It’s crazy how quickly this month has gone. I can’t believe tomorrow is October already.

I love how the sky appears to have ocean waves running across it. See them?

When you grow up with German parents, Oktoberfest is a big deal. For my mom, it represented the sole opportunity of the year to buy authentic goods from Germany. For my dad, it was his chance to catch up with his old friends German Beer and German Sausage. Oktoberfests around the world are German through and through; thus you can understand why I would expect the second annual Antalya Oktoberfest to be similar.

But no. Turkish beer, Turkish bands, and food from local Turkish restaurants. No opportunities to eat any German sausages or buy German baked goods. No German Advent calendars. No German vendors whatsoever.

It makes me wonder if anyone who organises this event has ever actually seen an Oktoberfest. They should either get some actual Germans on the committee for next year and try to make a real go of it, or change the name to Antalyafest so as not to be misleading. Turkish bands and Turkish food do not an Oktoberfest make!

Bonus: the mountain looks like a volcano with the clouds in that formation.

Even after six years here, I still get that familiar rush when coming over the hill and seeing Antalya spread out before me.

The body positivity movement is like a house on fire at the moment, and not a moment too soon. It’s ridiculous how ashamed women are made to feel about their bodies, but luckily there are some great blogs out there fighting back for those of us with perfectly normal bodies for which others would ask us to apologise. The Great Big Body Project is one of my favourite blogs on the subject of body positivity, as it’s created by women from all over the world with all kinds of bodies: round, thin, tall, short, and everything in between. This helps bring awareness to the fact that it’s not just fat women who are made to feel that their bodies aren’t good enough; it’s all women. If you want to help fight back, you can submit your own photo and story to the site and become a part of a worthwhile cause: finally allowing ourselves to admit that we’re beautiful and worthy just the way we are. Link

Döner Gazino, Antalya’s famous rotating restaurant on the mountain. Great food, and even better views.

Now that the evenings are significantly cooler, wine doesn’t sound like such a self-destructive idea anymore.

I know you people love free stuff, as do I, and I know you love books as well, so here you have the chance to get the best of both worlds: a free book! As you’re already aware, I’m totally into independent creative endeavours no matter what the medium, and because of where I live, getting paper books in English can often be a challenge.

Memoirs of an Antihero was brought to my attention last week, so of course I had to download it. I’m just getting started on it, but so far I’m finding it amazingly well-written. It’s not particularly reminiscent of anything (Blank seems to have quite a distinct style), but I’d say that if you like the artistry and raw power of Palahniuk, you and Memoirs of an Antihero will get along well. I’m enjoying it greatly. Link

It’s scenes like this, rather than the beaches, that make me love the Turkish coastline.