Our Big Move: Work a week, Have a week off! A great way to start.

Week one is officially in the books and there isn't too much to report. This week we spent most of our time in meetings and planning for the first few weeks of school, but there were no children around, except for the few children that belonged to teachers at the school. Both Erin and I are ready for the children to show up. We can't talk anymore about what we are going to do, we have hit the point that we just need to meet the kids and get started. I will be working in the Anaokulu ( the kindergarten program) as a wandering English teacher. I will visit each of the 6 classes ranging from ages 4-6 about 5 times a week to spend at the most 40 minutes doing an english lesson. These lessons will range from singing to crafting, but my focus will be on listening and speaking skills. I am enjoying the group of teachers I work with, they all seem dedicated to creating quality education for young children. I think I would be able to be of more help in planing sessions if they didn't only speak in Turkish. I suppose I have to learn Turkish.

On Friday night we were invited to an iftar dinner with our new coworkers. Iftar is the time during ramadan when muslims get to break their fast. It was a lovely meal at a restaurant on the harbor that included lentil soup, grilled chicken or köfte (meat balls), several different salads and for dessert, baklava. I was surprised to find out that the syrup on top of baklava isn't honey! Instead it is a syrup made from sugar, water and lots of my favorite, butter. It was a great night and a chance for us to socialize, since many of the teachers can speak English quite well.

Now that we have worked one whole week, we get a week off. It just so happens that Bayram (the 3 day celebration at the end of Ramadan) is happening next wednesday thru friday. Our school decided to extend it to the entire week and we will be making up the time on a weekend later in September. So our first European adventure is upon us; Switzerland here we come!!! We will fly out tomorrow then and spend a week with Dad, Grandma Stehli, Aunt Rosemary, Uncle Bob and a whole host of Swiss relatives. The excitement is building, but first we must figure out how to get to our 11:30 flight at an airport 2 hours away without a car. Tricky. Once again we will be relying on our boss and reliable friend Adnan to help us with translation at the bus station. Then off to meet the fam.