AwkwardInk

Five days is all it takes for me to get a good all over tan. Well I should say, that is of course if the weather holds up and the sun consitantly comes out to play. Lucky we were then that we were in Turkey and not somewhere else. After the recent slow start to the tanning season in London, it was a very welcome change.
Pissy, ben, Jarrod and I woke up in darkness to make our 6.55am flight into Istanbul last monday morn. None of us had been there before and we were perhaps a little bit unprepared for the subleties of travelling in such a different country. Turkey is I think I read somewhere, the only country that spans two continents, and it was an exotic diverse place that greeted us.

We checked into our very dodgy hostel for the night, and luckily were so preoccupied with sightseeing that a minimal amount of time was needed to be spent in the stinky room. Although I admit that the room cost us about £6 each for the night, and included breakfast in the morning. So I really shouldn't complain all that much!
We wandered around Sultenhamet near the blue mosque and caught the ferry over to Asia. We visted some very old building like the St Sophia which was first built in 547AD or something ridiculous. And avoided as best we could the calls of the street vendors in the Spice Market. I felt safer travelling with some boys, as most of the people working in the stores were men who seemed keen to do the hard sell. Ben stopped to talk to one seller who was apparently from Brisbane and when Pissy and I didn't go over to talk to them because we didn't really understand what was going on, the seller remarked to ben, 'Oh those girls are as hard as bricks!'
It is a strange thing attracting so much attention on the streets, but I think most of it is merely a cultural difference that takes some getting used to.

I remember when I went to Nepal and I was quite freaked out by how the store sellers would call out. Some of the callers out in Istanbul were a bit more honest about it all, calling out toungue in cheek, 'hello, can I harrass you?' or 'can I take your money please?'. There was also the amusing incident involving a turkish guy strolling past us staring at pissy's chest and making an audible groan. i don't know if it was merely coincidence, but Ben seemed less than sympethetic and seemed under the impression that Pissy should just put them away.
We had a great lunch where I learnt that a standard salad comes with finely chopped peices of Jalepeno type chilles! We also tried some delicious turkish pancake, called Gozleme stuffed with potatoe, spinich and fetta, and sampled some traditional turkish tea.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to take a long weekend abroad in Amsterdam. I met up with Pissy and Ben there, and we enjoyed perfect weather over the whole three days. I seem to be filled with anxiety when it comes to the sun these days. If the sun comes out, I can't help but thinking it might leave at any moment, so I force myself to enjoy it whilst I can, ever conscious that it will probably leave and leave me cold again. Which is perhaps a strange by product of living in London where the weather is unpredicatble at best.



But the weather in Amsterdam was ridiculously perfect. Allowing us to enjoy wandering around the city, eating picnic lunches and crusing around the canals.
I had a few hiccups with my flying there and back, like my bag being left in Heathrow, whilst I flew away. But the weekend was so nice, I found it easy not to stress out about such minor things.
Highlights included the Anne Frank House (or Huis) which was an eery reminder that the war wasn't all that long ago. I also loved the Van Gogh museum. I learnt alot about him, which I hadn't known before. I was quite surprised to learn that Vincent only decided to become an artist when he was 26 years old. It gives one some hope I guess. Although Vincent's death by a self inflicted gun shot, accompanied by a two day death is not the end that I would wish for myself. There were many works that I had not seen before and I was struck by how beautiful many of paintings were. Beautiful and emotive. I also really liked the fact that there were some of Gauguin's works whch had been produced at the same time as vincent's, sitting in the gallery as well. My favourite was the portrait that Gauguin did of Vincent painting sunflowers. Really beautiful.
We also had much good food, in the form of a quite fancy indonesian dinner and market stuff from the local farmer's market. Pissy and I were also blown away by the fact that McDonalds in amsterdam, not only serve chocolate sundaes (which are not available in Britain), but they also have the deccency to include Nuts with them! Definately my idea of the perfect Sundae. Both Pissy and I were overwhelmed by the taste sensations. We even went so far as to remark that it might have been the most amazing thing we had ever eaten. Surely an exaggeration! But for that moment, we believed it as truth.



Amsterdam rocked. And I'm now a few shades darker.
Next week we go to Turkey! I hope the good summer weather continues....(check out the link to my photos to see more pics)

I have been having some fun designing some baby cards for one of the people at work. I came up with two ideas. One very japanese school cutesy. And one a bit more sophisticated, inspired by the Bjork cover that I love so much.

So I went for a look around Liberty near oxford circus, and I was quite unable to walk away without making a purchase. Luckily I was able to assuage my need to buy, through the act of picking out gifts. I found the most amazing selection of fabric on the third floor, and after being reassured that it was 100% cotton, I picked out a couple for my mum. so I've sent it home with a request for a red, white and pink quilt. I look forward to seeing how it turns out!
I often search for fabric for my mum, but I rarely find anything special enough for me to buy. It all has the same sameness about them. The fabrics at Liberty are truly beautiful and almost worth the price!

Fed up on sushi, we trouped off to kareoke for some bonding in the graphics team. Here we are outside Bar Italia in Soho, all sung out!

Those of you who know my family won't be surprised by the fact that my parents have acquired a new baby. Greif stricken since Tavi's death, Ma and Pa did the only thing they knew how. They surfed the net and found a suitable baby. It is surprising to all of us, at how high tech they seem to have become.
Pissy recieved a phone call at some ungodly time on friday morning asking for the go ahead for the acquisition of the new baby, and she very sleepily agreed that it was a good idea.
I was a quite uninformed though, but was not surprised when I was told in my routine saturday morning phone call with excited gasps of the new arrival into our family. She had only been bought home a couple of hours previous and still hadn't been given a name. Momo (the other dog) nudged her, as if to say 'Who the hell are you?'
So after much searching it seems that the name Sassafras (Sass for short)has been settled on as the name of choice. I want to be at home playing with her. But all I can do is listen to the funny stories and look at the funny pics my dad has taken (obviously he's still working out how to use the digital camera from the look of the pics).