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.

Mormons and Cheerleaders and Mathletes, Oh My!

I'm just about in the middle of a 2-week teaching job on the UPS campus in Tacoma. We've got 50 Japanese & Chinese high school students who are spending the next 10 months as exchange students in various cities in the USA, and it's our job to prepare them for the horrors of the American high school experience.

At the same time, there are huge groups of Mormons, cheerleaders and mathletes on the UPS campus, doing whatever it is those groups do. It's actually been great for our students to see some "typical" American students, and we've forced them to interact a little - on a scavenger hunt the other day, they had to find out who the founder of the Mormon religion was.

What I'm finding most interesting is my own reaction to the various groups, particularly the cheerleaders. You see, I was in the band during high school. We didn't exactly mix with the cheerleaders. It was from my band teacher that I first heard the term "cheerthing." And even now, every time I see a group of them, with their little skirts & their pom poms & their never-ending cheerfulness, I find myself wanting to smack them. Hard.

I'm sure that these girls are perfectly harmless, normal kids. They go to classes, they hang out with their friends, they eat dinner with their families. But then they put on tiny outfits, jump around and shout. And it makes me hostile.

It's probably good that I don't have any nieces.