Blackberry a convenience, or is it?

If you own a Blackberry and you have it for personal use rather than for corporate use, then you probably had the same issues as I did. This article does not tell you how to crack your BB.

I got a BB Pearl 8100 from a provider and I use it without a data plan only for voice and SMS. That really sucks because that wasnt my reason for getting it in the first place. As per submitting to a data plan, I dont want it because I dont want the emails, corporate data, corporate applications etc. I just want to use the internet for web surfing, checking my email as I have been doing even with my old Sony Ericsson.

Every BB HAS TO HAVE A LICENSE. And the primary reasons they sell BlackBerries is to increase the usage and GSM Operators plus RIM (Research In Motion) push people to sign up for a data plan if they want to use a BlackBerry. This is one of the problems you have to be aware of if you are planning to buy one.

Cloudy and Cold Weekend

Past two weeks have been busy with visitors at home, having to take on extra work-especially after the leave of a colleague-and having a cold, still not fully recovered. Plus on top of these, what they call the spring depression took over my mood. Well, know that I have it, I can give advice. Spring fatigue or spring depression is described as changes in the metabolism due to climate change, affecting human body and psychology, resulting in lack of enthusiasm, tiredness, drowsiness. Plus taking the clocks one hour forward has an affect on our body rithm. They say the best ways to get over the spring depression you should:-

-go and see friends, socialise

-take vitamins and lots of liquid

-get enough sleep

-physical exercise

For the sake of coping with this I tried to do all above and went to see friends last night, and we decided to have an early Sunday to go and have breakfast by the Bosphorus. So woke up early, they collected me and took to this cute place. Now, a great cafe that I will recommend: Nar Cafe (http://www.cafenar.com/). It's a very small cafe and has a cute design - reminded me of the cafe Effie took me by the flee market in Tel Aviv, they have mismatching elements- but better with the view of the bridge and water. Then we went another, this time very big place right by the water. It is amazing how crowded the coast line cafes and restaurants can be on a cloudy and cold Sunday morning.. Hope the clouds disappear soon.

Oblomov Syndrome

A friend of mine recently told me he is reading a book from the Russian writer Ivan Goncharov, and the main character of the book is a guy called Oblomov. This character is always creating new projects in his mind but never putting any of them in action. He is creating a world for himself, he is always busy, doing nothing...

This character reminded me of a situation I had with a friend recently who has been constantly telling me that they will do a certain thing for the last 3 weeks and not doing it. The intention is there. But it's not enough. Well, I have an intention to buy a house, I have an intention to learn flamenco dance, I have an intention to move to Caribbbean.
Does that mean I am going to do these in the near future? No way! Everybody has an intention to do something; the thing is to put it into action and do it.
Intention is just a starting point, it's the trigger, but it means nothing unless you put it into action. So, do what you say. Because next time you say something, people will not believe you. You loose from your credibility if not already have...

A good English saying for this is: "Walk the walk not just talk the talk."

Uludağ- Skiing Holiday- Day 2

So peaceful and quiet was Uludağ....

And then it started....

And then this happened... So this is in short how we got stuck in the mountains. At least we were warm and nice only bored a bit but had lots of fun. Looking forward to do it again...

Uludağ- Skiing Holiday-Day 1

Took off Friday, 15th of Feb, to Uludağ, Bursa, the most popular skiing site in Turkey, with a
group of colleagues from work, as they organised it, and two of my friends, Halil and Hatice. Bursa is only 4 hours driving distance from Istanbul, so it is a great place for a weekend get away. (or is it?)

We arrived there Friday night, the temperature difference up in Uludağ Mountain was huge for us, we were all tired, so went to sleep early to start an early day Saturday.

Started an early Saturday morning, earger to start our skiing journey, beginning with renting skii equipment, finding the proper gears, getting our chair lift pass, and getting ready for a restless day. We also arranged a private lesson with a trainer at 11am, but we were ready and steady at 10.00 to start, so what do we do? We though we would do some practice before the trainer meets us. Good idea? No way!

The ski blades are sharp like a hot knife through butter and if you don't know how to stop, you better not stand on them. Ofcourse how do we know that? So thats how I ran into an equipment store with all my speed! Poor people they could only see something coming towards them and before they know, I bumped in!
After the discouraging start, we got our trainer and learned how to do it properly, as we should all do. He gave us the basics and took us to the top of the hill and we could ski! It was ever so easy and effortless, except for the moments we fall, as it is so difficult to get up again. The ski boots are so heavy and hard that you can not move when you fall.

The rest of the day was just practising and enjoying the skiing experience, going up and down the slopes. We had the famous hot wine, tasting like punch, and also had a detour to the military area, thanks to a bright (!) friend of mine. By the time we climbed back from the military area, we were way too tired and it was time to go back to our hotel. What a day it was... to be continued...

Valentines Day

Snowing softly in St Valentine’s Day, still got the hangover from last night's entertainment in Greek Tavern for all HR team, with plate breaking, belly dancer, Greek music, Turkish music, dancing...
Lot's to do, work to finish, organising for trip, acting class, tv work, but no time... No panic, watching the snow fall so slowly can almost slow time for me...

And then I was called down the reception to my surprise as I received these lovely bunch of flowers. I made them check twice if It was me, ho ho. It was a complete surprise to me but they made my day, thank you.

Did I say last week was crazy? No, I was wrong, this week is even crazier. It is like in Britney's song, everybody wants a piece of me! So, It's a good job, I am taking this skiing holiday for the weekend to Uludağ! I'm so loooking forward to it (http://www.agaoglumyresort.com.tr/).

Recap of last 3 weeks

Woke up to a rainy Istanbul morning, lots of the dreams I was having still fresh in my mind. Indeed the last one was a pure nightmare, left me with horibble feelings, I think I was influenced by someone. Then I woke up, saw the horrible dark weather, remembered it is my weekend, time to rest after all that rush, which left me with no time to write on my blog...

After I had breakfast and become fully awake, I was ready to put all that happened during last 3 weeks during which I did not write. (has it been that long?) First I have to start with flatmate coming to visit me for a week. It was a crazy week althogether. We had many friends visiting home, which kind of reminded me of the university time again. Then another visitor came which made it even crazier and complicated. I was promised and contracted for things but let down by certain people. Sure It's their loss, but what goes around comes around.

After two crazy weeks, last week was a total busy week at work! On top of that I enrolled to an acting class given by a well known actor, with many awards. Happy about that as the classes are really fun... Finally time to relax and unwind at the weekend. Oh, at least I have my weekend... I even cook, ho ho...

So confused by time

Having made new plans for the weekend, and a to do list, yes I am one of those people who make lists. It may be a left brain activity but works for me, I can organise myself. It's a great feeling to cross things off your list. From today's list, I was able to cross off many items, jobs. So it was an effective day for me. I sticked to my plan.
I came back home and watching the news, as I heard them saying it's been one year since the murder of Hrant Dink, the Armenian journalist, this is the first anniversary. I was so shocked! It was like they were playing a joke on me, broadcasting the news of a different year, or like buying a paper and seeing the date 1981. It's impossible, right?
I was so shocked because it felt like yesterday since this event happened. One year? No way! Impossible. It could be maximum a couple of months. One year? No way! My brain went funny and confused. So confused. Can't be true... First I denied, they must be mistaken or making a joke. But no. God time flies by so fast. So fast. Somebody said, after your twenties, it is like you are on a train and you can't get off at the stop that you want to. Oh dear. So depressing. May be this is why people after some age forget what age they are and act like they are twenty..
Just had a call from a friend who will come by, great. So I should go.

After a long, tiring, stresful week had a sunny, easy going friday and finally finished the week. Started my freedom hours by going to the mall only to shop for more hotpants and t-shirts and ofcourse a take-away. Shopping on top of a stressful week helped me unwind but still my body could not take much and let myself to the chair at home. So good..
Having heard that the weather will be all clear and sunny all weekend, started to make weekend plans. Yes! New plans, as the old plans that I made for the weekend was different. I used to extremely annoyed when I plan for something and something gets in the way. If I planned to do 3 things that day (things can be going somewhere, meeting someone, buying sth, dealing with a job, etc) and for some reason I couldn't do one or two of them, in the order that I want, then it would be a disaster for me. But life is nothing like that ofcourse and I pretty much dropped that. For this weekend in particular, I was weary of not making any serious plans, as you probably have heard of the saying 'cry wolf', in the tale of the shepherd and the wolf. The shepherd boy watched a flock of sheep close to a village, and winds up the villagers, telling that the wolf is coming but nothing happens. After so many times of crying wolf, no one believes the boy. I had this happening to me many times, people give promises to meet, to do things, to go to places, but when it turns out that they are not capable of keeping their promises, we learn not to care, like the villagers did. You will eventually care for them as much or as little as they care for you. May be they like variety and that is the way they are, they want to keep it that way, then tough, let them have variety but if that's not what you want, then you will eventually let other people who have been trying so hard to become close to you. Happiness is when you spend your precious time with people who really care about you, and be there for you, who will take you to that special concert regardless of where it is. Somebody that only knew me for 2 days made a very correct analysis about me and said that I tend to generalise/simplify things, or tell things at a high level, as we call 'chunk up' in Nlp terms. I will chunk up this subject as well, as I have to close it now.. Next job: put some muscle relaxant as my neck is killing me...

Shop shop shop

Woke up at 09.00am on a Saturday morning to go for shopping! If somebody told me there was fire next door I wouldn't move, but shopping, that's something else...

Not only did I wake up early, but I had to cross a continent, going across to the other side of Istanbul, from Europe to the Asian side over the Bosporus with a ferry to Kadikoy, as there was a big sales in Mango. I know that sounds crazy but that's how our brain works guys, I'm sorry...

Well, I wasn't the only one least to say. But our efforts paid back and we got out with nice pieces of clothing.

After the shopping we deserved breakfast after which we went to Bagdat Street or Cadde Bostan, the posh area of the Asian side with my friend only to shop more and have coffee...

A long day it was but what else can a girl want? ho ho

Hot and Cold

Snowy days did not last long and we have sunny bright days now. I am lucky to have a great view of Maslak, the business centre of Istanbul, from my desk at work, having a terrace acting as a meteorology center to me. And the weather has been really changing and unstable lately. I love the sun, but one moment its there and the next moment its gone. You can't really trust it. And I have to adjust myself to the changing weather conditions. If I wear a t-shirt and the next moment it is snowing, I will be ill.

Just like with people, where the other person could be hot and cold all the time. One moment its great, next moment its not there. It's always hot and cold, and I want it to be warm all the time. I need time to adjust between hot and colds. It is making me ill. I will take extra warm jumpers with me to keep me warm. And jumpers got nothing to do with bumpers of cars.

Wedding

Murat got married last Saturday, the 5th of January, and my ex-flatmate (she hates to be called that) has been bugging me to see the photos, as she couldn't make it to the wedding. And here they are:

The life of an interpreter is a difficult one... You never know what to expect when you are asked to do a job, just like it happened to me today. I was asked to do translation in a group discussion meeting between 15:30 and 19:30. They told me it was about a market research.
When I got there it was in a house, obviously it was a company working home office style, in a dublex apartment. Then we all got into this small cosy room where they had a television and sound system and the aim was to listen to another group of students discussing in the next room, who did not know that they were listened to as a part of market research. They were asked questions about how they felt about the brands, etc. I remembered doing a similar focus group translation but that was simultaneous (where the translators listen to the conversation from the headphones and translate to a microphone), and not consecutive.
The biggest surprise was that they told me it was to finish at 9.30pm. 2 hours later than I was told!! I was ready to walk out as I told them that I was told something else and they could not say much as I was right. But I stayed.

May be you've had similar situations where you were expecting one thing, and something totally different happened. You don't always get what you were promised. What do you do? Do you walk away or just stay and try to make the best out of it.

Well it happens a lot to interpreters and the best thing to do is to make the best of the situation without giving any compromises.

Swap places

Sweet atmosphere of snow did not last long before it turned to a frost and me missing the summer again. Talking about missing summer, I just heard from a friend of mine, Anthony, living in Melbourne, who told me December 31 was so hot there, 42 C !!.. (I envy them) And then he said a while ago he was flicking through his Istanbul trip photo album and came accross our picture and the fact that he was looking around for someone to take the photo and I said "let me, I'll find someone" and out of 20 million people in Istanbul, I picked the woman least likely in the world to be able to use a digital camera!

(December 3, 2006, in front of Cevahir, shopping mall)

Now that it snows here and it is so hot in Australia, he also said the idea of a white Christmas /NY is a real novelty for him. For the people in the southern hemisphere it is a dream to have a NY with snow, and for us Northern hemisphere people it is a dream to have a NY with hot weather. So, here is the offer: why dont we swap places next year and you be having Christmas and New Year in snow and I will be in my bikinis and standing upside down ???

Snow in Istanbul

Although I am not a winter lover, indeed just the opposite, I will still say, It finally snowed in Istanbul!

After all the climate change problems, we are all experiencing extreme weather conditions like the drought we had last summer, floods, and other conditions in other places. But the normal, expected weather is not there. It used to snow a lot more in the past but timely. So today was the first time it snowed this year, and it was such a great view..

Fashion- Hotpants

60's & 70's hotpants are back, as it happens in fashion, everything that goes around comes around. And I love them. As I was shopping for new year presents I couldn't help but indulged myself with presents for me, including hotpants, colourful tights to go with them, t-shirt, belt, etc.

I am not sure if hotpants are originally from the 60's or 70's (I wasn't around then), and I could not find clear information about it, but if you know and you are still around you can enlighten me.

Girls, you must have one of these, with the boots and different types of tights; the high waist belts are also a must have and very handy.

Well, tomorrow I'll be in my suit looking very serious for a big event for which I will be translating and top officials speaking. So, no hotpants tomorrow...

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all!

Hope all of you had a wonderful time as I did last night. I was invited to a house party arranged by a friend of mine, and had great fun playing games, meeting new people, eating too much (as we should all do in the new year's night), had a proposal (happens to me every so often), and so on... The great thing about gathering such a group is that you get to discover little secrets of people you barely know, and you give away yours, and it's okay, it's fun.. Having had a great night, and breakfast at beach in Besiktas, we checked the paper for the lottery tickets we bought as a tradition, but I hit a blank one, well two. I am back home now, searching for hangover remedies as I feel a little dehydrated, and dizzy. Well, the best one is to drink lots of water I guess.

Photos to come later, if I receive them..