Empty Nest Expat

The Goddess of Democracyfrom Tiananmen Squarecirca 1989Václav Havel and the Czechs inspired my 'Empty Nest Expat' adventure. I knew people who could elect a playwright as President were different in a way I couldn't define than me and my countrymen. The Czech Republic seemed like such a delightfully highbrow learned society. I wanted to learn all about the Czechs by moving overseas and seeing what they were like.To this day, I'm inspired by Václav Havel. This week, I...

Turkish teenage zombiesLast weekend I was traveling from one side of Istanbul to another. That takes a few hours. I know the mainstream thing to do is to be armed with one of Steve Job's IPods for company, but for heaven sakes, I'm in Istanbul! If I just keep my eyes and ears open, entertainment will present itself.Henry James said we should aspire to be "one of those on whom nothing is lost.? You can't very well do that with earbuds blaring. If you look around at bus passengers...

I remember when I hit 50 friends on my blog. I was so excited! I'm just shy of 100 now and I would love to move into triple digits. Could you help me do that by following my blog' I would be ever so grateful. Thank you!

Istanbul cast of the 2012 English-language versionof "The Vagina Monologues"?What a delight it was to gather one last time with my fellow cast members of the 2012 Istanbul English-language "Vagina Monologues" and meet their families, boyfriends, and friends at our cast dinner. We reunited at an Indian restaurant near Taksim Square in the Tamirhane area.Musafir Indian Restaurantin the Tamirhane NeighborhoodNear Taksim?This doesn't strike meas an evil eye, how about you'Surprisingly, our...

One night I was invited to a gal's night out with about six Turkish married women. My friends were organizing themselves to see a new Turkish movie with an all-female cast called ?Kurtulu' Son Durak.? I hadn't even yet seen the inside of our local movie theatre and was pleasantly surprised by the deluxe leather or leather-like Lazy-Boy style chairs. It was a beautiful theatre and very, very comfortable. I bought a giant popcorn to complete the...

Some of our fabulous castfor "The Vagina Monologues"Pictured left to right: Tara, Demet, Yasemin, me,Monique, Harika, and KendraThe play posterOne of my fellow cast members in DreamTree's production of "The Vagina Monologues," remarked at what an amazing feat it was for Donna M.E. Banks, an American and Kendra Tyre, a Canadian to move to Istanbul and within six months start up a theatre production company and put on Eve Ensler's play. These two ladies had known each other as teachers...

Great movements often start in coffee shops.Vaclav Havel famously metwith his fellow Czech dissidentsin the Cafe Slavia across fromthe National Theatre in Prague.My expatriate American friends,Donna and Kendra,newly arrived in Turkey,had decided to organize a VDay eventwith both expatriate and Turkish women.They decided to produce the play"The Vagina Monologues"in Istanbul.Auditions were over.Our first rehearsalwas at an Istanbul coffee shop.We shyly came together,that day in February.I...

On the first stunning weekend of Springwe met to discuss an amazing bookin a beautiful homeoverlooking the Bosphorus.Knowing that my Ghanian friend Clarence wouldn't be in Istanbul forever, I asked him if we could read an African book and have him moderate our discussion at our Global Minds Book Club, which he founded.My view of Africa from Istanbul was completely different than the view I had back home. In America, the only thing one reads about Africa in the media is generally...

I was proud to moderateGeorge Orwell's brilliant book"Animal Farm"at Global Minds Book Club?One of the Istanbul-based groups advertised on the Internations expatriate social network that attracted my attention was the fairly new ?Global Minds Book Club.? I love reading and discussing books and have belonged to several book clubs over the years. The organizing mission of this group was to read books from all around the world and discuss them with people from all around the world who...

Maiden's Tower on the BosphorusI haven't blogged here for awhile.  It is not because I don't have a million things to say; I do. I have had to choose - between spending time learning Turkish - or blogging. Turkish won. It's not like I have a staff who can help me keep my blog going while I study: gidiyorum, gidiyorsun, gidiyor. The authenticity of my blog is that it is merely me, myself, and I.I've had so much fun learning Turkish, I've put "learning another language"...