Friday, June 21, 2013

Mt. Nemrut, PB&J's, heat is gettin' real... and more!

     Fact: so it appears that I am better at sticking with weekly posts.  Hey, guess what?  I'm officially over half way done here in Turkey!  Crazy, huh?  I only have 5 weeks in Turkey and I hit the half-way mark this past Wednesday.  We only have 17 days left in Adiyaman.  
     I spent a lot of time this week reflecting on ...really, just everything.  It's funny how being in a place so different will make you do that.  Studying abroad in Germany last summer came so easily for me.  Many things were different but I felt like I made a very natural transition into German culture and life.  My transition into Turkish culture and life has been quite different and a bit tougher.  It actually made me wonder if I would really be okay going off to Russia for 3 months in the Fall.  These experiences are teaching me so much about myself and just... life.  It sounds so cliche, but it's so true.  
     I always wanted to be so worldy and travel a ton, but the more I travel, the more I just want to settle down somewhere and put some of the things I've learned abroad to use.  It's kind of weird traveling for such extended periods of time when you are in college.  Because let's be real, the closest thing I have to being my own home is my college dorm/apartment that I get kicked out of at the end of each school year.  For the past two years, once school has ended, I've been lucky to travel, study (in), and see other places.  I mean, what else would I be doing anyway?   
     I also slightly panicked this week because the full weight of me being a senior in college hit me.  It's really not "that long" before I'll need to know what I'm doing with myself post-grad.  So many options.  It's just overwhelming.  I have far too many interests, which only complicates things.  I think I would honestly be happy if someone just told me what to do.  You can make the best of any situation, right??
     I keep telling myself that I have all of August (once I'm home from Turkey/Germany) to get my life in order before I hop on a plane to Russia.  I'm just going to suppress the stress until then.  New life quote: suppress the stress. 
     Here is the link to pics of Mt. Nemrut sunrise. Here are some things that happened in the last week:

Friday (06/21)
     Okay, and finally we make it to today!  This morning I had sausage, sort of.  It was more like spam in the shape of sausage.  It was aight, but not the same! I also had what I can only describe as a vanilla pudding flavored Nutella.  I liked it, but it was different!
     I don't remember mentioning this, but my class is planning a parade/picnic/party for the 4th of July for the entire school!  This is my community project for LE.  Today we made a ton of posters and decorations and everything seems to be running smoothly.  There's so many details that just really need to fit together for this to work and there's really no telling what will happen until the day of!  For instance, we assigned each class to bring something different so that not one class or teacher is responsible for so much stuff.  I just hope that like the 3rd graders will be into it and bring their items!  Teaser for July 4th festivities:
Ohmygosh the best thing ever is happening tonight.  We are sleeping on the terrace!  Earlier in a cafe Nisa said she didn't want to come home because her mom was going to make us clean the terrace since I requested last night to sleep out here tonight.  We came home, rested, scrubbed the terrace and now it's beautiful!  We ate dinner out there and have our beds set up.. it's SO nice.  Also, we had a little fireworks show from a wedding nearby.  Then I played cards against Nisa--I won, obviously.  I played her dad in Backgammon .. he's uhh, pretty good.  Final score is not important.  And as soon as I'm finished with this massive post we will be sleeping there!!
    Side-note: I sent of 11 post cards today!  Here is the breakdown: 1 to DC, 1 to Canada, 3 to Alabama, 2 to Virginia, 1 to Florida, 1 to Texas and 2 to NY!  So postcards are (fingers crossed) coming y'all's way soon! 

     
     Also, it's getting pretty dang hot here.  It's just a crazy dry heat.  I'm used to boiling hot in Alabama with all the humidity.. and even in DC too.  This weekend should be above 40 degrees Celsius (about 100-110 degrees Farenheit).
     Tomorrow I'm heading to Urfa for the weekend, again!  Except this time I will be with the other teachers instead of my host family.  We'll see what sorts of things we get into!  

Thursday (06/20)
     Let it be known that on this day a student told me how (in front of the entire class, mind you) how much he enjoys my class.  It was a good day.  It's funny though because I walked into class with absolutely no lesson plan.  I figured I'd wing it and see what happened.  Guess it turned out well!  We have been talking about food this week and I had asked them the day before to bring in their favorite Turkish recipe and we would translate them into English together.  Well, they all brought in Turkish recipes in English.  Totally taken from the internet I'm sure.  Whatever.  Anyway, so I made them tell a partner how to make their recipe and then I asked them to make a recipe card on construction paper.  It had to include the title of the dish, the ingredients, instructions and a picture (that they drew).  While they did that I tallied up how many had appetizers, main dishes, desserts, etc., I split them up and assigned page numbers.  Then I had them read their recipe cards one by one to the class while I made a table of contents page.  And I had two girls make a cover page while they listened.  By the time I had the last recipe card, we had used up 2 hours AND I was able to clip it all together. Viola!  I asked them if I could keep it and they loved it!  And then I sheepishly admitted that it was a selfish activity because I wanted the class cookbook all along.  Haha.  Then one student said how creative I am and how fun the activities I assign are.  HUGE sigh of relief, guys.  Because you have to keep in mind that their participation is completely voluntary.  They don't pay to come and they don't have to be there.  It's just a free community class sort of thing.  And yet they keep coming back :).
     I can't emphasize how lucky I am to have my class, they are all so great.  Some of the other classes are really disrespectful and literally tell their teachers how bored they are. Some of them refuse to participate at all and are really just there to cause a ruckus and be with friends.  My students all participate, are competitive in games, seem to enjoy class, are polite, sometimes disruptive (until I point to the class rules that they created themselves on the very first day)... all in all though, no complaints from me :).

Wednesday (06/19)
**HALF-WAY MARK (wahhht! where's the time gone?)**

Tuesday (06/18) 
     This was a pretty cool day because all of the teachers went to the local grocery store together to buy ingredients for PB&J's!!!  Oh yeah, the best part was that we went by ourselves, without any of our Turkish friends!!  It was so liberating.  And strange.  In case you haven't noticed, we are really dependent on our host siblings.  It's not even necessarily by choice, although they are extremely helpful and we love them!  Because of all the crazy riots and such in Turkey, LE has really buckled down and we aren't allowed to be by ourselves.  Anyway, it was a very successful trip.  We made it back to the school, found an empty class and locked ourselves inside to enjoy our American food.  PB&J's, Oreo's and Diet Coke. 
     Afterward, we had planned to have all the high schoolers watch Mean Girls in the school's auditorium.  The principal wanted to skim through the movie before we played it andddd he was all, "No."  So, that was awk.  He basically said that by law we couldn't play it in school because it goes against their culture, but he suggested for us to watch it at someone's house.  Also, this is an elementary school that we are using, sooo it all makes sense.  Anyway, I thought he was very nice about it, just bein' real.  The students were reallyyyy disappointed though because they had hung around until after lunch to see the movie.  We tried to get them pumped to watch the other movie we had with us--Dragonball.  They weren't thrilled and they ditched us.  

Monday (06/17)
     THIS Monday..oh, this Monday gets good.  So this was the first day that we started teaching in the mornings instead of in the evenings.  We now have to be at the school 9:00 AM- 1:00 PM (instead of 5:30 PM- 8:30 PM).  You may have noticed, but this also means that another hour was added.  Just as I thought I was getting into a groove and had some sort of schedule, we swap the time! 
     Well, anyway, my students were acting so cray on this day.  I think they were mostly getting restless because they were used to only 90 minutes of class instead of 2 hours.  So the last half hour, I decided to take them outside to play Uno since they were just really unmanageable that day.  A few minutes later an older lady, fully covered, comes up and starts talking to my students.  I asked them what she was saying and they said, "Oh, nothing."  I asked them again and, again, their response was, "Oh, nothing."  The lady really wasn't going anywhere so I said, "No, really, what is she saying?"  Something along the lines of THIS: "What are you all doing here?  This is so stupid and so pointless.  You aren't learning any English playing this game, the only thing that is happening is that the girl is learning some Turkish.  Are you all stupid?...etc.."  I was SO mad.  I butted in and said, "teşekkürler (thank you)," while waving her away from my students.  She gave me the worst look and disappeared.  It didn't really help that my students were dying of laughter because they thought what I did was so hilarious.  I just felt to protective over them!  It's funny how they were trying to also protect me in a way by being reluctant to translate.
     Later I found out that this same woman (after having been waved away by me) went to visit Jake and Molly's classes too.  As in, she went inside the school and walked around to visit the other high school classes.  She didn't do anything in Jake's class but stare and actually walk around the classroom.. uninvited.  In Molly's class she was cursing at the kids and asking if they were stupid and saying, "This is such simple stuff, why don't you know this?  Are you all stupid??"  She also hit one of her students on the head.  
     I asked my students if that was normal for some stranger to just approach you and criticize what you're doing.  They didn't seem phased by it a bit and said that it was normal.  I explained that in America it was very rude.  Come to find out, this woman is the mother of one of our 3rd graders!  I know, so weird.

Sunday (06/16)
     Picnic.  We went to the most amazing picnic I have ever been to on this day.  Who knew Turks like parks so much?  It was kind of on a huge hill/small mountain, so the further we drove up to meet the other teachers, students and host families, the more we saw how many people were actually in this park.  There were multiple playgrounds, great views, tons of picnic tables and just space in general.  It was so great to just chill out and play card games (is this the part when I say that I won every card game that was played that day? I'm pretty good or whatever).  We also played ultimate frisbee and watched our families transform nothingness into an amazing meal.
     When I think of an American picnic, I think of sandwiches that are kinda hot from the sun, fruit, potato chips, potato salad (if you're lucky), can drinks getting warmer by the second and napkins blowing everywhere in the wind.  This Turkish picnic cannot even be compared to what we call a "picnic" in the States.  There were tiny grills absolutely everywhere, sizzling and grilling kebabs, vegetables and other stuff.  This was like a super fancy grill-out/barbecue.  There was also salad (chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and onion with parsley and olive oil), fruit/watermelon galore, bread.. BREAD (so much), normal cake, pound cake, and so much more.
     Then host-mama and baba (dad in Turkish) picked Nisa and I up.  They took me to one of the coolest places I've been.  Some really old caves in Adiyaman.  From 1st century BC.  It seems like everything here is that old!  Nisa and I rummaged around, dug through some tombs, went into creepy caves and climbed all the way to the very top.  Good times..

Saturday (06/15)
     Sunrise at Nemrut.  We got up at 1:15 AM in order to meet the rest of our group at 2:00 AM to head to Mt. Nemrut!  My host family didn't think I had enough clothes on, because apparently it's supa cold way up there (even in Summer), so host-mama packed me an enormous baby-pink crocheted scarf and one of her winter coats.  Everyone loaded up into like 4 buses and we were off!  I was in an awkward position in the van with my knees crammed into the person's chair in front of me, so I didn't sleep much.  Anyway, maybe an hour and a half later we made it to as far as the buses could take us.  
     Everyone stumbled off the buses dazed and confused and throwing on layers of clothes.  We started walking up a pretty steep path that was made up of tiny rocks.  I was stripping off the layers of clothes all the way.  It's funny though because the Turks were putting more layers on.  They just aren't used to the cool weather.  My shoes had a hard time gripping anything so it was more like one step forward, two feet slides back.  Once we made it to the stairs part I felt safer but they were SO steep too.  My thighs got worked out real good going up.  Not to mention I could actually taste blood in my mouth because of the elevation (7,001 ft.).  I think my lungs were bleeding.  Is that a thing?  
     We made it up there about 15 minutes before sunrise and it literally took my breath away.  It was so so incredible.  There were beheaded god statues everywhere!  The pictures you can see on google images are pretty neat, but to be there!  Wow.  So cool.  I got tons of pics, so check 'em out on Facebook!  A whole album devoted to Mt. Nemrut.  Here is a teaser:

     Once we left and were driving down the mountain, holy guacamole.. I could barely keep my eyes open it was so scary.  The roads were so narrow that whenever our bus driver would turn a corner he'd have to back up a little, pull forward a little, back up, pull forward.. until he could make the full turn without driving off the side.  Finally, he pulled over and made everyone but maybe 4 people get off.  He said we overloaded the bus.  Nothing made any sense and it never does.  We did as we were told even though the capacity was like 13 and there were only 11.  So we went to join other buses that were already at capacity before we jumped on board.  I dunno, nothing ever makes sense here.  
     This is about the point that we found out that we would be going by 3 other places on the way back to Adiyaman.  We were already SO tired.  We went to some overlook place where you could see a super old castle and some caves.  Then we saw a really old bridge called Gender Bridge and then another place with similar old statues.  
     Anyway, it was a really cool, but super exhausting day.  We were home by 11:00 AM and slept for soo long.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Hospitals, Weddings and Urfa!

     Dear all, I'M SORRY that I have been so off the radar lately!  I was sick for a good 5 days and have been playing catch up.   Many of the days from the past week and half sort of run together, so this post may be a little random and sporadic.  Sorry!  As always, the newest days are first and here is the link to my pics on Facebook.  Also, I will post about the last couple days shortly. Preview: Hiking to Mt. Nemrut to watch the sunrise with beheaded gods! 

Wednesday (06/12)
     Best thing that happened on this day: I was passed a 5 month old baby in a car moving through the city at speeds of 40-60 mph.  No one had seat belts on.  It felt so... dangerous!  My friend's host family was driving me home from dinner.  It was cool to visit another home and see how they do things.  Here, they eat dinner on the floor, so that was a new experience.  They also live in a farm, so there are tons of goats and chickens.  

Monday (06/10)

     Monday and Tuesday: nothing too special happened, but I did finally take some pics of the school!  And, also, some of the kids.  To the left is the front door of the school.

     I walked around and took pictures of some of the kids playing, but this picture is my favorite!!  This boy on the right posed for me by a graffiti wall.  So, I was basically just taking senior portraits, haha. 

     Also, I went to another hospital Monday morning because I still wasn't any better.  I stopped taking the meds because they were making me so nauseous.  Another IV later and then I started taking some fiber pills that my mom had given me.  I thought this might be the best thing to settle my stomach.  I haven't had any problems since, so that's pretty cool. 

Sunday (06/09)
     I spent all day Saturday at home resting, so there isn't much to report there.  I did see a doctor neighbor-friend of my family's since I wasn't feeling any better.  He prescribed me something else.  So, at this point, I was taking like 3 medications.  
     On Sunday my family decided to take me to Urfa!!  Some of you already know this, but I was actually supposed to teach in Urfa instead of Adiyaman--this was before LE decided to place all the volunteers in the same city to be together.  So, I was really really pumped to visit here.  Urfa is the birthplace of Abraham and it was really awesome.  We visited "Fish Lake" and saw some other touristy stuff.  These are pictures of Fish Lake and SO many fish that you could pay to throw pellets at:


       
   









     We also visited a dam that my host father used to work at.  It controls the Tigris and the Euphrates.  I've also been told that Syria and Iran have to be nice to Turkey or else they have the power to shut off their water supply.  So, here it is:


Friday (06/07)

     Turkish wedding. Do want. So we were sort of invited to a wedding...through the grapevine.  When we showed up, I looked over at the bride's table.  I have never in my life seen such an unhappy bride.   I'm really just hoping that she preferred to hide her emotions or something, but she was actually sort of frowning.  Anyway, we started dancing and it was SO fun!  They dance in circles by linking pinkies.  After a bit, an old lady came up and grabbed my shoulder, spun me around and made me dance with her.  I thought it was hilarious.  She also followed me around the entire night snapping pics of me on her fancy camera phone.  Then as she was leaving, she ran up and got a pic with me.  I'm not entirely sure why she was so obsessed with me but it was flattering I guess.  Here is a pic of the bride with a huge cake: (I hate to admit this, but the cake isn't real)

     Also, my older brother sent me message in celebration of national doughnut day--how cruel!  Doughnuts don't exist here.  Plus, I was sick to my stomach.  Just bad all the way around.

Thursday (06/06)
     This was the second day that I was sick so I let them take me to the hospital.  I was SO glad that our program coordinator was with me!!  Adele is the greatest.  And she speaks Turkish, so she was able to translate!  I had woken up with a fever of 101.9 and felt nauseous, weak and just all around horrible.  At the hospital they drew blood to run tests and gave me an IV for rehydration.  After the IV was done we left and rejoined the rest of the group here at this cool place:

    This is a cafe sort of place all the way above Adiyaman.  The view was fabulous and we had a lot of fun learning to dance like the Turks do.  
     Also, free-est day ever.  Ever.  First of all, Serdar covered my medical expenses at the hospital.  I tried so hard to pay and he wouldn't let me!  He even picked up the medication for me that the doctor had prescribed.  After we made it to the school to teach that day Adele and I walked to a local pharmacy to pick up some aspirin because I still had a headache.  When I tried to pay they said no and to take it.  What??  It was so so nice of them!!  While we were walking back to the school we decided to stop by this all-natural, organic hippy sort of place (well, hippy to Americans, but totally normal here).  Adele wanted some weird syrup stuff and I wanted a jar of rose jam (made from roses, duh).  The man in there refused to let us pay too!  I think I ended up spending a total of 1 Turkish Lira on this day, which is like 50 cents.  Insane!

Wednesday (06/05)
     Sick, so sick.  The janitor from the school chilled with me while Adele taught my class for me.  He was so hilarious!  First off, he offered me pumpkin seeds when he saw me sweating off a fever.  I didn't know what to do with them but I definitely didn't want to eat them right then.  So, I waited until he walked away and I shoved them in a random pocket in my backpack.  He didn't know a lick of English but he kept trying to make me take tic tacs because he thought they were my headache medicine, hahaha!  Then he took me to the bathroom to splash water on my face.  I had a really bad headache and was super hot and everything I was eating was going right through me. Sorry y'all, this post is gettin' real.  Several people kept asking if they could take me to the hospital but I didn't understand.  In America, hospitals = surgery, cancer, or something really serious, so I didn't think it was necessary.  I found out later that they just casually show up in the ER for absolutely anything. 

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

My Class :)

Hi all! Here is the long awaited post about my class in Turkey! (**Again, in order of most recent day first!) Click here for more pictures!

Tuesday (06/04)
     Tuesday was not too much different than the day before. I met up with the other volunteers about noon and we hung out around the city until our classes began. We went shopping and I got some cool Turkish pants! Just wait til you see them, haha. One of them I love and the other I'm not too crazy about but all the cool people wear them here so I had to get some and see what all the hype was about! Ha. I told my students that I went shopping and that I would surprise them on Wednesday with my new style. They are pretty excited about it. Also, here are two of my students in my classroom:


     There were only 11 students this day. Several were absent and 2 new ones joined. I feel like I have a better mix now so I hope it stays like it was on this day because class went a lot smoother than the day before. Then again, I used the board a lot more and wrote things out. I think that helped them a ton because they have a hard time understanding me speaking sometimes. 
     Oh my goodness! My skirt ripped before class! I was trying to open windows before class and I was stepping up on desks and I guess I stretched too far at one point and the slit in my skirt was all the sudden 4 inches longer. It was fine though. I think. 
     My host dad picked up Nisa and I and some of the other neighbor kids from school. I always really impressed with how good his English is! He hasn't studied it that much but I can communicate with him just fine. 
     I can't really think of much else right now but this'll do :)

Monday (06/03)
     Monday morning I got to eat breakfast with my host mom alone! It was funny because she doesn't speak any English besides key phrases and things like hello, good morning, welcome, and breakfast. We laughed a ton and breakfast was SO good! A typical Turkish breakfast would be: cucumber, tomato, sauteed peppers, eggs, (pita) bread with jams and Nutella, cheese, and tea, of course! I will take a picture soon because it is so yummy and fresh! I also got to meet some of the neighbors this morning. They came over and had Turkish coffee. None of them but one spoke English but I sometimes could figure out what they were talking about. At one point they asked me if I missed my family and I said not so much, but then I said that all of them were my family. Yeah, I got major brownie points for that one! My host mom was beaming and blew me a bunch of kisses, haha. 
     Later Serdar (the in-country coordinator for LE) came and picked me up to go meet the other volunteers. We visited Adiyaman's museum and a place called "the Castle." It was basically a really high spot to view the city--so pretty. Then we went to an elementary school (not our school) to visit one of the host parent's 2nd grade class. They asked us some questions about Americans and we showed them how to play Red Rover, since a lot of American school kids play this game. The kids showed us one of their games too. It was kind of like duck, duck, goose but they used a tissue to place on someone's head when they were chosen as "goose." Afterwards they asked to see our flag, so we drew it for them! We also sang the national anthem for them. In return, they did the same for us. It was adorable! Below is Alex drawing the flag.

    
     Then it was time for recess. I'm not entirely sure which kid started this, but all of a sudden every single child was bringing each of us a piece of paper and a pen and asking for our signatures. We were famous! Many of them would hand it to us while asking, "Facebook?" I always said yes, but then only put my first name... "whoops." After a while they began asking us to sign their arms! My friend Mehmet also studies Russian so we started signing things in the cyrillic alphabet just for fun. None of them knew the difference, ha. Here is Molly getting swamped with kids asking for our autographs:

     
     Our classes started at 5:30 PM. This week the students are with us for 3 hours a day (1.5 hours of play time and 1.5 hours of class). Next week we will have them from 9:00 AM- 1:00PM (2 hours of recess and 2 hours of class). So I finally got to meet my class! My class roll has 16 students on it but only 12 came on this day. They are 15-17 years old. We basically just played a bunch of get to know you games on this day. We played the name game where you pick an adjective that describes you but that also begins with the same letter as your name. Ice breakers are actually the worst but so necessary. Everyone moaned and groaned but they were laughing by the end of it! One of the other games we played was the one where you write questions on a beach ball and pass it around and whichever question your right thumb lands on, you have to answer it. That was fun because it helped me get to know the students more, however, all of their favorite actors/actresses, singers, movies and such were Turkish people/movies I had never heard of! Another fun game we played was the one where you write famous people on sticky notes and put them on students' backs. Then they must ask their classmates yes or no questions until they figure out who their famous person is.
     We also made our class rules. I asked them what they thought the rules should be and we went from there. Also, I should mention how lucky I am to have students that can communicate on this level. Some of the other volunteers have 3rd grade classes that are very very limited as to what they actually understand. Anyway, the next day Adele was joking with the other volunteers about how one of my class rules was "No racism." That's what one of the students wanted! I thought it was odd since I'm the only one different than them, but that's cool--good for me I guess. 

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Merhaba!

I'm picking up a few Turkish words!  Merhaba is just hello.  Wow, it already feels like so long since I've been on American soil!  The past few days have been nothing short of an amazing experience.  I'm going to give a day by day overview but will bold key words in case you want to skim :) (**in order of most recent day first) For more pictures, click here

Sunday (06/02)
     This morning we left our hostel at 4:00 AM!  We were sharing our hostel room (also I should mention that there are 9 of us including Adele) with other travelers.  One girl who was from Australia has been traveling all over since November 2012! And a Canadian guy has been traveling since February of this year!  Can you imagine?  Anyway, we were SO loud trying to get our millions of bags out of there and down the stairs.  
     Our taxi ride to the airport was interesting.  We drove through some messy streets where the protestors had been.  We were dodging blocks and rubble on fire and boxes of fruit thrown out... etc.  Once we hit the interstate our driver hit 160 mph.. yes, MPH, and stayed between that and 130 all the way to the airport.  Luckily, he slowed down to go through the toll.. slowed down to 80 mph, haha!
     So then we flew to Ankara, swapped planes and made it to Adiyaman.  This is where our host families met us!  Nisa is my host sister and she is 16.  I am living with her and her mom and dad while I am in Turkey.  They were so so sweet and greeted me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers!  We drove home, I unpacked and took the greatest 2 hour nap ever!  Then we went to meet the other LE teachers and their host brothers/sisters for tea and to figure out a plan for tomorrow.  The students in our classes are still in Turkish school this week so just for this week we will be having our English classes 5:00 PM-9:00 PM so that the students can attend both.  Then the next week we will go from 9:00 AM-1:00 PM.  We walked most of the way home and I got to see a goot bit of the city.  There aren't any other Americans here (it's definitely not a tourist city) so sometimes people stare.
     Nisa's mom had dinner ready for us when we got home and it was the best spread I've ever seen!  It was like Thanksgiving in America!  We were watching the news while eating the protests look like they're getting really out of hand but everything is in Turkish so I have no clue, haha.  Also, this flashed across the screen: "taş ... Gaz ... su..."and I knew two of the words!  The last two are gas and water.  Nisa told me the first one is stones.  They were showing footage of the struggles between the people and the police with stones, tear gas and firefighter sort of water hoses.  I sure am glad to be in Adiyaman now :) 

     SO excited to finally meet my students tomorrow, I will be teaching a high school class! I'll post again in a few days with some of those details!

Saturday (06/01)
     So then we got up and went to check things out, all the while avoiding the protests.  Without boring you too much we went to see the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, some Mausoleums, the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market.  Of course, I have plenty of pictures to share!  I will put a few up on here and change them out now and then.  But I will try to set up an album on Facebook soon. 

     Animals in Turkey are so bizarre.  There are cats just everywhere!  We stopped in the Grand Bazaar (an unbelievably huge market) to get some tea and a cat walked up and confidently curled up under my chair.  They aren't skiddish at all!  And dogs.  I'm a little concerned with the dogs.  I never see one moving.  I saw three on Saturday that were all just laying in a shady spot.  They didn't look like they were breathing but I guess they were just super hot!

     Food.  I think Turkish food deserves a whole picture album just to itself!  I haven't had anything I haven't liked yet!  My mom asked if I've had anything really different from American food yet.  How about--I haven't had ANYthing the same as American food here.  And, of course, I've had baklava and Turkish delights by now too!  I'm actually not a huge fan of either but maybe they will grow on me.  Why the boy in Narnia traded his soul for Turkish delights beats me.  Hahaha.  I'm more into the heartier home cooking that we've had. 

Friday (05/31)
     After my last post on here I was heading to Vienna.  That was literally the worst flight I've ever been on.  And it was about a 9 hour flight!  I love kids, but man... if I had kids like the ones that were sitting around me on that flight I would probably just sail across the Atlantic instead of putting others through that misery.  Prime example: Some parents moved so that a 2 year old and a 6 year old could have the entire row behind us by themselves.  Crazy!  They were kicking and screaming.  Running up and down the aisle and only stopping right beside my aisle seat to scream at the top of their lungs.  And then more kicking and screaming behind us.  My neighbor and I were finally fed up so we asked the moms to calm their children.  The 2 year old mom's response?  "Well, she's only 2..there's not much I can do."  And then nothing.  WOW.  Later the flight attendant asked the same lady to keep her child seated because everyone was trying to sleep.  Her response: "It's not really her bedtime so she's not tired."  And then the last 2 hours was of the child just howling behind us.  Only Maroon 5 can describe my Misery.
     Vienna = Leona!!!!! I had an almost 5 hour layover so I got to leave the airport with her for about 3 hours.  Just my luck that it was cold and raining!  I felt ridiculous because I was wearing a thin dress and sandals walking around Vienna.  The Austrians probably thought I was nuts.  I got to see Leona's apartment where she has been living all this semester.  Then we got something from the bakery and kakao (hot chocolate)!  And back to the airport.  I spent more time in underground Vienna than above it but it was so great to see my LeLe!  She's going to kill me, but here's the link to her FB, add her, she's great!  Hahaha

     Off to Istanbul.  The flight here was great!  Adele (the Turkey country coordinator for LE) met me when I came out with my luggage and the rest of the group was in a cafe in the airport.  Once everyone was there we took off for the hostel!  At this point I only knew that there were demonstrations in Istanbul near our hostel so we had to take a different and MUCH more difficult route to get there.  We metro'd, trolly'd and then walked.  I had to drag my 57.5 lb bag up the steepest hill I've probably ever been on.  Along with my 20/30 lb backpack and another 10 lb bag I was carrying.  It was tough but I made it!!  I wish I had gotten a picture.  Here's my description: the hill was hard enough to walk down, much less up and with 75+ lbs of luggage!  (Btw, I have so much because I am leaving a ton of school supplies behind).  Probably a 30 or 35 degree incline.  Dropped our stuff off at World House Hostel and went out to dinner.  We did a little teacher training that night but the rest of us wanted to go to bed afterward. 

     Only a half hour after I fell asleep, I woke up to protestors walking by and chanting and tear gas coming through the open window I was sleeping under.  My nose just started burning so so badly all at once and part of our group had already run into tear gas thrown out by the police earlier that day so I figured it was the same.  Plus it smelled bad too.  Quick rundown of the demonstrations: Greenpeace was against them building tearing down trees in Taksim Square (for them to build a mall?) in Istanbul so they started protests.  The police overreacted and starting throwing out water bombs and tear gas.  The Turks are now upset at their reaction and the protests have evolved into a movement against the government in general...which has spread to all over Turkey, not just Istanbul.  The worst of it is in Istanbul though.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Live from Canada!

Hi everyone!

     This post is longer overdue, but I wanted to update y'all on some big changes that have taken place in the last week.  I have been relocated from Urfa to Adiyaman!  Although I was really excited to visit the birthplace of Abraham, I am still just as thrilled to be volunteering in Adiyaman.
     You may be asking yourself--why was I relocated?  Well, Syria has been home to a civil war for the last few years that has minimally affected Turkey.  However, at the beginning of this month of May, two car bombs exploded in Reyhanli killing 46 people.  Reyhanli is a border town in Turkey that is home to many Syrian refugees.  Click here for more info from BBC about the car bombs.  This town is only a little over 4 hours away from Urfa!  Also, I've been told that this struggle in Syria has yet to impact or involve Turkey in any major way but that this is the closest it has come!
     The board at Learning Enterprises did a lot of research, spoke with many trusted people in Turkey and even talked with other programs similar to ours that host summer programs.  They determined (just this last Sunday!) that we may proceed with LE in Turkey on 2 conditions: (1) that all the LE volunteers stay together in Adiyaman (instead of split into 3 different cities including Urfa) and (2) that we sign an additional waver form.  I did my own research, talked it over with both my parents and decided that I would proceed!
     So.. fast-forward.. I left DC this morning and am now waiting in Toronto, Canada to board my flight across the Atlantic.  It's been a long boring layover, but in just a half hour I will be boarding a flight to Vienna, Austria.  One of my best friends--Leona Pfeiffer, studied abroad in Vienna this Spring so I chose the longest layover possible (5 hours) so that I can meet her there!  SO EXCITED about that!  Then I'll be off to Istanbul!
     I arrive in Istanbul on Friday, May 30 around 4:00ish PM.  I'll have orientation there this weekend and then we'll all fly to Adiyaman together where our host families will be waiting to greet us.  I can't wait to meet all the sweet Turkish people I've been in contact with through Facebook! :)
     Okay, I'll probably post again early/mid next week with more info on how things are starting off!  Feel free to contact me through my email: rachelkelseysawyer@gmail.com

Monday, April 15, 2013


Hi everyone!

Some of you may have heard already that I will be teaching in Turkey this summer.  This is a volunteer trip through Learning Enterprises (LE) where I will be teaching English for 5 weeks.  Each year LE sends college students my age to teach English in a variety of countries.  I applied, interviewed (twice) and was accepted to teach English in Turkey!  Since LE is unable to support the hundreds of students that they send out, they require a small financial commitment.  However, LE is able to offer their students free housing through a home stay program.  Thus, I will be living in Sanliurfa, Turkey with a host family!  Nevertheless, here are some of the things I am financially responsible for:
  •  Medical Vaccinations- $200
  • 1 round trip Plane Ticket- $1300
  • Teaching Supplies (bilingual dictionaries, a map, etc.)- $155
I committed to this project having faith that I would find a way to pay for it.  In the weeks following my acceptance to the program, I applied for some scholarships and grants.  From that I was offered $155 to pay for teaching supplies.  I still have a long way to go before my trip is covered! I have the means to cover my medical vaccinations and other various personal expenses, so I’m only asking for money to be used toward my plane ticket.

You’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it twice- any little bit helps!  Whether it’s $10 or $15 or more than that, it all adds up!  I can’t offer much, but I’d love to thank anyone who supports me by sending you a post card from Turkey!

How to help: You can donate by credit card or PayPal by clicking the 'Donate' button on the top right corner of this page!

This is where I'll be teaching English for 5 weeks!

If you would like more information about my goals & expected outcomes, why this project is important, my detailed budget my plan of action or information about Learning Enterprises, then please see 'Important Links'  on the right side of this webpage under my picture! :)