Awkward Moments Turn Into Awesome Moments. - Monday, June 15th, 2009 (journal 3)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 3:16PM 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.
Reader Comments (3)
Dear Luke,
what camera do you have? :P
Just a very crappy Sony thing aha :)
Hi Luke! Many,many thanks for posting pictures - especially the one of Lindsay:) Also, thanks for explaining that you were all coerced into purchasing new shirts and athletic shoes. I couldn't figure out why Lindsay emailed that she was going to town to buy these items when I knew that she had taken them with her! I just wish she had taken her laptop with her and that all of you had better internet service. Please keep blogging so I know what you,Liam, Lindsay, and Flore(a?) and the rest of the volunteers are doing. And thanks to all of you for giving Lindsay a wonderful 4th of July. Gorsusoruz (I hope that's correct!) Lindsay's mom