The corner store

About a stone's throw from my apartment is a little corner store where you can quickly buy food etc if you need it in a hurry, because the supermarkets are about a 4 minute walk up a gigantic hill. The TV is always turned on to soap operas and there is always a little tea pot boiling with tea and someone is usually smoking, even though smoking is now forbidden in inside places. Sometimes it's just 2 kids at the cash register, in charge of the store. They know me because I go often and I can never speak to them/my accent is obviously foreign. I went yesterday to pick up some breakfast things but I didn't have any cash, so I was going to use my credit card. The woman didn't know how to work it, so she just told me to pay her later! I bought a lot of stuff, about $7, which is a lot to spend at that store. I appreciate the trust they have in me, even though I am foreign, and I can't really communicate with them. I finally have some cash, so I better go pay her now before they lose that trust!

St. Patrick's Day party

Hi everyone,

I know this is a couple of weeks late, but here are some pictures from the St. Patrick's Day party at school. Obviously no alcohol was served, but there were chips and soda and some activities. I'll put some videos up later because they are pretty funny, but they take a long time and my battery is running low. Look for pictures next month from our Easter Eggstravaganza!



There was a big crowd of students! Right now they are listening to Denis giving a history of St. Patrick.



Musical chairs, unfortunately not to Irish music, but it was fun nevertheless.



Uh oh wipe out



Next some volunteers were blindfolded and had to try to guess what the different green drinks were (I guess there was no point in dying them green if they were blindfolded but it was part of the St. Patrick's day spirit. While trying to prepare the drinks on a tiny counter space we got green dye everywhere, including one of the receptionist's white scarfs [WOW what am I supposed to do about possession and plural-ness there?? - sorry if my bad punctuation offended anyone] but luckily it was on the tassle so I just cut it off...shhh...).



Any guesses?

There was also a find-the-leprechaun scavenger hunt but I didn't manage to get any pictures of that. And lastly, there was a potato race. Contestants started with potatoes on spoons and raced through our hallway, but if it fell you couldn't touch it, so you had to roll it with the [flimsy plastic] spoon. It was pretty funny I have to say, and it was hilarious when we found out one of the students used a rubber band to keep in on there.





Pretty great picture of everyone. That's me on the left, a student - Melih - next to me, then my new boss Paul, then a student Oyku, and finally another teacher Denis.



Yeah...Turkish girls are kind of glamorous. Why I'm here I don't know.



Just some more students.

Eskisehir

For the third time, I happily went back to Eskisehir. Still, I think, what a great city. It's easy to get to, easy to get around, full of young people, pretty with the river and the old houses, and I also really like the Wall Street center in Eskisehir. The staff and students are so nice and welcoming, and it's very relaxed there. I only stayed two nights, and taught three days, but I did have time one morning to wander around where the old houses are located. I know I've shared pictures before but I can't get over the great colors - take a look:













Today was my off day and it was probably the nicest day we've had this year - lots of sunshine and a pretty good temperature. I decided to skip the gym and instead go for a walk down to the Bosphorus and through Bebek. Bebek is probably the nicest place in Istanbul - full of nice cars, fancy apartments, expensive stores. I feel so poor and ugly when I go there; peoples' sunglasses probably cost more than my rent. But, it's a wonderful place to go for a walk, not only because it is close to where I live and it's on the Bosphorus, but also to people watch. People of all ages go to Bebek on a warm Sunday, and especially families because there is a park so children can play in it. If you do go to Bebek, it's important to eat a waffle. They quickly cook a waffle and there is a stand filled with different spreads, fake fruit, and toppings to put onto it. While expensive and a sugar overload, it's fun every once and a while. Anyway, some more pictures:





The view before walking down the hill to Bebek, about 6 minutes from my house.





Also, we've kept up the Sunday routine of preparing Sunday brunch:





Somehow we managed to prepare enough food for 7 hungry guys and me!

There will be pictures from the St. Patrick's day party we had at school in a few days - I left my camera there but hopefully I'll get them tomorrow! Sorry it's been a while but hopefully now that the weather is better I'll be out and about more. Have a good week!

Brunch

For most of my time I've been at Wall Street, I had two week days off, back to back, for example, a Wednesday and Thursday. I enjoyed it because it gave me time to go out and do things (relax one day, do something cultural another day), and maybe even quickly travel somewhere. The problem was was trying to socialize, having to work both Saturday and Sunday. But lately I've had a weekend day off and a week day off, usually Tuesday and Sunday, and I've found it pretty enjoyable. If someone invites me to do something on Saturday night, I'm not too ancy to get home. It also gives me more time to see Sinan, and it's become a routine for us to make brunch in the morning and have it with his roommates. Today I made a meat mixture (onions, tomatoes, and meat) and put it into squares of phyllo dough and baked it and the guys all really enjoy it (ok, Sinan prefers the old way I used to make it where I fried it, but I disagree with him), eggs with all sorts of stuff in it, fried sausages, white cheese, tomatoes, fried potatoes, chocolate spread, and also this awesome tomatoe-y spread that I can't describe. And of course, tea. It's fun just to sit around and soak up the friendliness and cheerfulness of the guys, although I get to a point where I can't handle 4 or 5 guys chattering in Turkish. Anyway, here's a picture of brunch:

Still alive!

Hiii everyone!

I'm so sorry it's been a while, I don't have any excuses, there just hasn't been much to report. Things are going to get difficult at work, I have a new manager and then my beloved director just stepped down (he's the boss of my boss but he's also pretty involved with us - asking us how we are, and when I was sick he was so kind and forced a teacher to take me home, even though I had lessons), and who knows if we'll get an experienced person who speaks English. Not only that, but we have 3 new Turkish teachers, and only 1 experienced one. I think March will be a learning month for a lot of people but we'll hang in there and help each other out.

The sun is out! This winter wasn't as long and gray as last years, but it's nice to have the sun out. It's still a bit chilly but spring is on it's way. I'm hoping to plant some flowers and herbs on Sinan's balcony, but there isn't much direct sunlight so we'll see.

Last week Sinan was contacted by Goldman Sachs for an interview! He had the interview on campus nearby, and he's waiting to hear if he'll have a follow up interview, which might be in London!

I really don't have much else to report! All is well here, working, sometimes exercising, cooking, eating, reading - the usual. I'll try to get out and about more so I can have more pictures and adventures to share. I hope everyone is well. Take care!