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Published: September 1st 2008
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So far, it has been great. Unfortunately, my jet lag is a lot worse than I expected, so here it is, 3:40 am, and I have to be ready to go to my first day at the school in exactly five hours. But, I had 13 hours of sleep last night, so hopefully that will make up for tonight. Also, I found out that school doesn’t actually start until September 8th. So we have this week as kind of an orientation. Tomorrow is when we’ll go meet other teachers, then each get taken to our individual campuses and get shown around.
One of my apartment-mates just got here this morning, and she slept for a lot of the day, so up until about an hour ago, we were hanging out in my room being wide awake together.
Summary of my two apartment-mates: Kate (the one who arrived today) is from Connecticut, has a cat who she brought with her from the U.S. (to my happy surprise) and is around my age. Sharon is in her 50s, from Australia, and very friendly and bubbly. I’m happy with both of them. We each get our own bedroom - all of which
have extra beds (mine has 3 beds, plus a couch with a hideaway) so please visit. 😊 We’re on the 7th floor, so the view is amazing. At night, especially, is when I like to look out the window. That doesn’t really show up in pictures, though, so I can’t really show you how pretty it is.
As some of you know, I was actually kind of dreading my arrival because I was skeptical and had no idea what to expect. But so far, things are good. The lady who hired me met me at the airport on Saturday afternoon with another woman who drove us to our apartment building (the lady who hired me, Kristina, lives one floor below me), which is located across the bridge from the airport, on the Asian side of Istanbul. It’s in a nice neighborhood with lots of produce stands, supermarkets, and restaurants. The sad thing, though, are all the stray dogs and kitties.
Anyway, on Saturday night, after I had slept for a few hours, I met one of my housemates, Sharon, the lady from Australia. We talked for awhile and then went downstairs, met Kristina and one of our fellow teachers, Chantel, and walked to a restaurant. It turns out that the principal of the school campus I’m teaching at (each school campus has one English teacher) owns that restaurant. So, I got to meet her and really like her a lot. She seemed excited to meet “her English teacher” and was very kind, warm, and friendly. She is really glamorous, too - she was wearing a turquoise dress with long, dangly turquoise earrings, had her hair up, and had red lipstick. According to Kristina, she puts on lipstick before even making a phone call. Anyway, she is great. Since I don’t speak Turkish and she doesn’t speak very much English, we were only able to really talk through Kristina (who has lived here for 2 and a half years, and knows quite a lot of Turkish already), but I could tell that we will get along.
Then, today (well, technically yesterday) I went exploring a bit, found a supermarket and bought some groceries and found my way back to the apartment with no trouble, so I felt very accomplished. 😊 Then I met Kate, the other person I’m sharing this apartment with. She had arrived in the morning while I was still asleep, and then when I woke up she was asleep, so we didn’t meet until kind of late in the afternoon, and I got to meet her cat as well. Her cat has warmed up to me quite a bit, and even cuddled with me for awhile earlier tonight while I was attempting to make myself go to sleep. It’s great having a kitty around.
For dinner, my housemates and Chantel went to an inexpensive restaurant and had some good conversation and food. We had some small victories along the way, such as finding a store with a shower curtain (our apartment is well-furnished but there are, as expected a few basic things we need to get still) and a towel for Kate. It is funny how, in a completely new environment, little things become this big undertaking. We’ll get to know the area pretty soon, though, I’m sure. The thing I feel bad about is knowing no Turkish; we’re in an area of the city where the people speak little to no English, so communication is difficult. I’m picking up basic words from signs and things in grocery stores and on menus, so hopefully doing simple things won’t be confusing after awhile.
Alright, that’s enough for now. The internet might go out at any minute, so I should post this while I can.
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Aunt Dianne
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Hi from Aunt Dianne
You seem to be settling in quickly and well. It was wonderful to see you in Colorado. Your grandfather Bill would be so happy you are traveling so much and would be excited about your current adventure. I am, too. Keep us informed as to the next installment. Aunt Dianne