Close to One Month

It's been an interesting ride so far. The stresses of a new University starting from scratch are affecting everyone after this first week of classes. But since this is my first blog, let me attempt to catch you up to speed. Since I don't want to spend too much time reliving the experiences of an entire month, I'll keep it brief, mimicking a telegram:

-First few days boring. Unsure if I'll be called upon to work or if I can explore a bit.

-Fellow teachers arrived, and it seems a good group.

-Teacher training "Boot Camp" held at a local elementary school for two weeks.

-The Turkish teachers, our colleagues, are great! So welcoming and helpful.

-Boot Camp revolves around the Communicative Method of ESL teaching, which involves group work, group work and more group work. Large groups, small groups, pairs, teams. Lots and lots of interactive activities.

-It was Ramadan when I arrived, an Islamic holiday about which I knew very little before I came. It involves fasting during daylight hours, and the meal that breaks this fast in the evening is called Iftar. The Turks invited us to join them for Iftar twice.

-The end of Ramadan, in Turkish, is called Bayram, and it involves people visiting their families, celebrating large meals, and older people giving younger people candy, money, or gifts.

-It also means we get a four day weekend. Perfect time to explore Gaziantep.

-Saw the museum with mosaics recovered from the town of Zeugma, some kilometers up the road from Antep. The town was buried under water when they built a dam, but some of its ancient treasures were recovered and now reside here. There are also artifacts from as early as the Hittite empire, which is pretty stinkin' cool. I put my hands on an original Phoenician inscription!

-Saw the castle the next day. It's basically a museum dedicated to the establishment of Modern Turkey after the end of the Ottoman Empire resulting from World War I.

-"Work" starts, meaning we begin planning without really knowing how our materials are going to be, because the situation changes very nearly literally every five minutes. Classes to start the upcoming Monday.

-Classes began this week. I'm very happy to be teaching again, since I love it and feel comfortable doing it. I teach the very beginning level of English, so they only have what they remember from school, which for some of them wasn't so long ago.

-There is one student who is a little older, and knows almost nothing. I need to find ways to help her, but it's tough because the others are more knowledgeable, but there isn't any lower class for her to go to.

-We got Apple computers today to use for work, and so I am coming to you live from my very own laptop. I'm not sure what happens to it when our contract ends, but I'm happy to have it for now.

All this is really only part of the picture, but the rest will have to come through as I continue to blog about this experience. I think a blog about last night's sojourn at the tea house is in order, however, so I will have it out shortly.