Several of last summer's language project students returned this year for additional lessons and I had the pleasure of hosting one of them at my place for a few weeks .. one day we decided it would be more beneficial to hold the lesson on a boat - after all, what's the point of learning a language if you don't have access to ordinary activities in which to employ those new skills ?.. while we were out in the warm blue Aegean we took advantage of the opportunity to go scuba diving ..
It was nice to have company, even though it meant I was doing a lot of additional cooking (though I'm fairly used to that as certain people will know) and using ingredients I wasn't particularly familiar with preparing - but that meant I was learning too .. according to my colleagues we were probably eating out every night: not true! Every other night maybe .. Although my student has returned to Istanbul now, I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again ..
Anyway, it's been another hot summer of sunshine every day, which, when not teaching or entertaining, has presented plenty of opportunities for swimming and walks along the beach as well as the obligatory history trips and a couple of wild rides across borders that took me far beyond the Edge of the Map ..
Hopefully I'll have the chance to share some of the excitement and adventure with you soon ..
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