Shopping...

So I've been doing a lot of shopping lately and I want to tell you about my experiences.  As I go to different malls and look around to see what is there I get oddly excited about the things that are in China.   As in I found a Watsons and a Decathlon, these were basically my two favorite stores in China, so I was very excited to find them here I have also found a Carrefour.

So I have been pretty excited about my China finds it makes it feel more like home, then of course one day I was wandering around the mall (this is the mall that has Decathlon and Watsons) And suddenly I found a GAP.  Sadly I was not as excited about the GAP as I was about Decathlon, but ya know I guess that happens when you live in China for two years.

So I have been buying all sorts of things trying to make my apartment more of a home.  Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to post some pictures and you will see how much nicer it looks now.

This weekend is Halloween and I am planning on giving out candy to kids tomorrow night, I am going to try to decorate my door a bit before they come.  I'll have to see how creative I can be...

Happy Halloween!

A NEW Experience

Ok so I feel like I have a lot to blog about so I will try to update a few times over the next few days.

Last saturday I went out with the English department at my school we went to a restaurant.  This restaurant really had a Mediterranean feel to it for me.  Basically the way it works was you pay 65 TRL and you get unlimited amount of drinks, wine, beer, and Raki (crazy alcohol drink, tastes like licorice) You also get unlimited amount of food.  They keep bringing dishes out to your table AND entertainment.

There were three different bands that night.  The first one was a guitarist and an accordion player.  Then there was the band with two guitarists and a singer.  And the last band was a full brass band.  It was such a neat experience.  The band was playing and everyone was Turkish dancing to the music.  Trust me when I tell you there is a difference.

I wish I had pictures for you but you will have to trust my explanation, because my camera is too bit to put in my pocket.  The table next to us was a wedding party, so that made the night even better to watch the Bride and Groom and all their friends so excited.  It was also an older woman's 88th birthday. It was such a great night we were there from 8pm till 1:30am It was just a really neat cultural experience, I'm glad I got to go.

A Rainy Day

Today it rained all day long, first time since I’ve been here.  I’m not normally a fan of rainy days but it’s just so dry here that I’m welcoming the rain J I’m not really sure what to update with so I need some suggestions of what you would like to hear about.

This week has been a busy week at work, still getting the swing of things and getting used to teaching all day and planning all night, oh the life of a full time teacher.  Starting next week I will be helping my department coordinator plan our curriculum.  I’m excited for the opportunity and it will be a good add on to what I am doing since I find that I am pretty organized and have some extra time. 

Very suddenly we are now experiencing fall weather.  I compare a lot of my experience here to my time in China.  So I must say heating here is crazy.  In China you had to wait till “the day” when the heat got turned on.  It was a certain day for the entire city.  And it was usually the beginning of November.  Now it’s only October, the beginning of October.  It got a little chilly on Monday and our heat is ON full blast! CRAZY! Today we all discovered that our new school has floor heating.  We were all complaining about how hot it was in the school turning on the air conditioners and leaving the door open, when we sat down on the floor for our morning circle we realized the floor heating is at full blast.  Now this is the same as China for me, last year my preschool in HuangDao had floor heating and the floor sure does get REALLY hot.  I try not to have the kids sit on it, I’m hoping they will be able to turn it down a bit.

I am finding that my asthma has been acting up especially with the dramatic change between hot and cold between the classroom and the hallway. 

This weekend I’m looking forward to hanging out with some of the English staff outside of school.  We will be going to a dinner place, I’m not really sure what to expect but I’m sure it will be fun.  I will try to remember to take pictures and post them for you.

But for now Gürüşürüz (good bye)

Toast!

Today I got a toaster!  Don't believe me, check the pictures!

A Pretty Normal Week

Merhaba!

I always want to update with a witty exciting entry that will show you all how much traveling and living in Turkey is the neatest experience EVER...but...some weeks are just pretty normal...so here are the highlights of my week...

**We got our last teacher, so things are finally the way they are supposed to

**I got asked to take on some more responsibilities at work

**I have learned all the names of my students in one of my classes

**I got paid and was able to afford a cutting board, life is good

**Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be the proud owner of a new Turkish cell phone!

**I feel like I'm starting to understand a bit of Turkish, and am able to speak some!

So there's my update for the week, no new pictures, sorry, I'll try to take some this weekend.

Görüşürüz!