TGIF

Well, I made it through the first week. I taught my students the phrase TGIF and told them to say it to any of the American teachers they saw. (I also taught them the phrase “bio break” which they thought was hysterical.) Each group of students has me for 100 minutes of Communication, which includes listening, speaking and reading, and another teacher for 100 of grammar and writing. I feel a bit like an improv comedian on stage for 200 minutes. There is so much the students don’t understand, and I find myself either acting out or trying to draw words and ideas on the board. If one of the students gets it he/she usually shouts the word in Turkish. Maybe it’s more like charades than improv but whatever, it certainly keeps me on my toes. And it feels like a workout. Anyhow, that’s the way it goes.

Also we get paid today. I’ll only get paid for a week, since that is how long I’ve been here. None too soon as there have been certain set-up costs. I think I may end up buying a printer, since there is no time to print in the morning after the bus arrives (usually ten minutes before class) and I often don’t have what I need ready before going home. Furthermore, there are no networked printers. So far, the UNT administrators have let me hook my computer up to their printer to make one copy. Then I sort of have to sneak into the copy room. I’ve learned to use the fax machine to make a few copies – one of the admins showed me that trick (the fax machine wasn't there this afternoon when I went to make two copies.) But I sometimes think that I could be teaching in the bush somewhere without anything but maybe an old blackboard. We’ve just become so dependent on technology that we get miffed when something doesn’t function.

I think I may take a little walk in the hills this afternoon. The Internet is down at the moment so I might just as well enjoy the outdoors.

Update: There were no sheep this morning, but when the bus pulled out of the campus this evening, the flock was on the other side of the road. The shepherd was sitting sideways on a donkey, his legs swinging. There are some goats mixed in and it looked like there was a baby black and white goat on the ground near the donkey. Looks like the shepherd was keeping watch over him while the other animals grazed a way off.