US Teacher in Turkey

     I love and appreciate the little things I'm learning about culture.  Did you know in Turkey you can go in a restaurant, be seated and stay there as long as you like.  No one will hover.  No one will suggest you might like dessert.  There is absolutely no pressure to leave.  You can sit and sip Turkish coffee until they close I guess.(I'll never stay up long enough to test it out.) And my son-in-law Kevin would love this...no one bothers you.  In fact, you have to gesture to a waiter when you are ready to order, or if you want more water, or another glass of wine.  Some Americans would see this as "bad service," but the Turks see it as welcoming.  You're here in my restaurant, stay as long as you like.  Also, their wait staff does not expect to be tipped.  (I always do - American habit)  But, they are always pleasant and hurry when you indicate you need something.       I can find very little i...

 October 29, 2020      One of the reasons I wanted to teach overseas was to experience a culture more than just as a tourist.  I always say: Turkey was not on my radar, but here I am!  I'm settling in to the daily, weekly and monthly routine of it all --or as routine as it gets during a Pandemic!     I wake in the mornings around 5:00.  Shower, dress, drink coffee, check the news, grade a bit, or check and answer e-mails. (My students email questions during the night.  They're up.  I'm not.) Then I'm out the door to meet my regular taxi at 7:00.  I've always been an early bird.  I do not like to get ready in a panicked rush.  So I get to school about 7:15. My temperature is taken at the door and a new mask is offered. (Enka has an unbelievable number of staff for security.) Most other English teachers arrive about 8:00.  I like the quiet of a school in the morning.  I get chance to set my head on straight, a...

 Teaching in Turkey is becoming one of the biggest teaching challenges I've ever experienced.  And I have had my share.  I've had students call me a "bitch."   I had a parent call and complain because I told a student I was "disappointed" in their work. I shifted curriculums.  Learned how to teach in the International Baccalaureate Program. Studied new works of literature, new ways of writing, and learned how to teach these to students.   I have had mountains of grading to do and given up "sick days" to get it done.  I've had misunderstandings with administrators.  I've broken down.   This isn't the challenge I'm speaking to.  I'm in a foreign country.  I wanted to experience another country from the inside out.  And I am.  For the most part, the experience has been exactly as I wanted.  But, this week when I questioned a practice in the school, I was told "welcome to private school in Turkey."  Re...

    As I planned living in Turkey, I envisioned myself driving a car.  I browsed rental car sites and planned what make I might want and how much it would cost. Something like I would drive at home. Looked like rental price for a month for a basic Ford, Honda, Chevrolet would be around 4000 TL which is 500 USD.  So a possibility.  Then I arrived.  And I rode in the traffic.  I watched how Istanbul drivers arbitrarily determine whether or not to follow the lines on the road.  How stop signs don't mean stop, but maybe slow down.  I saw how a pedestrian ahead did not mean to slow the vehicle's speed when a nice swerve will take care of missing that woman in a burka or the fat man in the white shirt obliviously standing in the middle of the road having a conversation. (Even more amazing is pedestrians don't flinch when a taxi barrels toward them). The jockeying for position to merge in a densely packed exit ramp takes skill, precision and a lot ...