the truth of being an English teacher

This is a great article about teaching English as a foreign language....it's accuracy amazes me.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/2004/01/17/teftefl17.xml&page=1

the new place

We are moved! It was the first time I hired movers and it was well worth the money. The truck showed up and I went to work. Very nice.

It's 10:30 and we just finished dinner. Omer (a cousin) came over for dinner. We will have lots of visitors living here since we're close to the world now. We went to the grocery store down the block for food tonight-it's expensive. I will really have to learn the lay of the land and find the markets, ie. producer, butcher, bakery, etc.

Of course we are not unpacked, but spent the evening putting some things away. We don't have a wardrobe or dresser or anywhere to "hide" things. The last apartment had a huge 'dolap' (wardrobe) in the hall that housed most of my clothes (the rest had a permanent home on the floor).

We're tired, settling into the evening with tea. I think I'm going to take a bath tonight-this apartment has a bathtub!

burns my ass

I was off to work today at 12:45 for my private lesson. At 1:00 I get a call from work saying its cancelled. I HATE IT WHEN THEY DO THIS!!!! I was on the bus, had to turn around and take another bus home, spending 5 YTL on the fare.

Because I was going to a company today I dressed nice and even made up my face. Erg! This shit is so annoying.

as it goes

Yeah so we got the place. We move on Saturday. I spoke too soon - there will be internet for 1/3 of what we pay now. So I should be somewhat entertained.

I didn't work tonight, my manager needs to find me a class. Which is fine with me for the moment. We packed a bit today. Most of the stuff is mine so I guess I have a bigger job. I dilly dally on everything lately without much motivation, so whatever.

I've finished yet ANOTHER book, so started a new one today. I opened it to find the embossed initials of EAK in it, so now I feel like its a family heirloom.

I was washing dishes when the water began to spurt out of the faucet, so I can't complete the chore. I hope we have water by the morning-I have a new private lesson starting at some company tomorrow afternoon, so a shower will be required. I hate doing private lessons. I don't have the comfort of a class or a board that I can turn to that buys me time in answering tough questions or to figure out what to do next. The only advantage to it is that the student is a level 1, so I can impress my English upon this poor soul as I see fit.

Last night we were taking a late walk in the neighborhood. I asked him what he meant by something and told him that's not the word for it, probably harassing him a little. And he says,"there are a thousand, thousand words in English, how suppose I know them all?" I found it quite funny.

Even though I have some things to do I'm still bored.

waiting for the contract

I'm tired.

I think we have a new apartment, but I won't know for sure until Tuesday. This process is just really long and drawn out, nothing about it is easy. Today we met the landlady. She spoke by yelling and looking at the ceiling the whole time. I don't know what her problem is but it was really annoying. Alaattin says its because she's a widow and all widows are crazy. He also said it's a good thing I couldn't understand her because she would have pissed me off. She was really nosy and from what I understand when I said I was from Chicago she said "she wanted to kill them". Then said she was joking. Uh, yeah.

So Tuesday we go to sign the contract, handover the money and give them some other paperwork.

There's not a whole lot I'm feeling good about these days to tell the truth. In a week I also won't have internet access from home anymore, so I will probably be a little bit more bored than usual.

students crack me up

Work last night was a gas, I laughed so hard! Thank goodness they were in a better mood than last week. Last week they were so stressed out and tired after work, they were being difficult.

Before class started I spotted Selcuk, one of my bosses who works in the other branch. He's an idiot. I hadn't seen or spoken to him in a month since I yelled at him on the phone. Great I thought, he'll be in my class to review me. I avoided him. Then on a break he caught me in a common area. It was awkward. He said hello and told me I look "really beautiful". I was stunned. (He's still a dick.) Then says he'll be in my class at 8:30 to give me a review.

The class goes back in and I tell them we'll have a guest. So Selcuk comes in and sits down, not saying a word, but all eyes except mine were on him. Getting on with the lesson, the Doctor (one of my best students) breaks the rythym of the class by turning to Selcuk and asking,"Are you an inspector?"

Selcuk was caught off guard replying,"No."
The Doctor then says,"OK, you're a friend."
Humored I turn to Selcuk the Dick and say,"Hello friend."
He was flustered but smiled back and replied,"Hello friend." Oh jeez, I'm laughing so hard on the inside and I have to go on teaching. I've been so disrupted I can hardly think of what to do next, I had a plan, now what was it? I contained my laughter, only showing it with a wide smile.

I was so pleased that they were being protective of me. As much as these guys can be difficult, I know they really like me. Finally Selcuk leaves the class. Salih (the 2nd best in the class and youngest at 35 years old) turns to me and says,"We were on our best behavior and used our best English. Now you have to give us something." They wanted early dismissal, but knew I couldn't do that because Selcuk was still in the office. I told them if I get a good review then I'll bring them something, but if its a bad review then forget it. That appeased them.

So we go on with the lesson and Muhammed the Manager excuses himself. As soon as he leaves the Doctor says,"He's going to pass urine." I felt a bit awkward and wanted to move on, but he wasn't letting it go. The class started mumbling something, then asked if that's the way you say it. And I said,"No, in English you say he's taking a piss." They repeated it and by now everyone was laughing. Muhammed came back in and they fell silent and looked at their books. No one was going to tell him what went on.

I just started laughing and told them they crack me up, a new expression we started class with. Trying to regain my composure, we went over what the homework assignment is and I told them they derailed the lesson so far that I have to let them go.

Its classes like this that make my job worthwhile. Shit these men are a gas! We went over grammar, expressions, had a conversation about the corruption index and Turkey's rating and religion, tried to talk about good/bad travel experiences and learned "taking a piss". Last week was really funny when we read an article from the Economist and the word 'asses' came up, referring to donkeys. I also told them the other meaning. And when the word 'dung' came up and they asked what it means, Salih explained it was shit. I think I may need to devote part of a lesson to useful insults and curse words.

I had a dream a few months ago that someone in class asked what "jerk off" means, so as long as that doesn't happen I think I can handle it.

reformation of thought

Yesterday we went and looked at a few apartments. It was depressing. We said no to both of them. They were horrid. The floors were torn up, broken and missing tiles, in one it was just impossible to clean. They didn't have showers, just a spout in the bathroom. They didn't have western toilets, the 'old fashioned' kind in this part of the world, a porcelain hole in the floor. In the second apartment, the walls were terrible, not only needing new paint, but at the top mildew damage. The kitchen in that one was bad too, primitive and with a look of permanent dirt.

It not only was upsetting because we didn't find something suitable, but it was also depressing because I realise that millions of people live like this. I mean I thought I understood poverty. This was disturbing. I guess its one thing to know about things and another to go look at these kind of places when you need a place to live. I know I can't expect to find a place like the one I have now, but something decent. Bare and minimal, fine. But liveable. It was shocking.

Its jarred my thoughts about development, about people, about life. I'm still not sure what to think. It makes me want to crawl back into a comfortable place in my head, but I have a feeling its going to take awhile to find that place again.

"I want to learn English but I don't want to talk."

Its a lovely day here, I let myself sleep in since its my day off.

Tomorrow I have a 1 hour class before my Level 1 class, its a Conversation class. A conversation class...this should be interesting, I haven't done one of these before. Hopefully the students are talkative and ready to speak-one of the biggest challenges in this job, getting students to talk. It really makes the 'method' my work promotes difficult, since its all about speaking. Turkish students are shy and uninterested by nature, you really have to get in their space and badger them. Its so annoying. "I want to learn English but I don't want to talk." Uh, problem. I just want the friggin money. Its difficult to make a lesson and chapter interesting when they don't want to get on with it and talk, and most classes are unbalanced in this respect. There are a few students who easily speak and get frustrated when the others just sit there.

On the upside, I am getting much better at teaching and usually have a bit more confidence with it. I would enjoy it more if I were teaching more than just English. Oh well, its a temporary gig.

the only people in the office...

I was on MSN Messenger with my friend who's at work. He says its really boring in the office because its "1 day before easter and the only people in the office are the unmarried or infertile ones with no kids". HAHAHA!!!!! There's one way to put it!

Well there is no Easter here in Turkey. Doesn't really matter, I wouldn't do anything different if there was Easter here anyway.

Last night I finished my novel, the third in 2 weeks or less. Looks as if I will have to move onto the crime novels mom left, I've been dreading the day I pick them up. I don' t think I will enjoy them at all. These 3 books I just read were left by Pete, none of the writing in them was very good and they were very easy reads. I have no idea why it took him so long to read them, but it did. I know I read fast, but I CAN'T read that much faster!

Mom informed me in an email that there is an Organization of Real Bearded Santas, with certified Santas. Hmmmmm.......

Anyway my restlessness and discontent is not subsiding but I'm starting to get used to it. I just feel frustrated all around and I'm trying to ignore it. Due to petty drama, not worth more than that mention and not my fault, fallouts occurred with a few of my friends here in Istanbul. Work is giving me 22 hours per week (which is over full time), but I want more hours. 1 guy I work with has 50 hours a week and another has 40 hours, AND they live in company housing. So they make twice as much as me and have no bills. Bastards. On top of that, we told our landlord that we'd be moving by the 15th....but we don't have a new apartment yet. AAARRRGG!!!! I like to plan things and have goals, this country and these people don't really work like that. So my frustration lingers and I don't even have a job that I can use to wrap my mind up in to forget about it. Annoying.

Reading, Dreams and Crowded Buses

The bus home last night from work was crowded. No seats (that's kind of usual). I just held onto the metal bar and played my cell phone game, the time passes more quickly that way. But as the crowd settled into their cramped standing room only spaces, the fragrant smell of cologne and the stench of body odor fought in my nose. Sometimes I hate the ride home.

Lately I've been dreaming, like really dreaming for weeks now. People are coming into my dreams that I haven't seen or thought of in ages. Its nice, a free movie. Last week I finished another novel and now I'm halfway through a third one. I haven't read like this since I was a kid.

There's a lot of chaos going on inside of me, though I'm rather calm about it. Decisions to make and what to do, but I think for now its just a waiting game. I hate those.