22C! summer i say.

im happy that the Finnish Apprentice hired a pregnant woman, unfortunately many companies in this world would not do that.

i received books that i ordered...

Crescent and the Star by Stephen Kinzer. Whores and Other Feminists edited by Jill Nagle. Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin. so far ive only been reading the first book, about Turkey but it is very interesting nd well written, not too deep but yet a thoughtful analysis of the recent history, potential and threats of this amazing country.














and these shoes... TopShop from eBay.














i finally got a bank account last friday (Volkan assisted me). it did take 50minutes at the office, but it was done. i got this folded cardboard paper as i put 400tl on my account. how practical?! err. most things seem to work similarly to finnish banks but many fees they charge are more. for example, unless i set too 2 utility bills on automatic payment via the internet, they will charge me 32tl/16e every 6 months. thats relatively much more than finnish banks take, also, if i go to the bank to pay a bill, they charge a 30something tl fee for that! thats seriously a lot. but i think the worst is perhaps that they charge for transferring to another bank, 4tl or something. so, when i pay my rent (online), and my landlor has an account in another bank, i get charged... no wonder people prefer cash in this country, the banks are robbers! there is a zillion banks, so plenty of competition, supposedly...i dunno why the situation is this bad, it is clear that very poor people cant afford to have an account at all. and if you use the cash machine, it must be your banks machine, or else....(yes, enormous fees!). so the rows of cash machines next to each other and trying to find the right one...oh, the joy!














house kitty having a nap on a chair that is on sale on the street.