2 more weeks

I survived another week! This week felt particularly long because they made us come in on Monday (we have a three day weekend) to observe for 2 hours (we need 6 hours of observing teachers); the anticipation and journey there and back took up my whole afternoon. They were going to make us come back this Monday for ONE hour but I luckily they realized what a terrible and unfair idea that was.

The biggest news from this week is sad; Jen, a girl on the course who I did my interview with, found out she has breast cancer. She has had to return back to the States. We've messaged back and forth a bit and she sounds okay, just kind of in shock, like the rest of us are. She is only 29! A good lesson for all of us, and it makes you put things into perspective. We also lost Liam because the course was just a little overwhelming for him, so now there are only 4 of us!

Thursday was our last day of teaching the elementary students, now we will do our next 3 hours teaching the intermediates who we met on Friday. They are quite good and challenging and demanding, meaning much scarier. It's good for me though so I am prepared for the real world, but ugh.

Other than that, things are the same. Absolutely no sun, and it is driving me crazy. Gloomy, rainy, wet, windy. Hopefully March will bring new weather! Once this course is over I think I will take some private Turkish lessons from a Bogazici student, which I think is exactly what I need.

Time to clean up the apartment! Hooray for free time!

2 weeks down...

Hiiiii You've probably guessed by the lack of entries it has "been that kind of week". This course is insane! I was warned about how intense it is during the interview, but my goodness. It would be one thing to come home after being at school for nine hours (plus an hour each way) and not have to do more thinking, but there is at least three more hours of work to do - lesson plans, reflections, assignments (by there being FOUR it actually means 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b blah blah). I know I will pass so I am not stressed about that, but having to teach and then get feedback about it is incredibly tough, especially because you are teaching in front of peers, and we do group feedback. Yesterday someone got really chewed out in front of all of us and I think he might switch to taking the course part-time. I realize I have it best of everyone - I am so fresh out of college I am used to doing a lot of academic work and being stressed, but 4 others are 29 and 30 and are not as used to it.

Anyway, I have taught 4 times and they weren't a complete flop, but could always use room for improvement. I think my lesson yesterday was the most fun because students got to "write an email" to a friend in America, describing Istanbul. It was actually real life and not just me throwing stupid pieces of paper at them with activities to do. I didn't quite carry it out as my tutor would have liked; I reviewed the there is/are/isn't/aren't form with them and I like/don't like and they were supposed to use it in the letter but I didn't really reinforce that because I think they should write the letter in whatever form they want...Oh well. I am trying to get more used to "grading my language" (keeping my vocabulary at a level appropriate for elementary learners) and clear, concise, and slow instructions. One student came up to me and asked if I wanted to be a teacher, because he noticed how much work I put into pictures, the email template etc. I think it is things like that that keep teachers going - getting those small compliments from students that mean so much.

I have turned into one of those people that start teaching and all they talk and think about is teaching. I dream about lesson plans, I wake up and think about activities. Matt and I often walk to the metro and alllll we do is complain and gossip about students, tutors, the course, our plans, where we want to work. Ooh man I am becoming "one of those people". On a more positive note, I was looking around for jobs and the CELTA (the certificate I will get if I pass) is highly favored and I know I will find a job easily, it's just a matter of me being picky. I am glad I am taking the course because it has boosted my confidence and put me in front of the classroom - something you can only learn by doing it.

It hadn't rained for a couple days but of course now that it is the weekend it is rainy, cold, and windy. It's worth it thought - spring is so lovely here.

Ok if you made it this far through my entry, thank you for listening to me vent. Ah Sinan just brought me some tea, what a guy. I will write sometime later!

I'm alive!

Oooh man what a week! To begin with, I think I have only seen the sun once in the last week. It has rained everyday, and I feel soggy. My apartment isn't well ventilated and there is mold growing, and I feel like I will turn into mold, except sometimes it isn't warm enough for me to become mold. Earlier this week I was frustrated by the apartment - I went to bed one night and my clothes felt damp and there was no heat and my room smelled musty. But every day I discover something new - the shower head DOES have a place to hang (the first couple of days I was fumbling around turning it off, putting it down somewhere, washing, picking it up, turning it on etc etc), and the pressure is AWESOME. The couple I live with have a machine to dry the air out, which I will put in my room sometime. The windowin my room is not only able to open from the side, but if I turn the handle the other direction, it can crack at the top so when it stops raining, I can leave it open so my room can air out (it's hard to describe but it's really cool). But I am happy with the place and definatly happy with the people. I am not there very much because I go straight to Sinan's after work because he cooks for me, but I usually see them at

Now, for my course. It is pretty intense. Our first full day was on Tuesday, and by Thursday we were teaching 20 minute lessons. We are teaching adult Turks who speak an elementary level of English. They come for free, knowing they are receiving English lessons by teachers in training. I am at school from 9-6, so I leave the house at 7:30 and don't get back until 7:30. Meaning, I wake up at 6:39. I don't remember the last time I have had to use an alarm. In addition, my body and mind are not used to working such long days - college it was only a couple of hours a day spread out over the day. So I am pretty exhausted. And once I get home, the working does not stop, but I need to plan out the lesson and fill in the sheets, practice blah blah. Luckily I have Sinan to cook dinner for me, and it is ready by the time I get back! He's been really patient and understanding with me, I have been pretty mean and grouchy. He is also useful because not only is he a math education major so he has taken a lot of education classes, where English is his second language he is more familiar with it than I am!

Thursday I taught vocabulary about activities in the evenings and on the weekend, and it was so nerve racking because you have to be so clear and careful with your instructions for the activities because their English is so limited. Friday we worked on negative sentences, and I must say, that lesson went pretty well and I felt good about it. I got positive feedback from my tutor as well. When we aren't teaching, we are learning about things like how to teach vocabulary, classroom management, creating lesson plans and so forth. I think one of my favorite things is that we had a 20 minute foreign language lesson where the teacher didn't speak any English to us, but surprisingly we all caught on and learned (Indonesian we found out) some phrases. It was nice to see you don't have to speak the native language to teach, although it is a challenge.

Next week we have to teach 40 minutes, fortunately only 2 days so we have more time to prepare. They give us the topic and exercises they want us to teach, and I am afraid I don't have enough things to fill up the time.

Anyway, blah blah blah, sorry! Here is a pictures of the area I am working in, taken by Sinan. It is in Taksim, which is a really busy area, but with lots of things to look at so the 15 minute walk from the bus to school is always entertaining. I know I will buy a pair of boots by the end of the course.

Course

Hi! I had an orientation for my course today, fortunately I was only there from 9am-12pm. There are 7 people total doing this CELTA; everyone seems nice enough, and we learned at least 4/7 of us are there because our significant other is Turkish. Already on Wednesday we start practice teaching. We teach to people who have volunteered to receive free English lessons, knowing we are practicing on them. Ugh, I know I signed up to do this course to teach...but now I am scared. I think everyone will be nice and helpful, but sadly there are a couple of previous English teachers on the course so we aren't all exactly on the same level. Anyway, I need to do some reading and I have to wake up at 6:38...I will post pictures another time!

Back to Istanbul!

Sinan and I returned to Istanbul yesterday afternoon, flying into the airport on the Asian side which was new for both of us. Today I moved into my new apartment, which I found on Turkey's Craigslist. I am living with a very sweet Turkish engaged couple who graduated from Bogazici University, and a Japanese exchange student. I have my own room, and it is so large! The kitchen is very complete and has a dishwasher, washing machine, oven, stove, and all of the dishes and utensils that I will need. The bathroom is so nice too. I am happy to have found a good place! Unfortunately, there is not much air circulation so it is kind of musty and damp but we will open windows and they even have a machine to dry out the air! It's 4 minutes from Sinan's apartment, and about 9 minutes from the grocery stores, bus stop, restaurants etc. I will get in shape because it is at the bottom of a big hill! Anyway, I will post photos later - I don't have my uploader cord with me here.
I think tomorrow is my last carefree day ever - Monday my certification course starts then after that, I need to find a job! Here I come real world!

Berke

Yesterday it was a baby's first birthday - Sinan's first cousin, Berke. He's sort of the star of the family get-togethers, but with good reason, he is pretty cute. Below are some pictures of him and various family members.


Sinan's mother knit this sweater for Berke in almost one night - pretty amazing!


Merve and the birthday boy.


Kubra, Berke, Berke's father, mother, and sister. Notice Berke's left hand...


The cake before Berke grabbed it. The big "GS" stand for Galatasaray, the family's favorite soccer team.


More family...


Berke and father.


Me, Berke, and Kubra. I don't think I touched the baby all night. Oops.

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Antalya, the city!

Today Sinan and I actually got into Antalya, which is about 35 minutes from his house. There isn't much to do, although it is very touristy, mainly for the beaches and some sites driving distance away. We went on a half-an-hour boat tour (a rip-off, but oh well), below are some pictures from it. It was pretty!











Dinner tonight - a stuffed eggplant and yogurt/cucumber soup and salad and rice and chicken-rice soup. Yum!

Borek and Mountains!

This afternoon Sinan, Kubra, their cousin Ahmet, and I went up a mountain. I got excited when I saw them when we were at the mall earlier, and so Ahmet drove us up a really curvy (I was a little scared) and narrow road to the top of this mountain. Below are pictures from up there. We arrived in late afternoon, when I think the light is best.



Looking onto the Mediterranean.







Snow-topped mountains! That is Ahmet.





This morning we went "to the village" a few miles (I suppose I should say kilometers now...) away. Underneath of where Sinan's uncle, aunt, cousins, and grandparents live, several women were making the bread (?) for borek. It is really thin, so much thinner than pie crust. Sort of like filo dough I guess, but it is different. There are these round mounds of dough, which are rolled out with a long thin rod. I tried it at my cooking class last year and it took me forever to do a semi decent job. These women were so efficient, of course, they have had much more practice than I have. Not only was that amazing, but how they could sit on the ground in those positions is beyond me. I am young and I have to wiggle ever 30 seconds.







Sinan's mom is cooking the borek (I am confused of what to call the "bread" and then what to call the thing we eat that is filled...) that is filled with cheese and parsley.



I was sitting behind this girl who was about my age and was just dumbfounded of how her arms did not get tired. I got someone to ask her for me if they were, and she said no. Quite amazing.



Here is us devouring the borek in just a few minutes. It was good!

I have waited about 30 minutes for this video to load! I am so relieved that it did so you can get an idea of the process. I turned my camera without thinking, so you will need to turn your head...sorry!