Actually working...

You may have noticed a lack of posting within the past few weeks. Well, in short, The first weeks of school are hard. Really hard. I mean, it would be hard if we spoke the same language as the kids... but, damn.

Everybody is new to the system in our Kindergarten; The administration, the teachers, the students, the parents... So everyone is learning to pace themselves, what expectations to have out of each other, and generally trying to figure out what the heck is going on. There has been a lot of smiles, a lot more stress, and some tears (from the students and from the teachers) but I am mostly satisfied with my teaching experience here so far... Which is not the case with everyone (i.e. everyone else) in my department.

I am feeling pretty lucky because my partner-in-crime used to be the Head of the English Department (before they killed the department) so she has a good head on her shoulders and knows exactly what to do. I also am feeling lucky because I got the oldest set of kids and a good portion of them know enough English to understand me. The ones who don't understand me still haven't figured out that I don't understand them because I am pretty good at guessing what they're saying by their facial expressions. There's a lot of, "OOOOH, That's REALLY interesting!" and "Oh, that's so sad" coming from me now-a-days. It's not like Korea where I am losing my English speaking abilities ("Me no do, YOU do.") because they don't really understand me anyways, so I can pretty much say whatever I want.

 Most of my students are really sweet. We have a few that are rebellious, but they just need some time to get used to school and learn that they can't get everything that they want. We would be in a better situation going into the fourth week, but once I got my first 8-10 students-who-came-to-school-from-day-one trained, four new students have trickled in over the past week and a half and it's like starting over again, but worse, because these students didn't have the fun free-for-all that the first week of school was. It is frustrating getting the big cryers to stop and then having some more thrown at you. Hopefully someday we will have a day where nobody cries.

And that is all I am going into for work on this blog. I made a promise to myself to only think or do work things when I am at the school so I don't burn myself out, so the post will be fewer since we will be doing fun things less. We have a few holidays coming up and next week there may or may not be a trip to Bulgaria for bacon and beer! Let's hope we get next Friday off. We miss our sinful meats.

For the Foodie in You

Turkish coffee, the pride of Turkey. (5 lira)

One of the best things about living in Istanbul. These loaded waffles are a fairly

new food fad and FUCKING AWESOME. Topped with bananas, strawberry, kiwi, Nutella, pistachio, vanilla pudding?, shredded coconut, and more. (8 lira)

Cheap and delicious Donors in the district of Takism. (1 lira)

The House is a new upscale restaurant with a Caesar salad that rivals La Madeline's. (22 lira)

There isn't much Asian food is Istanbul, even on the Asian side. Katie got these noodles (and potatoes ಠ_ಠ ) in Kadikoy (on the Asian side) and said they "blew monster donkey cock". (17 lira)

The loaded potato. Not near as good as the waffle. Topped with ketchup, mayo, olives, peppers, pickles, hotdog slices, carrots, corn, and more. (10 lira)

A burger from The House restaurant. (26 lira)

The fajitas are surprisingly good. (18 lira)

The Tuesday Bazaar in Kadikoy is a must. Produce and housewares can be found at very low prices.

Our haul of tomatoes, mushrooms, and grapes: 6 lira.

Next week, I'll be sure to take some pictures of the school lunches. Hope this satisfies your appetites for now.

Sightseeing

Istanbul is a beautiful city. It always amazes me that I am able to get on a bus or a ferry and visit two different continents in one day. Sam and I will spend the morning walking among the modern skyscrapers in our neighborhood in Ataşehir and the afternoon sipping a cup of tea next to buildings that are (more than?) twice as old as our country. One of our coworkers said that there's something magical in the air here and I completely agree. It is always sunny and warm but then a breeze wafts in from the sea to cool and revitalize you.

In order to acquaint the new teachers with the city they've taken us on several tours. I missed the first one because of a stupid pointless training they made the Kindergarten teachers go to, but I was able to make it on the next two. Last Monday they picked us up from our school in a service bus and took us to the European side of Istanbul for my first time (since we were picked up at the airport)!

We got off the bus and saw this for the first time. "What is it?" I asked Sam. "That's the Hagia Sophia," "Ohhhhhhh!" Apparently it is closed on Mondays so we didn't get to go in but it is beautiful from the outside!

We did get to go into Topkapi Palace, which had a beautiful garden, beautiful views and the 86 karat Spoonmaker's Diamond (which we were not allowed to take pictures of!:( ).

Me at the lookout to the sea in Topkapi Palace.

Inside the gardens.

After Topkapi they took us to lunch! Lunch had 5 portions and was ENTIRELY too much food, but I loved every bit of it. I had a plate of sauces (hummus,  baba ghannouj, etc.), fried food plate, spicy beef kebab, and baklava. 

The Group at lunch!

 The next stop on our tour was the Blue Mosque.

 This was one of my favorite places we've been so far. The architecture is amazing and being inside of it is absolutely daunting. The pictures do not do the place justice.

Sam and I like panoramas.

Vertical panorama!

Huge light fixture.

Sam and me!

 Next we went to the Basilica Cistern. The entrance is not very exciting and if they hadn't taken us there I would have never known what it was.

Also another one of my favorite places. It's so calm and cool... I could have spent all day in there!

The fish that live in the Cistern. 

One of the Medusa Heads in the back of the Cistern.

The second outing (or third if you're everybody else) they took us on was a booze cruise boat tour down the Bosphorus. This was the best outing we had... Seeing the city by boat would have been fine enough for me, but when they throw in free wine and beer and a buffet I'm more than a little in love.

The little boat we were on.

Our cruising buddies!

Yup, I'm happy.

Just chillin'.

All of the food here is so good! 

Love :)

Pretty :)

Oddball Photos

This man was casting his look of disapproval (ಠ_ಠ) over everything on the street below.

A risque' comic in a bookshop.

If you go in for a haircut, they light a cotton ball on fire and sear off your ear hair.

Cat photobomb.

Women in burqas feeding a horse.

This panorama of the inside of the Blue Mosque turned out quite nice. Just wanted to include it somewhere.

One of our fellow teachers (Victoria) trying to look traditional while in the Blue Mosque. Her personality is the opposite of the way she's portrayed here.

Katie and Heather admiring Ataturk. You don't mess with Ataturk.

In a hammock in Sapanca.

Taken on the second floor of a side-ally restaurant near the Grand Bazaar. It was a pleasant place, but the lighting and the old woman in the background make it seem rather creepy.

I leave you with a joke: What do Saddam Hussein and Little Miss Muffet have in common? They both had kurds in their way.

Sapanca

We went to Sapanca (Sa-pon-ja) to visit Egemen, James, Santina, and Hunni (the dog) over the Bayram holiday. About 72 miles southeast of Istanbul, the town of about 31,000 people doesn't have much recreation, but it was a very relaxing get-a-way. I recorded a tour of their house, but Blogger is refusing to load it; However, here's a view of their neighborhood from their house:

Barbecue chicken/sausage dinner on the terrace. A delicious meal and a gorgeous night.

Messing around on the mountainside.

Although it was closed, James and Egemen got the officer at a private zoo to let us take a quick look around the premises. The zoo had a variety of farm animals, llamas, flamingos, and what I think was a lynx. It had man-made ponds, bright green lawns, lodgings where artists could stay and paint/sculpt their surroundings, and a barn with tricked out Harleys and an old fighter plane.