Güle Güle Türkiye!

     On April 29, 2014, my time in Istanbul, Turkey came to an end. I boarded a plane that morning to return home to the U.S. I was originally suppose to stay in Turkey for longer, but due to political tensions in the country things changed. 40+ foreign English teachers, including me, were let go from their jobs at our respective schools. The Prime Minster of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is in opposition to Fethullah Gülen and his movement. Currently, Gülen lives in self-exile in the U.S. Still, he owns businesses in Turkey. He also owns multiple chains of private schools (3 separate chains I believe). After his party was re-elected in April, Erdoğan started sending his party to Gülen's schools to harass those schools. Subsequently, many foreign teachers lost their jobs.I, along with the other teachers who were let go, worked at those schools. And so, here I am back in the U.S.

     Still, I am glad that I had the opportunity to teach ESL in Istanbul for the 6 months I was there. Overall, I really enjoyed living in the country. Why?

Friends: I'll miss the friends I made in Turkey a lot. In my circle of friends, we had people from different backgrounds with different experiences. Still, we were able to relate to each other and found common ground. We had fun doing karaoke, playing basketball, poker games, and so on. The highlight of our activities was going to protests and getting teargassed. lol.

Students and Co-workers: Although some students drove me crazy, there are some that I really enjoyed teaching and had fun with. I'll have some good memories of them. I also had good working relationships with my co-workers. Due to teaching at a conservative Muslim school, the male teachers had a separate office from the female teachers. Therefore, I mostly just saw and interacted mostly with the male teachers. Only a few spoke English, and I spoke Turkish to the others. We had some good laughs talking about the job and our students. I'm glad I got to work with those guys.

The Food: I loved the food in Turkey! I loved eating the dürüm, börek, and delicious deserts. I also discovered that I like felafel and hummus (popular foods in Middle Eastern culture) during 3 weeks as a vegetarian. Lastly, I can't forget to mention how tea is a staple in Turkish meals. The most common tea is regular hot brown tea (served with 2 sugar cubes), but you could find kiwi, banana, cherry, and other fruity flavors of tea too.

 

Tavuk Döner

 

Börek

Lamacun

Pastırmalı Humus

Sütlaç

Regular, Kiwi, and Banana Teas

Felafel Wrap (with fries, veggies, olive bread, and corn bread)

     As I've continued to see new countries and be exposed to new people and cultures, I've felt that my understanding of people from different backgrounds has grown deeper. In a way, I feel like my eyes have been widened and subsequently my vision has changed. I will enjoy my time at home, and look forward to my next adventure!

Berkin Elvan: Taksim Protest

     Yesterday, March 11, 2013 at 7:00 A.M., a young boy named Berkin Elvan died after being in a coma for 268 days. Here is an excerpt from an article about Berkin:

"The young teenager, the eighth person to be killed in the Gezi Park protests, went into a coma after sustaining a head injury from a gas canister as he went to buy bread during a police crackdown in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood last June. Elvan has since become one of the prime symbols violence faced by protesters throughout the nationwide Gezi demonstrations.

He had only turned 15 in January while still in a coma. A ceremony will be held at a cemevi in Okmeydanı before the burial in Feriköy cemetery on March 12."

     Currently, I live in the Taksim neighborhood of Istanbul, one of the main areas of ongoing protests. Last night after having dinner and playing backgammon, two friends came with me to Taksim when they heard a protest for Berkin was going to happen. We walked up from the metro onto Takism square to see police gathered about. As we walked down Istikal Caddesi, we began to see protestors gathering. We backed away as protesters were pushed back into square. Protestors stood on one side with the police on the other. After being provoked by the protestors (rolling garbage dumpsters, shouting, throwing food, and so forth), the police chased the protestors into side streets. While they did this, my friends and I could hear the rubber bullets being shot by the police at the protestors.
     Later on we made for my apartment, by trying to take Tarlabası Sokak. We could hear tear gas canisters going off in the distance, but underestimated how close we were and how much time was needed for the gas to dissipate. While on the phone with a friend asking about the protest in Okmeydanı, my friends and I walked straight into tear gas accidentally (no visible signs on the ground or in front of us). The burn that I felt in my eyes, nose, and throat was really intense. The gas truly lived up to it's name and reputation (especially with the police here using different mixtures of tear gas). Unfortunately, that was only the first time I'd run into the gas last night, and because of the police blocking areas I was unable to go home. My friends and I had some chats with people along the way, sharing our feelings over Berkin, the protests, and what is happening to this country politically. I can only hope that things will get better for the country that I currently call home. Below, I will post an article about Berkin and a website with pictures of the protests.

15-year-old Gezi victim Berkin Elvan dies after 269 days in coma

40 Tragic Pictures From Turkey As Clashes Erupt After Death Of 15-Year-Old Berkin Elvan

English Conversations (Grades 5 and 6)!!

     For the last week or so, I've been working on a small project with the students. I basically wanted to film them doing a short English Conversation about different topics in different parts of the school. For each of my 5th and 6th grade classes, I have conversation time. During this time, I take 4 students out of one of their other classes (which they love), and have them just talk with me for a while (without the English book, which they also love). I love this time with them, because I get to have more one on one conversations and it's more relaxed. It is during this time, that I made the videos. I created the framework for the conversations and provided lines (not Yusuf's though! : D ), but the students substituted in their own words. Unfortunately, I could not access certain rooms of the school to make videos (like the music room, movie room, or auditorium). Still, making the videos was a lot of fun. Some of the students were shy on camera (although not in class), but still performed well I thought. The students really enjoyed making the videos, and there were MANY outtakes. Hopefully, they are more motivated to learn, for the purpose of making more videos in the future. Below, I have a compilation video of some of the conversations between my 5th and 6th grade students. Enjoy!