Week 4

I'm going to be honest, I am losing motivation to write this blog. I am going to try my best though to keep updating it at least once a week. I can't believe I have been in Istanbul for a month. Time is flying by so fast here. I can finally say that after a month I am starting to actually feel comfortable in Turkey. I now have a fairly steady routine and life is starting to feel slightly more normal than before. Work has gotten a lot better and I am actually busy. I am slowly starting to pick up some Turkish so when people in the office are speaking I understand bits and pieces. There are still times though when I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about though. During times like this I like to pretend I know what they are talking about and I make up the conversation in my head. I am sure my version is far from what they are actually saying, but I bet my version is more entertaining. Turkish people always seem so passionate when they are explaining something. Sometimes I can't tell what emotion they are feeling because everything always sounds so intense. Someone could be talking about something as simple like the cheese he ate this morning and I would think he was discussing how dumb the US government is. Maybe after I learn some more Turkish I will be able to understand the passion with which they speak.

 

I realized that I have spent this entire week with Turkish people speaking in both broken English and Turkish. It has been kind of nice. At work I met a girl who just came back from the US. She was working in Pigeon Forge! She came into the office and was eager to speak with me when she found out that I lived in Knoxville. Her English was really good and we spoke for about 30 minutes. It was interesting speaking with her about the US. She said she visited New York and Boston, but her favorite place was Pigeon Forge. I couldn't believe this. Personally I am not a fan of Pigeon Forge. I think it is incredibly tacky and it is the last place I would go in the US. She loved it though and said that everyone she met was so nice and welcoming. She told me she understood how uncomfortable your first few weeks in a new place can be and told me to call her if I needed anything or just wanted to hang out. I think I will take her up on this sometime soon.

I have continued to teach English to the Turkish student who wants to go to England. On Sunday we met up and went to Gezi park to work because the office was closed. His English is getting better, but he still has a lot of work to do. I wonder how much of what we say to each other gets lost in translation. I really enjoy working with him and I think he is actually helping me learn some Turkish even though he doesn't know it. We ended up working for two hours, but it felt like 30 minutes. He has a friend that also wants lessons so I may end up working with him/her ( I couldn't tell the gender) as well.

 

At work I have started leading the "Speaking Club." I am pretty sure most of the students in the club think I am crazy, but that's okay. I don't really have strict guidelines as to what I have to do for the club which is nice, but frustrating at the same time. The students who were in the club last year complained that they weren't given as much of an opportunity to speak, so I am trying to design our meetings around the students. I am also trying to incorporate some interesting facts/lessons about American culture as well. My first two meetings seemed to go well, but I need to come up with more topics to discuss. I think this week we will play catch phrase.

 

Outside of work I have been spending more time with Turkish people. Ceren is such a wonderful roommate and is so good about taking me out with her. On Friday I met up with her and Fulya and we ate some type of sandwich, it was close to a Panini, and drank tea. Afterwards we went to a bar type place and drank a beer and listened to music. Fulya has a lot of friends who are musicians. I really like Turkish music and I asked them to make me a list of famous singers.  On Saturday Ceren took me to her parents house on the Asian side. Her mom and dad were so nice and kept trying to teach me Turkish words. Her mom prepared manti for us which is a traditional Turkish dish. I should have taken a picture of it. Basically it was pasta filled with meat and topped with a yogurt sauce. I think it might be my new favorite dish.