Why?

UPDATE: The hot water is baaaaaaack, baby!

Turkish Folk Music Club

Yesterday I went to the Turkish Folk Music Club meeting on campus. It's a student club, but a couple of my ELC colleagues participate, too. It just lasts an hour on Tuesday evenings, and there are loose plans to give a concert in December. Most of the student participants come to sing (as I did), and the other adults play instruments, although this time there were just three saz players.

A saz, in case you were wondering...

A lot of the meeting was spent discussing which songs to practice this term. Of course, I had nothing to add to this conversation since it was all in Turkish, but it was good listening practice! They did have sheet music for the song we practiced and the lyrics were written out syllable by syllable, which was very helpful. Here's a version of the song we started: Bayram Gelip Elime Elimize

I have a lot of practicing to do so that I don't stumble so much over the words. Unfortunately for me, our pace is a little faster than the video version! 

First Week of Teaching

Here it is, my official "teacher-sitting-at-desk" photo! Just in time to celebrate my first week of teaching at Koç University.

In case you were wondering, the laptop is open but shut down. I was trying to hustle to my appointment to get my real and true Turkish Residence Permit. Huzzah--another success! It now correctly states that I was born in Michigan, U.S.A., not South Korea.

Classes started on Wednesday with all the usual introductory games, boring syllabi, and exhortations to attend class faithfully. I have four classes, three preps, and three groups of students. Each group has about 21 students. That's about 60 new people in my life! (In addition to the 50+ new colleagues...)

I'm very happy to report that the students were all quite charming in the first few days. May it last! They are all Turkish, but from wider variety of cities than what I was expecting. There are only a few of them returning to the ELC for a second year. The rest of the newbies are fresh out of high school and experiencing life away from their families for the first time.

All of my classes are in one building, pretty close to my office, which is very convenient. The classrooms all have huge whiteboards on the front wall (the kind that slide up/down), wireless internet, a ceiling-mounted projector, and speakers. I've started using my backpack to carry my work laptop, books, folders, and notebook--heavy! (Still, I'm very happy that I don't have to bring my own laptop to work!)

I still have to get a handle on the big picture of what I'm teaching this semester since I only found out on Monday what my schedule was. What that meant this week is that the two sections of one class are already out of step, sigh. Next week, I have some catching up to do!

So far, so good...

Sunday in the Park

On Sunday, Alex and I met our friends Mehmet and Şeyma at Yıldız Parkı, which is a beautiful spot for wedding photos apparently. How we managed to take our photos without 5 bridal parties in each shot still amazes me. Mehmet and Şeyma spent just over a year in Tucson, where we met, of course. So, it was quite nice to have a reunion in their city. 

Getting to the general area of the park was surprisingly easy (2 minibuses from Sarıyer to Beşiktaş in just an hour), but finding the actual entrance to the park was not so easy. Here's the wall that taunted us for a good 20 minutes.

Finally inside the wall!

This lonely chair was sitting in front of an abandoned greenhouse.

View from the restaurant at the Malta Pavillion

Inside the Malta Pavillion

We walked around the park after breakfast (eaten on the patio, not the fancy room above) and enjoyed the end of summer weather. It was a great break from the urban crush...

Induction Week, part 2

This past week at work included more professional development activities, of course, and the suspense kept building--what will we be teaching and when do classes actually start? On Thursday, a subset of students took the exit exam (to measure if they were ready to begin as fully enrolled Koç students). The teaching assignments would be announced on Friday, so I had to be patient.
On Thursday evening, Koç University had its Welcome to the New Academic Year party, which was quite the experience. The invitation email claimed that it was for faculty and staff only with no mention of significant others, but my colleagues said that Alex should come anyway. As usual, there was nothing to worry about because no one checked IDs when we got on the bus to the party. It wasn't held on campus because they were serving (copious amounts of ) alcohol. It was impressive how much money the university threw at this party--the location, the food and drink, the live music, the door prizes, and the transportation to and from the event. (One colleague said she wished they would have put that money towards people's salaries...) Until the music started, Alex and I were able to chat with my new colleagues, but later it was just too loud--especially for attempting to converse in any Turkish! The singer, Candan Erçetin, had the Turkish crowd enthralled, singing along to songs of heartbreak in the first set, and in the second set, got everyone dancing to much more upbeat tunes from the Turkish songbook. (Costume change included). The party lasted until 23:45 when the service buses took everyone to their usual bus stops. The university also planned for the workday to start at 11:00 on Friday--very thoughtful, don't you think?
Finally it's Friday and I learn which level I'm assigned to (upper intermediate), but we have one more professional development session before we know our schedule. And then, here it is... my classes: academic writing/reading and academic lecture/discussion, my schedule: 10:30-12:30 (break) 2:30-4:30. To me, that's an awesome schedule, and I am working with very organized, friendly people. You know, it's almost too good to be true...
I'm just about to walk out of the office and go home when one of my colleagues stops by to ask for a favor. It turns out it's not just a favor. He needs to switch levels with me because his schedule starts at 8:30, but his service bus to campus rarely gets to work on time. Now I'm in that ridiculous position of "if I say yes, I'm giving up something that made me very happy, but if I say no, I'm a selfish jerk." Then the person responsible for the overall schedule comes over, and she wants me to switch (so, it's not really a choice). After much hemming and hawing on both sides, I do switch with him. I'm still feeling frustrated by this, but I have to remind myself that I only knew my assignment for an hour, and if I had gotten the other schedule to begin with I would have thought it was normal.
In my current level, I'm working with another group of friendly, organized people--and the level leader had this image in her presentation to welcome the team members:

Yeah, that helped...

On Monday, I'll find out what classes I'm really teaching; Tuesday we have one more day to prepare, and Wednesday classes begin!

Ben Geldim, Gidiyorum / I've come and I'm gone: a short film by Metin Akdemir

So often Istanbul is presented on its mega-scale, which is one reality, but I love this short documentary for its focus on the daily sounds of life in the city. A Turkish friend of ours posted this on Facebook and in his commentary he points out how these sounds, this way of life is disappearing with each new shopping mall or massive apartment complex. I can say from recent experience that it's not gone yet!

Here's the link to the vimeo site so you can read more about the filmmaker and the awards this film has won.

Protests in Turkey

There are renewed protests in Turkey.

The backstory is long and complicated, but if you are interested here are a few articles that can help you get started:

It's About the Park: a Struggle for Turkey's Cities

Delinquent Kids, Revolutionary Mothers, Uncle Governor, and Erdoğan the Patriarch

Brand Turkey and the Gezi Protests: Authoritarianism, Law, and Neoliberalism

Erdoğan's Masculinity and the Language of the Gezi

SALT Talk Puts Taksim Conflict in Perspective

Gezi Park Protests 2013: Penn Libraries

This article, #Yaşarkenyazılantarih, is in Turkish, but it lays out the June protests day by day with photos (p.22-41), which make the meaning more clear (I hope). The issue of the magazine only exists online because the print issue was censored by the publisher.

Here's a song about the protests in June that I especially appreciate for its steadfast, peaceful resistance.

(By the way, the penguins in the video aren't random. In June, the major TV networks in Turkey didn't cover the protests, and CNN Turk replayed a documentary about penguins for hours. Twitter and Facebook were the main ways of spreading information about the protests at the time.)

***

On September 10th, a sixth protester in Antakya was killed by the police when they shot tear gas canisters like bullets into the crowd. His death has renewed protests in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey. One quick way to get images and information about the current protests is to follow the Nar Photos page on Facebook. They also have a website which includes their other projects. 

To answer the elephant's questions: Yes, we are safe. No, we are not joining the protests. I will support my Turkish friends by distributing information and analysis to you. 

May there be peace and justice.

Induction week, part 1

Starting Wednesday and continuing to next week Friday, my English Language Center (ELC) colleagues and I have been attending various "Induction week" department meetings and professional development activities. There are only four new people out of 49 total ELC faculty. The new people have also been assigned a mentor to work with during the year. There's a lot of support for new faculty built into their system, and the experienced faculty are ready to answer our questions, which I appreciate a lot!
For the returning faculty, there was a desk lottery for those who wanted to new (apparently highly desirable) spaces. It was quite a ritual to observe as it revealed some of the office dynamics I hadn't seen in the meetings previously. When one lucky person got to choose the corner desk with windows, most of the others dropped out of the lottery. The new people had a second lottery the next day for the desks left over. I now have a desk that is not across from the bathroom, huzzah. I also have a university assigned computer, which I locked away in my little cabinet. I'll deal with that next week...
On Friday, the new people and a few returners were treated to a huge lunch at a fish restaurant on the waterfront in Sarıyer. It was HUGE, but there was plenty of time to enjoy the meal and conversation. After lunch, I had coffee with a couple of colleagues who wanted to hang out some more, and Alex met us there after his sojourn of the day.
On our way home, I stopped in the watch/glasses shop, which is basically a room the width of the doorway. I wonder if it was the foyer of the building in the past. I got a new battery for my watch for about $2.50--let's see how long it lasts... Also, we stopped at my current favorite bakery (Altın Pamuk / Gold Cotton) and got whole wheat bread!! Alex was not as excited by this choice of bread, but he can choose next time ;P

The wedding

Elif and Burak's wedding took place on Saturday evening. The weather was perfect, with a gentle breeze. Earlier in the afternoon, I took a photo of the cocktail area being set up on the beach.

Seçil and Elif

All dressed up and somewhere to go! 

 Waiting for the couple to arrive

Here they come!

It was quite the entrance

 

  

 The drummer collecting tips for the band

Saying thank you and good night

The gift, which has traveled from the Ann Arbor Art Festival to Istanbul to Erdek and back to Istanbul. I am supremely grateful that it stayed in one piece!

So, about giving the gift... I hadn't researched traditional wedding gifts before I selected this plate. Later, when I was curious about when/how gifts are given, I learned that traditionally people give gold (jewelry or coins) to the bride during the reception. In fact, as Elif and Burak greeted their guests table by table, her sister had a lovely bag to collect these gold pieces. When they came over to our table, I asked Seçil if I should give the gift later since she had to carry everything at the wedding party. It turns out that they would be returning to Istanbul on the same ferry, so I finally gave them the plate on the way back to Istanbul!

Erdek

For a friend's wedding, Alex and I went to Erdek, which is a very pleasant vacation area on the Mamara Sea. We took the "fast ferry" from Yenikapı--getting there was a 2 hour trek in itself (bus, metro, tram, taxi). The ferry took about 2 hours. It's a huge boat for both cars and pedestrians; when it's travelling, it feels more like plane travel than being on a boat. Unlike planes, you're not confined to your seat and there are shops for snacks and souvenirs. The ferry landed in Bandırma, which is heavily industrial, and we took a minibus to Erdek and a taxi to the hotel. As soon as we could, we went out to walk along the coast and find a place to have dinner! Here are some photos from the first evening.

This is the hotel where we stayed--classy! 

The "museum" in the Agrigento Hotel

 Look closer...

SOON...