CHEESE, Gromit!

Oh dear. There is such a multitude of things I want to write about, but there just isn’t time. The short of it? I love it here. I LOVE it here. Things I love about this place (in no particular order):

1. The honking. I don’t know how, but Turks have mastered the art of honking. For any or no particular reason, drivers will give two short, gentle honks while on the road—when passing another car, when pulling onto a street, when trying to get someone’s attention, when the light turns green, whatever! But I just love their soothing little honks. When they honk I feel safe and secure on the road…it’s like an old little babushka assuring me that everything’s going to be okay. Hard to describe, but so rad.

2. Eating 4 different types of cheeses for breakfast every morning. No joke. Four types. Every morning. How could life get any better? Not to mention the olives. Oh, and have I said anything about the hazelnut paste? They have this hazelnut paste that is literally TO DIE FOR. I’m bringing some home and we’re all going to have a party. And I want to try using it on a chocolate cake. Oh man. (When Sidika realized how much I ADORE this stuff she told me that for the rest of my life, whenever I need more I can e-mail her and she’ll mail me some. She was smiling and had a twinkle in her eye, but little does she know that I am going to hold her to that promise until my dying day.)

3. The literally Mediterranean breeze. Right now we are at one of the Ustunberk’s summer homes on the Mediterranean in a place called Cesme (pronounced Cheshmay) and I had my first moment on my own out in public today. I was sent to the market just down the road from their house to fetch some things and I relished the few moments of time to myself. I walked along slowly and closed my eyes a bit to just feel the breeze on my slightly-sunburned skinned (yes, mom, I did put on sunscreen today). It felt wonderful. The almost cool, barely humid swirls of air make you feel like you’re swimming in water from another universe. It’s not wet water. It’s the lightest, freshest, softest little swirls of other-worldly material your skin will ever set feelers on. Anyway, it made me think how funny it is how often we reference “Mediterranean breezes” and here I was actually feeling a literal breeze from the Mediterranean Sea on my skin and lu-huh-uving it.

4. Teaching English. Once again my passion for teaching and desire to do it for the rest of my life has manifested itself in a simple and sweet way. One of my favorite parts of the day is sitting down with Zeynep and Oguzhan (pronounced OH-saan) and reading with them and teaching them new words. At first I was having a hard time getting them to just sit down and read with me…all they want to do is play (which we do a lot of). So I had Sidika take me to the mall to get each of them their own notebook, (one Hello Kitty, one basketball) and flashcards to do activities with. The new system works like a charm. When they come across a word they don’t know in our books, we write it on a flashcard with the meaning on the back, and each day we go through the flashcards of new words. But their favorite part is the notebooks. I’ve set up the notebooks with a letter of the Alphabet written at the top and then have various activities that focus on that letter such as writing 5 words they know that begin with that letter, then drawing a picture of one of those words (they love that part), talking about 3 new words that begin with that letter with me and then writing a sentence for each new word, matching, fill-in-the-blanks, etc. I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to see things making sense for these kids. To have Zeynep give an even better explanation of a new word than I did once she understood what it was. Or to have squirrely, sometimes-too-cool Oguzhan light up like a lamp when I excitedly tell him “Yes! That’s exactly right! Great job!” I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this. I could go on forever…I have to share one more experience. Oguzhan has been slower to warm up to me than Zeynep. He has a harder time understanding me because his English isn’t super good, and Zeynep demands a lot of my attention, so this 10-year-old BOY didn’t think much of this foreign GIRL at first. (You know the age). Anyway, as he has come to know the true me (a more than willing opponent in billiards, swimming, futbol, basketball, games, etc), he’s loosened up and we’ve become buddies. But I didn’t realize how much my encouragement and positive reinforcement meant to him until today when he pulled me aside and confided to me that he had finished his Diary of a Wimpy Kid book that he started a few days ago. He made sure that I understood that he finished it yesterday even, not today. And when I said, “Awesome Oguzhan! That’s so great!” and gave him a high five, he looked like he would burst with pride. Everyone, EVERYONE, needs someone to think they’re great.

This is already too long, so I’ll leave it at that, although I could write my own Encyclopedia of Things Heather Loves About Turkey. If anyone has questions about the beat here, feel free to shout ‘em out…it might help me to focus my writing instead of blabbering on for ages. Well, I guess all there is left to say is: Goodnight, Wesley—sleep well. I’ll most likely have to kill you in the morning.