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!