charging batteries for hosting

so im slowly recovering from the holiday. in the last night i was grinding my teeth, doctor said. i guess i was stressed deep down. stressing 24/7/365 is my super power, no one can take that from me...

now im getting back to work, doing a ton of laundry and getting ready for a MONTH of guest hosting. jesus. i really do enjoy people coming over but every one, right now? i do want them to come, but it will be tough. and expensive. i need to find some ways to eat home cheap and still take friends to nice dinner places, perhaps awkward but i really cant eat (and drink) out for a month...

actually 1 of the guests is from syria, not a friend really, an acquaintance. he hosted me through couchsurfing in Damascos, at his familys home - who all treated me well and even shared their food with me. last we talked over a year ago his family was still safe, but i guess things have changed, apparently a lot, it sounded bad. a year ago i also learned that he is actually (ideologically) supporting the president. so, umm, woah. i did want to ask why the nice president isnt fixing things for him but its not my place maybe, i have my (strong) opinions and thats that. he said he is sneaking out of Syria, coming to Istanbul to try an get a refugee visa to Brazil. so i agreed to host him for a few days as i have a break between the finnish friends. the selfish me obviously wanted those days for some alone time but this was a moment for self reflection....  how do i treat a person who treated me well and whom i think is wrong in his views? its not like a nazi soldier or something. its only a 100 yrs ago that finland was divided in 2...  (although we rather not talk about it). anyway, my conscience says i should help out.

this article "talking to strangers makes you happy" made perfect sense. its something that i realized in turkey. mostly turkey promotes talking with your neighbors, shopkeepers, the shopkeepers cousin and your brother in laws uncles friend...  but there is plenty of talk with strangers too. and i have noticed all of that makes me happier.

im surprised that in 2014 the travel apps are still so offline-unfriendly...  thats the one thing a traveler often doesnt have at a critical time: internet. doing research before and being able to save the crucial maps and stuff? TripAdvisor and Foursquare both have some save functions but it only seems to work on Foursquare with cache (not after restarting the app), so, not really. TripAdvisor app barely opens without internet, isnt that embarrassing? Foursquare should be also clearer - perhaps its the generally new UI that confuses me?? there should be a "save" button everywhere on a travel app. i realize that can be confused with "save as a favorite" though, so its difficult. but id expect more. i used these apps every day the past 10 days and im not impressed. where Foursquare tumbles... nevermind, ill post about that another time.

thank god the True Blood saga came to and end. it was bout time, only some 4 seasons late...  and what a horrible ending, some things just... uff.

my favorites these days:
Hozier: Take Me To Church (spotify link)
Paolo Nutini: Iron Sky (spotify link)