Post number one - Hello!

Hi all,

I've been living in Turkey for the last two years and I realized that I've never actually shared any of my life with you. I'm not an e-mailer- I tried that in the beginning and after two, maybe three, attempts at e-mailing you my life story I gave up. Hence, this blog. I will share with you any interesting adventures, stories and insights from my life and discuss my greatest passion: reading!

Just to catch you up: I've been in Ankara, Turkey teaching English for a university preparatory school that we'll just call "A" for privacy purposes. "A" is an interesting and challenging place to work. In the words of one of my colleagues, the students are a bunch of little "punks", and the administration of the school is... no comment...

I live in a fish bowl aka staff housing. You may ask: "why a fish bowl?" and I shall explain. The fish bowl is a place where everyone knows everyone else's business, where you can hear the other people through the walls, where everyone is their own biggest gossip and where the negativity flows like a raging river. As a result of this, I have decided, in my third year at A, to steer clear. Nevertheless, I have made some good friends during my time here and have had lots of fun.

Life in Turkey has both its ups and downs. I'll start with the ups.

Benefit number one: Travel! "A" has great holidays and I get a week off every couple of months. Year number one saw me head to Egypt, Vienna and Prague and around Turkey: Cappadoccia, Mediterranean Coast, Istanbul and the Black Sea. Year number two sent me to Vienna (again: flights are cheap from Ankara), Budapest, Rome and to various parts of Turkey. Year number three has so far sent me to Frankfurt and Barcelona.


Benefit number two: Delivery services. You can get anything, and I mean ANYTHING, delivered to your door. Case in point: my boyfriend had a car wash service delivered to work.


Benefit number three: Turkish hospitality and food. The food is great although not super varied, and Turks are incredibly welcoming people.


Benefit number four: Turkish buses! Turkey is serviced by a large number of bus companies, ranging from fancy to sketchy. Busses are cheap, safe and comfortable and they will take you anywhere. In addition, they will provide you with cake, pop and a rather strange smelling cologne that they pour on your hands to refresh you. There are more benefits of course but these are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

So what about the lows of life here? Of course there is loneliness caused by missing my family, Christmases in a place where Christmas is not understood, near death experiences every time you enter a moving vehicle, and the fish bowl effect but there are a few more things that I want to mention.

Bummer number one: Turkish men. Yes, I am dating one and he's pretty cool but you really have to be careful about who you give your phone number to. An example: Friendly Turkish professional. Well educated - check, own car - check, lives with parents at the age of 33 - check, multiple phone calls every hour - check, multiple text messages when phone calls not returned - check, "I think I'm falling in love with you" on the second date - check. Example two: Friendly Turkish fitness instructor. 40 missed calls and 20 text messages withing two hours of meeting me - check, English proficiency to the level of "You me darling?"-check, want to commit suicide after spending five minutes with him - check.


Bummer number two: Turkish food. Ok, I know I said it was one of the benefits, but seriously, a little variety would be nice. How about some Indian? Vietnamese? A decent burger?


Bummer number three: Shopping. Ever gone shopping and been followed around by someone acting as a shadow jabbering to you in Turkish and pouncing on everything you touch in order to fold it back up and promptly remove your germs? This is common not only in clothing stores, but also in the makeup section of the grocery store. I rest my case.

Bummer four: my students. I won't elaborate further. Spies everywhere!

This is my last year in Turkey (for now) and I feel both excited and sad when i think about leaving. I've had many great experiences, I've grown intellectually, professionally and personally (and probably physically) and I've fallen in love with a really fantastic Turkish man (who I hope and pray will join me in Canada :) )

What's next for me? I've been accepted to Royal Roads University's Master of Professional Communication program. It starts next October. For now I will continue to live in Turkey, develop my relationship with Yadi, and hopefully do some more travelling.

That's all for now.