Well just my luck, I broke my computer so ınternet access wıll be slım for two weeks. I have decıded that maybe this ıs a good thıng, ıt wıll force me to explore and not be constantly surfıng the ınternet. It would be really nıce to skype as skypıng wıth frıends and famıly makes me feel better when ı have had a rough day but I thınk ı need to focus on gettıng set up here. My teachıng has ımproved ı got off to a rough start.
I just moved to a new house closer to work. Im lıvıng wıth some germans and turkısh people. They are great and very welcomıng I had the awkward fırst nıght there last nıght when ı got home after they had went to bed so when ı woke up thıs mornıng ıtwas kınd of lıke oh hey ım lıvıng here now. but they heard that ı was awake and promplty saıd hello and asked to have coffee wıth me. That was what I needed. They also helped clarıfy some turkısh customs for me, whıch ıs the reason why ı wanted to lıve wıth natıves. How are these others adjustıng wıth out that??
Anyways, ı am at school ıf you havent notıced wıth my turkısh keyboard typıng and ı have to go plan my lesson. I wıll try to update thıs sınce ı wont be on facebook at all. My school bans facebook on theır computers, but ı do have gmaıl!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
not so free day
Today was my first day free from English Time (the school I’m working for) and it was in no way actually free from English teaching. I thought today would be a day of wandering by myself. In no way did that happen except maybe the first hour. I woke up and got ready. I looked for some apartments, one had a great view but was kind of gross for the amount they were asking. Had it been cheap I would have done it no problem. Then I was searching out the next location I was going to look at, but I was really hungry so I found a little café where I ordered who knows what and started to eat. During that time I got a phone call from a person who wanted to meet up, where I had to be there in 10 mins and I had forgotten we had plans. The language barrier had confused me whether we were actually meeting up or not. I quickly paid and left to meet this friend.
He is the friend of the friend I met last time I was in Istanbul. I almost stayed at his house which would have been one metro stop closer. The first thing him and his friend did was buy a dictionary to communicate with me for the day, which I thought was hilarious, and very much needed. It came in handy!
We went to get tea, I played backgammon with his friend and they taught me the game that is played on the other side of the board. They then took me to get more food ( I wasn’t very hungry but I think its rude if I didn’t eat when they offered.
We then naturally went out for tea (seriously I’m going to be the biggest tea addict ever when I get back) and they walked me to the apartment I’m looking at. I liked the girl who I was talking with so I emailed her tonight telling her I was interested. It isn’t the pretties place, but I liked the room that was going to be mine. I suppose I can deal with everything else. I can try to make it homey! I will be making money soon!
I was then told to rush home b/c the guys I live with were making me dinner. I got home and hung out with them, they finally got me a set of keys and an Ethernet chord. I feel bad that I am leaving now, but I hope they knew that was possible. I mean it takes me an hour to get to class!
I realized within the last few days that some of the teachers have been here for awhile and still don’t know any Turkish. How are they surviving? I’ve also realized that they are all hanging out with each other. Americans clump together, the same thing happened in Italy. Americans clumped together. What is it with us that we need the comfort of our own kind constantly surrounding us?
I kind of decided that I wont live with the other girl from my school. To much English Time drama. Too much Americanism. I have to constantly check myself to make sure I’m hitting my goals of being abroad. This was a very big factor when looking at housing. I do like the guys I live with now, but its not suitable for me. Hopefully this will work out soon!
Oh and I just got an email from my head teacher about a private student tomorrow. The email was no help. Location is made up i believe, I dont understand the level. but i get paid a lot more. It better not be super far away!
He is the friend of the friend I met last time I was in Istanbul. I almost stayed at his house which would have been one metro stop closer. The first thing him and his friend did was buy a dictionary to communicate with me for the day, which I thought was hilarious, and very much needed. It came in handy!
We went to get tea, I played backgammon with his friend and they taught me the game that is played on the other side of the board. They then took me to get more food ( I wasn’t very hungry but I think its rude if I didn’t eat when they offered.
We then naturally went out for tea (seriously I’m going to be the biggest tea addict ever when I get back) and they walked me to the apartment I’m looking at. I liked the girl who I was talking with so I emailed her tonight telling her I was interested. It isn’t the pretties place, but I liked the room that was going to be mine. I suppose I can deal with everything else. I can try to make it homey! I will be making money soon!
I was then told to rush home b/c the guys I live with were making me dinner. I got home and hung out with them, they finally got me a set of keys and an Ethernet chord. I feel bad that I am leaving now, but I hope they knew that was possible. I mean it takes me an hour to get to class!
I realized within the last few days that some of the teachers have been here for awhile and still don’t know any Turkish. How are they surviving? I’ve also realized that they are all hanging out with each other. Americans clump together, the same thing happened in Italy. Americans clumped together. What is it with us that we need the comfort of our own kind constantly surrounding us?
I kind of decided that I wont live with the other girl from my school. To much English Time drama. Too much Americanism. I have to constantly check myself to make sure I’m hitting my goals of being abroad. This was a very big factor when looking at housing. I do like the guys I live with now, but its not suitable for me. Hopefully this will work out soon!
Oh and I just got an email from my head teacher about a private student tomorrow. The email was no help. Location is made up i believe, I dont understand the level. but i get paid a lot more. It better not be super far away!
Friday, October 22, 2010
name, home, marital status
Full day number one!
I awoke this morning to the call to prayer. I remembered this from when I was here last time but this time it gave me the chills. The singing over the loudspeakers made me think that I had joined some cult. It freaked me out a little bit. I think one of the good things about where I am staying is that they arent practicing muslims so the prayer call doesn’t affect our household. The reality of being in a strange place finally came alive when I was laying there.
I didn’t understand the email I got from my head teacher today so I just went to check in. Serhat gave me directions on how to get there and got me on my way. It wasn’t hard to find my school as it in the main strip of taksim. I met with my head teacher for a few minutes and then her assistant gave me a tour of the school and introduced me to some people.
I met a fellow teacher who went to school in Madison that kind of put me at ease right away. Then I met a bit longer with my head teacher. I asked her about some adapting tips and general inquiries about phones and what to eat and not eat etc. She walked to me a place with free wifi so I could get caught up. However, it was just like in Firenze where you had to have a Turkish number. Luckily the baristas were nice to give me their phone number and log on for me. Not having wifi is annoying. I would love to skype with lots of people or even face book chat but my schedule isn’t very permitting. Maybe I’ll have to make friends with someone with wifi.
After doing some shopping, buying things I needed, I went to observe some classes. I met a bunch more teachers and there was one girl who really made me feel at home. I really needed that as most of the teachers barely looked at me when they walked in. The first class I observed was interesting… they watched family guy. That was it. The students did get to question me at first, here is how it went “whats your name, where are you from, do you have a boyfriend”
Second class I go to.. “whats your name, where are you from, are you married?” This teacher was really great and it seemed like I was back in my TEFL class, which makes me believe I’ll be a good teacher. Or at least survive. The students were all very entertaining.
Earlier in the day I was in a bookstore looking at some maps when I tourist was tryign to figure out if the maps were free. I was trying to figure out the same thing so I went to go ask. I started talking to her and she introduced me to who I think was her husband. He was Turkish and they lived in California. They were really excited about my plans in turkey and he suggested some activities for me to do. They were talking about surviving and basically said. All you need to do is get a Turkish boyfriend. Then the lady was like oh just get multiple, one for the asian side and one for here. She was really fun and they were both very inspiring.
Overall, there seems to be a theme in my day…hahah not going to happen.. Well I say that now.
I awoke this morning to the call to prayer. I remembered this from when I was here last time but this time it gave me the chills. The singing over the loudspeakers made me think that I had joined some cult. It freaked me out a little bit. I think one of the good things about where I am staying is that they arent practicing muslims so the prayer call doesn’t affect our household. The reality of being in a strange place finally came alive when I was laying there.
I didn’t understand the email I got from my head teacher today so I just went to check in. Serhat gave me directions on how to get there and got me on my way. It wasn’t hard to find my school as it in the main strip of taksim. I met with my head teacher for a few minutes and then her assistant gave me a tour of the school and introduced me to some people.
I met a fellow teacher who went to school in Madison that kind of put me at ease right away. Then I met a bit longer with my head teacher. I asked her about some adapting tips and general inquiries about phones and what to eat and not eat etc. She walked to me a place with free wifi so I could get caught up. However, it was just like in Firenze where you had to have a Turkish number. Luckily the baristas were nice to give me their phone number and log on for me. Not having wifi is annoying. I would love to skype with lots of people or even face book chat but my schedule isn’t very permitting. Maybe I’ll have to make friends with someone with wifi.
After doing some shopping, buying things I needed, I went to observe some classes. I met a bunch more teachers and there was one girl who really made me feel at home. I really needed that as most of the teachers barely looked at me when they walked in. The first class I observed was interesting… they watched family guy. That was it. The students did get to question me at first, here is how it went “whats your name, where are you from, do you have a boyfriend”
Second class I go to.. “whats your name, where are you from, are you married?” This teacher was really great and it seemed like I was back in my TEFL class, which makes me believe I’ll be a good teacher. Or at least survive. The students were all very entertaining.
Earlier in the day I was in a bookstore looking at some maps when I tourist was tryign to figure out if the maps were free. I was trying to figure out the same thing so I went to go ask. I started talking to her and she introduced me to who I think was her husband. He was Turkish and they lived in California. They were really excited about my plans in turkey and he suggested some activities for me to do. They were talking about surviving and basically said. All you need to do is get a Turkish boyfriend. Then the lady was like oh just get multiple, one for the asian side and one for here. She was really fun and they were both very inspiring.
Overall, there seems to be a theme in my day…hahah not going to happen.. Well I say that now.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
part two
And so the new adventure begins. Step two of my adventure First stop Istanbul.
Backing up for a moment I had an awesome final two days in Florence. I had dinner at my favorite restaurant, I went out and had good long talks with all the people I’m close with. Then on my last night everyone who was in our program still had a big going away dinner for me, and they celebrated my birthday!!! Whooo hoo. I kinda suspected it but also thought they forgot. On the walk home I was super excited and one of the girls said she her me say that I was bummed to be gone for my birthday so they planned this for me cause they know it means a lot. How wonderful! I really did make some great friends.
Then I made my treck to Istanbul. I didn’t think it was going to be that bad b/c I had a direct flight. Here was my day. Wake up at 7:20, leave apartment at 7:50 with all my luggage and Caroline who was walking me to the station. Caroline gets me on the train. Get off train in Rome, Kristie meets me there for coffee. Get on train to airport (I totally typed it aeroport first.. I’m so in italy still) a man from seattle helps me and we talked for a lot of the train ride. When he helps me off one of the guys sitting by us mentions he heard I was going to Istanbul. He is from there and heading there himself, he then carry’s my luggage for me and makes great conversation. He makes sure I get checked in alright and then leaves. I wander around the airport for a bit then my two hour flight takes off. It was barely half full. I get to the airport and someone is waiting for me. Both he and the driver don’t really speak English, but the one guy brought his little child with him, like three years old and he was soooo adorable! We then headed to what I thought would be a short journey to where I was staying. Boy was I wrong. We hit lots of traffic and eventually they stopped for gas, what else do you do when you stop for gas? Apparently you get your car washed too. I couldn’t figure out if that was normal or they were trying to wait for traffic to break up. We start driving again. More traffic, they seemed a little distressed. About an hour later they stop and open my door, this was for the man and kid to get out. Not me. Then we proceed to drive, we hit traffic again, this is 2 hours into my trip and he is trying to ask me to call my friend that I’m staying with. Nothing is going right, finally my friend is calling my phone so we have the correct number, he talks to the driver and figures out why I havent gotten there yet.
Finally I arrive. I’m greeted by 3 Turkish people, two lived where I was staying and two were friends from school. They were making dinner -fabulous I was starving. We sat on the floor and ate, they made pasta and were joking about the fact I was coming from italy. They were all great people and spoke English fairly well which was nice. They left and I sat and talked with Serhat for the night> after many cups of tea and an episode of south park. I am hitting my bed, which seems pretty nice. I’ll get up early tomorrow to attempt to explore. He is going to lead me in the right direction, but will be in class most of the day. I’m going to my school tomorrow at 4:30 to observe some night classes. I’ll will update more on my school then.
Backing up for a moment I had an awesome final two days in Florence. I had dinner at my favorite restaurant, I went out and had good long talks with all the people I’m close with. Then on my last night everyone who was in our program still had a big going away dinner for me, and they celebrated my birthday!!! Whooo hoo. I kinda suspected it but also thought they forgot. On the walk home I was super excited and one of the girls said she her me say that I was bummed to be gone for my birthday so they planned this for me cause they know it means a lot. How wonderful! I really did make some great friends.
Then I made my treck to Istanbul. I didn’t think it was going to be that bad b/c I had a direct flight. Here was my day. Wake up at 7:20, leave apartment at 7:50 with all my luggage and Caroline who was walking me to the station. Caroline gets me on the train. Get off train in Rome, Kristie meets me there for coffee. Get on train to airport (I totally typed it aeroport first.. I’m so in italy still) a man from seattle helps me and we talked for a lot of the train ride. When he helps me off one of the guys sitting by us mentions he heard I was going to Istanbul. He is from there and heading there himself, he then carry’s my luggage for me and makes great conversation. He makes sure I get checked in alright and then leaves. I wander around the airport for a bit then my two hour flight takes off. It was barely half full. I get to the airport and someone is waiting for me. Both he and the driver don’t really speak English, but the one guy brought his little child with him, like three years old and he was soooo adorable! We then headed to what I thought would be a short journey to where I was staying. Boy was I wrong. We hit lots of traffic and eventually they stopped for gas, what else do you do when you stop for gas? Apparently you get your car washed too. I couldn’t figure out if that was normal or they were trying to wait for traffic to break up. We start driving again. More traffic, they seemed a little distressed. About an hour later they stop and open my door, this was for the man and kid to get out. Not me. Then we proceed to drive, we hit traffic again, this is 2 hours into my trip and he is trying to ask me to call my friend that I’m staying with. Nothing is going right, finally my friend is calling my phone so we have the correct number, he talks to the driver and figures out why I havent gotten there yet.
Finally I arrive. I’m greeted by 3 Turkish people, two lived where I was staying and two were friends from school. They were making dinner -fabulous I was starving. We sat on the floor and ate, they made pasta and were joking about the fact I was coming from italy. They were all great people and spoke English fairly well which was nice. They left and I sat and talked with Serhat for the night> after many cups of tea and an episode of south park. I am hitting my bed, which seems pretty nice. I’ll get up early tomorrow to attempt to explore. He is going to lead me in the right direction, but will be in class most of the day. I’m going to my school tomorrow at 4:30 to observe some night classes. I’ll will update more on my school then.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
another day
I've realized that when I post the majority of my blogs, I'm either extremely sleepy or have picked up and left the post a million times. I would be surprised if any of them even make sense. because for the most part, i dont know check them before I post. :)
Well I'm coming to the end of my italian venture, and its with bittersweet thoughts. There are minutes where I'm like finally! i have a plan and a new adventure. then there are times where I'm like, wow, i'm going to miss this place.
For the most part though, I know i have something good coming, It will be hard. I will struggle with being away from family and friends, but I can only hope that I'll make a new group of friends like the ones i've made thus far. It seems that each time period in my life I find a core group that help me get through. My friends have always changed due to who I'm around, and I know that will happen again, but it's hard saying goodbyes. Especially to a place where I can't say I'll come back too.
I did say my goodbyes to London and now here I am 3 years later, returning. I am pumped. It wont be the same because once again it was the friends I had there that made it such a rewarding experiece but it will be a tme for nostalgia.
One thing i know i wont miss is all the drama that is happening in our friend group in Florence. I would not be able to stay here much longer no matter what, and I'm happy that I'm one of the first ones to go.
Well I'm coming to the end of my italian venture, and its with bittersweet thoughts. There are minutes where I'm like finally! i have a plan and a new adventure. then there are times where I'm like, wow, i'm going to miss this place.
For the most part though, I know i have something good coming, It will be hard. I will struggle with being away from family and friends, but I can only hope that I'll make a new group of friends like the ones i've made thus far. It seems that each time period in my life I find a core group that help me get through. My friends have always changed due to who I'm around, and I know that will happen again, but it's hard saying goodbyes. Especially to a place where I can't say I'll come back too.
I did say my goodbyes to London and now here I am 3 years later, returning. I am pumped. It wont be the same because once again it was the friends I had there that made it such a rewarding experiece but it will be a tme for nostalgia.
One thing i know i wont miss is all the drama that is happening in our friend group in Florence. I would not be able to stay here much longer no matter what, and I'm happy that I'm one of the first ones to go.
Friday, October 8, 2010
its for real
Welp, it happened, I got a job offer. I was really super nervous earlier, and while i was talking to the lady on the phone I was geting excited. When she ended the conversation saying I would have an offer coming shortly I was estatic. Then reality sunk in. i'm moving. to turkey. Wow. 10 months - i'm not good at commitment, Probably one of the reasons i havent settled down yet. 10 months in a foreign country.
The more i think about it, the more excited i get, Its accomplishing all of my goals and I know good things are going to come of it, its just like wow, its happening. What if's are poppingup everywhere. My life is going to e so different. Some can say yeah i lived abraod for a year. But how many can say i lived in a totally differnt country than western europe, survived, and most importantly learned something.
I went to the Uffizi today when i realized i would have limited time in Florence. It was amazing. the history, the skill. Simply gorgeous. I was kind of excited that I was there by myself, I had a moment to be alone with my thoughs and kind of process the last few weeks. It was interesting to me that all these ancient historical pictures depict Christ and many biblical stories, yet our culture rejects these idealogies. Why is it that some of the most important historical painting have so much to do with Christianity but we cant even talk about it freely anymore. I was very intrigued by this as i wandered from room to room today. I finally came to an appreciation of florence also. I saw in teh background of one of the paintings the duomo and it all came together how much history was involved with this city. Its quite amazing, really.
The more i think about it, the more excited i get, Its accomplishing all of my goals and I know good things are going to come of it, its just like wow, its happening. What if's are poppingup everywhere. My life is going to e so different. Some can say yeah i lived abraod for a year. But how many can say i lived in a totally differnt country than western europe, survived, and most importantly learned something.
I went to the Uffizi today when i realized i would have limited time in Florence. It was amazing. the history, the skill. Simply gorgeous. I was kind of excited that I was there by myself, I had a moment to be alone with my thoughs and kind of process the last few weeks. It was interesting to me that all these ancient historical pictures depict Christ and many biblical stories, yet our culture rejects these idealogies. Why is it that some of the most important historical painting have so much to do with Christianity but we cant even talk about it freely anymore. I was very intrigued by this as i wandered from room to room today. I finally came to an appreciation of florence also. I saw in teh background of one of the paintings the duomo and it all came together how much history was involved with this city. Its quite amazing, really.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
new backbone
I passed my class, with pretty stinking good marks. I'm happy. Then i promptly got kicked out of my place, so throughout my stressful hostel search i decided to go to perugia for the weekend with one of my classmates. it was really relaxing and made some good contacts however, i dont think perugia is the place for me. We stayed in a farmhouse, and toured the small city oh and dont forget the visit to the chocolate factory! Two of the girls i lived with last month offered their couch for me to sleep on. Originally i was going to stay for a few nights and head to england however with our lovely terrorist threats I've been freaked out and am staying here for a bit longer. It's been great living with them. they make me feel really at home even though i'm totally imposing.
Now i am job searching, I really do feel like i'm ahead of the game compared to most of my class. they just finished cover letters, I have had mine sent out for awhile and am slowly hearing back from things. if you havent noticed, italians arent really prompt. I dont understand thier motives, but oh well. its each person for themselves.
I had a job interview yesterday, it was completely in Italian which was interesting. They told me when i went in that it was with massimo, he was definitely the one I spoke with on the phone that didnt speak english so I assumed that my interview would be interesting. He told me that it was to see how i acted in the teachers situation. To see if I could explain something in thier language if they didnt understand. They said I did well and they would be calling me for an actual second inteveiw, However i wasnt too impressed with the city. and I'm kinda feeling that Turkey is where I need to go to accomplish the goals I set for myself.
Ok to the impressive backbone story. My biggest pet peeve since I've been abroad is the "American Stereotype" My personal goal is to meet people and to try to breakdown their preconcieved notions of us. Last night REALLY pissed me off. The three girls i'm living with and I went to find some dinner. We came across this pretty nice looking restaurant that wasnt too pricey. the lady said she did have one table downstairs for us. Since we were starving we said we would take it. Just our luck it was set next to a table of 5 American girls who we ridiculously loud and obnoxious. We couldnt even talk to each other, like seriously couldnt talk to one another becasue we couldnt hear a thing except the screaming next to us. Caroline politely asked one of the americans to be a little quieter cause we are trying to enjoy our meal. Nothing... Laura asked later, and just got harassed by the annoying italians, Kristie stormed off to find out waiter, who asked them and it got quiet for 2 mins. then was back to normal. We were so embarassed of our culture that once the Italians left and we paid our bill we decided we needed to say something (by the way, they were all young 20-21 year old study abroad students b/c we heard them tell the italians how old they were) My friends decided it had to be me who said something, so they practiced a few things with me. The two that were really pissed left, and caroline and I stayed to make our opinions known. I politely tapped on on the shoulder and said that I was sorry we complained so much, (they blamed it on the italians) and we were like no, it was you guys too. And we said it was hard coming here because it was nights like tonight that make Italians hate our culture. They got a little defensive and we walked away, satisfied, and hoping that at least down the road they may look back at this and see what we mean.
We did have the talk that we may have been loud and obnoxious when we were study abroad students but we wanted to change what we could by sharing our experiences with them. Its frustrating to see that maybe i was like that, or even worse- that it is acceptable in our culture to be so rude.
Now i am job searching, I really do feel like i'm ahead of the game compared to most of my class. they just finished cover letters, I have had mine sent out for awhile and am slowly hearing back from things. if you havent noticed, italians arent really prompt. I dont understand thier motives, but oh well. its each person for themselves.
I had a job interview yesterday, it was completely in Italian which was interesting. They told me when i went in that it was with massimo, he was definitely the one I spoke with on the phone that didnt speak english so I assumed that my interview would be interesting. He told me that it was to see how i acted in the teachers situation. To see if I could explain something in thier language if they didnt understand. They said I did well and they would be calling me for an actual second inteveiw, However i wasnt too impressed with the city. and I'm kinda feeling that Turkey is where I need to go to accomplish the goals I set for myself.
Ok to the impressive backbone story. My biggest pet peeve since I've been abroad is the "American Stereotype" My personal goal is to meet people and to try to breakdown their preconcieved notions of us. Last night REALLY pissed me off. The three girls i'm living with and I went to find some dinner. We came across this pretty nice looking restaurant that wasnt too pricey. the lady said she did have one table downstairs for us. Since we were starving we said we would take it. Just our luck it was set next to a table of 5 American girls who we ridiculously loud and obnoxious. We couldnt even talk to each other, like seriously couldnt talk to one another becasue we couldnt hear a thing except the screaming next to us. Caroline politely asked one of the americans to be a little quieter cause we are trying to enjoy our meal. Nothing... Laura asked later, and just got harassed by the annoying italians, Kristie stormed off to find out waiter, who asked them and it got quiet for 2 mins. then was back to normal. We were so embarassed of our culture that once the Italians left and we paid our bill we decided we needed to say something (by the way, they were all young 20-21 year old study abroad students b/c we heard them tell the italians how old they were) My friends decided it had to be me who said something, so they practiced a few things with me. The two that were really pissed left, and caroline and I stayed to make our opinions known. I politely tapped on on the shoulder and said that I was sorry we complained so much, (they blamed it on the italians) and we were like no, it was you guys too. And we said it was hard coming here because it was nights like tonight that make Italians hate our culture. They got a little defensive and we walked away, satisfied, and hoping that at least down the road they may look back at this and see what we mean.
We did have the talk that we may have been loud and obnoxious when we were study abroad students but we wanted to change what we could by sharing our experiences with them. Its frustrating to see that maybe i was like that, or even worse- that it is acceptable in our culture to be so rude.
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