Istanbul is an amazing city...definitely nothing like I have ever experienced before! The driving reminds me of the driving in Colombia and Mexico....very much an every man for himself kind of mentality. The biggest challenges so far have been adjusting to the language and trying to navigate my way throughout the city. Their public transportation here is pretty awful as they rely mostly on personal automobiles, buses, minibuses, and a 7 stop Metro line for 13 million people. Needless to say there is a lot of traffic. always. They are thankfully expanding their metro line to reach my area which will be done by next summer. In the mean time I will just continue to average about 3 different forms of transportation when I want to get anywhere near the middle of the city (Taksim) :)
The area I live in is called Tarabya, which is a nice area situated North of all of the main attractions in the city. My apartment is about a 5 minute drive my school so it makes my commute VERY pleasant. My boss lives across the street from me (and is also the one who found me the apartment) so I ride to/from work with her which is awesome on the wallet ;) I am renting a room from a 64 y/o Turkish woman named Deniz. I don't know where to begin describing her because she's honestly one of a kind. She's an ex-supermodel/actress now living on her own and is the sweetest woman. It's like living with someone else's very hospitable grandmother - she constantly wants me to eat her food, offer tips on cooking, etc... She is a very sweet lady, calls me "baby", and pinches my cheeks every now and then. I'm enjoying living with her because it makes me feel like I have a home away from home at times. She is a little cooky at times - Birthday Suit Count: 3 - but at the end of the day I really appreciate having someone who is so genuinely interested in me as if I were her own granddaughter. In fact, I am the same age as her granddaughter so I think I think she enjoys having me around:)
As for the details of my job, I am working at Eden's Garden International Pre-School. I''m a teacher in the 3 year old class and work with about 11-12 children. About a quarter speak strictly English, half are bilingual, 3 quarters can understand English, and a quarter are strictly Turkish. The challenge of the job is with the language barrier, because with the kids that don't have any English, it's difficult to be ale to exert any control over them if they can't understand what I'm saying. GRRR. I knew that going into it though, and the director and other teachers understand that that's something I face as well so it's not an issue. I work alongside a Turkish girl named Nurcan (pronounced Nuhrjohn) who helps bridge the gap between me and the Turkish speaking children which is helpful. I've found that despite it being an "International School", there is still a lot of Turkish spoken so it's been/will be an adjustment getting used to hearing my day spoken in a different language. My duty as the English speaking teacher is to just help the kids practice standard 3 year old English vocab, but due to the nature of the job and the fact that a lot of the kids do communicate in Turkish, I am forced to learn some Turkish so I can then interpret it back to them in English. In a matter of days, I have actually learned how to speak like a two year old. Success! I can say things like "MINE, NOT YOURS" and "I want", "finished", the colors of the rainbow, items of clothing, fruit/misc. plants and some baby animals. All things that a 23 year expat might need to get by in a foreign country. I'm also proud to say that I can now produce my first full sentence, being"benim domuz gribi var". This translates to "I have swine flu", which is appropriate in this day and age since everyone seems to be freaking out about it, especially Turkey. Evidently up until now they have been able to avoid it, but a few schools in the capital city of Ankara (about 4hrs away, I think?) had kids that got it so they shut down EVERY school in the city for decontamination. Now, the Ministry of Education has decided to clean every school in Istanbul so this upcoming Friday we have been given the day off to allow the disinfecting squads to come in and do their work. The swine flu is a pretty big deal over here, which is understandable in a city of 13 million people. ANYWAYS, I digress...
SO - work is good, living situation is good and bad (good bc of the food, bad bc of the nudity), and istanbul is just good all around:) I unfortunately think I might be getting sick, but I guess that is to be expected when you spend 40 hours a week with a bunch of 3 year olds. I forgot how curious kids are about what things taste like aka put things in their mouths. I get the plastic fruit or silverware from the fake kitchen...or even worse - the fake ice cream cones.... but things like tables, toy cars, books even? It's unbelievable. You give them something and it's like there's a brief moment where they're toying between using the object for it's intended purpose or licking it. Imagine if that's how everyone behaved...you go to work and deliver a powerpoint presentation and the next thing you know you are licking the projection screen because you want to know what it tastes like. It honestly makes me cringe at the thought of how many germs are all over the toys in preschools, so I guess this whole disinfecting squad isn't such a bad idea!
Time for me to go to bed...I'll update more soon. XO!
