Daily Life in Turkey

Well, it was only a matter of time before I let an entire month go by without updating my blog. It wasn't that I forgot or intended to neglect my blog; I actually thought about updating a lot, but I didn't really know what to say. This is mostly due to the fact that I've now entered "normal Turkey life" in working a full-time job, finding a daily routine, and doing other nonexciting things. But, in the interest of letting you all know that I am still alive and giving you a better idea of what my weekly routines are, here is my post on my "day-to-day life."

Normal Activity #1: Work

Tomorrow marks the start of my 5th week with students, and so far things have been going great! I probably have an advantage with my students because, as a foreigner, I'm a bit of a novelty which might make them better behaved (at first). If you read my blog in 3 months, I might be complaining about the students and their lack of motivation; however, for now, I love my students.

I work each day from 11- 7 which turns out to be the perfect schedule for me. I can take my time in the mornings (which we all know I need lots of time to get motivated and moving), and then stay up later to hopefully catch family and friends on Skype. I only teach between 4-6 hours a day and never start be fore 1:45. Usually, I'm doing some lesson planning or taking a Turkish class before then, but I've also become addicted to Spider Solitaire. Now that I use a superior computer at home (aka a Mac), I've forgotten how much I miss playing minesweeper and solitaire!

My super-sweet ride to work each day- by dolmuş. This mini-bus (which in my opinion slightly resembles the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo) is unique; it's part bus, part taxi. It follows a specific route (like a bus) but without designated stops. Anyone who flags it down can get on and tell the driver to stop wherever they want to get off as long as it's on the route.

My office! My desk is the one in the middle.

The creepy picture of Ataturk that stares at my every day in my office. There's a picture of him in every room of the school, but most are nice, normal pictures... unlike this one.

Normal activity #2: Running

I was a bit lazy my first month here. I blamed it on 'adjusting' to a new lifestyle, jetlag, finding my way around, and many other things- but really, I just wasn't motivated to go run. Luckily for me, one of my roommates is an avid runner and is very good at getting me up in the morning to go for runs. I've decided to give myself a goal to work towards (which will hopefully keep me more self-motivated) which is to run a half-marathon in March - http://www.runtalya.com.tr/ It's in Antalya (hence the cute English name of Runtalya), right by the Mediterranean Sea - quite the perfect location for my first 13.1 mile journey. Again, you may read my blog in 3 months and find I have abandoned this idealistic goal-- but I hope not!

The entrance to the track my roommate and I like to run on

The park where we run occasionally

Normal activity #3: Learning Turkish

I'd like to say that after having been 'immersed' in the Turkish language for almost 2 months now, I'm fluent in Turkish- or at least able to hold conversations- or at least able to feel comfortable going into clothing stores alone ... but I'm not. I have the basics and am feeling more confident each day; however, living/working/socializing with English speakers has seriously limited my Turkish exposure. I am getting really good at identifying when Turks ask me where I'm from (Nerelesin?) since nearly everyone asks that after they hear me stumble through a few Turkish words :)

I'm taking classes twice a week with a Turkish speaker, and I'm also doing more studying by myself; but, I'm not really as dedicated to language study as perhaps I should be. I did just download some awesome Turkish pop music to start running to, so hopefully that will help.



Normal Activity #4: Weekends

Each weekend looks pretty different. Sometimes I go on short day-trips with my friends from work, or sometimes we just hang out in Izmir. Other times I just stay in my pajamas all day Saturday and watch Friends with my roommates (we've successfully finished Season 9 and are working on Season 10. I'm very blessed to live with someone who has the complete series!) I also catch up on my American TV shows that I miss. I have to wait to watch them on the internet, which is a pain, but at least I can still be informed on the happenings of Leonard, Sheldon, and Penny. Each Sunday I do go to church which has been great! I really like my church and the people that go there. It's all in Turkish, but there is a translator each week to help the foreigners that attend.

My church

And that pretty much covers the most of my time here! It is nice to finally have a routine and structure here, though; I feel less like a tourist pretending to live here and more like someone who actually lives here.