We have not blogged in a while, so I decided to post a picture of my kids on the first day of school. I am missing four kids in this picture because they were not in Turkey yet. I will post an updated picture soon, and I promise to write a real post soon. Love and miss you all!

Finally Some Rain

We finally finally finally got some rain. It has been dry, dusty, and smoggy for the last month. I feel like my mouth is full of sand at times. I wanted to plug a friend's blog. They are a new married couple who teach at the school, and we have become good friends with. They have a pretty awesome blog and took some cool pictures of the storm last night. Poke around, maybe even leave them a comment or two.

The Stuff That Makes It All Worth It

          As I sit at my desk at the school at 11pm trying to finish grading essays and tests, this is mixed in with it. He isn't the best student, and like most 7th grade boys he can be a wild man in class. Still, that doesn't invalidate the encouragement. I'll take it where I can get it.

New School Year/Last Year Memories

Well, we started school yesterday. It was exhausting. I mean I got home and thought my feet might fall off (and I thought I am never wearing these shoes again). But I loved every minute of it. I think I was as nervous and excited to meet my kids as they are to meet me. I am just really thankful for my kids last year though because they kept coming up to give me hugs and say hello (I do not think they will ever know how much I needed some of those hugs ha). Do not get me wrong; I am very excited about a new year with new possibilities. It is just kind of hard that first day to see "your kids" move up to another grade and to a new teacher. I know they will absolutely adore the first grade teacher, Miss Page, but I have to hope that they do not forget me. Anyway, in light of this thought I just wanted to post some videos I took the last day of school last year. I completely forgot about them until I needed to clear the video camera. (I will post later this week about my new kids...who I already adore!)

lots of love, 

kendall

Tudor loves a lot about Kindergarten...all playing of course.

This is what happens when a tone deaf teacher teaches her kids how to sing.

Here is to hoping their first grade teacher can carry a tune.

Like Night and Day

The view from our new aparment at midnight.

 The view from our new aparment in the morning.

          Man, it is different here. It really is like night and day in ways. Please don't mistake that for a judgement on either place. It's not. Rather, I'm begining to understand a particular frustration that many of my foriegn students feel: a longing for 2 completely different places, which leaves you disoriented and unsatisfied. How can I simultaneously ache for two places, and how can I reconcile that fact since I can never be in both at once? How can two things so seemingly different both feel so comfortable? How can I be relieved to be in one, but also instantly want to visit the other? It's a conundrum.

         When I arrived back home in June, I smelled the hot pavement of the nashville airport and tasted stickyness of the air and knew without a doubt where I was. I told my Dad that you could have blindfolded me and had me test the smells of one hundred places and I still would have known. I've never been more acutely aware of what home meant to me until this summer.
     
         Then later on as we prepared to move back here to start the school year I started thinking about Cidgem. I could envision our Turkish neighborhood with the specific detail that I could other places I've lived, like Nashville and Knoxville. How bizarre to intimately know two places on opposite sides of the globe and to envision what was happening at them.  As we descended towards the Esenboga airport I wondered if I would have the same experience when stepping outside. It was unmistakable.

I'm glad to be back. My heart is in both places, but I feel a peace that I am in the correct one for now.

Touchdown Turkey

We're baaaaacccckkkk. Just giving everyone a heads up that we arrived safely (and so did our luggage!) We had a great summer and look forward to seeing your smiling faces again. The internet in our apartment is down, so we'll try to update soon from school. We start in-service tomorrow, so we'll be drinking lots of coffee and tea pushing through the jet lag.

arkadaşlar güle güle!

(bye bye friends!)

Traveling, Eh?

       Welp. We're in Canada. The friendly neighbors to the north have been nice enough to put us up for an eight hour layover before we head to Munich and then Ankara. Just gotta love a country where people says things like "Why doncha just go ahead of me in line there? I'm not in a hurry to get through security..." and the person checking your itinerary tells you to "enjoy your afternoon in Canada." Plus they gave me vinegar with my fries and there are people wearing shirts with moose playing hockey on them. I love it. Maybe I can find something funny to take a picture of in Germany. 

       How you actually know you're in Canada....