School & Settling In

Week 9 (Dec.12th-19^th)

While in the process of trying to find a gym, I ended up finding more things than I knew what to do with. I found a dance studio that is owned by a past Rotary exchange student who had spent a year in Japan and was very understanding about the need to go out and try new things, so she allowed me to try out a Latin/Zumba class. Now, I have two left feet and have never taken an actual dance class so this was a pretty cool experience for me.

Everybody in the class got a good kick out of me being uncoordinated and only partially understanding the directions but all in all it was a lot of fun.  At the class, I met a first year university student named Merve. Like me, she doesn’t know a lot of young people around Gaziemir since most of her friends live in other parts of the city, so her and I have started to hang out a bit.

On Tuesday, my host mum and I went to an aerobics course held at the community centre down the street from our apartment. My host mum wasn’t too interested in staying so it was me and a room full of middle aged Turkish women. The first part of the class was honestly a version of “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” that would have made Richard Simmons so proud. Then suddenly, LMFAO’s  “I’m sexy and I know it” comes on and all the women start going into high gear with their crazy Tae Bo kicks and arm lifts. The last part of the class was spent doing stretches and sit-ups. The music turned really mellow and after the class I asked the teacher what had been playing. She looked at me and quietly said “The Twilight soundtrack, it’s my favorite”. Even in Turkey, Twilight still has a following.

Agora Mall

On Wednesday, Haley and I went to Agora in Balcova and met up with a few of the other exchange students to eat before heading to a Turkish dance lesson.  After eating, we all headed to Christina’s (exchange student from Mexico) host mum’s office to get a ride to the lesson. One of the great things about Turkey is that you can somehow fit 9 people into a four seat car without anyone turning a head.

 New Year's tree at Agora

The lesson was a gong show. Both Haley and I had never gone before and we were both lost within the first five minutes. Turkish dance has a lot of foot work and arm actions, and although slow it was a bit difficult to keep up with; however with all the help from the other exchange students and both teachers, we were able to start picking it up.

On Thursday, Haley and I got to school and found out that everyone in our classes had gone to Istanbul for 2 days to look at universities and forgot to tell us, so when we got to school, our entire floor was completely empty and none of the teachers were planning on teaching until the next week. So with no students and no teachers to teach us, we spent the day practicing the Turkish we had learnt from our lesson on Saturday and making Christmas decorations.

Making paper snow flakes!

About halfway through the day, Susan (an English teacher from England who is also our school counselor during our stay) came and asked if we wanted to decorate one of the schools New Year’s Trees.

Haley and our beautiful festive creation

Christmas is not widely celebrated in Turkey; however New Year’s is quite big. Turkish families spend time together, get a tree to decorate and give gifts. The concept is similar to Christmas minus the religious aspect and typical Christmas traditions (Snow, Carols, Baking, Cards, etc.). We decorated the tree and attached little hearts with Turkish writing on them. Susan explained to us that each heart had the name of a child with leukemia and a gift that they wanted for New Years. Different students in the school would buy the gifts and Susan asked if we would like to be the ones to bring the gifts to the hospital and hand them out. Haley and I were both ecstatic and said yes right away.

After school, I went to another Latin/Zumba class and I decided it was something I enjoyed enough to keep doing. The owner had also asked me to come back and try her modern/R&B class the next day.

On Friday, Haley and I had our first Turkish lesson in school. Susan and a primary school teacher gave us a lesson on the alphabet and sounds of the letters, which was a bit harder than it actually sounds but definitely helped some things become a bit clearer.

After school, I met up with Merve and we went to her house so I could meet her family. Her mother is an English teacher so communication wasn’t much of a problem. Back onto food playing a big role, within five minutes of me getting through the door, Merve’s mum had iced tea and cake sitting in front of both of us. Their hospitality was incredible and made me feel so welcome.

After, Merve and I went to the R+B dance class and bottom line, it took more coordination then my body was capable of, so I decided to stick with the Latin dance classes. Saturday morning all of the exchange students got together after Turkish lessons and decided to go to one of the busiest streets in Alsancak and sing Christmas carols. Throughout the time we were there, we got all sorts of looks. Some were happy, others surprised and some just looked confused as to why we were there. Apparently no one has ever caroled there before so we ended up drawing in quite the crowd which included the local news.

On Sunday, I went back to the Anglican/International Church and ended up meeting 3 other exchange students, one from Belgium, one from Germany and one from Finland. They were all in university and were part of a 5 month exchange. That night, the church had a carol service which included a choir, opera singers and a boy singing Ave Maria in notes that even Mariah Carrie can’t reach. All in all it was a great experience.

Week 10 ( Dec.19^th-23^rd)

While in Turkey, I am attending a private school which is located in a part of Izmir called Hatay. For me, getting to school is a 45 min adventure on a good day but normally closer to an hour and a bit each way. To get to school most students take the service buses which are similar to an average school bus except that each school has their own with one bus for every district in Izmir. The buses are about the size of a van and seat about 15 people.

"Parts of the Body" Christmas style

Depending on what country an exchange student goes to and the current situation of schools in the area, a student can be sent to either a college or a high school, but mostly students are sent to high school. Haley and I go to a school that has students from K-12 and we have been placed in the 11^th grade class; however our classes have us bouncing between grades 7,9,10 and 11 depending on the day of the week. Every day there are 8 lessons, each 40 min long and unlike in high schools back home, the students stay in the same classroom all day and the teachers move between them. School starts at 9 and goes until 4:15. Because Haley and I are still trying to pick up the language, Susan has put us into some interactive classes that are supposed to help us pick it up like music, art and drama. As well, Haley and I have Spanish lessons five times a week.

Konak

Monday after school, Merve and I got together for coffee and then headed to our dance class. Normally we have a female teacher but for some reason or another we had a male teacher that night, Now, this class is all girls with Merve and I being the youngest, so when the 30’some male Latin dancer walked into the room, a few of the older ladies got quite excited. Personally I just liked the fact that he did all of the steps really slow and translated his instructions so I could understand. Different priorities between ladies, I guess.

On Tuesday, I skipped my aerobics class so Anil could show me where the post office was in Gaziemir. I had letters that had been sitting on my desk for a while that desperately needed to go. After, I made Christmas cookies for my host family and the people that live in our apartment building. Although my free-handed star looked more like a blob than anything else, I was told they tasted fine.

On Wednesdays in school, Haley and I have film club for the last two classes of the day. We go to the school’s theatre and watch some of the randomest movies. I must say I was a little surprised when the teacher showed “Shaun of the Dead” and called it “classic American film making”. Since then we’ve watched a few others; however they all have been in English with Turkish subtitles.

That day, we spent most of the class looking up trailers and looking through the lists of movies to choose new ones to start. As Haley and I were looking through the list we saw “Schindler’s List” and “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”. Having seen both, Haley and I started talking about them and asked others in the class if they had seen them. After a pause and an explanation from the teacher, we learnt that no one in the class had seen the films and the teacher also explained that the Holocaust is not taught in school and the students did not know what it was. This was something that I was really shocked to hear but the teacher explained that in school, Turkish history and European history that affects Turkey is all that is really taught to students.

Haley and I with the grade 7 students

I found this a bit difficult to grasp and had to keep reminding myself that each country is different and has different priorities as to what is important; however since it was something greatly covered in my high school, as well as Haley’s in Wisconsin, we asked if it was possible to watch both of the films sometime during the year. The teacher said of course and we ended up watching “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” the next few days.

Bottle tree made by the Gr.7's for the city centre

Thursday was my host mum’s birthday, so after school, I went and bought her some flowers and made a card out of one of the BC post cards I brought with me from back home. When I got to the apartment, my host mum had all of her friends over for what looked like the Turkish equivalent of a Mary Kay party. After the party I went to my dance class but when I got home the power was out due to the down pour that had been going on for the last few days. My host brother and host dad gave my host mum a birthday cake and we spent the night talking and watching my host dad attempt to make shadow puppets.

On Friday, Haley and I got a surprise from Susan. She brought us into the canteen part of the school and set up a Christmas tea party including snowman cookies and presents. Both Haley and I got slippers and a coin purse, as well as a beautiful card. Susan explained that she understood that being away from home for the holidays is one of the hardest times during an exchange, and that she wanted to bring a bit of Christmas to us. It was so kind of her and Haley and I are more than lucky to have her there for us. 

After school, I met up with Merve to go to Agora to finish my Christmas shopping. All of the exchange students were doing a Secret Santa as well as at the school we were doing a Secret New Year’s Santa. I also wanted to get a few things for my host family. I was surprised at how fast we went but after just over an hour in Agora we were back on the bus and all set for New Years and Christmas.