I have been in Turkey for a week now. After a three day trip taking me across the Atlantic, Europe, The Black Sea, and back across the length of Turkey again, I arrived Friday afternoon, exhausted. One of the school’s branch managers picked me up at the airport, saying little and replying to my questions curtly.
We drove west from Ataturk Airport, away from the city, winding through a labyrinth of avenues and narrow side streets, often switching between the two. From a wide street to a small one, and back to another long boulevard, as if the streets were tossed haphazardly onto the land like pickup sticks.
The apartment where I will stay for the next three months (and longer if I choose to do so) is large, two floors and shared with four other teachers at the school. Having been dropped off, I spent the entire day resting, too weary to want to explore.
To say I teach in Istanbul might be a little misleading. Technically, the apartment, and this branch of the school are in Istanbul, but in an area known as Beylikduzu, nearly 40 kilometers away from the city center. I didn’t yet know how to use the public transportation, so the following day I explored near my new apartment, buying some groceries and listening to the call to prayer from the nearby mosque.
By Sunday, two days after I arrived, I was still suffering some from jet lag and spent the day trying to stay awake while I observed some classes and answered the students’ barrage of personal questions (How do you like Istanbul? How old are you? Are you married? Where is your family?). Still, as tired as I was the first day, I’ve come to believe I will enjoy teaching adults.
We drove west from Ataturk Airport, away from the city, winding through a labyrinth of avenues and narrow side streets, often switching between the two. From a wide street to a small one, and back to another long boulevard, as if the streets were tossed haphazardly onto the land like pickup sticks.
The apartment where I will stay for the next three months (and longer if I choose to do so) is large, two floors and shared with four other teachers at the school. Having been dropped off, I spent the entire day resting, too weary to want to explore.
To say I teach in Istanbul might be a little misleading. Technically, the apartment, and this branch of the school are in Istanbul, but in an area known as Beylikduzu, nearly 40 kilometers away from the city center. I didn’t yet know how to use the public transportation, so the following day I explored near my new apartment, buying some groceries and listening to the call to prayer from the nearby mosque.
By Sunday, two days after I arrived, I was still suffering some from jet lag and spent the day trying to stay awake while I observed some classes and answered the students’ barrage of personal questions (How do you like Istanbul? How old are you? Are you married? Where is your family?). Still, as tired as I was the first day, I’ve come to believe I will enjoy teaching adults.