Since it is May, it is also time for more questions from Luzia Pimpinella‘s five-questions-each-month-project.
1. What does your favorite perfume smell of?
I use perfume every day. One of the issues though is that my nose doesn’t smell very well and I think I sometimes use a little too much scent. I usually alternate between different perfumes although they are all light and a little flowery or fruity. Right now I use Sarah Jessica Parker’s Lovely and mainly samples because I want to reduce my “collection”. Saying that, I also own a few heavier scents like Marc Jacob’s Decadence (mainly because it looks like a little handbag) or Dior Addict (my idea of 1001 nights). I usually wear them when I go to a gala or dance.
2. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
I am actually not sure about this one. This could be because I usually go deaf when somebody tries to give me important advice and I have ever since puberty. Not my finest trait I admit – tell me to do something and most likely I will try to avoid doing it (reverse psychology instead works brilliantly with me). My dad tends to share lots of life wisdom with me like “After rain there is always sunshine.” or “Life happens in waves.” and I know he is right.
3. Do you like to talk on the phone?
I used to. When I was a teenager, I could spend hours on the phone with my friends. Unfortunately, my parents have always kept the telephone in the hallway, i.e. the middle of the apartment, and we never had a cordless one (they do now and teenage me shows them no understanding). I would try to “hide” in the bathroom next door, but obviously everyone could still hear everything. I hated that. When I was in university and did teaching training, I talked to my friends for hours via my mobile phone. I always found it convenient to combine taking the tram or bus and talking to my friends. Funny enough I guess everyone around me could hear everything, but I didn’t mind at all.
Since about 2010, basically since I moved to Istanbul, I have stopped talking on the phone as much. I feel that it costs a lot of time. Obviously, I still talk to my family and friends every now and then (about once a week) and since last summer I have talked to my boyfriend almost every day, but in general I hate the phone part. I especially dislike important calls like talking to my bank or making a doctor’s appointment. I then always try to get everything done online, which mostly works. I wonder though if that is more of a language barrier because I never got anywhere talking on the phone to any hotline in Turkey – they blaming me of not knowing English and me blaming them … I think those kinds of experience stuck.
4. Do you give promises easily?
I don’t think so. That is mostly because I think through all personal decisions thoroughly and if I promise something, it is important and I keep it. In my job though I say yes easily. I guess those are not necessarily promises, but there is a fine line between them and commitments. Eventually, they stress me out because I want to keep them no matter what – and I do. I find it interesting that my decisions (or promises) vary so much between my private and my work life.
5. Which is your favorite dessert?
Oh, awesome question! I love dessert. Any kind of dessert. The sweeter the better. I am always disappointed when we eat out and the others don’t feel like ordering dessert because I don’t want to be the only one. My favorite dessert though is künefe, a delicious Turkish treat made of noodles, cheese and lots of sugar sirup. I once shared a recipe here (it is in German only). My second favorite dessert is güllaç I think, also Turkish. Or aşure … mmhhh, Turkey was indeed the right country for me to live in when it came to all the delicious desserts. In the U.S. I tend to rather order chocolate lava cakes, cobblers and other more cake based dishes. But: There are plenty of Turkish and other Middle Eastern restaurants and cafés in New York City and I plan to make it one of my life tasks to visit most of them. Yum!
© janavar