gunayden!

that's 'good morning' in turkish. slowly but surely i'm catching on to some key phrases... 'merhaba' (hi!)... 'lyi aksamlar' (good evening)... 'lyi gunler' (good afternoon)... 'tesekkur ederi' (thank you), just to name a few. the hardest part is pronouncing them correctly (for example, 'lyi askamlar' is pronounced 'e ak sham lar' with a rolled r at the end). and i often get them mixed up... last night i bid ben's grandmother 'good afternoon' as i went to bed at 11pm.

this is the best i can do until the next phase of language courses start up at the turkish-american association. then i will enroll in intensive (6 days a week for 4 hours a day) classes. i'm not sure if i'm more excited to learn turkish or just meet other people that live here whose native tongue is english.

once in a while i will run into english speakers in the office, as many international companies rent space in our building. yesterday i was in the communal kitchen trying to reach a glass in the cupboard when a rather short scottsman walked up. he saw what i was trying to do and said 'i think i'm a wee bit taller than ye' (i think he was my height exactly but wasn't wearing a constricting suit) as he reached up & took the glass down for me. i was quite charmed by this interaction-- not only because he was a really cute little scott, bearing the slightest resemblance of an elf, but also because i understood every word he said.

tonight ben & i are off to the american ambassador's residence for a soiree. it's being hosted by the fulbright commission, and hopefully will be an opportunity to meet & greet with some fellow ex-pats (and eavesdrop on chatter that i can actually comprehend). according to ben, the best part is that they serve yuengling beer at these events... but then, he's also bilingual.