long-awaited update

Hi, all.

I've been a bad blogger, I know. I've let you down. And I have excuses, lots of them. Needless to say I've been busy - up to my ears in visitors, work, and mild apartment disasters. Jonathan's visit was great, and he even got to experience a very Istanbul predicament: one day we got home from sightseeing and there was a notice on the front door, which of course I couldn't read because it was in Turkish. I forgot about it but I noticed it was soooooooo cold when I got up the next morning. It turns out, the two things were related. Kramer pointed out that my gas box thingamajig was gone, taken away because the previous tenant had closed the account, leaving us without gas or hot water. Bummer! Several days and $100 later, I had a new kombi (the heating system), but I'd also reached my last straw with my apartment. It has been nothing but a series of unexpected expenses, and my creep of a landlord (who doesn't even live in Istanbul) has done nothing to help me out. So, starting next week, I'll be living with another teacher in her fabulous apartment, also nearby school. I'm really looking forward to it.

Now my mother is visiting, so I should probably go look after her before she gets hustled into buying a carpet. More later, and I promise not to wait so long this time.