Keeps Me Young

Today I took a picture of my little heroes. These are some of the kids I teach everyday at work. I work at a preschool as an English teacher. I have a program, which I follow, but I add my own flavor to the lessons. For example, the other day the children thought they were reciting random numbers as I held them up on flashcards, but really they were reciting pi. Another example is that sometimes after I've read a story, I read it again but much faster, skipping over the less important sections. Then I read it a third time, spending about a second on each page. They all laugh and we move onto something else.

What I like most about my job is the group of other teachers who work there. Many of them teach me Turkish (for lack of knowing much English) and they are all super nice. We gossip, we try to come up with creative ways of involving the children in new activities, and we are all in the same boat each day. Of course I also like the children. One of my favorites is the kid in the foreground of the picture. His name is Oktay, and he's really smart.

The most challenging things about work are: it can be very tiring, it's not easy to act enthusiastic for the times when you are not feeling that way, and it's important to give extra attention to the children who don't speak up or don't learn as quickly.

So now you know my work. I'll be teaching at this school until February, so I'll have a chance to save a little cash and plan my future beyond. On that note, I'm looking into jobs more in line with my profession and graduate school for next fall. Though it may seem like this job I have now does little for me in the long run, it does a lot more than I expected. For instance, it really challenges me in areas which I'm not well-rehearsed. Now I am more comfortable with children, human interaction, teaching, creativity and expression, but at the same time I really miss the heavy application of the left side of my brain with engineering. I can say that my life is full and that I won't be surprised if one day I learn that the true value of these experiences is much greater than I had originally considered.

I never regret cooking dinner

Today I didn't get out much, which is in stark contrast to how the last couple weekends went. In fact, the last couple weekends were probably the greatest I can remember. Anyway, when the evening came, I went out to the market during rush hour to buy some dinner. I bought 2 fresh palamut fish, some pears (for tomorrow), some zucchini, tomatoes, and a loaf of bread.

The bakery was really busy since everyone was out buying food for dinner and so they were churning out piping hot loaves by the minute. I asked for a hot loaf. The guy walked past the large cooling rack holding dozens of fresh loaves and went into the back to take one directly from the oven. While I waited, a Belgian couple was struggling to communicate with the people at the bakery. I am always shocked to see tourists on the Asian side of İstanbul (except for in the vicinity of Kız Külesi of course). Anyway after witnessing the shear inadequacy of French and English on the ears of the kind people working in the bakery and their Turkish's inability to penetrate the understanding of the Belgians, I stepped in briefly to translate. The Belgians thanked me and I felt important. Even warmer than that feeling was my loaf of bread which was almost too hot to grip even when inside its paper bag. I love fresh bread.

I walked quickly home and started the fish, veggies and some rice. I ate enough for two people. Over the evening hours, I finished off the entire loaf of bread. I regret nothing.

I guess it's ironic that I write about what I cooked for dinner rather than my new job which started a couple weeks ago, or the girl with whom I'm in love. I mean there's this wondrous lady who conjures up powerful feelings within me so effortlessly it's as if by accident. In the instant of a moment where I think about her, she speaks a word, or even in the pause between her words, she reduces (enhances?) me to a glorious, pathetic, insurmountable heap of joy and longing. She's like sleep to a tired person... Occupies all your thoughts, weakens you, carries you into a dream, makes you feel alive and gives you the energy to carry on the next day. That's only in the general sense. For me, she is also the dream. But I digress...

This is not a food blog, and I am not a cook. This is not a diary, so I won't go on about my personal things, and this is not a football blog so I won't delve into Manchester City beating the unbeatable Chelsea today. However I will say that dinner, talking on the phone with my love, and the football match today were all wonderful experiences. For being such a quiet day, it was a glorious day.

#4 - Taksim Maksim

Burgazada

Sonia's nickname, over a shop in Kadıköy not far from my apartment.

We were so hungry when we left the apartment we could not resist buying some dereotu poğaça, that heavenly dill and white cheese filled pastry, and gobbling them down while we waited for a dolmuş. We went to Bostancı, had Adana kebab, and climbed on a boat headed to Burgaz island.

The island has its charms: small houses, flowers everywhere, free wandering horses, a steady breeze, fields of various shrubs and small trees, etc. A couple of stray dogs decided to follow us all around the island.

They even waited for us while we took pictures.

It was about that time that I noticed a bright sundog in the sky. As we climbed higher, we got a better view and were treated to a wondrous and rare atmospheric effect.

Not only was there a sundog on the other side, there was even a well-pronounced rainbow above the Sun! It's not hard to see that it is all part of an entire halo.

From high above, we could see a beach.

So we hiked down to it, through a very narrow path in the woods. The Sun was setting when we got to the beach.

These last few days with Sonia have been unforgettable. The islands have really impressed me and I have loved spending time with Sonia in such a peaceful place. We talked and joked about many things and experienced many other beautiful moments. The sundog, the lone horse running up the street, the Sun setting while we swam, and the dogs following us everywhere were all moments out of a movie. The movie is ours and we've really enjoyed the show so far.

I hope you enjoy these tidbits and photos. Many more to come.