Went for a walk the other day. Strolled down to Karaköy in the evening as the sun was going down, to sit by the waterfront to watch the ferries come and go and also the fishermen and the people watching the fishermen. After the past nine months living on the sea, I don’t ever want…
I’ve written a lot about objects and how they can have the power to transport you to different worlds. I read most of the Harry Potter books, and the thing that sticks with me with those books is the “portkey.” They are things that you find in various places (an old boot on a hill,…
I recently had a friend of mine from my days of teaching in Prague, Steve, stay with me. I saw him again when I was in Prague again the next year, the fall of 2010, when I was traveling around Eastern Europe for a few months. Those were the days of Maurice and the Minstrels…
The school year in most English preparatory departments is broken down into five modules. Each module is six weeks followed by a final exam. After the first module finished we had a week holiday for K urban Bayram, the feast of the sacrifice. That was the week that Graham was here and he and I…
I’m picking away at a number of books at the moment, one of which is a collection of essays by writers about their worst travel experiences. This got me thinking about what my worst travel experiences have been. In my trip in fall 2010 I decided it was “Sven Luck” when all sorts of disasters…
Before I got into teaching, I worked in a bike shop. It’s usually my job in-between teaching jobs as well. When I get fed up with a place or with the idea of teaching ESL in general, it’s nice to do a stint in the bike shop. I like working on bikes. There’s something that’s…
In a class full of 25 unmotivated students who are 18 or 19 years old, when I can’t get anyone to pay attention or do any work, I need to find some way of making light of the situation so I don’t do one of the many things running through my brain (throwing chairs, smashing…
For the first time in many years, I’ve begun to go to bed early. No no no… I haven’t been making my way further in Proust. I brought it with me, but it still just sits there on my bookshelf, taunting me that I haven’t read it. But I was thinking about it this week….
I went for a stroll the other day. By the mid afternoon all I’d managed to do was drink coffee and read. I don’t like weekends when I don’t manage to go anywhere and just sit and read in my room, so I decided to go for a stroll. I needed to go to a…
I’m in Edirne for another weekend. Over the past few weeks I’ve covered a few lessons for another teacher, so he paid me back by covering my Friday lessons and I took off for a long weekend away. I came to Istanbul in early September. In early October I came to Edirne with my dad,…