Thursday, October 28, 2010

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.

1 comment:

  1. YEA for heat! Hope it works well! We're enjoying a beautiful fall 80's/50's.
    I know you're both working extra hard with the new classes. Hang in there!

    ReplyDelete