This and That

• Paint is a strange thing in Turkey. My office is painted lavender, the Engineering department is pink, Mike's apartment is a mustard orange. Last week, for whatever reason, the department decided to paint all the office doors gray and the doorjambs burnt umber. Not only does it look terrible, but the fumes were devastating. They must have been using the most noxious paint possible because even a moment near it and I wanted to die. Let's just say I spent as little time in my office as possible. Even now, a week later, I can smell the fumes.
• Work is ok, but I am becoming a real meanie. I hate my 8-o'clock classes. I hate waking up, showering in the cold, and walking to work. I especially hate when I arrive at 8 and only a handful of students are there. On Tuesday, I'd had enough. I refused to let any students in the class after 15 minutes (I know, it is shocking behavior, but Turkish students routinely come to class late and leave early. Tardiness like that never happened in my American classrooms). Many students complained, and even one cried, but I would not relent. I had that class again on Friday morning at 8. I was sure I'd either go to a full classroom or one that was completely empty. I was delighted when not a single student came more than 5 minutes late. I should have been fed up weeks ago!
• I've finally become a proper Turkish wife. This week I made börek. E was astonished. He couldn't believe I'd actually made it AND that it tasted so good. He gave me the ultimate compliment: “This is better than my mother's börek”!!!
• On Friday, E and I were eating lunch at home when we heard a bunch of women in the hallway. This was very strange since only Mike lives on our floor. We opened the door and saw three women trying to open the apartment door across from ours. They said they had the wrong key. Personally, I was convinced they had the wrong apartment since no one has lived in that apartment since I moved in over 1.5 years ago. Nevertheless, the women insisted it was their apartment. They went down and got the building maintenance crew who broke into the apartment. Clearly, at some point, they must have realized that it was not their apartment because we haven't heard anything since then. E and I are perfectly happy without neighbors, and I don't want that to change.
• I'm very proud of E who has been going to football/soccer practice all week. He is trying out for a team and has been working very hard. However, I don't have high hopes. He is so weak and has little endurance. Even if he doesn't make the team, though, these few weeks of practice surely must have been beneficial for his health.
• For date night this week, we went shopping at the mall. I wanted to find a new LONG dress or skirt for my birthday since E has heart failure every time I try to wear something knee length (and, I must say, I feel like such an ugly, dowdy, married woman these days). We were unsuccessful, much to E's disappointment, so we went to a movie instead. We saw The Box, which has to be one of the worst films in the history of films. After the movie, E said, “Even a movie about our lives would be better than that.” I agreed, but don't hold your breath for the movie version of our lives.