Where does time go??

I can't believe it is already the end of the month. This is going to be a short post, because it is past my bedtime. But I just wanted to let you know that I am indeed alive. I have been super busy with school and life, and therefore haven't had much time for communicating with you sweet people :) Thanks for reading my blog and wanting updates! Ill post a blog/pictures from my recent trip to Egpyt, as well as an update on my life this weekend!
For now enjoy this picture: a lovely evening at Chili's with some good friends!

First Week of School

Well I survived my first 1st week of school! Isn't that strange. It wasnt my first 1st day of school, just first 1st week. Confusing, huh? Anyways school started last Tuesday, Sept 1 and first day back had its struggles. I have a very active and talkative group, so I am still in the process of figuring out the best methods and management styles to use. I keep reminding myself that they are different kids than my group last year, and as a result need different things from me as a teacher. I've got several cultures in my class this year: Americans and Koreans, one Turk, and one South African. I am looking forward to the joy and challenge of learning more about each one of them. Here are some pictures of my rearranged and newly organized classroom...

Dont my bulletin boards look great?? A very good friend came out to school last week and did them for me! Thanks, Britt!

Goodbye Summer.

Summer is offically over.

I start teacher workdays tomorrow and the kids come back next Tuesday, Sept 1st. I am excited and looking forward to being back in the classroom. It has been a good summer. Took me a while to get used to the different pace of life, but I ended up really enjoying myself. In between going to the states, studying language, and having visitors; I did lots of other cool things! Here are a few pictures from my fun and eventful summer!

Went to a Galatasaray futbol game. This was quite entertaining and a very memorable night, with some great friends.

I became a big fan - it was so fun!

Visited the Prince's Islands a couple times, these are Islands off of Istanbul - its very nice and peaceful, no cars and lots of grass!

I made as many trips as possible to Starbucks - to read, study Turkish, catch up with friends, and play cards :) I enjoyed being out in the city at night, and not feeling the pressure of having to wake up at 6am the next morning! Soon enough, though.

And then just hung out with friends - new and old. It's fun and sometimes hard being in a city where you meet new people all the time, and then sad when you have to tell them bye.

Happyness

One of the many perks of being a teacher in Turkey is that I get lots of discounts (indirim)! I have this Teacher Card with my picture on it that lets me ride any form of public transportation for half price. While my friend, Liz, was here we toured all around the city. On our 1st day we went to Topkapi Palace - where the Ottoman Sultans lived in the 15th century. Anyways, I decided to see if I could use my teacher card to get a discount. I walked up to the window, showed them my card and told them I was a teacher. There was a lot lost in the translation, but I did understand something about it costing 10 lira, which is half of the 20 lira that my friend had to pay! I thought GREAT, and handed him my teacher card. He starting working on his computer, asked me a lot of questions (still didnt understand much), scanned my teacher card, and then took my money. Next, he handed me a MUZE KART. I was really confused but thanked him and walked away. Come to find out this MUZE KART gets me into all the Museums across Turkey for free, and it doesn't expire until next summer. Normally they dont give them to foreigners, its just for Turks. I think with my lack of Turkish, the man just felt sorry for me so he gave it to me. Whatever the reason - I am glad to have it, it has saved me a ton of money!

One of my favorite things to do in my city is ride the boat across the Bosphorus. All summer long there have been cruise ships docked in, sometimes up to 3 or 4 ships at a time. This always gets me so excited, because cruising is something my family and I love to do together. We have so many fun memories going to the Bahamas and Mexico. I like to look up the cruise ship's name online and find out where they have come from and where they are going next. Then I imagine what it would be like to cruise around this part of the world with my family! I sure hope I get to take at least one cruise while I live over here.

Come Visit Me!

A few weeks ago I had my 1st visitor - my good friend Liz!! It was wonderful having her here for 10 days. Liz was a great guest and fun person to show around my city, because it didn’t matter what we did...she LOVED it! It felt nice to just be a tourist for a few days and really enjoy my city. Sometimes I forget how beautiful my city is and how cool it is that I live here. I had a lot of fun planning our time together and being a tour guide. We were on the go the whole time and it was a lot of fun exploring with a good friend. Liz and I did lots of neat things, but instead of listing them all out here is a top ten from our time together! 10. Eating some good food – McDonalds, Chili’s, Ikea, gozleme, tavuk sis, and Magnum Bars
9. Setting up the self timer at every tourist spot – Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Basilica Cisterns, Hippodrome, etc
8. Going to the Hamam – a true Turkish experience :)
7. Watching like 20 episodes of Friends.
6. Playing cards every spare minute we had – on the boat to the islands, at the airport waiting on Julie, at Starbucks, or wherever else.
5. Laughing Laughing Laughing – I seriously love this girl’s laugh.
4. Liz letting me use her arm for support as I limped around on my strained ankle – the result of wearing flip-flops everyday in a city where I have to walk a lot on uneven concrete.
3. Spending as much time with Julie as possible, which meant we slept like 12 hours in the 3 nights she was here. But totally worth it.
2. Sitting at the Starbucks in Bebek and singing Michael Jackson on my Ipod.
1. Having Liz by my side for 10 days straight – it was glorious and a truly great time!
My old roomie came for the weekend and it was so good for me to have some time with her. I miss her a lot, but am so thankful for the 5 months we had to live together when we first moved overseas!

Learning a Foreign Language

Learning a foreign language has proved to be one of the hardest and most challenging things I have ever done. I would say that language is the hardest thing about living in Turkey. It is hard to feel like you have no voice, to not be able to explain what you are doing, or tell something you think their dress is cute, or genuinely apologize for bumping into someone. Sometimes I just feel lost in translation (which is a terrible, strange movie!) Since moving here, 7 months ago, it has been my desire to learn Turkish. I know the more language I have, the more comfortable I'll be. I also know that it is important for me to learn the heart language of the people I live among and serve. Over the last 7 months I have done several things in an attempt to learn this language.

The first 5 months, I met with a language tutor for about 4 hours a week. Pervin is a Turk but knows really good English, because she lived in Colorado for a few years. She was a great tutor and the perfect fit for me since I was teaching full time. Because she knew English she was able to explain things to me and answer my many questions. She also was always so willing to help me to do things around the city - get my bridesmaid's dress altered, find a tanning bed, ride a taxi, order meat, etc. I am so thankful for her, and loved spending time with her - whether in or outside of our tutoring sessions. She gave me a great foundation of Turkish.

I just finished a 1 month intensive language course, with 13 other foreigners (yabanciler)! We meet for 16 classes over the last month - for 4 hours each and we had the sweetest teacher named Nuray. Nuray was a wonderful teacher, who pushed and challenged me. She only knew a few English words, so she mostly spoke to us (and requested we speak to her) in Turkish. This really helped to get me thinking and speaking in Turkish. I feel good about my class and the progress I made, now I just hope I can keep practicing and using it more. I think in the fall I am going to find a tutor to just speak Turkish with me, even if it is on like a 2nd grade level. I am done with grammar for a while and just want to use what I have learned.

Small World

A few weeks ago Selma and I went to Chilis' for her birthday, it also happened to be July 4th. We met up with some other Americans that were going as well. When we arrived, we were shown to this upstairs room that had "Happy 4th of July" signs everywhere and American flags! We enjoyed a delicious meal (I think I ate an entire basket of chips and salsa all by myself) complete with unlimited refills. After dinner they told us they had a special dessert for us, and out they came with this cake that had sparkers and an American flag on it!! It was hilarious, and so nice of them to help us celebrate our holiday!
After dinner I was talking to the manager, he is a Turk but speaks really good English. I was asking him how he learned to speak so well and he told me that he had lived in America for the last 10 years. Well after many more of my questions, I find out that he not only lived in America, but he lived in Raleigh, NC and went to graduate school at NC State, my university!!! We talk some more about how he liked Raleigh, what beach he used to go to, etc and then he tells me that for 5 years he managed a Chilis' on Glenwood Avenue. I about fell out of my chair. I went to this Chilis ALL THE TIME in college, it is right across the street from Providence. I couldnt believe it, what a small world! To think that just last year we were both in Raleigh, and now we are both in Turkey. I am so glad he is here managing a Chilis in my new city!