Where to begin? Today is approximately my 18th day living in Turkey and, as you all know, I'm always asking for a story. but now find myself struggling to return the favor and recap everything that's happened in the last two and a half weeks.
For the sake of brevity and comprehension, I'll focus on Bilkent for the time being. The University campus is incredibly different than any college campus I've been on in the States. Despite the fact that I come from the largest college/campus of all my fellow CSI's (Communication Skills Instructors), I'm generally lost and confused. I have some pictures of the campus posted to my flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/christa_lynn) but they don't really convey the layout too well. It's an interesting campus because it is more or less divided into three parallel sections with giant ravines separating the different areas - main campus, middle campus, and east campus. I live on middle, take classes on main, and teach on east so getting around is a bit of a struggle, but since I like walking it's not too bad. Thursday I will start taking Italian and Spanish classes, and Turkish lessons will start next week. I teach for the BUSEL program (Bilkent University School of English Language) and am scheduled to work 14 hours a week starting Thursday (a dream compared to the cube life I was living this summer).
My flat is wonderful! I was expecting some crappy dorm room, aka closet, like freshmen year of undergrad, but it's a new, non-shared, full amenity space with a nice view of the city. The campus, and my lojman (lodging) itself is very isolated, about a 10 min bus ride outside of Ankara and equally interesting because it's an entirely gated community. One of the oddest things about the transition has been the omnipresence of security; it's everywhere all of the time! There are 24 hour security guards at our apartment, guards at all the university buildings, at the two entrances to the campus, the grocery store....literally, everywhere. We've already had an akward little incident entering campus on the bus one evening: in order to even come on to campus whether by bus, cab, whatever, you need to have identification as proof of either living and/or taking classes on campus. Naturally one night a few of us didn't have said ID with us. Before a bus can enter campus it has to stop at the gate and a guard boards to check for the ID. However, I've realized there is some privilege to being the clueless foreign American, as after an awkward 30 second exchange of blank stares the security guard, slightly annoyed, went along his way and let the bus continue with us on board. We've also been told to always carry our passports with us regardless of where we are or going as without it there is reason enough for the polis to arrest us....funny the things we all take for granted in the States.
The people have been fanastic as well, both the Turks and other English language teachers. There are 13 other CSI's besides myself from all over the states and they're mostly pretty chill and generally hilarious! The Turkish teacher's we've met, and the Turks in general, might possibly be the friendliest and most hospitable people I've met. One thing they've pointed out to me that I've never realized before is the way in which Americans always say things they never mean, but Turks mean everything they say. For example, we have the ridiculous habit of always making comments to one another, whether we like the other person or not, about getting together to do something or go out or whatever, but we never really mean it. One of the teachers specifically was really surprised by this when she visited the States and told me that Turks always mean it when they make plans and are very enthusiastic about picking dates, times, etc. when they make such comments....and experience has shown me just how true that is. Even if you mention the slightest thing, they will 1) bend over backward to help you and 2) immediately set a specific time and place and follow through with it! It's great!
Last week I had told one of the teachers I was looking for a good place to get a mani and pedi and she immediately took my cell number, set up a date within a week, called the salon to make an appointment, and picked me to take me to the appointment as well as bring me home. It seems to be a theme as well that the smallest event turns into a whole night deal....getting my nails done, for example, also ended up being a trip to the mall, a late dinner, and a few glasses of wine! Which also reminds me of a little story about services and products, but my work day is over for the time being and I'm off to the bookstore. Hopefully I will make another post sooner rather than later, but the days go by too quickly!
Hope all is well with everyone, and I will post my contact info soon if anyone wants to get a hold of me!!
For the sake of brevity and comprehension, I'll focus on Bilkent for the time being. The University campus is incredibly different than any college campus I've been on in the States. Despite the fact that I come from the largest college/campus of all my fellow CSI's (Communication Skills Instructors), I'm generally lost and confused. I have some pictures of the campus posted to my flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/christa_lynn) but they don't really convey the layout too well. It's an interesting campus because it is more or less divided into three parallel sections with giant ravines separating the different areas - main campus, middle campus, and east campus. I live on middle, take classes on main, and teach on east so getting around is a bit of a struggle, but since I like walking it's not too bad. Thursday I will start taking Italian and Spanish classes, and Turkish lessons will start next week. I teach for the BUSEL program (Bilkent University School of English Language) and am scheduled to work 14 hours a week starting Thursday (a dream compared to the cube life I was living this summer).
My flat is wonderful! I was expecting some crappy dorm room, aka closet, like freshmen year of undergrad, but it's a new, non-shared, full amenity space with a nice view of the city. The campus, and my lojman (lodging) itself is very isolated, about a 10 min bus ride outside of Ankara and equally interesting because it's an entirely gated community. One of the oddest things about the transition has been the omnipresence of security; it's everywhere all of the time! There are 24 hour security guards at our apartment, guards at all the university buildings, at the two entrances to the campus, the grocery store....literally, everywhere. We've already had an akward little incident entering campus on the bus one evening: in order to even come on to campus whether by bus, cab, whatever, you need to have identification as proof of either living and/or taking classes on campus. Naturally one night a few of us didn't have said ID with us. Before a bus can enter campus it has to stop at the gate and a guard boards to check for the ID. However, I've realized there is some privilege to being the clueless foreign American, as after an awkward 30 second exchange of blank stares the security guard, slightly annoyed, went along his way and let the bus continue with us on board. We've also been told to always carry our passports with us regardless of where we are or going as without it there is reason enough for the polis to arrest us....funny the things we all take for granted in the States.
The people have been fanastic as well, both the Turks and other English language teachers. There are 13 other CSI's besides myself from all over the states and they're mostly pretty chill and generally hilarious! The Turkish teacher's we've met, and the Turks in general, might possibly be the friendliest and most hospitable people I've met. One thing they've pointed out to me that I've never realized before is the way in which Americans always say things they never mean, but Turks mean everything they say. For example, we have the ridiculous habit of always making comments to one another, whether we like the other person or not, about getting together to do something or go out or whatever, but we never really mean it. One of the teachers specifically was really surprised by this when she visited the States and told me that Turks always mean it when they make plans and are very enthusiastic about picking dates, times, etc. when they make such comments....and experience has shown me just how true that is. Even if you mention the slightest thing, they will 1) bend over backward to help you and 2) immediately set a specific time and place and follow through with it! It's great!
Last week I had told one of the teachers I was looking for a good place to get a mani and pedi and she immediately took my cell number, set up a date within a week, called the salon to make an appointment, and picked me to take me to the appointment as well as bring me home. It seems to be a theme as well that the smallest event turns into a whole night deal....getting my nails done, for example, also ended up being a trip to the mall, a late dinner, and a few glasses of wine! Which also reminds me of a little story about services and products, but my work day is over for the time being and I'm off to the bookstore. Hopefully I will make another post sooner rather than later, but the days go by too quickly!
Hope all is well with everyone, and I will post my contact info soon if anyone wants to get a hold of me!!
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