Oktoberfest....Turkey style

This past weekend, I enjoyed an Oktoberfest, Turkey style (just like the title says!).  Mr. Hanna, the headmaster at the school, spent years living and working in Germany and organized this trip to Adana for Oktoberfest.  While there were no Oktoberfest beers or sausages, we did get to enjoy some Beck's and of course Efes, potato pancakes, potato salad, and some German pastries.  There was also a band that played some German and Turkish songs as well as some DJ music mixed in.  It was a fun night out and I wish I had more photos to share, however most of my photos were pretty blurry since it was night.

(Turkish) German Oktoberfest dinner

School has been going pretty well over the past few weeks.  It has been really nice having the time to plan lessons without feeling rushed or staying late after school to be prepared.  I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but I have been taking tennis lessons twice a week at the Tarsus tennis club.  That's been a fun way to exercise and learn a new sport.  For those of you thinking that I am too uncoordinated for this, you may be right but it's still fun :)  Otherwise, I sometimes go to a group workout session that another teacher on campus organizes.  Some of the other teachers have figured out ways to get VPNs for watching Netflix or American television shows, but I keep putting it off because without TV I find I have been reading a lot more.  I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society to stay caught up with my Minnesotan book club.  It was written as a series of letters, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a unique perspective of WWII occupation.

This upcoming weekend, there is a trip planned to Karatepe learn about rug-making.  I should have more photos and more interesting things to post after that trip.  Overall, I feel like I have adjusted to life in Turkey and working at the school, which isn't to say that I don't miss people back home like crazy.  It's really been amazing to be able to Skype with my family, Nate, and other friends.  It somehow makes my experiences here in Turkey feel more complete when I can share them with the people back home I love. 

To end this post, here is a funny photo I took after the cleaning lady came in on Monday.  I came home after a long and hectic day at school and this made me smile:

My stockings all hung off my porch, with care :)

First Week Of School

It has been a nice, lazy Sunday and weekend after my first week of teaching.  Yes, I did end up having to teach the rest of the week after the opening ceremony!  The third grade students seem like a really nice group of kids.  I am still getting names down and also determining their English abilities.  Overall, I would say their English language proficiency is lower than I expected, although that might change once they get back into the groove of school and hearing English on a more regular basis.  The first week consisted of getting to know the kids, basic rules, and also listening to some summer homework presentations.  Their English summer homework was to create a brief presentation of what they did over the summer.  Just like in the U.S., you get a lot of kids who didn't do their homework!  But I have had a number of students bring in flashdrives with PowerPoints or other presentations to share.  I have to think that the parents may have had a hand in preparing them :)  I was pretty amazed at how much traveling the students did over the summer.  My favorite presentation was a girl who had traveled all over Europe, including the red-light district of Amsterdam!  Luckily, that one got lost in translation and no questions were asked :)

All of this for only 6 TL!  That's about $4!

It was a pretty busy week after school as well.  I started taking tennis lessons at the Tarsus tennis club.  I go two days a week and it has been fun learning how to hit a ball.  I don't have the best hand-eye coordination in the world so I have a lot of work, but it's fun to take lessons.  I also got my residence permit, which allows me to come and go out of Turkey as I want.  One night this week I went to get some humus from Karavan, which was hands down the best humus I have ever had.  The ayran in the photo is a traditional Turkish drink made of yogurt, water, and salt.  Some people hate it but I actually kind of like it.  

This weekend I booked my blue cruise boat trip for the October holiday.  Here's a link to my intinerary:

http://www.bluecruisesturkey.com/Cabin_Charters/Olympos-Fethiye.html

As you can see from the photos, it should be a beautiful trip!  I can't wait to go, and it's always nice to have something fun to look forward to.  Saturday night I went out for dinner and some drinks in the "Old Town" part of Tarsus (really, the whole city is old!).  A number of old buildings have been renovated into nice restaurants and bars.  It was nice to sit outside and enjoy some live Turkish music and relax with some of the other teachers at the school.  Next weekend there is an Oktoberfest celebration in Adana, which should be a good time as well.  The beer of choice here in Turkey is Efes, a pilsner.  There's a dark Efes and a lemon one as well.  It's not as good as the Tuis in New Zealand, but still all right :)  The wine is pretty good here, so that makes me happy.  Any hard alcohol is pretty expensive, except for Raki (pronounced Ra-kah).  Raki is a clear liquid that they mix with water and ice, and then it turns a milky white color.  It tastes kind of like black licorice and is incredibly strong.  I don't care for it at all, but the Turkish men really go nuts over it.  I did buy a Turkish coffee liquor, so maybe next weekend I can throw some of that in my morning brew.  

Thanks for reading and giving feedback :)  I have been able to skype with some people and it's really fun to share about all of the new experiences here.  Visitors welcome, anytime :)

Apartment and school

I have been writing for a while now that I will post photos of my apartment and school, so here they are!  Today was the first day of school for students.  There were many parents that came for the opening ceremony and helped students bring their books and materials to their homerooms.  I saw some third graders with rolling suitcases of books and materials!  The opening ceremony consisted of the national anthem and speeches.  I was really surprised at how well the third graders listened throughout the ceremony (standing in lines!).  Everyone agreed that afterwards the students listened better than their parents during the ceremony.  Here are some photos from the first day:

Third graders waiting after the ceremony!

After school, I walked into a freshly cleaned apartment!  Today was the first day my cleaning lady came and it was amazing to walk in and see everything put away and clean.  I figured it would be a good day to take some photos and share, so here they are!

Living room

Kitchen and dining room

My bedroom

And my Turkish toilet!  To be used for storing cleaning supplies

Tomorrow is the first day of teaching for me, followed by parent meetings, then tennis lessons!  If you want to see more photos, I just made a big album on facebook.  Also, if anyone has skype add me!  My username is nicole.dimberg.  Right now I am eight hours ahead of central time zone, which makes it tricky to find good times during the week, but weekends are much more flexible.  I hope everyone is enjoying the fall colors in Minnesota, I know I will be missing them!

Kizkalesi photos

Last Thursday was a national holiday in Turkey, so the foreign teachers (foreign meaning from the U.S. or Canada) took a trip to Kizkalesi to spend the day at the beach.  This is not your run of the mill beach, however!  The beach is famous for it's views of the Maiden's Castle.  It is located out on an island, about 200 m from the shoreline.  The castle was built around 200 B.C.  The local legend is that a powerful king had the castle build on the tiny island to protect his daughter after hearing a prophecy from a fortune teller that she would be killed from a snakebite.  As it turns out, a snake made it's way over anyway when someone delivered fruit to her by boat, and ultimately the prophecy was fulfilled.  I was hoping to get a look into the castle after I swam out there (in beautiful, clear water!), but unfortunately you have to pay to enter.  So maybe next time I'll take a paddleboat out there and walk around.  There was also the option of parasailing at this beach to get an aerial view of the inside :-)

Not your everyday beach view!

I love all the men on the banana boat raft!

I was hoping to go back to Mersin to do some shopping over the weekend,  but unfortunately I had to deal with some moderate food poisoning :-(  Once again this week, work has consisted of preparation and meetings.  Up until today, I have not felt very productive or even in the know of what is going on at the school.  I did get my teaching schedule today, and I will be teaching eighteen 40-minute periods of third grade English a week.  Twelve of those periods will be splits, which means I will have 9-10 students in my class.  Pretty AWESOME schedule, if you ask me!  It sounds like they keep English teachers busy when they are not teaching doing pull-out English lessons, recess duty, subbing, etc.  I still don't have a very clear idea of the curriculum I will be following, nor do I have all of the resources I am expected to use.  But at least I will know where I need to go on the first day and all of that other stuff will fall into place with time, I am sure.  

Even though I got food poisoning in Turkey, that is still not going to stop me from eating their food!  Tonight I had some amazing homemade humus, and my teaching partner promised to teach me how to make humus from scratch.  You can't buy it pre-made in the stores like in the U.S.  You have to either make it yourself or get it to go from a restaurant if you want humus at home.  And it sounds like many Turks make it themselves!  I also can't get enough of the feta cheese.  Or fresh fruits!  Right now, peaches and plums are in season.  Peaches with yogurt and honey (yogurt that's similar, but better than Greek yogurt) is one of my favorite snacks.  They also use eggplant a lot in their main meals, which I also love.  Once I get settled in to my school routine, I would love to experiment a little more with making Turkish dishes on my own here at home!

So far I enjoy living by myself.  Since I share an office/workspace with 18 other people, it is nice to have a quiet place to come home to in the evenings.  More funny office stories later....this is the first time in my adult career I have to share an office space with other adults, instead of having a classroom!  So different, but I think I will end up really enjoying it.  Next post, I will try to have photos of the school, as well as my apartment.  Maybe I will wait until my cleaning lady comes on Monday to take those :-).... Actually MOM my place is not messy at all! 

First trip to Mersin

The other night I started a post, but then was unable to finish because I wasn't able to get connected to the internet (again!).  But I will start off with one thing that is very true and pertinent:  Everything is a learning process over here in Turkey and I am discovering that many times, things don't happen the the right way the first time but eventually they do :-)

Enjoying the Mersin Marina after some shopping and lunch

On Sunday we went on a fun shopping trip to Mersin, which is about 45 minutes away.  There are lots of shopping options, clothes and shoes included which makes me happy!  They took us to a store that is a lot like home depot for some apartment items.  Taking 8 ladies shopping in a store with no English is quite the undertaking and takes a lot of time, so I was able to sneak away and buy my first pair of shoes and a dress (both on sale!).

After shopping we went out for a lovely lunch at a restaurant right on the sea.  The food here is really delicious and while people say they get tired of the lack of variety, I am loving everything I have tried.  My favorite are the dolmas, which are stuffed grape leaves.  I have also had some awesome hummus, kebabs, feta, olives, baklava, and many cheeses.  There are green grocers all over the place, which sell fresh fruits and vegetables.  It's all cheap and great quality.  Tahini is also going to be a guilty pleasure of mine.  It's a sweet made with ground sesame seeds and sometimes pistachio or chocolate or vanilla.  The best tahini is made here in Tarsus, so I got a huge tin of pistachio tahini for super cheap.  I still need to make it to the olive shop, which is reported to have the best quality olive oil and products for extremely reasonable prices.  It is a good thing that the school has a workout facility, although when another teacher and I went there yesterday, we worked out in 36 degrees celsius conditions.  That's 96.8 degrees F, folks!  I made it about 20 minutes on an eliptical before calling it quits.

Here are some photos from the Mersin trip:

Yes, that is a Caribou Coffee in Turkey!  I couldn't believe it when other teachers told me about it.

View of the marina in Mersin, which was right in front of where we had lunch.

Monday was the first day for all teachers, so I got to meet a lot of new people (again, that's basically what it has been for the past 8 days!), including the English Department, where I will be working.  My teaching partner's name is a Tarsus native named Gulcan (pronounced Gul-jan).  I feel really lucky to have her as my teaching partner because she has been at the school for ten years and worked with the second graders last year, so she knows the incoming third grade students very well!  According to Gulcan, this is a really nice class of students.  I really haven't done much over the past few days besides help move all of the English Department resources upstairs (in the heat, no AC!) and run around trying to take care of things like filling out medical insurance, signing resident permit forms, and working out internet issues.  One fun thing I did today (mom, you will appreciate this!) is hire a maid to come in.  The school secretary has several ladies she uses to set up services for teachers who live on campus.  I will have a lady come in for a half day every two weeks to do some basic cleaning.  Yeah, I can do it myself, but I can afford it and it gives someone in Tarsus a little extra cash too.  Tomorrow is Victory Day to celebrate Turkey's independence, so there is no work and I am going to the beach in Mersin!  Hopefully on Friday more will be known in the English department, like what books and resources we are expected to use!  Bureaucracy exists everywhere, it seems.

Before I post, I have to share a little about the neighborhood I am living in.  Feliz, the school's official translator (who looks like a yoga instructor and is the friendliest person I have ever met), our driver Ramazan, and the buildings supervisor Neslihan took the four of us who live off campus on a mini tour of the neighborhood.  They introduced us to the people who work at a grocery store, green grocer, bread store (freshly made, and it smelled awesome), and a kebab place.  Everyone gave us a card and said they would deliver, even though we live like 2 minutes away.  On our way back to our apartments, we saw some ladies crushing red peppers to make red pepper paste:

I made the photo extra big so you can see  the huge pile of seeds and peppers!  It smelled amazing, and I would love to buy this paste that they were making!

Tonight two other teachers and I went to the kebab place to have dinner.  This was our first venture out without anybody to translate or help us out, so there was some confusion but all in all a great experience.  They kept bringing us food, first a bunch of vegetables, then tahuni, and then kebabs.  I don't think we ordered it all, but it was really good.  While we were trying to figure out how to ask how much, I noticed a little boy, about third grade, staring and giggling at us.  I kept catching his eye, and then finally he said "hi" to us.  I decided to practice my Turkish with him, so we had a little conversation.  He told me his name was Umut and on the way home I wondered if maybe that was a dirty word in Turkish and he was just trying to get an adult to say a bad word, so I looked it up in my English-Turkish dictionary.  As it turns out, umut means "hope", which I thought was perfect :-)  I think Umut is the son of someone who works at the kebab place, so I am sure I will see him again and maybe he can help me with my Turkish.  Thanks for the feedback so far on the blog....I try to keep things short but now there is just so many interesting and new things to share.  I will have to take some photos of the school on Friday to share :)

Istanbul Orientation

Hi everyone, I just made it back from Istanbul to discover that the wireless internet at my apartment is in fact working!  First of all, I am still amazed by how well the schools treat their teachers and especially new staff.  The Turks are known for their hospitality and I have very much experienced that in my time here so far.  All of the new foreign staff along with our headmaster flew to Istanbul early Wednesday morning.  They put us up in our own rooms at a posh hotel, with the best breakfast cheese spread I have ever seen.  AND segue to photo number one!

The orientation the first day consisted of a history of the schools, a Turkish language lesson, and a crash course in Turkish culture.  Turkish is a challenging language to learn, and I don't think I will ever become fluent.  Right now my goal is to learn enough words and phrases to get around.  So far my favorite phrase is bira var mi?  (Is there beer?)  The second day consisted of more Turkish lessons and some more presentations that I can't recall right now.  Probably because of the anticipation of the guided tours of the underground cistern and the Aya Sofya.  Both landmarks are on the Asian side of Istanbul.  A lovely Turkish woman named Feliz had the incredible responsibility of bringing 30+ brand new foreign teachers to these sites, guide them, and make sure no one got lost.  First stop was the underground cisterns.  They were built during Byzantine era (Istanbul has had maaaany empires rule over it!) to ensure that the people would have water in case of an attack.  The story goes that they were rediscovered by a British man who knew the cisterns existed, went walking around, got invited into a Turkish home for tea (of course), and found that the man of the house had a hobby of fishing in his house!  Turns out he was fishing in the cisterns.  

The next stop was the Aya Safya, a 6th century cathedral that was the largest in the world at the time it was built.  It is currently the 4th largest cathedral in the world.  Feliz had a lot of information about the cathedral, a lot of which my brain just couldn't process at the time.  The most interesting aspect of the Aya Safiya is that during the Ottoman Empire, it was converted into a mosque.  Many of the Christian mosaics were covered but not destroyed by the ruler of the time, who wanted to protect it.  It also used to be where the Byzantine emperors were crowned.  Go check out Wikipedia for more information about the Aya Safiya.  It is a fascinating place.

After all of that sightseeing, it was then time for a dinner cruise on the Bosphorous, the waterway that separates Asia and European continents.  It was truly an amazing experience, with fabulous views, food, and drinks.  The cruise goes by many of the Constantinople ancient ruins.  I wish I knew what they were but that will have to be for the next trip!  Not to mention all of the enormous homes with Bosphorous views.  Someone on the boat told me that Bosphorous property is some of the most expensive and hard to come by in the world.  

Colorful barge on the Bosphorous

The new foreign faculty for Tarsus, as well as our headmaster and elementary administrators.  **Photos cannot truly show how great the Turkish women's skin is, not to mention the thickness of their hair.  JEALOUS!

Homes facing the Bosphorous

A particularly gigantic home.  Unbelievable!

The Istanbul orientation wrapped up this morning with a very informative and interesting presentation about Turkish politics regarding the EU, minorities, Cypress...all very complicated and hot topics here in the country.  Again, it makes me want to read more about Turkey!  We also had the opportunity to see traditional Oya designs by Turkish village women.  Their village was completely destroyed by the 1997(?) earthquake and the money goes towards families and their homes.  Reportedly some of the most intricate and high quality Oya in the country.  Tomorrow I visit the seaside community of Mersin for some shopping and beachside lunch.  Maybe I'll get unpacked one of these days so I can share photos of the beautiful apartment.  In the meantime, I will end by saying "Iyi aksamlar"---good night :)

First update...quickly!

Most of you probably know that yes, I made it to Turkey, but not without some frustration!  My big moving day started with a continued allergic reaction to something from Friday evening.  My lips, eyes, and throat were extremely swollen, which is unusual for me.  On Sunday morning when it was still a problem, I went to a convenience care doctor at CVS (where I waited 2 hours !!!) and got a prescription for the reaction.  Then onto final packing, dinner, extremely sad good byes, and the most uncomfortable flight of my life.  I did meet the other teachers finally in Istanbul, where I was so out of it and hazy from Benadryl that I can hardly remember it.  When we got to the final destination in Adana, another teacher and I discovered that our luggage had not arrived.  We took a van to the apartments where we are staying (pictures later, they are amazing!), and after a loooong, hard day I was unable to get connected to wireless internet to let my family know I made it.  

BUT....things are better now :)  My luggage finally came yesterday and I am currently in Istanbul for a cultural orientation.  No internet at the apartment, but it should be coming soon.  It has been a whirlwind getting to know the other teachers, learning about the school, listening to policies, touring Tarsus, shopping, new food.....but my bags are here and my face is back to normal, so I am starting to enjoy it more :)  Everything is so new that I don't even know where to begin.  But I will post more interesting stuff (and pictures) later once I have more time.  In the meantime, I need to get yet another cup of tea and try to stay cool in the AC :)