Çok garip

Maalesef (unfortunately), commentary on my Turkish classes probably makes for tedious reading, but they have pretty much consumed all of my brain space at this point, mostly with trying to learn the language, and sometimes with puzzling over the sheer strangeness of some of the exercises.

Sure, it's useful to be able to say "Sinemaya gitmek istiyorum" (I like to go the movies), and if you're angling for a job in one of the many Turkish bureaucracies, you might want to learn "Evlenmeden önce, senin soyadın neydi?" (Before marriage, what was your last name?) But tell me, please, when one of these sentences might come in handy:

"Benim annem gençken çok zayıftı, şimdi biraz şişman."
(When she was young, my mother was very thin; now she's a little fat.)

"Senin kulakların eskiden çok büyüktü. Şimdi küçük, ne yaptın?"
(Your ears used to be very big. Now they're small - what happened?)

I am, however, pleased that I finally figured out how to get my keyboard to type all these wacky characters.