Teacher's Day

Sorry I've been out of contact lately. Last week was a holiday in Turkey, Kurban Bayram, and I was out of town in an undisclosed location (let's just say I'm a step closer to becoming a honest-to-goodness secret agent, and I'm jet-lagged like crazy right now). Kurban Bayram is a religious holiday where the family adopts an animal, usually a cow or a sheep or something like that, and raises it for a week. After growing attached to the animal, a part of the family like a pet, the holiday ends in its sacrifice. From what I've heard, this is meant to add weight to the sacrifice made to God.

I don't want to spend too much time talking about that. I've actually very little clue as to the nuances of Muslim religious practices, and I don't want to pretend anything different.

Anyway, I come back to discover that today is teacher's day in Turkey, one of Atatürk's great gifts to the Turkish Republic. I was given a sunflower, a seashell key-chain, a bag to hold coins, a refrigerator magnet, and lots of kisses and hugs from my beautiful students. It was kind of warming, actually, even if the students thought that their giving thanks to their teachers gave them license to act out in class.

Speaking of giving thanks, happy Thanksgiving, all you Americans out there! I had completely forgotten what is my favorite non-religious holiday (Passover being my ultimate favorite). Tomorrow I hope you all eat well, and please take a moment during your meal to be thankful that you have the opportunity to feast and that there are many people in the world who don't share that good fortune. And be thankful for lots of other things, too, of course.

And this brings me to another point: I've got some comments about the "Plant the Seeds" song and how depressing it was. Honestly I don't expect my readership to like it because it's so electronic; I gotta work with what's available to me. But I'm working on a new song that's going to be a much bigger crowd-pleaser, a cute love song. Keep your eyes and ears peeled!

Where in the world did that idiom come from? I don't want my eyes peeled! Gross!