rebecca soble

A question lots of people are asking:  What possessed me to head off to Turkey on my own?

I felt like I was stagnating in my life, all my work was sort of at a dead end and I needed a change.  I would have been happy to come back to New York, but I couldn’t come up with any work there that I really felt like doing (that anyone would hire me to do).  I could have taken this class there, but it would have actually cost more money, especially with living expenses.  But one day I see myself moving back to New York.

Actually even though I am doing something completely new, I don’t know if it will be what I “end up” doing for the long-term (maybe nothing will be…)  I really want to study more languages so that I am fluent in them, even though I know this is a long and arduous task.  I had thought maybe Turkish if I want to stay here a while, but I also think if I could learn more Hebrew and also learn Arabic, that these could be very useful.  Of course I know how difficult Arabic is, so I might never manage to do it.  Even with Hebrew, I know I have a long way to go and right now I’m not studying at all.  By coming to Istanbul and getting certified to teach English, I have taken just one tiny step of a very vague path towards I don’t know where…

I heard an interview on the radio with a man in Washington who is Jewish and is now working for Al-Jazeera International.  I think he had a very good perspective on Jewish-Arab relations that made me hopeful for the future.  I am very naive sometimes but I’m thinking that in 10 years I would like to be doing some kind of work that helps all the troubles in the Middle East (although I should be doing it NOW, not waiting 10 years…).  I have no idea what it would be though.  I guess I do have faith that if I keep slowly moving in the right direction, something will come along and help me sooner or later.  Don’t know if that will get me back in New York or not, but more likely than anywhere else in the US….

Well tonight I was out drinking beer with some classmates so this is all rather stream-of-consciousness writing. :)  I’m off to sleep soon and hopefully out for a long wander tomorrow.  My leg is feeling better today and I predict by tomorrow it will be back to normal.