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