1 Down. Show optimism. 4 letters.

It is past four pm here and I just put pants on for the first time. I love you, Saturday. Yesterday was the toughest work day to date - I taught 7 classes, if I recall correctly. To top it off, it took over one hour to get "home" (it usually takes 20 or 30 minutes). I didn't get a seat on the bus until the last five minutes of my ride. When I got here my knees were killing me. Like, even when I was sitting down. Am I 100 years old? Luckily Friday night we usually eat incredible fish, and yesterday was no exception. And then sleep, glorious glorious sleep.

But yesterday was great in a major way for me, if only for this one reason. When I was eating breakfast in the English teacher's lounge (females only, by the by) I spotted a newspaper...in English. I picked it up and started reading. It is called Today's Zaman (tagline: "Your Way of Understanding Turkey")[link]. I was so happy to be reading in English that I totally forgot about the CROSSWORD!!! and when I found it I was stoked! And I promised myself to save it for today, which I did. This is a daily newspaper, but I have never seen it in any of the stores around me (no duh) but I plan on picking one up at school on the weekdays. Yes! The little things, I'll tell you what.



Lunch at the school I teach at is awk (as previously mentioned). Picture this: a couple of the teachers eat with their students (one teacher per class), but mostly the teachers eat in their gender-specific teacher sections, with the teacher's food separating them (along with a divider). What? So, yesterday the British Bro and I ate together at one of the students' tables since we can't sit together in the teachers' sections (WTF). I really appreciate the dirty looks I get from the female teachers (no) and the curious looks from some of the students (note: "some", not all, because kids are awesome). But. We (British Bro and I) were talking about living situations and he said he was planning on renting a cheap one bedroom place that is a little further away and then furnishing it himself. I asked him, "Won't that be expensive, furnishing it yourself?" and he goes, "Maybe a little bit, but it will be worth it because I can then live there next year when I work here again." At this point I think I picked my jaw up from the table as my mind went through this thought process: DAY FIVE OF THIS JOB AND THIS DUDE IS TALKING ABOUT NEXT. YEAR. I wish I felt that sure about anything in my life. Or do I? But either way, that is extremely strange to me. Extremely. I don't know.

Today I am making it my duty to return emails (sorry) and make a couple of phone calls. And finish this crossword.

Kisses/misses,


P.S.: Something sweet to look at: [1]