Oh... Beautiful Day.

Some of you may have seen the comic strip in my wallet. There are three panels. On the first, there is a dog chained to a post saying, "I start every day believing today is the day I'll be unchained." In the second panel, he says nothing, but stares blankly into the sky. On the last, he says, "Oh... Beautiful Day."

That comic strip has been in my wallet for the last 3 1/2 years now, and it's been pulled out at pubs in at least 10 different countries, as I drunkenly try to explain the significance. "Lookee, friend! He zhush doeshnt give up, you know. Like you and... like me! We'z zsush differnt. We'z shtrong."

However, the point really is, I believe, that although the dog knows that he won't actually be let free, he hopes for it every day, and that hope keeps him happy.

Well, I guess that's a lot like me and Istanbul. Even as I was packing my bags and jumping on that train to Bulgaria, I knew I'd be back here. I wanted to get back to adventure, to new and exotic places, to freedom. However, I didn't firmly believe that I'd be able to stay away, and I was right. In the end, as I was stumbling drunkenly around BAPHA, waiting for my job to begin, I got a very important email, and I had to make a difficult and adult decision, (Yeah, me! Adult decision!). I chose to forgo Bulgaria and come back to Istanbul for my career.

Özyeğin University, a new private university here in Istanbul (opening in September) offered me a job, and I'd have been a fool not to take it. Basically, this rich philanthropist, Hüsnü Özyeğin, has decided to open up a university and is determined to make it the premier university in the region (Eastern Europe and Middle East). To this end, he's investing A BILLION DOLLARS of his own money, purchasing the best equipment money can buy and hiring the best teachers he can find (not yet sure why I got the job). And if he succeeds in his goal, my being one of the founders of the EFL department in such a cutting-edge university means my career is set.

So, here I am, starting a fourth year in Istanbul. Got a few mixed-feelings about it, but I've already met a lot of cool new people at the university, and the year's already starting out really well. I even went on a short holiday down to the south of Turkey with one of my colleagues, Anna. She's Armenian, but she's more LA than any American I've ever met.

I'm going to start my DELTA (Diploma for English Language Teaching A...something)in October, which is almost equivalent to another M.A. Maybe this is what I need. A serious job, a career, a work permit, stability... I guess it's about time for those things.

To that end, I went and rented myself a fantastic apartment, and spent way too much money at IKEA. Bloody IKEA... It's in downtown Kadikoy, with a fantastic view of the Bosphorous, like none I've ever seen. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right.

I'm putting down roots, God help me.