Turkey Time

 I'm still waiting.  But.  Not. For. Long.  My visa has been approved and is in the mail.  I don't know why I paid for 2nd Day shipping at UPS, because it is taking 4+ days to get to my house.  When it does, I will contact the school and Zeynap will arrange an airline ticket for me!!  

The past two weeks, even though I haven't left my home, I have been in Istanbul.  They call it SITE.  I'm not sure if it's an acronym, or it just means teachers are present for training and meetings.  But, I have connected through Google Meet, email, and WhatsApp flawlessly the past two weeks.( If I sound surprised it's because I'm always amazed when the tech gods favor me!) I've worked with each of my grade level - 9, 10, 11, and 12.- teachers.   I've attended training for the technology I need to accomplish on-line teaching.  I've meet individually with the IB Coordinator, Natalie (from England), English Department Chair, Nurcan(from Turkey), fellow IB teachers Tholiwe (from Africa) and Dave (from NewZealand).  The staff is definitely international!  The school is definitely bilingual.  Administrators speak in Turkish, then say it all over in English!  After two weeks I can say:  I'm going to love the job! 

I am keeping a crazy schedule.  Meetings started at 9:00 Turkey time - that's 2:00 AM for me in Kentucky. I have jet lag and I haven't gone anywhere!  Tomorrow I meet my first group of students -9th Grade.  I will be teaching Turkish students from Kentucky, USA.  I'm in awe.

August 30, 2020

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