JUST MY IMAGINATION

If you ask me what’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life, I’d say, “Which one? I’ve done so many cool things!” But if you said, “Come on, be serious now,” I’d tell you: the day I told my story. That was the day I felt the bravest, coolest, and most inspired. It all started when one of my close friends invited me to the  TOUCH Network storytelling event. I was like, “Cool, let’s go.” I didn’t have any expectations, good or bad, except that I knew we’d see some farm animals since the event was taking place on a farm. So we went. It was a storytelling event, as advertised, but not just random storytelling. Four people talked about struggles they had overcome in life, how they did it, and what we could take from it. It was basically like TED Talks, but with fewer spotlights and more human touch. If you know me, you know I’m all about human connection, deep conversations, and touchy subjects. So I was so happy when I realized what was going on. I had the most beautiful tw...

“ Ben gurbette değilim, gurbet benim içimde ” diyen Kemalettin Kamu’ya karşı, “Arkadaşlar yıl olmuş 2025, gurbet mi kalmış Allah aşkına” diyen bana… Evden ayrılışımın 20. gününde, Mabel’in 2018’de çıkan A Canım şarkısını şimdiye kadar nasıl olup da hiç duymadığıma şaşkın olup, bu şaşkınlıkla son ses dinleyerek depresyona girmemek için odamı saat gece yarısına üç kala temizlemeye başlamışken; laptopumu bugün ofiste bırakmayıp* eve getirdiğimi hatırlamam üzerine bu satırları yazıyor olmamın şoku. Depresyona girmiyoruz, ağlamıyoruz da (çünkü buraları annem de okuyor!). Ama buraya ilk adım attığımdan beri çökmesini beklediğim o yabancılık hissi galiba yavaştan çöktü. Hâlâ bu şehirde tanıdığım insan sayısı iki elimin parmaklarını geçmedi. Fakat işler yolunda da gidiyordu halbuki. Ama durup durup “Yahu benim zorum mu vardı da evden bu kadar uzaklaştım” hissi geçmiyor bir türlü. Halbuki hayalimi yaşıyorum. Buraya gelebilmek için başkalarıyla ve kendimle verdiğim savaşlar… hepsi olumlu sonu...

I came to a local coffee shop today and ordered an oat latte. Since I want to keep the tradition alive, overpriced lattes are going to be a thing for me here, too. Not daily though, sadly. I’m no longer working from a coffee shop anyway. Why? Because, wait for it—I have a full-time job now! How cool is that? And a little scary. I’m expected to show up every morning. No joke. They gave me a nice cosy cubicle. Have you ever noticed how people use the word cosy when they don’t really want to say small ? Still, I loved it. It has my name on it and everything. I can’t believe I actually landed a postdoc at my dream research centre. I still can’t believe I’m in Singapore!! Somebody pinch me, please. I wake up every day at 7. I swim for 15–20 mins. You see what I did there? I was so surprised and happy to learn that having a pool in your condo is pretty much the norm here. Half of the apartments have a pool, gym, and some of them also have things like tennis courts, BBQ pits etc. So of c...