Just Click Your Heels Three Times

I may as well make this public, since it's about as certain as anything can be: I'll be back in Seattle next year. There were a number of factors that went into the decision, but the two biggest were family issues and a desire to make my life a little easier for a change. Someday, if you're really interested, you can buy me a drink & I'll detail the other considerations, but I'd rather not descend into negativity at this point.

So let's focus on the positive - I'm coming home! I don't have an exact date yet, but it'll be sometime between mid-July and mid-August. I plan to reclaim a teaching position at Green River Community College, and will be living in Auburn, which is close enough to spend time in Seattle but far enough away to have affordable rent - as well as being within walking distance of work.

The remainder of my time in Turkey is still somewhat uncertain, as I'll be done with my duties at the university by June 17, but my contract isn't up until July 12. My hope is to spend my last month based in Ankara, helping with a few teaching workshops and traveling around Turkey a bit. As far as I can tell, I have to leave Turkey by July 15 - that's the expiration date on my residence permit - so I'll probably make another visit to Poland, maybe wander around Europe, and be back in the US by August 12. And then I'll begin my west coast tour.

I do want to apologize to those of you who were thinking of visiting me in Turkey next year, but you can still make the trip - I just won't be here to greet you. There are a lot of reasons to spend a vacation in Turkey, but very few of them lie east of Ankara.

That's all the news I feel like sharing at this point. I'm simply trying to survive my last few weeks in Malatya, with the knowledge that the end is in sight. I hope your days are more enjoyable than mine, and I look forward to seeing you all fairly soon.

Fire Walk With Me

Spring has finally arrived, which is making my time in Malatya much more bearable. It's amazing how a weather shift can suddenly make me so much more content with the time I still have to spend here.

Last week, there was a celebration on campus to welcome the first day of spring. They started with a group of folk dancers, then a musical performance, and ended with people jumping over a bonfire. Yup, they lit a fire in the middle of campus, and students & teachers jumped over it. I chose not to join in, but it was very entertaining to watch.

This week is midterm week, which means I only have 2 actual days of work - apart from grading my exams, of course. I'm thinking about leaving town for a few days, but I can't decide where to go, and whether I want to do a solo trip. I may just end up hibernating & trying to figure out my plans for next year.

In the meantime, I hope everyone is getting some nice spring weather. Go soak up some vitamin D!

Fruit Flies Like a Banana*

It's been a busy month & a half or so, though I don't feel like I've really accomplished much. The high point for me was getting out of Malatya for 3 weeks & discovering that I actually DO like Turkey - just not the part of it where I live.

I spent the first part of January preparing my final exams, and my make-up final exams. It turns out that students who fail the final get to take another one. My department head told me it was no big deal, and I could just use the same exam twice. Sadly, I couldn't let myself do that, mainly because I write exams based on what I've taught in my classes - any student who shows up regularly and reads the material will pass my exam. Anyone who fails obviously didn't do one or both of those things, so I made the make-up exams twice as hard as the original finals. Only 3 people showed up for the make-ups, and only one of those passed - interestingly, it was a student who's taking both my 2nd and 3rd year classes. He failed both 2nd year exams, but passed the 3rd year make-up. I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

After I finished grading the first round of finals, I headed for Istanbul to meet a friend, Ellen, who's a Fellow in Armenia this year. We spent a week in Istanbul, seeing the sights & doing some shopping - I found black beans, oatmeal, AND quinoa in a natural foods store there, all of which was more exciting to me than seeing the Blue Mosque. Does that make me a bad tourist?

Interestingly, we met a number of people from Malatya in Istanbul, most notably in a carpet shop. While we were considering what to see first, a Turkish man started talking to us & offered his son's help in navigating around the city a bit. The son mentioned that his family's carpet shop was close by, so we took a look & discovered that virtually everyone working there is from Malatya - one of them offered to take me fishing the next time he visits his family. I did end up buying a kilim (like a carpet but it's woven instead of knotted), which I had planned to do at some point anyway. Why not support the folks from my temporary home town?

Then we headed to Denizli to visit another Fellow, Rachael, so I could feel a little worse about my own site. Rachael lives within 10 minutes (by foot) of her university, and has a nice grocery store & sort-of mall just down the street. It's a really good thing I like her so much, or I would probably hate her. She took us to Pamukkale, which is where they have the calcium deposits on the hillside that look like snow. I neglected to take any pictures, because it was ridiculously cold the day we went there, but here's one I found online.

No, that truly isn't snow and/or ice. And yes, they really do let people walk on them, although you have to take your shoes off. I didn't do it myself - see ridiculously cold above - but Ellen did & Rachael has done it before. Maybe I'll go back in the spring & give it a try.

After a great week of increasing jealousy, the 3 of us headed off to Antalya for our mid-year conference. It was fun to see all the Turkey ELFs again, as well as meet the Fellows from other countries in the region - Syria, Ukraine, Russia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, and possibly others that I'm forgetting. The best part was getting to catch up with my friend Lisa, a Fellow in Bosnia, who I've known since high school. The conference itself was fairly typical, but the hotel was pretty great - a 5-star, all-inclusive resort, right on the Mediterranean. Here's the view from my room:

I know, right? It really didn't suck. My part of the conference was only 3 days, but I decided to stay the whole week, since I didn't feel like rushing back to Malatya.

When I did finally get back, I came down with the Fellow Flu that everyone at the conference had been passing around, so I ended up missing the entire first week of spring semester. It wasn't actually a big deal, since Turkish tradition dictates that the majority of students skip the first week of the term. Additionally, there's a Turkish expression stating that when you have the flu, if you go to the doctor, you'll get better in a week, and if you just stay home and rest, you'll get better in 7 days. I'm just trying to be culturally appropriate!

So now, we're a few weeks into spring term, and I've just about gotten back into the swing of things. I have a couple of trips coming up in the next few months, and I'm working on a side project that I'll talk more about when I have the details ironed out. For now, it's back to life as usual, with the knowledge that I'm living in an amazing country - I just have the misfortune of living in a less amazing section of it.

Sorry this post is so light on pictures, but they take forever to load on here. I'll be putting a lot of them up on Facebook, so check there if you want visuals to go with this post.

I hope everyone is doing well. Please keep in touch!

*Bonus points to anyone who gets the reference in the title (WITHOUT looking it up!).

Ordinary Miracles

As I reached the base of the hill this evening, on my way home from a long day of grading, I saw a group of women standing on the sidewalk. As I started to go around them, a bus pulled up, and one of the women said something to me.

Woman: "Turkish Turkish Turkish Turkish?" (while gesturing up the hill)

Me: (pointing up the hill with a hopeful/questioning look on my face)

Woman: "Turkish Turkish Turkish Turkish." (while gesturing for me to get on the bus)

Me: (using one of my 20 Turkish words) "Thank you!" (while getting on the bus)

The bus drove all the way to the top of the hill, which just happens to be where my apartment building is. I have no idea who those women were, where the bus came from, who owns it, or why I've never seen it before. But I really hope to see it again!

Someday I'll remember to take a camera to work with me, and try to get some shots of my walk home, so you can understand what a big deal this was for me.