At Home, Sort of.

Hi All!

I write to you from Cupertino, California, i.e. HOME! I arrived a few days ago, a few days that have just been a blur of family, Christmas spirit, Filipino parties, lots of food, and madddddd culture shock.

I'll quickly get the point of this blogpost, which is that I feel only partially present here at home. I described it yesterday like I was going through the motions of American/Californian life. All the comforts of home are wonderful, but not normal anymore. Obviously, in some time, life here, habits here, daily things here will again become my own. But my mind is preoccupied with thoughts of Turkey - and this perhaps will persist for much longer.

Today, my brain was occupied with the research paper I'm writing for my Foreign Policy of the Turkish Republic class, which is basically about the relationship between the United States and Turkey in regards to Northern Iraq-Kurdistan. I'm feeling exhausted after a day of reading about the violent history of the region and power-play politics.

Also, all day I was yearning to have someone to chat with about all this, which brings me to one of the key things I miss a lot about Turkey - people who are interested in Turkey! It's somewhat of a rarity here in my tech-obsessed Silicon Valley, and also at UC San Diego. I'm missing my friends/future colleagues in Istanbul with whom I can chat without end about any of these issues.

Anyways enough of that. Next post, I think, shall be about the history of Iraqi-US relations.