Just in Case...

If anyone is still watching this space, you can now find me at https://thewendylady.substack.com/

Hope to see you there!

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.

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

I took my first long-distance bus trip in Turkey last week, to celebrate Christmas with a couple of ELFs - it seemed appropriate. One of my neighbors in Malatya, Taylor, was planning a trip to Antakya (also known as Antioch - maybe you've heard of it?) and invited me to go along, especially after I told him there was an ELF there we could probably stay with. He arranged our bus tickets for late Thursday night/Friday morning and got us a ride to the bus station in Malatya. And then the fun began.

It turns out that, in Turkey, when your bus tickets says 00:30 23.12.2011, that actually means it's good for the next night, which is actually 24.12.2011. Well, sure! Who wouldn't realize that? Yeah, I'm not even going to try to figure out the logic of it - I gave up before I even started on that one. Luckily, there was an empty seat on the bus for me, and Taylor only had to ride in the jump seat for 2 hours before he got a seat too.

We left Malatya around 12:30, and were told we'd arrive in Antakya at 8:30. Our hostess, Margot, instructed us on where to get off the bus & told us to call when we arrived, as her apartment is just around the corner from the bus stop. Unfortunately, we arrived an hour & a half early, so I had to call & wake her up at 7:00 AM. She graciously came out to meet us anyway, rather than making us wait until a more reasonable hour.

The weather was less than ideal for seeing the town, but I felt right at home - it rained the whole time we were there. It was just like a Seattle winter! We spent the afternoon at the museum, which houses an impressive collection of mosaics - with only a few questionable translations and/or typos.

We ate some great kunefe, which is a dessert made of shredded wheat & cheese, drenched in steaming hot sugar syrup. Trust me, it's tasty, albeit super sweet. Antakya is known as the home of this particular delicacy, so everyone told me I had to eat it while I was there.

That evening, I decided to try to make egg nog. It turned out pretty well, though I didn't get the consistency quite right. No matter, with a little Jack Daniel's it was very enjoyable.

The next day we met up with another ELF, Rachael, who had flown in from Denizli (a city in the west of Turkey) and we all headed off to see what Lonely Planet claims is "the earliest place where Christians met and prayed secretly." It's a church carved into the side of a mountain, and, shockingly, the walls didn't collapse around me when I went inside. They hold a service in the evening on Christmas Eve, which Taylor attended with a whole group of ETAs who came into town just for that, but the other ELFs and I decided that just seeing it in the daytime was enough, so we had a quiet night in.

The next day was Christmas, but I didn't really notice. It's not really a big holiday for me anyway, and I spent most of the day on a bus going back to Malatya. Sadly, the trip home was not shorter than promised, probably because it was during the day & we made about 100 stops. OK, maybe only 80.

One nice aspect of bus trips in Turkey is the drink & snack service. Every so often the bus host will wheel a little cart up & down the aisle with tea, coffee, soft drinks, and usually snacks - although for some reason, I was on a drinks-only bus. They also have little TVs in the back of all the seats, just like international flights, so I had a chance to catch up on my Turkish TV watching. In all honesty, I napped & played games on my Kindle most of the ride, but there were other options if I had wanted to take advantage of them.

Overall, it was a nice Christmas weekend with friends, and I really enjoyed getting out of Malatya & seeing another part of the country. I have a longer trip coming up next month, and I hope to have many more adventures to write about after that.

So for now, happy new year to all!

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

I find myself, once again, in the unfortunate yet all-too-familiar position of having a job I love in a location I'm rather less than thrilled about. And now I have to decide whether or not to stay here for another year.

I feel like this should be an easy decision. I don't want to live here any longer than I have to, so obviously I'm not renewing my contract. But then I have this nagging guilt about abandoning my students, so I should renew. But the thought of living here for another year is incredibly depressing - I already don't know how I'm going to get through the next seven months. But my classes are really fun, and I feel like I'm gaining some great professional experience. (So I can clearly not choose the glass in front of you!)

You see my dilemma, right?

I've pretty much decided not to renew. Of course, that leads to another question - where do I go next? I'm considering some universities in Ankara, or possibly Istanbul. I'm also thinking about going back to Poland. And, of course, there are all the countries I haven't lived in yet. Coming back to the US is also a distant possibility, if I found the right position. And next fall seems so far away, it's hard for me to even think clearly about it yet, although I know it's going to sneak up on me in about 3 seconds.

I just don't want to be thinking about such a major decision right now. I'd really like to enjoy my time here as much as I can, without stressing out over my next step. Could someone just offer me a great job in a fantastic location so I can be done with this?

Escape to Izmir, Part 2

This trip is starting to fade in my memory, and I keep thinking of other things I want to post about, so I better finish this up. We'll see if the photos decide to cooperate with me this time.

The day after Ephesus was museum day. Izmir has both an ethnographic and an archaeological museum, right next to each other. We started at the ethnographic museum, which is free, and has some really beautiful stuff, like wedding outfits and inlaid wooden shoes (ouch!).

The archaeological museum was equally cool, with the addition of a few creepy items, like this floaty bust with vacant eyes.

The best part was the garden outside, where they've randomly scattered some artifacts that apparently didn't fit in the museum itself. They're just out there for people to look at, sit on, use as pedestals while they pretend to be statues... Seriously, these things have to be over a thousand years old, and no one seemed to care that we were sitting and/or standing on them!

We walked up the hill - a rather frightening task in itself, considering the hairpin turns on the road - and attempted to visit the toy museum, but it was closed. We did get to see several sculptures outside, like the one in the picture. As near as I can tell, the 3 figures on the right are mocking the ones circling the tree because they're tied together and can never escape - they'll just keep going around and around the tree forever.

During our bus tour, we had passed the site of some ruins called Agora, which looked pretty amazing from the road, so we decided to check it out. Unfortunately, I didn't take photos of any of the informational signs, so I don't remember the details, but I actually liked this site better than Ephesus. I also met two lovely young girls who asked me to take their picture, then followed me around the ruins for about a half hour. I kept waiting for them to ask me for money or something, but they seemed quite happy to just be my shadows for a bit.

One of our goals the whole week was to go to a shop that specializes in the evil eye jewelry that everyone wears here. We finally managed to find the place, but it was closed. We tried again the next day - still closed. Finally, on our last day in Izmir, we got lucky, and it was definitely worth it! This is apparently the shop where all the other shops get their supplies. It was absolutely filled with beads, necklaces, bracelets, wall hangings, anything you could imagine to chase off evil spirits. It was a little tricky to walk around, because there were beads all over the floor, hanging from the ceiling, and everywhere else they could conceivably put them.


















Sadly, the trip came to an end, and I had to return to Malatya. Rather than taking a taxi or the usual airport shuttle, one of the workers at the hotel offered to drive me for the same cost as a taxi, but asked me not to tell his boss. He's got himself a little side job, but he's probably not supposed to be making money off the hotel guests. I was happy to help him out, and to get a chance to ask about something I'd seen on the way in from the airport - there's a giant bust of Ataturk carved into the side of the hill on the outskirts of town. Think Mt. Rushmore, but bigger. He confirmed for me that it is, indeed, the father of Turkey, and it's only been there a few years. I wasn't able to get a picture of it, but if you happen to fly into Izmir, you'll definitely see it on your way into town.

So that was my journey to Izmir. Very enjoyable, and I can recommend a great hotel if you're planning a trip there!

Escape to Izmir

Last week was a holiday in Turkey, so I took the opportunity to explore a bit more of the country. One of my fellow ELFs suggested that we meet in Izmir for a few days, and I was able to get a direct flight there from Malatya (which is not always an option), so we found a hotel & the adventure began.

I arrived late on Saturday night, so we headed out on Sunday to explore the city a bit. It was the first day of the holiday, so most shops & museums were closed, but we discovered that the city bus tour was running. It was a nice chance to have a look around & decide what we wanted to go back to in the coming days. Oddly, the bus driver was hesitant to let us pay in Turkish lira - I guess most of his customers come from cruise ships & only have Euros. We did finally convince him that we didn't have any Euros but would be happy to pay him in the local currency. The drive around the city was relaxing & we saw a few spots we wanted to take a closer look at, namely a couple of museums & some ruins.

The next day we wanted to go to Ephesus, which is (according to Lonely Planet) "the best-preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean." We asked at the front desk of our hotel & were told we could take a bus, or they could arrange a private tour for us. Being somewhat frugal, we decided a bus was fine, and headed off to the closest office for a bus company. The hotel clerk had told us to go to Selcuk & get a local bus from there, but when we told the guy at the bus office that we wanted to go there, he said, "No. You want Ephesus." OK, fine, if you say so.

After an hour on the bus, the driver pulled over to the side of the road & told us we were at Ephesus. We got off, with another couple, and discovered that we were about 3 kilometers from the ruins. A taxi driver at the side of the road offered to take us there for 40 lira. Considering we had paid only 12 lira for the bus ride, that seemed a little steep. We discussed it with the other couple, who spoke some English, and decided we didn't mind walking. I'm actually glad we did, because I probably wouldn't have noticed this sign otherwise.

It seems slightly ominous, unless you know that it's on a very narrow road & there's no way anyone could even turn around. It might have been nice if there had been a small shoulder for us to walk on, but we made it to the parking lot safely. And were greeted there by more

taxi drivers who wanted to take us to the other end of the ruins - for 40 lira. Again, we declined. After all, I had just bought new hiking boots & was very anxious to break them in by walking among ancient ruins.

At the ticket window, we discovered there was a discount for students & teachers. Rachael (my traveling companion) had just received her ID from her Turkish university, so she was able to get the discount. My university doesn't seem to have ID cards. I tried using my UO ID, but the woman just glanced at it before telling me, "No discount. Same price." Oh well.

As we walked into the ruins, we chatted a bit with the couple from the bus & found out that they're from a town in the south east - even farther south east than my town - and that they're Kurdish. They had traveled 20 hours by bus to come to Izmir for the holiday, and were staying at the same hotel we were - the woman recognized us from breakfast that morning.

We wandered though the ruins for a few hours, oohing and aahing over really old buildings. Some of the highlights were the library facade, the remnants of some mosaics, and a backgammon board carved into the seats of the theater.

I was also really struck by this small piece of lettering left behind. It's hard to tell if the rest had worn away or been covered up.

I was fairly impressed by Ephesus, but Rachael says Afrodisias is even better. I hope to see it sometime soon.

I still have two more days of the trip to write about, but it'll have to wait until I have more patience - the photos are taking WAY too long to upload tonight. Until then, I hope everyone is well. I wouldn't know, since none of you are bothering to comment on any of my posts.

And Cancel Christmas!

Turkey, as a country, has had a rough couple of weeks. First, a bombing killed 26 soldiers. Then, an earthquake killed more than 500 in the south east - the official number keeps rising.

Yesterday was the 88th birthday of the Turkish republic - Republic Day. Primary schools had planned celebrations and there were to be parades in city centers. The prime minister cancelled them all. The stated reason is the earthquake.

I'm confused. I would think that a time of national mourning is the perfect time to celebrate the existence of your country, and to remember how you got here. What better way to begin healing?

I was at a private primary school on Friday when they received the news. The teachers were really upset about the cancellation. None of them seemed to believe that it was due to the earthquake - they said that was just an excuse.

I'll be the first to admit that I know very little about Turkish politics, and the little I've gleaned has been mostly second-hand. However, I'm truly shocked that this particular celebration was cancelled. It's roughly equivalent to cancelling Independence Day.

I'm hoping to bring this up with my students tomorrow, but I plan to tread lightly. If the government can cancel the country's birthday, it's hard to imagine what else they might do.

Travel Updates

In the past 3 weeks, I've visited Ankara twice - once for an orientation & once for a teaching conference. Both visits have made me think that I'd really like to live there next year, although I'm not making any definite plans quite yet.

The orientation was an opportunity for all the Turkey ELFs to get together in-country and find out a little more about our job description. It was also a nice chance for us to see each other again & dish about our sites & experiences so far. We stayed in a pretty nice hotel, went to a reception at the US Ambassador's residence, and had a good time in general. An extra bonus for me was spending time with my friend Norma, who's been teaching in Ankara since last January. I saw very little of the city, but had a wonderful time seeing great people.

My most recent trip was for a conference presented by the Turkish version of TESOL. I was able to help one of my colleagues attend with me, which was a nice opportunity for us to bond a little, and I did some networking while I was there. Someone from one of the Ankara universities seemed ready to offer me a teaching job on the spot, which was a little awkward, but certainly flattering. I met some really great people in my field, and heard Penny Ur speak about grammar. And again, I spent some quality time with Norma. I managed to do a couple of touristy things this time, including going up the hill to the castle, although I didn't go in. Maybe next time.

I took the direct flight back to Malatya this trip, and had a nice chat on the plane with a man whose ex-wife & son live in the town in Poland where I did my Peace Corps training. He helped me figure out how to get back to my apartment from the airport, which was a great relief for me, since my Turkish is still almost non-existent. I'm really hoping to start learning some verbs soon.

And tomorrow it's back to work. We've got 2 more weeks of classes & then a week off for a sacrifice feast holiday. I don't fully understand the reason for it, but apparently every family is supposed to sacrifice a sheep and share it with the less fortunate. I'm a little torn about how much of that tradition I want to witness. My plans are still up in the air, but I'm hoping to travel at least a little during the time off.

And I think that about catches me up for the moment. I'm doing well, recovered from my cold, & ready to plow ahead with some potential projects. Oh, and I wasn't even aware of the earthquake until someone asked me about it on Facebook - it's much farther east than my city.

I hope everyone's doing well. Please keep in touch!

Do You Like My Grumpy Pants?

I have every intention of posting about my trip to Ankara last week, but it'll probably have to wait until after my trip to Ankara next week. I picked up a cold on one of the flights, and I haven't managed to get myself any cold medicine, in large part because I don't know where to get it or what to get. So I'm feeling fairly out of sorts at the moment, which is not terribly conducive to writing anything entertaining, or even worth reading. I just wanted to let my legions of readers (two is considered a legion, right?) know that I'm still alive, just not up to doing much beyond crashing on the couch & staring at my computer screen.

Climb Every Mountain

I spent all day yesterday exploring the wonders of the region of Turkey where I live. My neighbors arranged an outing & invited several of their fellow ETAs to join us. They all arrived on Friday evening/night, and some of them crashed in my living room, so I awoke to 4 strangers on my couch & chairs, but none of them tried to kill me in my sleep, so I figured they were harmless.

We set out at 7 AM & stopped for breakfast around 8, at a restaurant where the doors apparently don't close. It was freezing, but very tasty.

Our next stop was a 500-600 year old tree. Sadly, lots of people have carved their names & other random messages in it, but it's still pretty amazing.

After that, we headed for a cave city that was built during the first century. There are all kinds of benches & beds carved right into the walls of the caves.

Our next destination was an old Roman bridge. There was a nice informational sign that probably gave lots of pertinent details, like the age of the bridge, but it was too worn away to be readable. There was, however, a sign with the name of the bridge:

I choose to believe he was a long-lost ancestor of Professor Snape. There were also a couple of panels with words carved in them, but again, they were too worn to be legible, even if I did know how to read ancient Latin.

The last stop of the day - after lunch - was the one we'd all been looking forward to: Mount Nemrut. Also from the 1st century, it has several carved stone heads that used to be on top of carved stone bodies. The bodies are still upright, but the heads fell off at some point, so are now arranged at the feet of the bodies.

The drive up the mountain was one of the more terrifying rides of my life. It's basically a one-lane road with dozens of hairpin turns & a fairly sheer dropoff. Our driver was great, but it was still pretty scary. When we finally got to the parking lot, it was about 1 1/2 hours before sunset, so we strolled up to the top & wandered among the ruins, then climbed up on one of the rocks & watched the sunset over the mountains. Then we raced back down while there was still enough light to see the path, and discovered that the road back down is much safer than the one up.

We stopped for a late dinner at the same place where we had breakfast - still freezing, still tasty - then got home around midnight. All the visitors headed home this morning, and I've been nursing my sore quads all day.

In all, I'd say it was a great way to start exploring Turkey. Next week, Ankara!

Insert Catchy Title Here

I'm wrapping up week 2 in Turkey, and feeling like I've made a tiny bit of progress. I met one of my classes last week, and have so far managed to convince them that I know what I'm doing. It'll be interesting to see how long I can keep that illusion going.

Part of my difficulty at this point is that my books haven't arrived yet. They were in Ankara about a week ago, but didn't get forwarded on to me until 2 days ago. I'm told they'll be here early next week, but that doesn't really help me to plan tomorrow's lessons - 3 hours of Listening & Pronunciation, and another 3 hours of Approaches in ELT (don't ask, I'm still not sure what it means). I'm fairly sure I can wing it through most of the day, but I'd feel more confident with a book to fall back on.

I'm also still waiting for the 2 boxes of personal items I shipped to myself. I'm just about out of the 2-week supply I brought with me, thinking that would be plenty of time for the boxes to arrive. I can survive a bit longer without them, but things are going to start getting uncomfortable soon.

I'm spending a fair amount of time with the other ex-pats in town, particularly the 2 living next door. Of course, that's mainly because they still don't have hot water, so they've been using my shower. We need to have a brief conversation about appropriate places to leave one's underwear, but I'm happy to help them out.

I took the free shuttle to the mall yesterday to do some shopping, and learned that you shouldn't leave your cart unattended in a Turkish grocery store. I had 2 items in my cart and had walked away from it to try to find something. When I came back, my 2 items were sitting on a shelf & my cart was gone. So I ended up carrying my shopping, and bought less than I would have as a result. Which may be a good thing.

After I got my groceries, I went into the liquor store next door & set off the alarm with something in my bag. The security guard spoke German, so we had a nice chat while he searched my bag & found 2 theft-prevention stickers on my bottle of Neutrogena face wash. Apparently, people are really desperate to wash their faces here, to the point of stealing. (????) Whatever, we removed the stickers & I bought a bottle of Turkish wine. It's not great, but I'm willing to overlook that at this point. I've got a whole year to find good wine, and I plan to apply myself fully to the task.

Next week begins the real work of teaching, which I'm really looking forward to. And the following week, I'll be cancelling 4 of my classes so I can go to an orientation in Ankara, which I'm also really looking forward to. But mainly, I'm hoping to get into a routine soon, so things will start feeling slightly less - well, I don't want to say "foreign," but that's the gist of it. As for the rest of today, I've got a very exciting day planned - laundry, more grocery shopping, and lesson planning. Here's hoping your Sunday will be half as fun as mine! ;)

Contact

Just in case anyone feels an overwhelming desire to spend an exorbitant amount of money on postage, my mailing address is:

Wendy Nelson

Inonu Universitesi

Egitim Fakultesi

Yabanci Diller Egitimi Bolumu

44280

Malatya/TURKEY

Please don't ask me to translate that - I recognize the words for 'education' and 'foreign,' but that's about it - other than the name of my university, of course!

I also have a Turkish cell phone, which you are welcome to call me on, but PLEASE keep the time difference in mind. Last time I was living in Poland, someone (my sister) decided I needed to know the outcome of a Seahawks game at 4:00 AM. I don't even care about the Seahawks at a reasonable hour, so I'm not sure why she thought I would care then!

Anyway, my cell number is +90 543 212 5036.

Today was the first day of school, so I spent it going to the police station to arrange for my residence card. Oh, you thought I'd be teaching? It turns out that the first week of classes is really more of an orientation/registration week. Some students may show up, but you're not really expected to have any lessons planned or do any real teaching. I do actually plan to go to classes tomorrow, but it'll just be to meet the students & chat about expectations for a bit. I'm happy to have some more time to figure out what I'm doing - and let my books arrive! - but I'm not sure what this means for the rest of the term, as far as how demanding I can be with my students.

I'm pretty happy with my schedule - 2 classes on Monday & Tuesday, 1 on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday, & none on Friday. Let's just call that a "planning" day. ;) There might be some weekend trips in my near future.

I'll try to post some pictures of my apartment & the surroundings soon. I keep forgetting to bring my camera when I go out, and when I'm home I'm usually too exhausted from the heat to do much of anything. It's been in at least the upper 80s every day so far & seems like it'll continue that way for at least the rest of this week. There might be a thunder storm on Friday - keep your fingers crossed for me!

No One I Know Would Call At This Hour

After 5 days in Turkey, I don't feel like I know too much more than I did when I arrived, but I feel like surviving this long is an accomplishment in itself.

I've made 1 1/2 round trips to the airport - 1/2 a trip when I arrived & another round trip to get my luggage. Nothing was missing & so far I've only identified one item I shouldn't have packed, simply because I didn't realize it needed to be refrigerated. There's 2 pounds of weight allowance down the drain.

I have my very own office, which I plan to decorate with my amusing parts of speech posters. I still can't quite believe I don't have to share an office with anyone!

I can find my way to my office, the campus supermarket, and 3 different places to eat. I also might know how to catch the bus to the local shopping mall.

I get to pretend to be an expert teacher for the 3 English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) who are here through the Fulbright program. I have more experience than any of them, so that makes me an expert by default, right?

I managed to sleep through the early morning call to prayer once this week. I'm really hoping to improve my percentage on that one, but the mosque is directly behind my building, so I may just have to get used to a 5:00 AM wake-up call.

The plumber seems to have finally fixed the leak in my toilet, after his 3rd visit.

My list of accomplishments may not be long, but keep in mind, I'm doing all this with only about 15 words of Turkish, and 10 of those are numbers. There's a chance I might be able to take a Turkish class for foreigners, but otherwise the 3 ETAs & I are talking about trying to find someone to tutor us. One way or another, I've got to start being able to communicate on my own!

So that's week 1 in Malatya. Next week, I'll actually start earning my keep - just as soon as they get around to telling me my teaching schedule.

I'm Not in Kansas Anymore

OK, I've never actually been to Kansas, but the paraphrase seemed appropriate.

So, here I am in Malatya, Turkey, day 2. But just barely, since I arrived last night. My luggage arrived this morning. ALWAYS pack a pair of clean underwear in your carry-on - I did, this time.

I'll keep this short, since I haven't seen much of the city yet & I'm very jet lagged at the moment. But from what I know so far, it seems like a pretty good situation. I've got a nice, comfortable, one-bedroom apartment with internet access. The people I'll be working with seem very nice. I should be able to see my office tomorrow. And classes start on Monday, by which time I hope to be more coherent than I feel right now. Really, I'm just biding my time until it's late enough for me to go to sleep - I'm shooting for 9:00 PM.

That's the best I can do right now. Stay tuned for what should be more interesting adventures coming soon!

You Don't Know What You've Got Til It's Gone

Conversely, you don't know what you're missing until it's restored to you.

I had my septum straightened a few weeks ago. The first week after the surgery was fairly unpleasant, due to the giant splints in my nose. Seriously, I had no idea how huge they were until I went in to have them removed. Let's just say, if I hadn't been present for the removal, I never would have believed there was that much space available. I'm thinking of taking in a boarder.

Since then, I've been really enjoying the novelty of breathing through both nostrils simultaneously. I truly have no idea when I lost that ability - possibly when a friend whacked me in the nose with a telephone receiver, back in the days when phones were tethered to the wall. So it's been a good, long while.

The only downsides right now are that I'm sneezing a bit more than usual - I guess the dust particles have more access - and I'm still not really comfortable blowing my nose. My nose is still a little tender, but it's also kinda drippy. This is probably karma's way of paying me back for driving my family insane as a child, when I steadfastly refused to blow my nose. I can remember being banished from the living room, more than once, because no one could stand to hear my sniffling any longer. It didn't bother me then, but it sure does now!

So there - more information about my nose than anyone ever wanted to know.

There's No Place Like Home

Over a year since my last post, and I still can't say that I'm fully moved in. But I'd guess that I don't really need whatever's in the boxes I haven't unpacked, so the next move should be easy!

Eugene has been an interesting place to live for a while. I don't think it'll ever be home, but it's a nice pausing spot while I figure out the next adventure. I'm hoping for someplace that pays teachers well, so that rules out the USA. Lots of people have suggested Korea or Japan, but I've never been drawn to that part of the world. I'll probably end up in the Middle East before too long.

I find it interesting how nonchalant I've become about moving to a foreign country. I guess if you do anything enough times, it becomes normal to you. Not that I even have the prospect of a job yet, but I'm taking it for granted that I will, and that it'll be overseas.

In the meantime, I'm trying to enjoy Eugene as much as I can, despite being unable to find a true level of comfort here. The people are great, I like my job, I have a nice apartment, but it's just not a town I can see myself in long-term. I visited Poznan over the summer, and was struck by how much more at home I felt there than I do here. What does that say about me, when Poland is more my home than Oregon?

I Love What You've Done With the Place

I've been a Eugenian for 2 weeks now, and I'm already more unpacked than I was after 2 years in West Seattle. Of course, I have more space here, and no roommates, which makes a HUGE difference. And I can't claim to be completely moved in, because there are still a number of boxes taunting me from the corner. But, overall, I'm quite comfortable here.

I wish I could say I've been too busy to unpack everything, but I've actually done a lot of nothing since I moved here. Work doesn't start until Monday, so I've had all kinds of free time, and have spent most of it exploring the town, shopping for small appliances, and sitting on my ass, thinking that I should really unpack some more boxes.

The highlights so far have been going to the roller derby and the symphony, both very enjoyable & entertaining in their own ways. I found the closest Target, and I'm minutes from Trader Joe's, so the essentials are covered. I've only gotten lost on campus once so far, but I'm sure that'll happen a few more times. I know which buses to take to get to work, since the parking situation is rather challenging. I haven't met any of my neighbors yet, although I did say hi to one of them yesterday. Everyone seems quiet, and I'm on the top floor, so I don't have to worry about any loud walkers.

So, there's my exciting first 2 weeks in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to meeting my colleagues & finding out my schedule next week, so I can maybe start planning some lessons. Or maybe I'll avoid working by finally unpacking some boxes.