First Month(+)'s Review

It's been a bit harder to post regularly in Turkey versus in Japan. If you are looking for a play-by-play, you'll have to make it up. I don't have time for that. I am busier and have more friends in Turkey.

It's been over a month already and I have less than four left. I really won't be here long at all. Even shorter when I think that the beginning of April, my dear darling sister will visit, then we have two weekends which are long for holidays. That brings us through the beginning of May, where I will work the whole month, then school ends mid-June. We may have to teach a couple of weeks of summer school/camp, but we are waiting to see about that.

I'm all settled in my apartment and my job. I have a flat with two Hungarians and two Spaniards. We all get along well. Everyone is clean enough. Things do get dirty fast though with five people. My roof leaked when I first moved in, but that has been fixed and painted. My mattress doesn't fit my frame (I've got some hanging off each side), but living here feels so temporary that I can't be bothered much. In my room, I have a couch, mirror, wardrobe, bed, desk, and set of shelves. We unfortunately don't have a common room, but end up hanging out in each others' rooms. The only thing left to fix in our apartment is the shower. You see, it does not have a door. Every shower is an exciting open experience. Our bath mat feels like it will never not be sopping wet.

My job is pretty nice. Compared to Japan, it is much more enjoyable. I always have something to do, I have coworkers, I have students. I found my job through an agency called Teachers in Turkey who helped me with my visa, helped me find a school, and helps me get settled/maneuver life here. So far, they have been helpful with many things. They placed me at a job at the kindergarten of a school that goes up to the 8th grade (I think that's as old as they get). I teach the classes of 6 (and 7) year olds. There are two classes at this age and the one I actually teach is 6B, which has 19 students. Twice a day, they get an English lesson for 40 minutes. We are an IB school, so we work to integrate all of the IB principles and curriculum. It's an interesting way to teach kindergarteners and sometimes it seems like it could be too much for them. Most of the time, though, we can tailor it to our students' abilities. The other class of 6 year olds, 6A, is taught by another teacher. I have three periods a day with them while they have free time or do other activities the teacher planned. I usually just end up spending time with some of the students and it is a good opportunity for them to speak English in a more relaxed environment than class. We have lunch provided every day which is really good for a school lunch. It always includes some sort of nondescript soup, maybe with a little bit of meat or noodles in it, maybe not. Then we have two main dish sort of things- some sort of starch and some sort of "other" - like rice and a meat dish or couscous and a stew or something. Sometimes we have a dessert, sometimes it's fruit. There's a salad bar that usually has some cold veggies and sometimes we're lucky and get yogurt. It's common here to put yogurt on everything- it's used like sour cream if you like to put sour cream on a lot of things. It's actually pretty good. The way I just described the meals may not sound appetizing, but compared to the lunches we had in school, this is on point.

I felt like I should make some friends who I don't see all of the time (so, not my roommates or coworkers). To do so, I turned to Couchsurfing. There are a lot of meetups and different things, which is really nice. I've been to one meetup which was really fun- it's actually for a language club and we all talked about some Turkish phrases and had a good time.

I bought a yoga mat and have just enough space in my room for my one single mat, so I can do some yoga. I have plans to teach some of my friends, but it's difficult to find space in these little apartments.

There are a number of parks along the seaside with great running and biking trails. My roommates and I ran along one the other night and it was beautiful. It was misting a little bit and feeling the fresh air from the sea was invigorating. I think understand some of why people enjoy running. I believe my newfound running motivation was mostly due to the presence of my pals. Always easier to do difficult things with friends. Unfortunately, since I am not a runner, I bought running (well, unknowingly I bought soccer cleats) here. So they are brand new. So I looked at my ankles after the run and they were a bit raw. I mean, to be a baby bit graphic, there was blood down the back of my shoes. Ew gross.

Well, I could pretend like I am going to write more and make a bunch of promises, but if I don't want to write, I'm not going to. Hopefully I find time though.

Here are a few pictures for you, but I post more on my Instagram @vlmorris.

Turkish Delight

In one of the metro stations

Taksim Square

If you have questions, let me know in the comments :)