US Teacher in Turkey

  If you read my most recent blog you know I tore my meniscus in December and found myself at a Turkish hospital on Christmas Day, December 25.   A Saturday.   I am much better, using a cane instead of a crutch.   I am feeling more confident, too.  Last night I ventured to the metro with my friend, Suzanne, and went to Taksim Square to eat at a Nepalese restaurant.  Great to be in Taksim Square again!   I credit my recovery to the doctors and physical therapists who helped me at the Turkish hospital.   The day I stumbled in to the emergency room, I was not sure what was wrong.   I could not pinpoint the pain.   Having had a blood clot before, I feared this was what I was experiencing.   I asked to see a vascular doctor.   I was put in a wheelchair and a vascular surgeon was my first stop. A blood clot was ruled out.   I was then taken to the orthopedic department.   Dr. Nazan Canbulat examined me and knew the p...

  I am going to start with today and move backward.   Today is January 22, 2022 and it is 11:30 AM in Istanbul.   I should be 4 hours into a flight home.   But instead I am writing for my blog.   The word “positive” is such a good word.   But, unfortunately, yesterday I got it and I did not want it!   I tested positive for Covid.   My suitcase packed, my apartment clean, my work in order, I waved good-bye to friends and colleagues wishing them a happy 2-week holiday. The end of first semester.    The school doctor arranged PCR tests for those traveling abroad.   I got the result 8 hours later.   Positive.   I feel fine, other than a slight sniffle.   I am in total disbelief! I have hit a rough patch in my teaching adventure in Istanbul, Turkey.    It has nothing to do with Istanbul – except maybe its tortuous hills.   On Christmas Eve I was walking to my friend, and IB Coordinator,   Talie’...

  My contract at Enka School ends June, 2022.   Even though I feel I just stepped off the plane and was greeted by my airport angel, Zeynep, it is time for me to make a decision to extend my contract for a year or go home and truly retire.    I do not know why people look so forward to retirement.   I’m afraid of it.   People die in retirement!   But, it is inevitable, right?   So, I've decided to go home and “face” retirement.   I decided not to extend my contract and I told the high school principal yesterday. Up until Jim’s visit last month I had not made up my mind.   I love the job.   I love being in a classroom.   I get a kick out of the students…well, most of them!    Three factors told me it is time to retire: 1)        1 - Jim is supportive of my teaching abroad.   His encouragement and enthusiasm for my teaching abroad adventure makes all this possible. Do not get me wrong. ...

Teaching Turkish students face –to – face at ENKA School the past two months I see similarities and difference between the American students I taught for 20 years.  Are Turkish students as loud and rowdy?   YES!   They burst into a classroom with the same questions I’ve always heard, “What are we doing today?” A expected practice when I taught at Tates Creek High School was to have an agenda on the board.  An  agenda keeps me on track AND informs students what they are doing today. (We were also supposed to list standards being taught, but no student in the world wants to know that stuff!)    So , when Turkish students arrive for a lesson,  the want to hear what's on  from my mouth.  I guess, reading the agenda from the board takes too much effort!   American students would do the same.   Every day without fail: “What are we doing today?” I sigh, point to the board, or I simply tell them. Do they care about their grades? ...

  I have to tell about my experience this week which restored my faith in mankind. I was sharing a taxi home from school with Talie, Enka’s IB coordinator.   She looked at me and said “Would you fancy a drink before going home?”   Of course! I said.   Talie, from England, is getting very good with Turkish and told the taxi driver to stop at an intersection instead of taking us home.   He seemed perturbed.   It was a busy intersection. Since it was my turn to pay the fare, I quickly took out my wallet and handed over payment. Then jumped from the car.   Talie and I went to a nearby bar we had been to before, but it was closed…maybe another Covid casualty.   We ventured into the Hilton to check out their bar and settled in.   I ordered an Old-Fashioned and Talie an Aperol Spritzer.   At that moment, I began doing my routine check.   Phone, check.   Wallet?   Wallet?   “Talie I’m not going to panic, but I can’t fin...

First a bit of catch-up.  The past two months I shared Istanbul with Jim, my son Eric, his wife Jade, my daughter Maggie and her husband Ross.   They inspired others to come along.  Eric and Jade were joined by best friends Sam and Amy, their best man and maid of honor, who now live in Seattle.  And Maggie and Ross spent a memorable day with Ross's brother Drew and his wife Naz, who made Istanbul a stopping point on their European trip.  I also returned home for time with family - my mother-in-law, Elsie, brothers, sisters, my best friend Jenny, former colleagues and neighbors.  I flew to Kansas to see my granddaughter, Elsie, her mom and my daughter Pamela, her husband Kevin.  All this from July 1 - August 21.  Many blogs exist in those weeks and I hope to get to some. August 29, 2021  I began this Blog as a record of my experiences in Turkey during the years 2020 - 2022.  Covid 19 has made the experience unique to say the least, b...

 Yesterday, June 19, 2021, I asked my friend Emily - I also call her my Zimbabwe daughter -  if she would come with and show me Canyon Mall.  It isn't far from where I live and right off the Metro. I'd heard of its unusual architecture of a canyon-like appearance with overhanging "cliffs" above.   We had a grand time.  We ate lunch at Big Chefs on the top level, one of my favorite restaurants in Istanbul.  I've been to Big Chefs on the Bosporus near Yenikoy and one in Galata area.  We wandered about looking at jewelry, Turkish glassware, clothing in Marks and Spencer, and purchasing a few items.   Later in the afternoon, we stopped for coffee at a cafe on the lower level.  In the middle of our conversation, I felt the floor beneath my feet bump.  Just once.  I looked at Emily and she looked at me and I said the obvious, "Did you feel that?"  "Yes."  She acknowledged.  Earthquake?   Emily and I look...