Ah, don't let the title and my long absence cause you any concern. I guess I got a little busy and far from the computer. As lame as this is, my Italian friend lent me her 750-page Elementary Turkish grammar book for the past week and I have been trying to get through it. That and a Turkish friend of mine emailed me a very dry paper on restorative dentistry (in English) for me to edit for his dentist friend. Oof ya! Both things took my free time I suppose. And yes, sure, I have been doing more interesting things as well.
One strange thing about living away from home is that you have no idea what is being reported in the papers there. The brutal murder of a prominent Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, here in Istanbul in front of his newspaper's office has gotten most of the press here for days. People are rightfully concerned that Turkey's reputation will be further tarnished worldwide. Last week some of the students in my Turkish language class couldn't physically make it to school because of the huge protest march in our neighborhood. Dink was shot in the head in his paper's neighborhood about 15 minutes away. The protest march, with estimates of 100,000 to 300,000, marched from the offices in Sisli to Taksim Square, basically the heart of downtown Istanbul. They had to close one of the major bridges in town as it was en route. Here is the latest article I could find about this in the New York Times - I am just not sure where it appeared in the actual paper - front page? I wonder:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/world/europe/21turkey.html?ex=1170219600&en=3f78b3d7ca59ecd9&ei=5070
According to Reporters Without Borders, this murder makes Turkey the 8th most dangerous country in the world for reporters. Wow. This place feels quite safe, so that seems of particular concern. However, on the flip side, I see the huge support shown for Dink and the genuine concern that so many Turks have about the situation. I wonder how important this story has been in the States. Anyone know?
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