Hello once again from Anatolia (the region now known as Turkey). I know it's been a long time since I've written you from here, and I apologize to all of you who have been checking the website every day hoping to see another post. Things are quite different for me this year. Christine had to stay home and get back to work at Camarillo High, so here I am on my own. For just one year, believe me. It's a bit lonely for sure. But the days are passing quickly. Tomorrow is the 15th of December already. My lifestyle is different this time around but not all bad. I'm doing more reading than I have in decades, some amateur writing too. I often take the train to Adana and stroll through the city to Atatürk Park, a beautiful and serene place where I find a bench to sit on and read or do school work for a few hours. It's very enjoyable. There are some nice new teachers here from the states who are good kids. Evan and his wife Lauren from Minnesota, Wayne from Orange County in California - a UC Irvine graduate in fact, and Julia from Ohio by way of India where she's been teaching the past few years. They're all young enough to be my children, between the ages of Peter and Allie, but we all enjoy each other's company when we get the chance. Oh, and I've been working out a lot this year with a few of the lady teachers in the evenings. We do workouts with videos from people like Gillian Michaels and Tracey Anderson, and yoga too. Yoga is much harder than I thought. Pretty damn tough for me in fact. I thought yoga was an easy thing. You'd stretch out gently while listening to some Zen type music, maybe have a glass of wine while you're doing it. I had no idea I'd leave the gym those evenings shaking and wobbling like a newborn colt. But this stuff is good for me. I can feel how much tighter and more muscular I am. I can't wait for Christine to see me naked. I think she's going to be impressed.
