doing listening homework with friends...

If you are in my section in listening and pronunciation course, you know our assignment about praat. But for the ones who don't know I wanna tell a litte bit. Well our instructor and her asisstant give us some words and sentences and want us to record these words and sentences with an headset, and upload them to moodle (a program created for our course). I think you got the point. For doing our first assignment, I and Neslihan gathered in my dorm room and tried to do some recordings but we could do only words but not sentences 'cos we laughed so much and got very tired so we postponed it to another night. After one night we decided to do recordings in Neslihan's room and with Sevda! And firstly we tried to START to record for a while 'cos Sevda is a very comic girl and made us laugh all the time. Well we managed to start but our recordings were very strange and the original recordings' diagrams were different from ours and we were getting furious slowly. At the end we were able to record some recording but they weren't done carefully 'cos we were tired from laughing again ang got bored of saying the same thing again and again. After my recording , Sevda said ''I will do a recording then finish!!'' I said 'ok' and she took the headset and said ''ZIKKIIIIIMMMMM'' it was so funny. I laughed so much that I nearly suffocated 'cos I couldn't breathe properly. Sevda was fairly bored and tried to relax but Neslihan was swearing at computer and I could do nothing but only watch them. I said to myself ''was it a good idea to do homework with friends?'' but now I can say it was an unforgettable night for me 'cos I had never laughed so much in my whole life:):) thank you Sevda and Neslihan I love you two....

AHMET ARİF

As you know I introduced you my hometown, Diyarbakır, last week. And I thought I should a poet from Diyarbakır. His name is Ahmet Arif. Maybe you know him maybe not. Well firstly I can say about him that he is from diyarbakır and was born in 1927 and died in 1991. After graduating from Diyarbakır high school, he started to study in Ankara university. Although he is Kurdish he wrote all of his poems in Turkish and he emphasizes people's brotherhood (especially people living in Anatolia) in his poems. his poems were translated into Kurdish too and his only poem book is 'Hasretinden Prangalar Eskittim' and it was published in 1968 firstly and it is one of the most printed book in Turkey. Some famous poets such as Yılmaz Erdoğan quoted from his poets. Despite his strict face expression, he has very emotional poems. Some of his poems are lyrics of some songs such as 'Hasretinden Prangalar Eskittim' from Ahmet Kaya or 'Adiloş Bebe' from Cem Karaca. I first read one of his poems through my boyfriend he loves his poems too and he knows all of his poems!!! Wel I like his poems but do not know all of them and I wanna show you some of his poems.

TERK ETMEDİ SEVDAN BENİ

Terketmedi sevdan beni
Aç kaldım, susuz kaldım
Hayın karanlıktı gece.
Can garip, can suskun
can paramparça.
Ve ellerim; kelepçede.
Tütünsüz, uykusuz kaldım
Terketmedi sevdan beni.

DİYARBAKIR KALESİNDEN NOTLAR VE ADİLOŞ BEBE

Seni, baharmışın gibi düşünüyorum,
Seni, Diyarbekir gibi,
Nelere, nelere baskın gelmez ki
Seni düşünmenin tadı...

P.S this poem is too long to write so I take only one stanza of it....

making donation can be both dangerous and funny:)

I wanna talk about my first blood donation to red crescent. That night I went to a theatre course in our uni. That was very nice and I laughed so much. After that I came to dormitory and saw that there was nurses and a doctor in the corridor. I was with Sema, my friend from dormitory, and the nurse asked us to donate our blood for people in need. Well 'cos Sema is a thin girl she didn't wanna give her blood. But nurse turned to me n' looked over me than said ''you could make a donation'' with a smiling face. I thought it can be 'cos I have type of blood that is found rarely and I thought maybe I would rescue a life with my donation. After thinking about my weight for a while :) I decided to give my blood. I filled a form about my health and a nurse took a little blood from my finger and tested it and brought it to doctor and doctor said you were at the limit but you could give than took my blood pressure than I said I have generally low blood pressure he said that doesn't matter. I laid down on the litter than nurse came and inserted the syringe into my arm and my process started. It was going well and after the process ended they said to me stand up slowly and go and drink a soda water and eat a biscuit. while drinking the beverage, I started to be dizzy and there was a girl sitting near me she said '' are you ok?'' I said ''Noo'' then I held her arm and I don't remember after that 'cos I fainted. when I opened my eyes I was on the ground and there were people around and tried to help me to become to myself they were saying ''Helin can you hear us '' but I was feared and didn't know what was happening there and suddenly I noticed there were carrying me to the litter I was very confused... Doctor came and started to explain why I fainted than in every 10 minutes came to me and ask me ''how are you, are you ok?'' but I was very fine 'cos hande was near me and she made me laugh with a high voice she is very fun and she started to say ''I wanna make a blood donation'' doctor said ''you are too weak to give blood '' she said ''heey I am 5o kilos'' doctor said '' If a girl like Helin fainted, you could never bear with it'' than we started to laugh loudly. It was really a different day for me. firstly I had fun than I fainted than I had fun again... Thank you Hande for your help:):)

p.s: my blood donation proved useful and I rescued one person's life that made me forget what I had while giving that blood...

my homeland! :)

my home sweet home:) it is understood that I miss my home, isn't it? I wanna introduce you my hometown, Diyarbakır. it has a very long history. it had been home of 26 different civilizations and it had also different names such as Amid, Amed, O'mid etc. In the domination of Arabian civilization its name was 'diyarbekr' but it had changes but in the end in an telegraph of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk it was changed as Diyarbakır. It was an important city of trade in nearly every historical period. so there were so many wars to get it. It was included in Ottoman domination in 1515 by Yavuz Sultan Selim. These reasons make the city very historical place and it has so many antique places such as mosques, churches, museums etc... for example Ulu Camii or Great Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in our country.And there is an important thing that mustn't be forgotten. It has also city wall which dates back the domination of Akkoyunlular. 'cos during centuries turkish, kurdish, armenian, assyrian, jewish and arabian people had lived together the city has a very rich cuisine and you can understand it by looking at me:):P And it also has various crafts such as jewellery, copperworking, the silk industry etc. Its people are very hospitable and friendly. they like helping people who need. Well after so many things I can say I love my hometown but unfortunately it is shown different in media and people from other cities look at Diyarbakır in a different way and it upsets me a lot :(:( you must come and see my hometown I will be very happy to lead you :)

MAXIIIIMMM....

This week I wanna talk about a pianist Maxim Mrvica. When I first saw him in his video clip, I didn't even move I was nearly in love of his music and his talent if playing so well. He was born in Croatia. He was nine when he first did his public performance. 3 years later he did his first concert performance.. In 1990 the war started but he didn't let it handicap his career. He has so many achievements in his career. and I love his music so much that I can listen to him for so long times.'cos it refreshes me, soothes me and also he is sooooooooo much handsome and charismatic:):) ahh, I love him.....

I love her:)

hi all,
I wanna talk about one of my favorite authors. Her name is Elif Şafak. She was born in Strazburg in 1971. She is a well educated author and her first story book is ''Kem Gözlere Anadolu'' and her first novel is ''Pinhan'' written in 1997 and was awarded with 1998 Major Mevlana Award. Then she wrote her second book ''Şehrin Aynaları'' in 1999. She was known with ''Mahrem'' which was awarded by Union of Authors of Turkey then ''Bit Palas'' and ''Araf'' came and the latter one was written in english .But her breakthrough is ''Baba ve Piç''. This book is about turkish-armenian relationships and she was sued for violation of laws but then it is understood that she didn't do anything like this. Her last book is ''Siyah süt''and it is about a little bit difficulties of being mum, the other personalities in us, some superstitions etc. Well, I read ''Mahrem'' ''Bit Palas'' ''Araf'' ''Baba ve Piç'' and ''Siyah Süt''. What most I like in her writing style is that she firstly writes about different events, characters, places etc. and then associates them and it baffles readers and of course I like her smooth style which let me read her book quickly and so I love her and I hope meeting her but where???? Well anything can happen anytime or anywhere so who knows maybe one day the fate will confront me and her....:)

Your Sincerely....

Hi all,

As all of you know I am Helin. I was born at a good spring night at a hospital with my mum's screams (sorry mum:( ) my birth date is 27.04.1990. I had a nice childhood until I lost my daddy in a road accident. And unfortunately I don't remember the funny days with my daddy before his death. And it is bitter. Well these are sad issues and I want to write about my school life. I graduated from Diyarbakır Anadolu Öğretmen Lisesi.I had a so good high school life. It was very entertaining I had really good friends and teachers. Even our last year, when we had to cope with uni exams, was like others. But now I am in METU and for the first time in my life I am away from my mum and brother. Most of the time I am thinking about my mum. Because my brother goes to school and she is alone at home and I think she is bored of being alone. She and me are friends and we used to share our experiences with each other but now can't do it. I really miss her and can't tell her ''mum I miss you'' 'cos I know she will be upset. But I am getting used to it as I had much more painful things previously and now ,thank God, I have no pain expect missing my mum,brother and my sweetheart :( he is away from me too. And despite everthing, it is nice to be here 'cos everyting here is different and new for me and I am happy to meet you, friends...

The Pregnant Man!

I know the title sounds different and astonishing but that's true. Our character's name is Thomas Beatie. He was a girl before he changed his sex even he or she was a so beautiful girl that she was chosen as Miss Hawaiian. Then she decided to change her sex but in his operation his reproductional organs weren't taken. After operation HE married and wanted to have a baby but his wife already has a two kids. He decided to bear his baby and got pregnant from another man. He said at one of his interviews that 'I am very happy like being on clouds and I am looking forward to seeing my baby's face'.And he bore his baby at a hospital in the city of Bent and it was a daughter and a healthy baby. Well when I first read this news I said 'how could it be true' 'how absurd it was' but after thinking for a while I started to realise I like it. Maybe for you that is not a lovely thing but at least for now I think it is. Because ,to be honest, one of my dreams is to have a baby.And after seeing Thomas' efforts to be a mum, I started to think women never change and being mum is always inside them even if they change their sex. And I also think that being woman is a gift for a human being although sometimes it may be very painful...