Day Light Savings Time

Guess what, Turkey is on daylights saving and it changed today.  Fortunately I had heard something about it or we would have been late for the school van tomorrow morning.  I guess the states don’t go on until next Sunday and of course all you Tucson folks never have to think about changing your clocks.  The weather has been great here this weekend.  Lots of walking. 

Republic Day Celebration

Just came in from dinner and watching some fireworks.  We actually saw most of the fireworks from our living room window.  There was a boat that went down the river and every quarter mile or so fired off some colorful fireworks.  It was pretty cool.  Right before dark was the dragon boat races.  There were two large kayak type boats with 8 or 10 paddlers who kept time with a drummer.  That was also right out our front window.  Unfortunately we got to the parade too late.  It started at 10:00 and we got there about 10:40 and it was over.  Oh well, maybe next year, who knows.    Today was mostly spent catching up on tv shows through our expat vpn system.  We saw a CSI episode and the new Hawaii 50.  We also regularly watch Jon Stewart and hope his big rally to restore sanity  on Saturday is a big hit! 

This and that again

I wanted to post a few more Turkish observations that I keep forgetting about when I  blog.  Jerry and I both have cell phones but there is no voice mail in Turkey.  Yes, people text but there is no way to set up a voice message.  Of course, I am technologically challenged but I need to learn to text. So far it hasn’t been necessary.  When you  miss a call the # is there so you can just redial.

The women in Turkey dress very nicely.  I always feel a little underdressed when I walk down the street in my jeans and tennis shoes. Of course, there are a lot of people who are dressed like me, but many of  women wear nice boots, pants or skirts and look like they are on the streets of a big city.   All our teachers dress up at school.  Seems like I haven’t seen the same outfit on some of them yet.  The parents are also dressed very fashionably when they come to school for special events.  There are a lot of “high end” shops here as well as very reasonable shops.  For a relatively small town it has it all!!

All the cafes, bars, and restaurants have outside areas that are open during the summer.  There is a no smoking in buildings or restaurants law that I have been told is enforced, but people can smoke on the patios. Now that it is winter all the patios are enclosed with heavy plastic and have heaters so  people can continue to enjoy their cay and cigarette. Playing games is also a big thing in the cafes.  Most of them have board and card games that people can sit and play for as long as they want and enjoy their smokes and cay.

More later on the celebration for their Republic Day.  Looks like the rain may hold off. 

Turkey’s 4th of July celebration

Tomorrow (Friday) is a celebration of when Turkey became a republic thanks to Ataturk and his Young Turks, a progressive group of military  men who wanted to build a successful nation after World War I. We only  had half a day of school today and the last hour was a program by the students and teachers to celebrate their independence from their old empire.  I still don’t know a lot of Turkish history but I do know how revered Ataturk and his principles still are.  Every Monday morning the students gather to sing the national song and show their  respect.  There is also a ceremony at the end of the school week as well. 

The students put on quite a performance today,  but unfortunately, Jerry and I couldn’t understand what they were saying and singing.  We did enjoy the show.  I think we should know more Turkish by now but it really is a hard language or at least we think it is. Gestures and pointing still work pretty well for us.

Good news!!  I think we have heat.  I’ll write more this weekend about their celebration if the weather cooperates.  It’s cloudy and rainy today so the heat came at a good time.

More Classes

I sort of knew that when the other English teacher disappeared back to England that Jerry and I would get her classes.  I had a new schedule today with 7 more hours all 6th grade.  6A and 6B with three hours each and then an extra class for the kids that need some extra help.  Needless to say I spent my evening preparing.  Jerry has 7 more 7th grade classes.  They are at different places in the curriculum which means I have to prepare for two separate groups.  Still no resolution on our heating.  The weather is suppose to turn cold and rainy by the end of the week so I’m still hopeful it will be resolved.  We do have the electric heaters so we won’t freeze. One 6th grade is studying fables and the other one is already on poems.  Not sure what I like more, Potato Pals or fables and poems! 

Great Friends and Great Food

We spent a beautiful sunny day taking pictures of our favorite restaurants and friends from each restaurant, there are several more but these are the very best and we eat at each one at least once a week.  The first one is Halil who manages the Traveler’s Irish Pub.  He speaks English and has been very kind to us.  He always gives us tastes of his special sauces or hot peppers which I (Carol) eat, Jerry does not.  Sometimes the peppers are hotter than the ones we get in Tucson.  The second picture is the owner of our favorite corba (soup) restaurant.  He also treats us to some of his special dishes.  The third is the waiter from our favorite pide (bread with cheese and for us mushrooms, others get meat) restaurant.  We gave our blog address to Halil today.  I’m curious to hear his comments.  From several other blog readers who are from Turkey or this area we have heard it is interesting to read about their culture through a visitors eyes. 

 

Party Down at the “UpnDown”

Yes, that’s correct Jerry and I were at a party at a bar called the UpnDown.  We were in the basement or Down section for a karaoke party.  One of our teachers Merve was invited and she told us she was going to sing.  Of course we couldn’t miss the opportunity to hear her sing so we showed up along with Evrim and Ayse and her husband Serhat.  What an evening!!  There were about 150 very young people and us!!  The kids really got into the singing (mostly Turkish songs but they had the lyrics for American songs as well) and were having a great time dancing.  Everyone just sort of dances to the music, doesn’t really matter if you have a partner or not.  Well, I haven’t danced that much in years.  Jerry was even thinking of going up on stage and having us do I’ve Got You Babe.  Couldn’t quite bring myself to do that. Maybe after another beer.  The girls were great dancers.  Unfortunately, Merve never was called to sing.  Not sure what happened to the list but we’ll probably “have” to go back some other night so we can hear her!!  Can’t begin to tell you again how much we enjoy our young teachers.

When we showed up at the bar last night we were surprised to find one of the guys who helped us with our internet when we first moved in is the manager of Down.  We didn’t realize it was the bar where he worked until we saw him.  He remembered us and gave us a warm Turkish greeting.  Then we remembered that the “bouncer” at the bar was from New York.  He is Turkish but lived in New York until he was 32 and decided to move back to Turkey.  He had had enough of New York. He’s been back 6 years and had to learn to speak Turkish but he is now married with a baby. 

We’re leaving in a few minutes to have tea with a relative of the neighbor of our apartment owner.  Can you believe she lives in Green Valley!! She is visiting back in Turkey and having dental work done.  The bottom line for all this is that it really is a small world!

We found out today that while we were partying last night the building owner was waiting for us so he could look at the heating.  We didn’t know he needed us at home so we missed him.   We have a new plan for Monday evening so we are hopeful of a resolution.  The weather is still great here for a few more days.

Jerry took pictures today on our walk so he’ll get them posted sometime this weekend.  This is Jerry, I just wanted to let everyone know that Carol decided to make up for all the years of dancing she missed because of me in just one night.  She was going with the best of them all night long.  Her version of the Turkish belly dance still needs a little work, but she is on a roll so to speak.  Rock and Roll that is. 

Technology and other “thoughts”

I mentioned technology in my last blog.  Wednesday I had a listening exercise and was told by the other teacher that the computer worked in the room so no problem with the CD; however, they didn’t tell me that the password had changed and I didn’t ask since it had been the same password since the beginning of school.  Anyway, I get to class, try to go on the computer and can’t get in.  I sent a student for a boombox from our teachers room but he came back with the broken one.  by that time most of the lesson was over so we  played “hangman” and a couple of other icebreakers which the kids enjoy.  Basically we are fortunate to have as many resources as we do so I can’t really complain, but it was a frustration. I’ll just have to be better prepared next time.

Another interesting piece of Turkish culture that I don’t think I’ve mentioned is the importance of Eczane’s or pharmacies.  You can’t buy aspirin, vitamins, or any other kind of pill in a grocery store or even the big box store that we visit occasionally.  Anything that is considered a medication is only sold at the Eczane.  They have one on just about every block so it’s not a problem.  So far we’ve only bought vitamins so fortunately haven’t needed any other kind of medication.

We may  have a heat resolution.  We sure hope so!!!!!

It’s not all a bed of roses!!

Just in case we gave the impression that everything is perfect I thought I should share our frustration over our apartment heat.  I think I mentioned that in Turkey they don’t typically turn the heat on until October 15th and it was pretty cold that week.  We bought a space heater and made the best of it and then it warmed up; however, the 15th has come and gone and still no heat.  Apparently the heating system in our building is broken.  Our emlak (realtor) has been working with us to solve the problem but so far no resolution.  The building owner did bring a big space heater over today so right now we are toasty.  Everyone here keeps telling us how cold it is going to get so we are anxious for a resolution.  We really don’t want to move from our location, it’s a great  part of town.

The other issue that could be interesting is that the other woman from England who was the third native speaker at school went back to England unexpectedly.  I doubt that she will be back so we don’t know what that means for us. ( Stay posted for the update.)  The other Turkish teachers were surprised and I think a little anxious about what that means for them as well.  somehow we’ll all have to cover the classes she had. 

Back to the good side of our adventure is how much fun it is to run into our students on the street.  We’ve also met several parents at school functions and they all want to know if their children speak English to us.  Sometimes it’s yes and sometimes we or at least I should speak for myself (Carol here), I’m surprised that the child speaks as much English as they do.  Some are shy and sometimes the class size doesn’t allow for much speaking time.  My class sizes go all the way from 6 in the 4th grade to 24 in one of my 1st grade classes. I do a lot of coloring exercises in my kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade classes because the activity keeps the kids occupied while I go around the room asking questions about what they are coloring.  I love seeing their eyes light up when they say the correct English words and I say “great job” or do a “thumbs up”. 

The children get a lot of English classes during the week. I think it’s around 8 class sessions of 40 minutes each.  They get much more than the public schools according to the other teachers at our school. I would love to just have 6 in all my classes but that is never going to happen.

Our favorite pizza in Tucson was at Zona 78 and we have now found something almost as good.  The restaurant is called Passage (pasage with a short a) and they even have an English menu.  The pizza is 8 TL which is about $5.00.  Last night we went to the new restaurant down the street that just opened. It’s called the Traveler’s Irish Pub but the only thing Irish about it is the beer.  The menu has a great fish fillet but the really nice thing is that the manager who I’ve mentioned in several other blogs requested that the chef make us a vegetable plate.  When we ask what we should do when he isn’t there to interpret he told us to just say the American’s are here.

That’s enough for now, the good still outweighs the bad, but next time I’ll tell you about my technology frustrations!! 

Daily Life in Eskisehir

Cay (sounds like chai) but it’s tea is an everyday occurrence from morning to night.  We were actually shocked when we went to eat at a coffee place the other night and they didn’t have cay!  People do drink coffee here but cay is the main drink.  It comes in little glasses (best described as hour glass shape with the top cut off and no handle) in most places but we’ve found cups in some restaurants.  During my shopping day last weekend with Ayse we stopped at a pet store where her husband was visiting a friend.  The first thing the owner did was ask if we wanted cay and of course you say yes.  He had an intercom to a delivery tea service and within 5 minutes we were all drinking our cay. We had noticed people walking across the street carrying glasses of tea on a tray but didn’t quite realize what it meant until last weekend.   Except for a few of the chain restaurants like Burger King there is very little ice here.  We buy cans of ice tea but I have yet to see ice sold anywhere. Cay is always served with sugar, none of that fake stuff served in any of the restaurants although you can find artificial sugar in the grocery store.  We use the artificial stuff  at school but use the sugar in the restaurants.  It’s just what you do.

We were walking down the street this morning coming back from breakfast and the manager of our weekend breakfast cafe saw us on the street and invited us into a new restaurant he is helping open just a block from our apartment.  Of course we had cay and he and the owners (a delightful couple who own three other restaurants in a partnership and speak English) shared their new menu and invited us back for their opening tonight.  Halil, the manager, has assured us that he talked to the chef and he can fix us vegetarian options.  They also have fish on the menu which is not very common here since Eskisheir is so far from the ocean or a sea.

Last night coming back from dinner I heard “Carol” and it was one of my kindergarten students with his sister and parents who speak English.  The mother is from Canada. We will probably see them on Sunday when we go back to school for the kindergarten parents meeting. (Last weekend was the parents meeting for the older kids) Turkish people do work long hours and it’s not at all uncommon to work 6 day weeks.

Today, Jerry and I were walking down the street talking and someone said to us, “you speak English”.   He had just returned here after being gone for 18 years and was anxious to speak English with someone.  We had a nice conversation before going on our way.

Today is sunny and warm after a few cold rainy days.  We’re off to see the movie Red at our neighborhood cinema. 

Working on a Sunday

Yesterday was parents day at the school where we teach, TED Koleji so the service picked us up at 12:00 at our usual spot.  The 1st to 5th grade parents came first.  There was an opening session at 1:00. Of course, we didn’t understand anything that went on except we heard our names mentioned.  Then we visited each classroom to answer questions from the parents.  I couldn’t contribute much there either except a few parents who spoke English came up and talked.  Then at 3:00 they had another session for the 6th to 9th grade which are Jerry’s classes.  Bottom line we didn’t get home until after 7:00.  The Turkish people work very hard.

On Saturday I went shopping for pants with my co-worker and friend, Ayse.  She is from Eskisehir and knows all the good spots.  We went to a shop which sells nothing but women’s pants.  I found 3 pairs for 60 TL or about $40.00.  They altered them while Ayse and I had tea and pastry and walked around a bazaar in the Ottoman part of town.  Jerry was off at his Turkish bath while we did our shopping. 

Now it’s Monday morning and we’re off to work again.  Hope everyone out there in cyberspace is doing well.

What makes a Cold and Rainy Day Hot and Steamy? (no not that)

Well, it is about 45 and rainy in Eskisehir today.  So what do you do?  Well first you go to the Starbucks like bakery and have a long and lovely brunch with tea, pastries and great old American music. Then Carol’s goes off with another teacher who is from here and they shop of course.  So I was left with staying in our cold apartment or trying the Turkish Bath House tradition.  So I made a choice.  The century old tradition won out.  I went off to get a massage and enjoy the steamy haman. Well as with most efforts here it was more of learning than doing.  I went in and paid my 6 lira or $4 for use of the facility.  I was told the massage would be 20 TL  (Turkish Lira).  As with everything here people really want to help, but the lack of Turkish on my side and English on their side kept me in a state of confusion.  Finally one person explained the process to me, but is was at the time of a shift change and I had already been there for an hour and it seemed to me that I would be better to take the knowledge and try again. 

So what I learned is that the tradition if still very popular.  A very crowded place with many fathers with their sons getting an early start in the tradition.  It seems that the way it is done is to take at least 2 hours and maybe 3 to relax, steam clean, massage, rest and take nourishment with friends for long conversations.  So I can see why people like it a lot.  

As you can imagine no pictures to go with this post

“Toto” We don’t live in Tucson any more

We are experiencing fall weather for the first time in many many years.  It was actually cold enough to see our breath when we walked the whole 3 minutes to our pick up point for our jobs.  I’m not complaining,(this is Carol) just saying it’s really really different from Tucson.   We are fortunate to live in an apartment that seems to hold the heat during the day because there is some kind of Turkish rule that says you can’t turn on the type of heat we have until October 15th!!  We were prepared to experience this so we’re doing fine.  Our heat is steam heat from a coal furnace.  We have heaters in every room so we’ll let you know how it works.  Showers are a little tricky.  It’s working better for me to do an evening shower and jump into a warm bed, Jerry is still braving the morning.

We went on a peanut butter hunt today.  We found a jar when we first came and stayed at the hotel but just ran out and our local “Migros” and several others around us didn’t have any.  Turkey and other countries we have visited have another type of spread but it’s not like real peanut butter.  Anyway, we found it at the store near the hotel where we stayed when we arrived.  It’s near the Anadolu University so we decided it must be something college students buy that are here from other countries.  I think I mentioned previously that Eskisehir has a very large Erasmus program or foreign student program from all over the world.

Some of you may want to know more about the teaching experience.  Well, I have gone from being a CEO of a non profit  agency to Potato Pals.  My new pals for first and second grades are Dean, Daisy, Chip, Joy, Nina and one other that escapes me at the moment.  In the first grade we are “Getting Up in the Morning”” and the second grade is “At the Store”.  Each unit has a CD and a book with short sentences and a bunch of flash cards.  The trick is to to see if they really learn the English or are just repeating the words in the song that they have heard and sung a “bunch” of times.  My co teachers and I keep coming up with ideas on how to play the right games that will help them learn. Kindergarten is Teddy is Ready which is a new book that was just written and we just got this week.  We’re not sure how  well it will go over yet.  I tried some boy and girl games with my kindergarten class that didn’t work.  It did work in 2nd grade.  You would not believe how competitive they were!  I’ll try them with my other 2nd and 1st grade classes next week.

My 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes have really good books with reading, writing, and listening exercises.  They have a lot of variety and it’s fun to teach from the books.  They go from Starters to Movers to Flyers.  I think I already mentioned that the challenge is teaching to the various levels in each class.  A few know the words well and get the exercises quickly and a few don’t really understand what I am saying or asking for at all.  It would be really good to group them by ability but then that becomes a scheduling nightmare so you just do what you can.

Well, this is long enough for now.  Any of you teachers and former teachers out there that have ideas please forward to me at clittle1946@gmail.com.  Thanks to Nancy Milburn for several good ideas.  Jerry is using her idea to have his students select an English “nickname” and it has gone over very well.  Keep those helpful ideas coming we need all the help we can get on this big adventure called “teaching”

  .

The Younger Side of Teaching

Merhaba (hello) We’ve now been teachers for two weeks and I am struggling to learn my students names.  I started to count the # of students today and realized that I have over 100 students each week.  Of course most of the names are new to me and C’s are really pronounced like J’s.  It helped when I figured that out.  I did have them do name tags for the 3rd, 4th and 5th years which helped some also.  Like Jerry I have kids at all levels of English.  There are a few kids who grew up with English so English lessons can be pretty boring for them.  Since I only have 9 assigned classes a week I have been going to the classes with the English teachers who speak Turkish and going around helping the students during the lessons.   When you have 23 first graders one teacher just isn’t enough.  The one on one gives me a good idea of the level of each student. The Turkish teachers do their best to speak English throughout the class but sometimes use Turkish when the kids need to quiet down.  The kids still aren’t use to the fact that I speak no Turkish.  Some of them try the “I have to go to the bathroom” routine on me.  I can just indicate I don’t understand. Then the demo’s get pretty funny.  Usually I say no but occasionally the “demo” seems pretty real so I say yes.  I think for the most part I am being “conned” by experts. But, I will get to know the game better each time and then I will get my con going and they will learn in spite of themselves. You know me, teacher Carol, I get my man just like the Canadian Mounties even if he is six.

I want to thank our new friends Roger and Sibel for inviting us to the beginning of semester buffet for the communications professors at Anadolu University.  They just moved into a beautiful new building and there are 80 professors involved in the program which serves “erasmus”  or foreign students who come from all over the world.

If any of you blog readers have a chance the link to the article about Eskisehir in an earlier post is a really good description of what one person can accomplish. Worth your time to read, tamam (ok).  (that’s a word you hear a lot in turkey just like in the states.)

A world without Starbucks

We have been having nice leisurely breakfast on the long weekends, but until today it had not occurred to us that we had not had a Starbucks like  experience.  So we set out to find a place that would give us the tea and pastry like Saturday morning feeling, where we could spend 20 bucks for tea.  We had to try several to find the sweet pastry like product, but we had potatoes, spinach and cheese pastries that were very good.  However, not the same idea.  The walk around the university continued with many pasta shops (that is pastry to you). Shop after shop, nice but no cigar so to speak.  Then we turned toward home and on a side street there it was -- Starbucks in Turkish.  Apple turnovers, scone like things and walnut pastries only two miles away so we bought them to bring home.  Then as we got to our bridge 50 yards from home and we looked in the window of our on cookie shop and there they were, We also discovered that they have an upstairs for serving tea, etc. We no longer will suffer the great human tragedy on being Starbuckless. (this is Jerry writing)

This is our new home and it’s story on a great website

Take a look at this website if you would like to see how a city can develop wonderfully and quickly, just like Tucson, for those of you that are familiar with Rio Nuevo in Tucson. http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=10810070