Last one before 40

Me, before turning to 39

Indeed, it’s my last  year before turning to 40.

Wow. Is it good? Or bad? Maybe neither. Who knows?

The thing is, it is what it is. And I am quite happy with it.

Life has been an interesting one for me. Ah yes, before going into details, let me tell you about my day today. It was kind of a standard day. Apart from the visit from my friends/colleagues. They also brought a cake. Birthday cake. My second one this year. The first one was offered me by my sister, who, before coming back from Istanbul, wanted to surprise me with a birthday cake and some gifts. I was so happy about it.

It’s not really about the gifts. It’s the rememberance of your birthday by your loved ones. A beautiful feeling indeed. I felt blessed.

And today, it was again another interesting day. From morning I started receiving birthday wishes from my  friends  and loved ones. I still haven’t checked my Faceook. It’s the last one. At days like this, one truly understands the space one has in this world. People from different parts of the world thinking about the same person. It’s really inspiring and blissful.

Until late afternoon, my day was busy  with work stuff. Then I started preparing my dinner. My sister  prepared some sarma (grape leaves rolled and inside rice, minced meat and some spices). It was quite delicious, still. I brought some raw sarma when I came back from Istanbul and cooked here. I started watching Emily in Paris from Netflix. It’s quite an interesting one and I really liked it. Comedy is my type of TV activity.

After work, I felt that I needed to have a more relaxing end of the day. One of my best friends video called me via WhatsApp. We talked and, not so interestingly, gossipped about a comon friend from our common childhood. Real friends are very difficult to make. One cannot find or buy real friendship. One needs to build it up. It takes time and real effort. To destroy a friendship and/or trust, just lie to that person or  deceive. Very easy indeed.

Then I thought of my previous birthdays. The real interesting ones. I was  in Cologne, Germany on my 23rd birthday. I have next  to zero from that birthday, since I may not even celebrated it at all. My best friends there went back to Turkey and  my current friends did not  know  it was my birthday. And I didn’t tell them. I always feel like needy to tell people of one’s  birthday. It’s not bad to be needy though. I just fell like it’s something they would  either know or not. It  wasn’t my  duty to inform them. Maybe I am wrong. Who knows?

On another occasion, I was in Budapest. I was going to fly back to Istanbul but the night connecting 20th to  21st I could have  done something. Instead I just fell asleep in the hotel. Quite uneventful that one was. Of course my  family celebrated my birthday  the next day.

Another one I remember is from my  27th. I was in Dubai and for  the first  time organised a party at home with people from different countries. It was fun. We weren’t supposed  to bring guests home but having the first villa in a villa complex helped a lot.

This one, I believe, is the most interesting and maybe also uninteresting birthday I’ve had so far. It’s the 8th day of my quarantine at home and feel like I can go like this for some more weeks even. I am busy but I can also entertain myself without the need of external factors and people. I excercise and make sure that my body moves enough.

A new hobby I acquired during the pandemic and my time in England. I started cooking. In the past, I was very hesitant when it came to cooking. I lived 5 years abroad and 1 year in Tuzla, by myself and  with other people. I never really gave it a chance to be interested in it. However, in London I need to. During the pandemic, it’s kind of compulsory. Then I found out that cooking, washing the dishes and also doing housework are  all quite meditating. I feel relaxed and my mind rested. I definitely recommend everybody to think about it.

Why I am at home, quarantining? Because I recently came back from Istanbul. Since the government played with the statistics  and announced only the number of symptomatic cases, even the WHO requested an official explaining. The UK also put in place the 14-day quarantine requirement for people coming from Turkey. On my back, I saw the ESA Astronaut Tim Peake. It was my dream to become an astronaut. Unfortunately I couldn’t  become one. However being welcomed by an astronaut was really great. Him being only on the poster is still all right.

Heathrow Airport

During this time, I am making several different types of teas such as Darjeeling Tea, Earl Grey Tea, Lady Grey Tea, Oolong Tea, English Breakfast Tea, Roiboos Tea and some more. I really enjoy drinking tea. However, according to the information I received today, from a  dietician, I need to drink as much water, if not more than tea.

Since I am living alone, I am turning off the heaters in the rooms not currently in use. Keeping the lights off at the areas so  that the environment will be taken care of. I am using two bins, one for general waste and the other for recyclable trash.

Some may  think of ways to ‘kill time’. But I don’t believe in that mentality. How can we destroy our only  treasure, time. It’s nonrefundable and most precious treasure. We  should live it not kill.

So, time to end the day and the birthday as well. Talk to you next year.

Cheers!