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 :)

4 More Days.....!

To my family, friends, and anyone else who stumbles upon this website....welcome to my travel blog!  In a few short days I will be moving to Tarsus, Turkey to teach third grade English for two years.  Background story:  I went to a job fair in Waterloo, Iowa with an open mind.  Tarsus American School was the first school I interviewed with, and ultimately the position I accepted.  Here is a photo of part of the school campus:

Just a little different than any other school I have taught at previously!

I will be part of the English team at the school, teaching language arts lessons to the five third grade classes. One aspect I am already excited about (my fellow teacher friends will appreciate this) is that I will not have to set up a classroom upon arriving!  It will be different and refreshing to focus on language lessons only and utilize strategies, resources, and ideas that seem to fall by the wayside at times as a regular classroom teacher.  

I look forward to sharing my experiences as well as using this blog as a way to communicate and stay in contact with my family and friends far away.  Please feel free to share any knowledge or advice you have about Turkey or European travel (another bonus!).