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Welcome back my weary cyber travelers. To quote Mark Twain, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” I’m still very much alive and doing quite well. It has, however, been an incredibly busy six months since my last post, which has kept me from updating you all as I would have liked.
Since it’s been way too long between posts, I plan to make up for lost time with a series of short, but compact posts that contain enough high-quality information to get you all caught up on the latest adventures that I call my life.
This post is the short but sweet story of how my favorite English class this year managed to spring a surprise and heartfelt birthday party on me recently.
Class Chemistry: Ah yes, class chemistry – not to be confused with chemistry class!
It’s amazing to me how vastly different the chemistry can be from one class to another. All things being equal, the only part of the equation that varies is the dynamic energy (or lack thereof) of the students. I always bring the same positive energy to each class; I
P2-GP3_Class_Birthday_Party-02
Zafer pointing out the beautiful birthday cake present the exact same material in the exact same way; however, there exists a definite and noticeable energy difference between each class.
Of the six classes that I had the privilege of teaching this year, there was one in particular that really stood out in terms of overall chemistry because we had an eclectic connection that just “clicked” throughout the entire year. This distinct honor belongs exclusively to my second year physical therapy group. This in no way detracts from the wonderful connection that I had with my doctors, nurses, dentists, or nutrition and dietetic students; however, the connection that I shared with my physical therapy group was indeed special. This connection existed on both an individual student level and on an entire class level and was ever present from start to finish this year.
Almost halfway through the school year, I walked into one of our classes one day and was shocked to find them all standing up yelling, “Surprise!” as I entered the classroom. They had all chipped in to buy me some special baklava from Gaziantep, which is a region of Turkey best known for its supreme cuisine. On my desk
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My birthday cake is a picture of me eating baklava was a gift wrapped box of special baklava, plates, plastic ware, napkins and a thank you card. We all shared this wonderful gift, but they insisted that I take the first bite of baklava – as I did they snapped a picture of me doing so. This picture became the top of my surprise birthday cake some months later.
A Birthday Ambush It was a thing of beauty, this surprise birthday party, because upon further inspection it was very obvious that this class had truly put some serious thought into the entire task. It was planned and executed with military precision, thanks in part to the help of at least one fellow English teacher (thanks Zafer!).
The thoughtful birthday gift that my class chose for me was a successful combination of the two things they know I dearly love: photography and coffee/tea. All of my classes know about my love of photography because I purposefully incorporate it into my lessons every unit. They also know about my love of coffee and tea because I am ALWAYS carrying a coffee mug full of either coffee or Turkish tea – case in point – look
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My clever students found the perfect gift for me at the pictures in this post as I enter the classroom – as well as the image on my birthday cake from several months ago!
My clever physical therapy students found the perfect gift for me because it includes both of these passions in one thoughtful gift: a Canon lens coffee mug! Isn't that clever? They found a distributer in Istanbul who sells these and they ordered one for me in time for my birthday party. Wow, I was really blown away when I opened my gift and saw this amazing little gem. The surprised look on my face was due to the fact that I initially thought they had bought an actual Canon lens for me! Then I started laughing when I realized what it actually was.
A Touching Season Finale During our celebration various English teachers made their way into the classroom to get a piece of cake and wish me happy birthday. In one of the pictures you can see Franco telling the students a little joke about me, and Zafer pointing out the creative birthday cake. At one point Sami, our language director, walked in to join the celebration
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This package is too pretty to open and he had a brief conversation with the students (in Turkish) about how the English program went this year. He asked them what the key difference was this year that helped them to learn English and their answer was a resounding and unanimous, “Eric!” When he translated this to me I was extremely moved and I expressed my feelings of gratitude toward the class. I truly feel that it was both an honor and a privilege to have taught them this year and I look forward to seeing them again next year.
The icing on the cake (well figuratively anyway) was when one of the students read a poem that the class had written for me. They expressed their affection for me and even shared an inside joke. Basically this summarized the quality class time that we shared this year and marked the end of the 2012/2013 school year. I was deeply touched and saddened by their gesture and expressed my hopes of our spending the next academic year together. Moments like this are a genuine reward in themselves because you know they come from the heart!
Until Next
Time
Thanks again for visiting and stay tuned for my next quick update post coming soon.
Thanks for reading,
Eric, the Turkish Traveler.
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Roger
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That's what teaching's all about!
Eric: Thanks for the update. Glad things have 'perked' for you this past year. Looks like you've found your Trukish groove. Can't wait for the next episode. I'll look for Turkish 'fair food' here this year!