Kait's quiet mid-week projects

Due to a few cancelled and rescheduled classes, the last two days have been quiet ones for me; just one class (two hours) per day. It’s been nice- I’ve been left with lots of free time to do stuff I love. Yesterday I hopped on my usual 7:30 bus out to the Asian side, where a student picks me up at 8:45 for our 9-11 lesson. It’s a long bus ride, but I usually don’t mind: the scenery is mostly nice, I always get a seat on the bus, and I get to sit, listen to music or an audiobook, or snooze for a good chunk of time. We had a good lesson, and then I caught the bus back to Taksim, walked the 10 minutes home, and was done with my workday by 12:30 

I was feeling Betty Crocker-ish, probably due to the lovely audiobook I was blasting from my i-Pod (Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”), so I ended up cleaning the whole apartment, doing three loads of laundry in our tiny washing machine and hanging them up to dry in front of the space heater, and undertaking a bunch of cooking projects. We had a bunch of potatoes and the gravy packets I’d brought from home, which amazingly survived the holidays, so I made baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and salad. I also made my first ever batch of homemade applesauce, and it will definitely not be my last! I’ve been missing applesauce for two years…if I had only known that a handful of apples, some water, a bit of sugar and a pinch of cinnamon could somehow turn into one of the best things I’ve ever tasted! Seriously, it’s better than apple pie a la mode. Mmmmm. Bliss.

Ace made it home by six, and we had dinner and then I practiced my guitar (for the second time ever). I’m now able to fumble my way through three chords, and I’ve developed these weird, numb feeling spots on the tips of my middle fingers on my left hand from awkwardly pressing the strings so hard. It’s not unpleasant- it reminds me of music every time my fingers tingle. I found an amazing website, JustinGuitar.com, which has the most helpful video lessons- from “how to tune your guitar” and “how to hold your pick” all the way up to stuff so fancy I don’t even know what it means. It’s wonderful, and I’m so glad I have a (free!) teacher to keep me on track, even if he doesn’t know I exist.

Last night I dragged myself out of the house (it’s so hard for me to get out on icky winter’s nights, even when it’s unseasonably warm like it is here) to go to a Spanish Conversation session. It was great- a bunch of people that met through Couchsurfing, a travel and cultural exchange website I belong to, that meet up weekly to chat and drink tea. There were people of all levels there, from non-speakers to natives, and it reminded me both how much I know and how much I still have to learn. There were lots of good laughs, and I guess they usually go out for drinks (of the alcoholic kind, not the caffeinated kind) afterwards, though I left early. Hopefully I’ll be able to go again soon. While we’re on the Spanish subject- I also became a member of the local Spanish Cultural Center’s library, which I’ve been meaning to do forever. I now have access to tons of movies and books in Spanish, and I’ve been enjoying having something to read, especially as it’s so expensive to buy English (or Spanish) books from bookstores here. I’m inching my way through an autobiography right now, Memorias Prematuras, and while there are loads of words I don’t understand, I’m getting the gist of it. I think.

This morning I didn’t have any classes, so I allowed myself the luxury of lounging in bed till 7:30. I put my audiobook on and cooked up a massive batch of fresh tomato spaghetti sauce to freeze, wrote in my journal, and practiced some guitar again (that makes 3 times! I’m practically a pro now, right?) I daydreamed about stuff to put on the registry we’re starting to put together (mostly food-related), then finally headed out of the house. I finished the time-intensive task of figuring out a rough game plan for India and buying domestic flights and train tickets last week, but we still needed some medications for the intestinal afflictions that are almost sure to keep us debilitated for our two weeks in India.
I walked by “cat square”, the creative moniker I’ve given the open lot near our apartment where about 30 strays eat, play, and have their adorable little kittens. The “cat angel” was there, the guy that I always see pouring food and water, shooing dogs, and occasionally giving eye drops. I assume he’s also the one that built the plywood shelters the kitties love so much. He knows me by now, and nodded at me as I pet my favorite kitten. I want to ask how to help, but the language barrier is too great- I really should figure out some way to get around it, though.

I hit the pharmacy, where I said something eloquent like “I go India” and pointed at the appropriate vocab in my dictionary. Here, if you have a minor problem, you can skip the doctors visit and go straight to the pharmacist, tell him what’s up, and get your prescriptions from him. I left with two packs of medication for about $3.50. It’s kinda sad that I’m more afraid of getting sick in the U.S. with health insurance than I am of getting sick in Turkey without. It’s amazing how cheap medication has been in Korea and Turkey, and it really makes it real to me how obscene the profits that companies in the U.S. are making off our sick people.
I moved on to the gym, where I had a nice workout, then came home for dinner and a blog before the conversation class I’ll lead this evening. I’ve got it good.