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!