I'm Alive...

I made it to Turkey! After a long two day journey I made it to Turkey on Monday around 3.  After I got into Ankara I went to go get my luggage and found I only had one :) So I went over to the Lufthansa office and filled our the necessary paperwork (I have since gotten my other suitcase, and found out that it was lost in Chicago, stop number 1) then I exchanged some money and then left the airport and found a driver that was waiting for me.  I preceded to apologize to him that it took me so long but I was missing my luggage and he told me "No English" (I'm pretty sure this is a sign of things to come)  Well this driver drove me to the school and took me to the High School Principal.  He welcomed me to the school and explained to me in English that the driver was going to take me up to my apartment and then he would pick me back up at 8:30 the next morning to take me to the Primary school.  

So the driver took me up to my apartment showed me which keys to use in which doors, and then said goodbye.  So I got to my apartment at about 5 and I unpacked and took a shower and found some food, which the school so nicely put in my fridge for me. They also had blankets on the bed, towels for me to take a shower, dishes and cookware.  Life was good!  So I did some things and then went to bed by 7. 

I was up by 4:30 the next morning :) I got ready for the day and the driver came for me at 8:30 he drove me down to the school and brought me to the primary school principal.  She met me and said oh have you been to the English office yet, and I said no so she took me there, where I met some really nice grade 1 teachers, who then took me down to my department.  I was able to meet the staff I will be working with and get right into things.  

For the last two days I have been thrown into the middle of things.  I have been attending meetings and trying to understand what it is I will be teaching, no one else really seems to know either, so I'm not that behind.  I also have been meeting staff and figuring out the new surroundings I am in.  I also found out that I am not the last one here, we are still waiting on another teacher.

Today the kids started school, but they are not there a full day yet.  Lots of tears this morning as they had to leave their parents for the first time.  I will explain more of my role in the school in a later entry.  But today all I had to do was get to know the kids and spend some time with them.  Since I don't know any Turkish and these kids don't know any English it was quite an experience.  I did remember though that love has no language barrier and so if you show love, and some fun expressions, all will work out :)

So since this is the latest I have stayed up all week 7:35pm right now, I am going to end this post and I will write more another time.  But before I sign off, some things that surprise me about Turkey...

1. I blend in!  This is a good and bad thing, everyone here looks the same you can't tell if someone is Turkish or not, this is bad because everyone expects that I speak Turkish and I just don't.

2. The Sky is BLUE! This is a GREAT thing and it makes me happy as I gaze out the windows at school trying really hard not to fall asleep.

Look for some pictures on flickr :) till next time....