The Return of Puffy

Puffy, also known around Ankara cat circles as the "boss of bosses" and "the blob," made her triumphal return to our flat (apartment) at Bilkent University. Gone for two years, thanks to Umit's extended trip to the United States -- Binghamton University, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson Center -- she needed about five minutes to get used to her old place.

Inbetween eating, Puffy spends her time sleeping on various window sills and occasionally, during rare moments when she is awake, checking out the black and white crows that mockingly fly by. Then a little stretch, a yawn, and it's back to sleep. All in a day's hard work!

The students in my Communication's class are brightening my life here. They have all created their own blogs, and are indeed quite "creative." Their blogs are where they post their assignments, for all to see and comment on. I think the best way to learn about new media is to jump in and start, and they all have.

Thanks to the Internet, I don't miss the states at all. I stayed up to 5 a.m. and watched the Super Bowl online on nfl.com (for a fee) and Skype is letting me call anywhere in the states for practically nothing (.017 euros per minute!). My complaints are minor: no large drug stores (Europe has only tiny pharmacies), commercials in the middle of movies (intermission), and no objective, non-opinionated newspaper (but there are several in English). Apart from those items, it's hard to tell that I am not on a college campus in Akron, Ohio. My students seem just like students everywhere, except perhaps here in Turkey they dress up more.

A bird just flew by my desk window and Puffy almost fell off her perch. Poor thing, she's probably exhausted now.