stuff like lady gaga and black eyed peas... which is comedy, to say the least.

(ii)
the weather has been very rainy and wet for the past three days...with darker afternoons. perhaps because of this i have been busier in the kitchen - especially baking. i love the way the house smells when there is something roasting or baking in the oven.
i have been learning a couple of new "turkish tricks" by eating out in some traditional eateries in town and always try to replicate at home the incredible way turkish recipes make use of any herb, veggie, leftover or simple ingredient. have grown especially fond of Mücver...that is to say a kind of zucchini fritters with a signature, unbelievable aftertaste of mint.

they are easily made mixing together the flesh of some zucchini + parsley, dill, onions, mint and some flour combined with feta cheese.

(iii)

heading downtown for some errands now. tried to do this yesterday - but a sudden shower got me stuck in a cafe for half an hour or so. ordered some tea to kill time and realised the delay, the change of plan did not bother me in the slightest. i kind of smiled as - one year or so ago - a mishap of the same (innocent) kind would have looked like a bit of a bummer, if not a spoiler. after one year in turkey something has changed in that sense. i have somehow learnt how to wait without minding much about delays, inconveniences, malfunctions, setbacks, frustrating cohincidences, hindering circumstances... as someone brought up and kind of "trained" (/educated) to "do" and function and act promptly, independently... i now sense i am less prone to feel discouraged or annoyed if something "gets in the way". perhaps since a place like turkey teaches you nothing can be expected and nothing can be demanded as your own, innate right. i am no believer in destiny and will always be far from the very turkish talent of always adding a touch of slacky fatalism to things... however i must confess that waiting without fretting about it is a good quality, especially if you have a small something on the side...like a cup of tea...that you actually truly, intimately enjoy and relish as precious.

when we are not sure, we are alive.

GRAHAM GREENE

it is a very damp, colurless day here. still half asleep as i was fixing breakfast this morning i heard my son say "where are all the clouds? are they switched off?" - which i thought was a little gem.

yes, the clouds are switched off today - as is the sky, falling flat and grey on the sea and only broken by random, sudden showers.

went for my monday swim today.

the pool is at the back of a rather swanky hotel. i will never get used to how nosy people are here - and the staff at the entrance is no exception.

"how is your job going?" is today's first question from the cheerful man at the reception desk.

"alright" i try to keep it short.

"but where do you teach?" he insists.

"i can't remember the address...i am afraid" i say, trying to sound as simple as possible.

without even disguising his annoyment, he calls a colleague for some support - as if i am playing some kind of cluedo game here.

"like...is it...around this part of town? - like behind the hotel...?" he suggests...

"...no, it MUST be the one by the church...there is a church next to it, right?" his colleague presses me.

"no, no church" i tell them innocently - while rather enjoying the situation.

"...so - where, then??" the first one asks again.

i am dying to enter - i can feel the smell of chlorine in the air and just want to dash away from the bloody reception desk.

so i say... "do you know where the sea is?"

and they eagerly nod "of course" one of them concedes.

"it is kind of next to it" i conclude with a faint smile "can i have my locker's number?"

the place is busy but quiet at the same time - in the changing room people say hi and smile, like old aquaintances. i hide from the overenthusiasm and head to the steam room, then to the sauna - and finally swim for a good hour.

i always swim in the early afternoon - and for some kind of bizarre reason, this is a rather geriatric hour. i seem to be the only person under the age of 78.

from the water, looking up - every now and then i catch a glimpse of the people sashaying past. sequences of body parts that are either protruding, thinning, wrinkling or, in other words, decading. i must confess i am starting to develop a fascination for varicose veins - especially the blue ones.

when i am not intent on pondering on the different physiologies of ageing - i look out of the immense window opening onto the garden and its trees or simply...

i loose track of time and follow the chlorine tide...

up and down...

up and down... -

up...

and down again