School Stuff

Up til now I haven't posted any pictures of my kids. I finally remembered to take a picture in class.

This is a great group representing Italy, South Korea, Turkey, Spain, Iran, Canada, and America. 

I have several of these kids multiple times for high school ESL, and then a pseudo-ESL math course. "Pseudo" meaning that it was not intended as an ESL math course, but the scheduling worked out that most everyone in it was a kid necessitating high school ESL and so it actually works out well because we can address those needs more head on. It has worked out great so far. I will try to get pictures of my other classes up soon so that you can see more of their beautiful faces. 

    Something I like about the school here is the family atmosphere. It is does not have the feeling of suburbia as is the case at times in the US. Here it is more familial out of necessity, where our kids don't all have opportunities to hang out and just chill in the same way a usual kid growing up does. Most of their friends (and most of the people that the non-turks know) come through the school itself. So, school is a happenin' place. The other day we had school wide volleyball games for our teams, and we played ourselves since the other international school is not fielding a team this year. It was a good time, getting to hang out with teachers, parents, and students after school and watching the kids play. 

One of the funniest parts of my job is grading. It's a huge pain, but at least mine are humorous. The ESL writing is great, but there are occasional gems - misused or misunderstood idioms, things that don't translate well into English, wordings that are literally correct but completely blunt or inappropriate.... all good stuff. I teach the high school ESL courses, the one math course, and then character. Character is a Bible alternative for kids who wish to opt out. We go over secular character building by taking universally accepted qualities and applying them to our lives. I have an awesome class of 7th and 8th graders that is more like another English class because we are studying character by reading novels with protagonists who demonstrate quality character. Then there is my Upper Elementary Specials class. Yes, Elementary. I have students in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. (Listing them was for effect if you didn't get it). Third through sixth I have one period a week. They get a weekly character lesson with ol' Mr. Knox. This class is  an intense study of the inner self super bananas.

           The kids are great, but it is nonstop bonkers. My kids in high school are amazing and mature beyond their years. My middle schoolers are transitioning out of being hyper-hormonal oversized children into real life people. But these little ones...they are insane. I love them; they keep you on your toes. One day I made the mistake of using the restroom during class. I came back and a 4th grader was missing. Poof. Disappeared. I kept thinking: "How have a lost this loudmouthed Gambian child in a room with no escape?" She was hiding behind my curtains, standing on the windowsill. Another time I had them working on an worksheet and one of my kids asked to use the restroom. "Of course," I said. Three minutes later I hear a knock on the window from outside, and open the curtains to see that same Turkish boy exclaim "THERE'S A CAT OUT HERE!" He did not mention how he had come to be outside. I dragged him in through the window. One of my other third grade boys turned in something that was absolutely golden today. It is worth sharing. (a copy of the text is typed below - with some translation).

It took me a little bit to figure out that he was talking about Steve Jobs, founder of Apple. 

Full Text as written: There was a guy who invented an apple and 10 days ago iullumanaty killed the guy who invented an apple. And the people who is ulumenaty they are Pitbull, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and Rhianna. And the people who is ulumenaty sell there soil to the devill. And even the ulumenaty killed Michael Jackson. And the guy who invented the fruit apple named something john. 


Translation: There was a man named (something) John. (speaking of Steve JOBS). He invented the fruit apple. (started the company apple). He is dead now because of the Illuminati. (A secret group of the most powerful people on the planet who control every major world decision)

Said Illuminati members are:

Pitbull (some rapper / Illuminati member)

Ke$ha ("singer" / Illuminati member)

Lady Gaga ( fashionista / Illuminati member)

Rihanna (helmet designer / Illuminati member)

All these people have sold their soil (ed: soul) to the devil and also killed Michael Jackson. 

Now, the whole banking crisis / world debt thing makes a little bit more sense knowing that these are the people calling the shots. Lady Gaga, what is with the bad loans? Pitbull, whats the deal with eurozone man? I digress - my kid is some sort of a Illuminati savant, and also draws radical pictures. Here are some that were drawn in class today. Please note that I am Superman / Rumpelstiltskin. 

Hope all is well in the states or wherever you are reading from! 

Much Love to all! - B + K

Goofy Stuff

    We see things every day that baffle us and make us realize we truly are foreigners. The way of life here is just different and some of the simplest things are more different than I could have previously thought possible. I am trying my best to document them. First and foremost, I need to mention my biggest regret so far in Turkey. The other day I found a tiny hedgehog on the side of the road. He was smaller than my fist and ridiculously awesome / cute. I considered catching him and making him my new pet, but didn't simply because I didn't have anything to put him in besides my grocery bag. I regret that decision every day. All I want is another chance to find him, name him, and make him my own.

Me too buddy, me too...

Something that is a little difficult to adjust to is not owning a vehicle. Honestly, it is a relief and we don't need one at all. It would be a complete waste of money. We can ride the city bus anywhere at anytime for a  meager fee, and we don't have to worry about insurance / licencing / dying driving here. Still, when you need to buy stuff it presents a problem. We always end up riding the bus to the mall to buy stuff and then taking a taxi back if we have anything big (like the one time we both rode in the back while our Turkish taxi driver dealt with a massive potted houseplant in the front passenger seat). Well, we went to the mall with our friend David and soon realized that our stuff wouldn't fit unless we all sat in the back and held an ironing board and drying rack across all 3 of us and out both windows. It was silly. 

         There have been other things that are not as much funny, as strange. Like the time we were in a Turkish clothing store and I heard a familiar song. It really weirded me out. 

Not everyday that I expect to hear some (sort of) obscure indie rock while we are out in Ankara. 

Now, this next video is from our early days here. Everything in it no longer seems weird at all and I considered not putting it on, but oh well. You can never have too much I guess. 

And then there is always this. 

See that picture up there? Of that seemingly regular sized man? (Ok, I am fairly large...I will admit). Apparently though, I am in fact a giant. The BFG. You would think that I am walking into Santa's workshop when I go through doors here. Our school door frames are probably only 6 feet tall and I have to bend down like I am getting into a car to go through them. The first day of school a group of Kindergartners and first graders watched me go through the main lobby all had this look on their faces:

"He could eat us alive!"

    As funny as it is, there have been setbacks. I broke our shower door by smashing my face into it. I have punched several walls after smashing my face into door frames (one which was so low that I thought I might have broken my nose at first). But, there are some funny instances for sure. 

I have seen many dominoes brethren here. They zip by on awesome Dinos scooters with red helmets. I want to stick my giant body on one of the tiny scooters and relive my glory days of delivery.

We even tried it out. It was terrible. They put corn on the pizza and no sauce. 

It's ok though. We washed it down with some children's milk.

Now 3 more videos of our life and (goofy) times. The last one is a treat. 

Hopefully by the next time I will have adopted my new baby.

Lots of love, B+K     +Sonic

Cappadocia Part 2 - "Welp, we are staying another day..."

       So, here is the second post that shows our great trip we took to Cappadocia for Kendall's bday. Our last post showed our arrival in Goreme, the Rock Valley Pension, walking through the streets, the outdoor museum, and a camel ride. Check it out first if you have not seen it yet. 

(a vendor for the famous Turkish rugs)

       After our trip to the outdoor museum we were pretty wiped out and decided to just chill, look at some shops, and walk the town. It was nice to just stroll around since its much busier where we live. 

 We visited an awesome pottery shop where everything is handmade.

These sweet D-90 trucks were used for the balloon rides. 

 A little view of the mountain apartments from downtown. 

 I thought this was crazy: VW bus with VW bug welded on top. 

 It started raining so we went to a cozy outdoor coffee shop and I zonked out.

 Kendall and her kindle thought I was silly and ordered us coffee. 

Yumtown. Also, the chocolate that came with it was unreal. 

      So we really just hung out for a few hours that afternoon and then went on a little adventure that was the highlight of the trip for me. Behind the Rock Valley Pension was an old cobble stone road that led up into the hills. We took this winding road up past amazing mountain apartments and hotels until we reached a ridge line. From there we saw one of the most spectacular views of our lives. It was a 360 degree view of the wilderness, the rose valley (with distinct red cliff sides), the famous peaks, and then an amazing view of the town. It was remarkable. 

 A great view showing the mesh of mountain and living space.

 A really cool mountain hotel. 

 We thought this door built directly into the rock was intriguing. 

 And finally, up top and looking out over Goreme.

 The view of the valley on the other side of the ridge. 

 Rose Valley. (Click the picture to see the erosion detail. It is crazy.)

 Kendall and I were calling this camel mountain. 

 A great view of the famous peaks from above. 

Goreme at night. 

      We walked down an hung out behind our hostel for a while and made a dinner choice. We wanted to go somewhere nice as a treat for Kendall's bday. After some deliberating and chilling, we settled on a Turkish place (even though there were some other options) and then went on. It was the right choice. 

The place was awesome. 

 Kendall went for a multi-course meal where you get a little of everything. 

 Stuffed grape leaves and salad. 

 I got a steak, but was very confused when he brought out  flaming shot glass.

 ...but then I understood.

 The remains were delicious. 

For dessert we had baclava and fresh fruits.

       We walked around some more that night, visited a few more places and then went to bed since we had to wake up and get a bus ticket to go home at noon. Well, they were sold out. We panicked for a little bit since we both have new jobs and were afraid that we'd look like buffoons if we had to call in a miss a day the third week of school because we were too stupid to buy bus tickets earlier than we did. We found one that would allow us to get back at 5am (which would give us just enough time to take a shower before going to school and finishing up some work!) but then we lucked out and got one with a different company that put us back in Ankara around 1 or 2 am. We bought them and then realized we had another 8 hours in the city. We went back to our hostel, whose gracious owners allow travelers to hang out as long as they want. Then we walked around the city some more. 

 We had some more tasty coffee treats (this one being a chocolate frappacino).

 Back at the hostel, we hung out in the gazebos to read and relax.