Plugs

On the topic of being a foreigner in Turkey, there is an interesting post and discussion in the comments shaping up over at realmotherhood, the blog of a fellow foreign mom in Istanbul. I often find our blogs complementary-- Siobhan has different perspectives on similar topics of expat-wife-and-mom life, and there are often things I think of but forget to write that turn up in her posts, making me think, duh! Why didn't I come up with that? If our blogs were people, they would be a crotchety old couple finishing each others' sentences. Plus, her son is darling.

On an unrelated topic, David Vincent at ELT World is preparing to release the third issue of his online journal, Horizons: The Journal of ELT World. He was kind enough to feature one of my posts in Issue 2, and has requested to use another post in the upcoming issue. I'm not just plugging him as a way of plugging myself. He's done a really nice job not only with the journal, but with his ELT blog and accompanying forums. All this, plus a job, a small child, and a baby. ELT World is one of my few remaining ties to the world of teaching and Istanbul EFL, though I admit it does remind me at times that being a dad must be very, very different from being a mom.

No offense to the dads out there. It's just that, at the moment, LE is watching the re-scheduled Galatasaray-Konyaspor match (the first was cancelled due to a lovely dump of snow) with his dad (one reason the snow is lovely is it's kept BE home from work). Only LE isn't really watching the game. The door to living room is closed to keep LE out of the kitchen with its enticing trash can, but there is a lower pane of glass missing on the door, so LE is sticking his head out looking at me here on the computer, alternating between throwing his toys out the hole and sobbing because he can see me and I'm not coming to him. I can see my hour and half of freedom dwindling to 40 minutes, since in a few minutes he will be so worked up with rage and confusion at my absence that only some nursing time will ease his pain.