I really don’t think I’ve ever been this popular in my entire life. (journal five)

So I meant to write this a week ago, or a week before that or the day before that... or something. But I didn’t. I hope you didn’t miss me too much. I actually want to write everyday, but the schedule is so crazy here that it’s almost impossible to. So, no promises but I’ll attempt to be slightly more regular. This post might start out a little rant-y, but I promise it will become more positive. It also could seem incredibly long.

It’s almost Friday, which means that the kids go home for the weekend today (thank goodness). It’s been a bit of a struggle to ensure that Friday was the day they actually went home, however. When we “signed up” for this camp, we were specifically told that we would have weekends off. In the first week, they stayed Saturday and we were completely confused and disappointed. Having only Sunday to recover and visit other cities and explore at the same time is just simply not enough time. We’re teenagers, on weekends we sleep. A lot. We somehow convinced them that we needed another day off (Lindsay and Flore were sick for two days because of exhaustion, that likely helped) and we gained Saturday the next week. HURRAH! Oh, just wait... Yesterday they asked us again if the kids could be here Saturday to “practice” but we wouldn’t have to do anything... Considering we are the ones they actually practice with this makes no sense at all. We prevailed once again and home the kids go today at five!

Sidenote: I just got super depressed and sad because I was looking through pictures of friends having lots of fun without me. I want to come home. The end.

Okay, so we’re getting a little tired of the meetings, but at least they’re happening. The problem is definitely communication. For example, yesterday we had a meeting with most of the organizers, and we told them that we need to know beforehand (at least a week before) if an event is coming up. They agreed that they would do this, yet, at dinner just a few hours later we heard (and not even from the organizers, that there was a band coming last night. We learned this an hour before they were to play. ... ... ... And umm, why exactly weren’t we informed before this? Who the heck knows. It’s needless to say we’re a little frustrated. We haven’t been payed for our plane tickets, we’re tired, blah blah blah our life sucks. Haha.

So our lives do not suck. To support this statement I can give several examples of non-suckish activities. Last weekend we actually had a very nice surprise. On Saturday at about eleven we left for a picnic, we just no idea where we were going... at first. About an hour of driving and the location was getting more and more remote, we were in the mountains and the only people around had herds of sheep and other equally exciting animals, mostly in villages. We stopped for our picnic at the prettiest bridge, with a mountain and a broken-up castle behind it. Stunning. Where we actually ate was below this, by the river in our own personal Eden. It was absolutely amazing. We went swimming in the middle of the mountain area while lunch was being made... and lunch was likely the best meal I’ve ever had in Turkey so far (and, don’t shoot me... but the best chicken I’ve ever had in my entire life, like OMFG YES). Wow. We played some cards and just chilled out in the sun. If there’s one thing that you should be jealous of me for so far, it’s this day. We left our little picnic area and headed to a different bridge, which actually attracts many tourists called Devil’s Bridge (or some crazy Turkish name I can’t pronounce, haha). Flore and I climbed up to take pictures, and a few random guys made us take about 10 pictures of them, with our cameras. Every time we went to turn around and leave, they would yell something in Turkish, demand more photos, and change poses. We had to cross the river to get to the cave area that we were heading to, and the current was extremely strong. We almost fell over a few times but somehow made it. We then climbed into a cave where there was a lot of glass (and we had no shoes on our feet...) so it was pretty dangerous. Flore took pictures for our “album cover” for our brand new band: “The Noexpects” or something like that... we’re definitely an interesting band with our first single coming our soon “Beer Me Çay”. I’m not sure I should even try to explain that one. After a long day of adventure, Bullshit (the card game which the Turks love because we taught them the word), an incredible amount of food and some great bonding, it was definitely time to head home.

Okay, if you need to take a break, I suggest now as break time, then continue...

The kids, as terrible as they may be at times, are actually really awesome. Last night we had our “opening ceremony” (I know, three weeks after the camp started, haha...) and they did so well. I felt so proud of them. They sang five songs, my group performed Cinderella (with me being one of the Narrators.. which might have been the only part anyone could understand) and just had a lot of fun showing off to their parents. Of course I have a few favourites... they’re just really sweet. And who doesn’t want to be the camp counsellor / teacher’s favourite anyways? One thing that happens when I’m around them is I actually talk much differently. I adopt an accent, but only when I speak to the kids, it seems to help their comprehension. It’s actually pretty entertaining to even hear myself speak in broken, Turkish-accented English. It’s too bad Liam (from Birmingham) couldn’t have been there for the opening ceremonies, it was a lot of fun and he would’ve gotten the kids even more excited for it. Crazy Brits having to go home and graduate from University.

Their dancing is pretty insane. I’ve taught them some very sweet hip-hop moves, but they teach me much more. It’s sort of middle-eastern in my thoughts of what middle-eastern dance consists of.. and the music is similar to that. I actually find the music quite annoying, but it’s something that I get used to. I find the traditional dances a little repetitive, but they’re fun when you’re all together... and I add my own spice to entertain the masses.

Which brings me to my popularity. Sure, sure, I was important enough at home. I guess you could say that I had cred. But here... it’s a whole other story. I feel like if I wanted to become famous, I should become famous in Turkey. I’m pretty sure I’d be super popular and everyone would love me. The following are the reasons they love me so much: my hair (not many men have curly hair, and NO man has curly and blonde hair), I have blue eyes (hardly any Turks have blue eyes, and Ataturk (look him up, this is key) did.), I laugh, I dance and I sing. Here, these things make me pretty much the coolest person ever (ha) and everywhere we go I get stared at and talked about all around me. It’s pretty cool I guess.

Yesterday, we spent the entire afternoon by the pool... in the pool... at the bar of the pool. It was so nice, and reminded me or North America. Pretty much anything that reminds me of NA makes me happy. For example, the bank HSBC... which I’ve never been to in my life makes me happy because I’ve seen it before. It’s kind of pathetic how excited I get, actually. I really miss multigrain Tostitos...

I’m looking forward to the next two weekends... it really sounds like we’re going to see some amazing places in Turkey... and I get to see (and swim in?) the Mediterranean Sea! Yay! Apparently I should be super excited for this... and I think I am, it just confuses me as to why I need to be so excited. Oh well, I’m pumped! There are many more trips planned before the end of the summer (which for me is August 15th, btw) and I still will have yet to see Istanbul!

So, coming home... coming home... Well, I’ll be in Toronto at 7:51PM on August 15th, which is earlier than I had expected. Before I leave entirely though I’d really like to spend a few days in Istanbul. I think I might be coming back next year anyways, so it wouldn’t be a huge deal to not too too much of it, but still... I can’t come to Turkey for the entire summer and not go to Istanbul! I’m still not sure who exactly will be picking me up at the airport when I get home, but I guess I’ll find out soon. I do really love being here, but I’m also excited to come home and bit early to get ready for school and hang out just a tiny bit more with everyone before it’s time to be off to U of T! I’m getting nervous already... and course selection is coming up in the next few weeks. Eep, I need to get ready for this. Speaking of Toronto, some random Toronto number called my cell this morning, which I wasn’t picking up because it costs over $4 a minute... no thanks. I shall call back using my unlimited Skype! Which, if you’d like to Skype me, my username is luke.albert... or you might just get a call from me at a random time on a random day. You never know :)

Well, thank you for reading this mumble of nonsense and thoughts. Let’s hope my mumbling becomes more regular... haha. See you all in just over a month (isn’t that insane?! It’s so soon!).

Oh, and one more thing.... I have an address for you to send things to me now! I could really use some good, wholesome Canadian anything, really... so send what you wish!

The address is:

Luke Albert

Adıyaman Anadolu Öğretmen Lisesi

Cumhuriyet Mahallesi Kerkişin Yolu Üzeri

Adıyaman, Turkey

Yeah, pretty sweet right? So send, send, send away!! And send me your address if you haven’t already for me to send you a postcard... I swear I will!!

-Luke

I need sleep. - Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 (journal 4)

Okay, so when we signed up to help with this camp, we were told that the children would have a total of 3 hours of formal English training per day from an English teacher. It’s been two days and so far we have been doing everything. It’s a bit ridiculous, and at the same time we are enjoying the time with the kids. There is apparently no longer any formal part (if there ever was). I am not an English teacher. We’re obviously trying our best, but it’s quite hard.

Today, we woke up far too early. I’ve been staying up late because I’m still not connected with the time change (as I’m staying up even now...) and this is not doing so well for me. I’ll be adjusting more quickly at this rate.

The first thing that we did with the students was teach them parts of 3 songs. L.O.V.E by Frank Sinatra, Don’t Stop Believing by Journey, and Hello, Goodbye by the Beatles. They seemed to love it a lot. I know I loved it a lot.

One thing that has not been accomplished since the first day is getting to know everyone’s names. It’s quite a difficult feat, learning them all. We got them to decorate signs with their names and things about themselves... one student asked me to write all over his with just 3 words... “I DON’T SMOKE” over and over again. To me, this was pretty incredible as it seems that about 80% of the population of Turkey are smokers.

After lunch, Liam and I went to the city centre to go shopping for him (he hadn’t gotten his shoes or shirt that he “needed” so badly) so I came along as well so that I could get a cell phone. Going along with the theme of not having any expectations, I kind of thought that it would only take an hour, but at the same time I made sure I wasn’t expecting it to only take an hour. It seems to be a fine art here... assuming nothing. I got my phone, which is a sweet-ass Nokia blahdiblah. It’s got a flashlight, which is obviously what makes it important. We also chilled and ate some mulberries for a while, which is also apparently a common theme. I got a towel (YEEEE!) and that’s about it. They organizers that took us hardly spoke any english so we just followed them around and went to random shops and markets looking for various items.

When we (finally) got back to the camp, the kids had been playing all afternoon with Flore and Lindsay and all that we had to do was have dinner. The shopping was a nice break... though I’m a little worried that I felt like I needed to have a break already and it’s only been 2 days.

We also discovered that there is WiFi at the school!... kind of. We have to go outside to the gazebo that is a bit of a walk from the dorms... but it’s far better than no internet at all. WiFi time! We had a meeting with some of the organizers and explained that it’s actually impossible for us to be on duty 24/7. We’re volunteers and we need breaks and time to ourselves. They say they understand, but let’s see if they actually follow through.

Awkward Moments Turn Into Awesome Moments. - Monday, June 15th, 2009 (journal 3)

So, I’m currently sitting in my creepy dark room bedroom, in an empty hallway (which is also creepy), with a bathroom at the end of the hall that looks like someone could have been murdered in a horror movie there (the lights flicker many times when you turn them on - like in the movies - AHH!). The wind is also super loud and scary tonight. It’s a little frightening but I’m sure I will be fine. It’s really nice in the day, just a little scary at night. Oh, and for some reason the kids on the floor below me are still up. It’s 2AM here and they have to get up at 7. So do I.. but still.

Well, I guessed correctly about one thing today. We had a similar breakfast. That is about the only thing that I actually guessed correctly though. Hmm. There are many nice teachers here (at least, I think they’re nice...) that don’t speak much English or any at all. It can make things frustrating. I’m trying to learn some Turkish but it’s quite difficult. For instance, when you say something like “I’d like some tea” you actually say “tea I’d like”. I’d type it in Turkish but mine is just plain awful so far, in writing anyways. I can say it, I just have no idea how to spell it.

Anyways, after a lovely meal with the non-English speaking people, we took off from the hostel (which was air conditioned, oh my goodness). I was kind of sad to leave it, but we’ll be back to that area lots in the months to come. We headed to the school, which, by fall is a high school, but in the summer they’ve turned it into a language camp for children in primary school. We were not exactly sure what we’d be doing at first, but as we entered the building we saw the children, parents and teachers everywhere. They gave us strange looks and didn’t respond when we’d say things like “Hello” or “Salam”. A little daunting to say the least. Next, everyone settled in a room in the basement of the main teaching building. There are 5 buildings here, and each of them are quite large. A gym, an eatery, a building with just classrooms, a boy’s dorm and a girl’s dorm. We ended up having to introduce ourselves in front of the children, their parents and all the staff. It was then translated for them all (and hopefully they didn’t twist our words too much, aha).

Okay, so awkward moments in front of parents, now it’s time for awkward moments with the kids. We all went to the guy’s dorm. I was the only male counsellor at the time, which kind of sucked, but the kids seemed cool. At first, I had no idea what to do, but then I just went up to a table of them and we started talking about very simple things... where they’re from... why they’re here... if they have any brothers or sisters, etc. Even these things are hard for them to answer (part of it was probably that they had a strange Canadian talking to them which made them just a little bit nervous). I took my stuff up to my room after a few minutes, which is on the third floor. This is nice because only the counsellors will be on this floor... and there’s only 4 guys in total. We get our own (slightly scary) washroom to share and we have the whole place to ourselves. I’m not sure if the kid’s were told not to come up, but so far they look like they’re not allowed.

We then met again and started our first introduction game. Ok, I’ll admit it, Turkish names are likely the hardest names to remember, ever. They are really difficult. I don’t think I could type a tenth of the kid’s names here, let alone remember who is who. The game actually went really well. We took their first names and helped them to come up with an english word that starts with the same letter to go with it. They really enjoyed this. I was “Lucky Luke” of course, haha. This was the start of a very, very long and tiring day... which seems like will be the first of many. We had lunch at the dining hall, which was better than I expected and then went back to work!

We played lots of introductory games, like naming your favourite colour and switching spots, your clothing, etc. They seemed to have so much fun, and participating with them was just plain awesome. By this point, another counsellor from the UK joined us named Liam. He’s definitely rad, just out of school and is currently in the room across from me. But finally there is another guy. The kids absolutely loved watching me act out in front of them and I made sure to be super spirited at all times... let’s see if I can keep this up all summer. After a well-deserved break, we all met to play football, basketball and some volleyball. Some of these kids are really talented, I’m jealous.

We had dinner, with a dessert that kind of reminded me of a honey crueler, it was a bread type thing that was dipped in lots of honey. Delicious. After this, we (the four counsellors) went back to the male dormitory because that’s where the tea is! I drink so so so much tea. You have no idea... every five seconds you are offered another... and it’s deliciously good. We ended up talking with the kids for a long time. About sports (their favourite Turkish teams... and why they should be mine, haha), the books they were reading (lot of Twilight, I was surprised, and they love it too) and other things. They absolutely love Photo Booth on my MacBook. They also keep asking me for my email and Facebook so that they can add me. I didn’t even know 11 year olds could get Facebook! We’re all quickly becoming good friends and they’re all really cute. I know I’ll miss them a lot when it comes time to leave.

Since there isn’t internet here yet because it’s disconnected in the summer, we took a trip into the city to use some WiFi. Had some more tea, and started to get really comfortable with everyone, at least that’s how it felt to me. This is an awesome group and an awesome experience so far.

I feel like I’m in need of a day off already. We all feel the same way. This teaching and energetic work is hard stuff. We’re talking about taking a trip to a beach of Turkey or something for a weekend (since we get them off and the kids go home). We’ll have to see.

Oh, I’m buying a Turkish cellphone tomorrow - I need it to communicate while I’m here. I’ll let you know the number if you really want it. They’re so cheap here, and unlimited incoming calls! So call me from Skype!

PS - The kids are still awake. Way past their bedtime. Tomorrow will sure be fun with a bunch of cranky pre-teens.

PPS - The washrooms here suck. I’ll blog about them soon.

First look at the school.

Turkish Ice Cream! (and baklava)

Lindsay and one of the teachers.

“You like this? ‘Oh, I don’t need it...” We buy this for you. This too.” (journal two)

Make sure you pronounce that blog title with a Turkish accent.

This morning started out like just about any morning starts. You know, wake up in some random Turkish teacher’s house to the sounds of live birds flying around in the room... have a shower with hot water that comes from a tank that is solar powered... go eat breakfast that consists of tomatoes, hot peppers, olives, tea and bread (another item that is eaten at every single meal... and it’s also delicious)... then start your day off! Sounds pretty typical to me... pause NAWT.

So after the crazy morning that will likely repeat itself tomorrow, we all met in a courtyard area for some more tea and to meet one other volunteer from Washington. She’s super cool and nice. So far, everyone is. I met the daughter of one of the leaders of the camp and she was so cute! All Turkish children are extremely adorable from what I’ve seen so far.

After talking for a while in Turkish (which means that I did no talking and the understanding-what’s-going-on part was not working well) we were told that we needed to go shopping. “Okay?” we both said. DC and I (and 3 directors) went to a few stores... we were told that we needed “sports shoes and things”. The first one only sold a brand called Lescon which is apparently really popular and a huge deal in Turkey (huh?). We both tried desperately to tell them that we were not in need of them (we had both brought runner type shoes) and thanked but it would not be necessary. That wasn’t happening at all. After what I thought was me telling them I didn’t need them and I had my own, we walked out of the store with some very, very good shoes that were ridiculously expensive, some socks and a really nice polo style gym shirt. Then at another store which also sold sporting goods we got some sandals as well as a pair of track-ish pants. It was crazy how much they would have spent in total, this stuff was not cheap. Just one of the many things that have happened that were completely unexpected. I am thinking that these shoes will become a quick favourite though... like Puma’s, but not. They’re fun and I’m sure not complaining... though now I have to make room for them to take with me on the way home.

After our shopping endeavor, we (again randomly) stopped for ice cream which we apparently had to try. Well, you ate it with a fork. I’ve never eaten ice cream with a fork. It was strange. ...Anyways, it was delicious, and had pistachio. Picture is below with baklava. It is quite sticky... and quite a thing to dry, but definitely worth it.

Once we were done our delicious treat we set out again, this time to the school that we’ll be doing the summer camp at. Well, it was absolutely beautiful. It’s just outside the city and the view is incredible and breathtaking. I’ll get lots and lots of pictures out there, trust me. They were still cleaning and that’s why I’m not there now. One potentially bad thing is that I may not have internet right in my room, which is kind of sad. Hopefully they will set up some WiFi goodness for us. There is ethernet around but it’s not so easy to find.

We started to head back to the city, but of course stopped for food again (which wasn’t surprising). More kabobs, bread, strange yogurt drink, salad, soup, grilled vegetables... and tea. It was honestly the best non-vegan meal I’ve ever had, ever. Not a single complaint about it, and again it was a very high-end restaurant. I have no idea how they afford all this for us when their city is so poor (these are government officials we are working with) but we just go with it.

As about the 15th random thing of the day, we stopped at a TV studio, simply because Flore mentioned that she took Journalism in school. We got a tour, stayed a while. It was interesting and I got a few shots there.

Finally, we get to head back to where I’m sleeping tonight, at a hostel in the middle of the city. When I normally think of hostel, I think of: small bed, shared washroom (if not shared room), no internet, basically nothing. This hostel is an amazing exception. We have nice rooms, large beds, a fridge, our own washroom (with a North American toilet... thank goodness. If you want to see a Turkish toilet, look it up. Not pretty) and the rooms are large. Just another wonderful surprise.

At about 8:30PM we went and met again in the outside courtyard (it’s right by a children’s primary school). We talked about what we’d be doing the next day. This is also where we learned that we’d be doing all the planning for each day. There was essentially no plan given to us, just that we were to play games and have fun with the kids to teach them English between 8AM and 11PM. Wow, that was definitely the biggest shock we’d gotten so far. We quickly brainstormed things for the next day and the days to come... we’re now going to need to plan two and a half months of lesson plans, essentially. Crazy.

Anyways, I really need to get to bed. It’s so late, and I need to get up soon. So, off to bed I go. I really hope to keep up with daily blogging but... I’m honestly not sure if that will happen. I guess I’ll have to see how it goes. It’s just going to get busier from here... but I know I’ll enjoy reading these in the future. If you let me know that you enjoy them too, I’ll likely be more inclined to continue.

So, tashakur and goodnight.

A shot of Flore (from Quebec) at the school.

I'll add more later... for some reason SquareSpace is only allowing me to add one.

Ta!

Salam, Turkey. (journal one)

So I started a post yesterday, and then I fell asleep, and then it was deleted. It’s all very complicated. But I’m writing one about yesterday, and then one about today too! So this is my day 1 post!

Being tired before you start traveling is not likely the best way to start traveling. I think it’s actually the opposite of what you should do. However, after calling Delta and the travel agent at 2AM because I didn’t even have a ticket... for many reasons it seems, there was definitely not a single second to sleep. Leaving at 5AM is also not cool. Just before arriving in Toronto, I checked my phone and I finally had a ticket. Phew. Perhaps I was just lucky, but it literally took 15 minutes from the time I arrived at Pearson to the time I got to my Gate. I thought that was pretty incredible, but I wasn’t complaining. One thing was that I still had 3 hours until my flight left... so thank goodness for the internet!

The rest of my traveling went quite smoothly and seamlessly. Pearson to JFK, JFK to Istanbul, both on Delta, and Istanbul to Gaziantep on Turkish Airlines. The last flight was by far the best. Nicest seats, best food, etc. Note to self - fly Turkish Airlines next time, Delta = not so awesome. I met a guy studying in Istanbul from the US on the second Delta flight (hello if you see this) who seemed pretty chill. Though I’m thinking both of us were way too tired to talk a lot. And when I did talk it was kind of a mumbling nonsense traveling talk. I’m sure I sounded like pretty much the coolest person ever. For about 3 seconds I thought they has lost my luggage... however, I discovered it wasn’t lost at all, merely hiding in a different section, thank goodness. So nothing too exciting to report there.

After arriving in Gazientep, two incredibly cool and helpful teachers (a couple, been married only 9 months) picked me up. They were cool and helpful for many reasons, which I shall mention. First, the view of walking off the plane. Absolutely freaking amazingly awesomely beautiful. If there’s one thing you should be jealous of, it’s the landscape. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It felt like so much to take in all at once. Mainly flat, very desert like with small green planes, large mountain type rocks. Just, wow. We later stopped at a restaurant called Yesemek where I got to try some traditional Turkish food. It felt like so much culture in just about 1 hour. It was amazing, so amazing. And a drink called Ayran that consists of just water, salt and yogurt. Very different, yet good. And if you’re wondering why on earth I’m eating yogurt as a vegan... well, I can say that I can’t call myself vegan right now, but perhaps that will be a future post as to what makes it pretty much impossible here.

After our amazing Turkish meal, we headed to Adiyaman, which is about 2 and a half hours from Gazientep and the city that I’ll be seeing the most for the next 2 and a half months. On the way, I saw so many very un-North American things. Animals with no fences at all everywhere, on the streets, with shepherds. It was really cool to see though. I’ve never seen so many goats in my life. And gypsies! Groups of them just all dance around in fields. It’s quite incredible to see. I wanted to go get a picture with them, not sure if it would be advised or not!

Once we arrived in the city, I realized (although I was told before) that it is not one of the more developed cities of Turkey. There are 3 levels of development here, well developed (Istanbul, Gazientep), mid-development, and less-developed (Adiyaman). This doesn’t make it less safe here really, but it does mean you can definitely tell from many of the buildings how poor people are. The mix of poor and very rich is quite strange. We have only gone to quite high class restaurants... which are a bit hard to find, because from the front of the building they don’t necessarily look very classy.

Anyways, we made it to a hostel. Had some tea (which, I learned is something that happens every single time you sit down) and talked about where I’d be staying that night. I couldn’t stay at the camp because it doesn’t actually start until Monday and there was lots of cleaning and things to do. The hostel took my bags, which... I thought was fine, but while we were drinking tea some of the Turks were talking, which turned into a sort of argument... not that I had any idea what they were saying. When they were done the teacher that had picked me up from the airport turned to me and said “Tonight, you stay with me”. I don’t think this gave me a choice of whether or not to actually stay with them, but either was fine with me.

We got to their house, got my stuff ready, and then it finally hit that I hadn’t slept in about 50 hours and should probably do so. I started writing the original blog post for this day... but it was... deleted after I fell asleep with Fazil (my MacBook) at my side.

I felt like I have taken in so much culture in just one day. Less than one day, 6 hours to be exact. There will be so much more adventure. All I can say is “Wow, I love Turkey”.

 

Random shot from today. Wishing I had a better camera with me. There really wasn't much to take pictures of... but there will be lots to come!