| ... |
[16 Dec 2009|06:54am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 drained |
] |
In just around a week, I will be visiting my sister for Christmas in London. It'll be a nice break; the last two work weeks have been brutal. We were going to try and go somewhere around Europe for the holidays but it didn't pan out. I'm glad to be with at least some family for the season.
What left to do?
1. Teach until Wednesday
2. Final proper substitutions for my classes on Thursday and Friday (the school's not shutting down for Christmas, of course).
3. Start Christmas shopping.
There's more I'm sure, but it's way too early for me to think about them. I had some weird 'prophetic' dream last night involving a gypsy soothsayer and members of my class involved in a huge all-out battle involving lasers and me killing people to try and escape some kind of onslaught brought about by the aforesaid gypsy's curse. Yeah.
|
|
| end of year. like every year. |
[13 Dec 2009|08:00pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 complacent |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"haven't got a clue" - the flaming lips |
] |
Take the first sentence from the first post of each month:
January: I was celebrating last New Year's Eve with an indelible hangover because I bought an early morning flight out of Vienna and wandered around from bar to bar with no hostel booked.
February: I think today wins as the day where I've watched the most sports matches in my life.
March: Just like at every workplace, you have the village idiot.
April: I have an article/vignette published at this site: http://www.litterboxmagazine.com/1travelrisner.html
May: The Franz Ferdinand concert this past Saturday was amazing.
June: So I've been trying to renew my passport all week.
July: I found it. [my flash drive]
August: Update on Indians, or ex-Indians: Cliff Lee pitched a complete game and gave up one run in a win for the Phillies.
September: I'm in Turkey.
October: And once more this week, another student has told me I look like someone else.
November: It's pouring out there again.
December: Exam #2 of the year is on Monday; I foresee a lot of failing marks.
|
|
| ... |
[11 Dec 2009|09:29pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 lethargic |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"to here knows when" - my bloody valentine |
] |
Result of the parent-teacher conferences this past week:
Tuesday: 9 parents.
Wednesday: 0 parents (big waste of time).
Thursday: 12 parents.
That's a very low number considering I have 19 in my 9th grade class, 11 in my 11th grade class, and overall 59 in my three 12th grade classes. Still, I'm glad they're over and done with. I wasn't too enthused about having to work from 8am to 7pm all three days. Especially as Thursday was my half day.
On Wednesday, I received three holes in my leg while playing football. Two people on the opposing team decided to wear cleats. I was a bit angry after the third swipe at my shin and yelled a bit. A few people on the other team told me to calm down and that "we're all friends here."
Right, well, I think I had a right to be pissed off. I rarely grumble, even when Yasin (this dude who is 3 times bigger than me) barrels over me on the pitch. Nor do I whinge penalty every ten minutes. Turks are big babies. I would need to add another arm to count how many times I've seen other players fall over, whinge, shout "foul" or "penalty" and basically complain when they've simply fallen over. It's annoying and I think the third cleat to the shin was the breaking point.
Tomorrow's Greg's bachelor party - it will be nice to cut loose and relax for a few hours in the evening. Starting in Kadıköy and will probably end up in Taksim by the night. Let's hope the next morning won't be too cruel.
|
|
| zzz. |
[07 Dec 2009|06:43pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 grumpy |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"misread" - kings of convenience |
] |
Parent/Teacher Conferences = EVIL.
I had them on Sunday. Sunday. And now I have to stay after school tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday until 7pm.
Time to bring out the coffee IV.
Oh, and today was the first time I wore my winter coat. Was broiling coming into the school and also while entering the apartment. It's going back in the closet until it's a suitable temperature for it. I guess it has to be cooler than 50. It's just too warm (shut up, I know).
|
|
| ... |
[05 Dec 2009|12:25am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 whiskey |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"constructive summer" - the hold steady |
] |
Exam #2 of the year is on Monday; I foresee a lot of failing marks. The students are being irreconcilable - and may I use a common Britishism here - knobs. Even my sixth-graders were insane today. In the last break, I leave the room and come back to find the hall monitor dragged three of my students from the classroom for fighting; they were actually swinging punches at each other.
Perfect!
See, if this was a normal high school with students who gave a shit about English, the poor marks would knock some sense into them. But they won't care, they'll take the ÖSS, and then they realize that there are still entrance requirements after the test to see if they CAN get into university.
The World Cup group draw was today! USA's in Group C with:
England
Algeria
Slovenia
Let's make sure we don't blow it this time around and not get past this stage, like in 2006. The England/USA match on the 12th of June should be fun! And it's on a Saturday, so it'll be a late night for all.
|
|
| for now. |
[30 Nov 2009|11:27pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 blank |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"serseri" - mor ve ötesi |
] |
For those who have said that the border crossing between Bulgaria and Turkey is horrible, I now agree. Such a hassle.
Fog was prevalent on my trip. Usually in the mornings and also at night, which did not make me calm on the bus as the driver went a bit faster than I'd have liked at times.
Plovdiv's cool. A nice break from the chaos of Istanbul. Most streets were empty by 10pm. It was also cheap, dirt cheap. For example, I ate a pork cutlet with vegetables at this one brewery - along with three beers for 10 lev, which is around 11 lira. Oh, at this place, the tap was AT THE TABLE! You could pour as much as you want, and it kept the tab digitally under the spigot. Just like at a gas station! Brilliant! Thankfully we didn't stay too long or it would have been dangerous.
Here's one of my favorite shots from the trip. He wanted some pork.
|
|
| .... |
[26 Nov 2009|03:52pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 supine |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
some wanker singing uptown girl offkey |
] |
Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans reading my journal. İyi Bayramlar to any Muslims reading this. I'm sure there are very few, but might as well extend the courtesy!
I head off to Plovdiv in T minus 7 hours. It shall be glorious. Will keep everyone posted - most likely next week - on what it entailed.
|
|
|
[24 Nov 2009|09:19pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 giddy |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"spooky couch" - albert hammond jr. |
] |
So today (November 24) is Öğretmenler Günü (Teacher's Day) in Turkey. Basically, a day that students get to show their appreciation to their teachers while being tossers the other 364 days in a year.
Today went smoothly. It wasn't perfect; the students weren't angels. I did not go mental though. I had many kids come up and say "Happy Teacher's Day!" in Turkish; and some gave me a hug, which was a nice gesture (even though I would have preferred baklava).
The thing I would like as a present would be respect for the entire rest of the year. It's wishful thinking and won't happen of course. Some days it's just trying to get through one of the tougher days in the week, with a lot of my students not giving a shit about anything but the goddamn ÖSS which will take place next year.
After school finished, we had this ceremony involving a lot of time wasted saying "thank you!" by showing then-and-now photos of kids-to-teachers, and having us guess who the picture of the child would be now. At first it was amusing, but after 40-50 minutes it grew tiresome. I left the conference hall while the designated department did the entertainment. It was a reenactment of Grease with all the musical numbers I've tried to forget after listening to them week after week while bartending wedding receptions in 2007.
They served wine and food after. Jon and I both had 5 glasses each. I think we deserved it. I've sobered up a tiny bit, but am still feeling a touch sloshed. This whole entry has been trawled over three times to make sure there are no errors! I think that's enough for now.
Happy Teacher's Day to all those outside of Turkey. All of you deserve to be recognized. It's a commendable profession, one that needs as many people as possible for the future. Thank you. All of you. Peace out.
|
|
| sportsmanship and rivalry. |
[22 Nov 2009|02:17pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 irritated |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"don't panic" - coldplay |
] |
I support Fenerbahçe, one of the many football clubs in Turkey. I am not ashamed to say it. Even after last night, when the team played abysmally. And I mean horrendously, beyond all forgiveness. They stood around, looked tired, and basically didn't seem like they wanted to be out there playing. True, the officiating was beyond questionable at times last night. In fact hundreds of games are being investigated to having been fixed in many leagues in Europe (including the Turkish Super League, 2nd in number of investigations below Germany). It was more fodder to toy around with our Beşiktaş pals who were sitting with us: "I bet most of those games in question were when you were champions last year!" Of course, it was all in good fun...
We lost to Beşiktaş 3-0. It was embarrassing. But, like most losses, you sigh, get over it, and move on to the next week. We're not finished this year; it's many months until the end. We're still in first place - but we might be alone after Galatasaray plays against Manisaspor.
BUT the one thing I'm tired with is having to defend why I chose Fenerbahçe alll the time. Everywhere it's met with a question of: Why support them? They've been known to fix all the matches. They have enough money, etc.
Well, I do have reasons why. I used to live within clear view of Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium when I first arrived in Istanbul in 2007. I could see it from my bedroom window. Most of the people I had met were professed Fener fans. What would be a better reason to support a team?
It's location.
It's family or friends.
Or it's a possible affinity with the club because you know a person from the team. (For example, if I had to choose a team from England to support, it would be Aston Villa because Friedel, the goalkeeper, was born in Cleveland.)
Those are the main reasons; at least these are the valid ones.
When people say "I support the Yankees" or "Chelsea's my team" or "I like the Lakers because Kobe is the best (one of my students said this)" because they're well-known and that's it, that pisses me off. It's just the fair-weather mentality and nothing else. So naturally when Fener have done horribly and people who don't support them ask me "Why are you following them?", I get a bit irritated. Especially when people scoff and say it with incredible disdain.
I, and a few others, were asked the "why?" question a minimum of four times last night after the loss. It's as if they expect me (and the others) to switch over and be a fan of Beşiktaş just because Fenerbahçe blew hardcore last night. I wanted to hit the fuckers who respond with a "So?" after we give our reasons, about where we live and my own experiences with the team.
What else do you want me to say, "I love Alex de Sousa!" or "Yellow and dark blue are perfect colors for a team"? And the fact that people say I should switch over because Fener's mascot are the Yellow Canaries: it's just ridiculous. Sure, the mascot's not the most vicious in relation to Galatasaray being the Lions and Beşiktaş the Black Eagles, but this is not the sole reason why I'll follow a team.
I won't switch sides because my team's in a lull. I won't be two-faced. It's stupid, petty, and it happens far too often for my liking.
Ben, a fellow teacher, is a nice guy and enjoys a bit of nudging and a bit of trash-talking - kind of what I wrote earlier about Beşiktaş being one of the teams to have fixed matches. But when they turn into assholes, intentionally being jerks, that's when I draw a line. Sure, he had bought tickets to the match, lost them, and now he and his girlfriend Özlem had to tag along to the bar with the rest of us, all Fener fans. Naturally they were out of place, naturally Özlem was pissed off at Ben, but she did not have to take it out on the rest of us. OK, I'm fine with them playfully taunting; it's what you do. Whenever Beşiktaş got a goal, there'd be the normal cheers from them, but not long after Özlem would shout a "FUCK FENERBAHÇE!!!" and be staring right at Katie for example. That's when viewing it lost its fun completely; it was waning quickly because of how Fenerbahçe were doing. That's uncalled for. Friendly rivalry's all right, but belittling and cursing people who are supposed to be friends is not OK. At all. I didn't go around making rude gestures at Justin, another teacher and Galatasaray fan, when Fener beat them earlier in the year. I did not shout right at him and said something like, "Leave now! It's too much for your insignificant eyes to handle." There were some fun jibes here and there, but nothing cruel.
I was almost tempted to shout at Ben near the 90th minute and say, "Hey, can you go and tell your girlfriend to stop being a bitch?" but I held my tongue. It would have come out rather childish and unsportsmanlike. Let them gloat; I'll move on. Take the high road. Etc. At least Greg was smart enough to do a table-wide request to stop: He said, "We're all friends here, guys."
Can't it be easier?
|
|
| ... |
[19 Nov 2009|04:51pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 happy |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"she's lost control" - joy division |
] |
After just about a month of calling, discussing, waiting and also stabbing, I have (and have activated) my bank's ATM card and CAN NOW WITHDRAWAL MONEY from ANY Garanti Bank!
This will make things easier in the future.
Time to pay the rent.
|
|
| duh. |
[16 Nov 2009|06:42pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 gloomy |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"lights out" - breaking benjamin |
] |
So I went to see 2012 yesterday. I highly enjoyed it. Not the best of the year, but still a well-made disaster flick. The sad thing is that I wished the last line was actually "No more Pull-Ups!" but ( this person ) just had to say "Nice." Idiot.
My favorite line of the night was actually said by one of the people who tagged along to the theater. She said at the intermission (yes, Turks need a time to run out and smoke): "Do you think they'll have another scene where they survive last minute?"
Irritatedly.
Well, yes. I expected tons more chase sequences with the lead(s) running, driving, and basically trying to escape the fury that will be unleashed in three years' time. It's like that in all disaster flicks, especially Emmerich's. Just see Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow. Every time there's a race against time, it's down to the last nanosecond. It's a rule.
So go see it. It's fun.
|
|
| part 2. |
[12 Nov 2009|09:36pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 angry |
] |
While I'm on a roll criticizing some of the people here, my head teacher got a message yesterday from a student's phone. This student (who had been in my 9th-grade class incidentally) had been at our school up until last Friday, then transferred to another one. The message just so happened not to be from that student personally; the message - from the morgue I think - stated that it was going through the list of contacts to inform them that this student had gotten in a car accident and was dead.
He was gobsmacked; he had talked to the student just the day before. My mouth fell open at the news; I had just taught the kid in my class on Friday!
No worries: It was a ruse. Pretty nice, huh? It was only sent to my head-teacher as well as a few others on his phone book. When I found out, I wanted to strangle the fucker. How do you think Roger had felt when he got the news, and then afterward when it wasn't true? He taught the kid all the year before in prep level.
I had been in the process of searching for trivia questions online for this event at school when Roger walked in to tell us about the accident; when he left - obviously overcome - I spent 20 minutes pondering on how life is so unexpected, and that anyone can go in an instant. No one's safe. The room was so subdued! Kathleen and Jon were on either side of me on the computer, somber now. Lisa and I had a solemn discussion on how often traffic fatalities are here.
I'm happy that it isn't true, but I've lost all respect I had for this student. This is just something you don't joke about. At all. Toying around with this subject is such a dangerous thing. That it might happen to anyone (knock on wood, it doesn't)! It is a reality here though. He should have thought we'd take him seriously.
|
|
| ... |
[12 Nov 2009|04:03pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 cranky |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"awake and alive" - skillet |
] |
I spent an hour at the bank today. At least now I can see online that I was paid this month. But I'm still unable to get money out of an ATM! I'd have to waltz into the bank every time and speak to a teller if I want to withdrawal, and it's a bank that closes M-F at 5pm and not open Saturdays. As my only half-day is Thursday, that's when I could get my money. Only then.
I even brought a fluent Turk with me to help speed up the process, and I could only manage painfully getting through the Internet banking password process to allow me to view my account information and amount in the bank.
And apparently I have to do something else while at the bank to do money transfers because I can't seem to even start this process online right now. Idiots! It shouldn't be this fucking difficult - even as a native speaker - to get all this shit sorted out. It's been four weeks since I opened this bleeping account. Four weeks. And I still can't use my ATM card.
Unbelievable.
|
|
| urgent message: |
[10 Nov 2009|09:53pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 pleased |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"epic last song" - does it offend you, yeah? |
] |
Dear Kevin;
I hereby grant thee a trip. It shall happen during Kurban Bayramı. You shall leave Istanbul on Thursday the 26th of November by train, and arrive the next day in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. For three days you shall indulge in many things, particularly in pork products and sinfully cheap (and actually good) beer. Then, you shall board a bus at 12:05AM on Monday, the 30th, and slog back to Istanbul. To aid you in your travels, there shall be alcohol and chocolate in great abundance.
Just remember what you will be leaving behind: mainly two normally busy days, a Friday and a Monday. As they are holidays, you needn't worry about them at all. Read instead, or drink copious amounts of beer, or sleep, or actually sightsee if you feel so inclined.
Kindest regards,
Me
|
|
| twerps... |
[08 Nov 2009|10:12pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 lazy |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
seinfeld |
] |
I teach three grades at my school: sixth, ninth, and twelfth. I will start an eleventh-grade class this week but I haven't had time to really get first impressions on them.
Suffice it to say: the maturity levels of all the classes are a bit on the low end, but the frightening thing for me is how high the twelfth-graders are on this scale. I have had to deal with talking and having one of my students call a fellow student a Mongol (which in turn caused her to run out of class in tears). I have had to deal with some of them making spitballs and flinging them at the map of Turkey on the wall by their desks. I've had to deal with a lot of disrespect, to make the description a bit shorter.
( and now comes the fun part... )
|
|
| into november. |
[04 Nov 2009|07:15pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
lethargic |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"cadillac" - the kinks |
] |
It's pouring out there again.
So I did not go to the ball. And I did not go into school last Thursday.
Nothing happened. Not even a reprimand. Weird. I'm not complaining. The main reason for this - I think - is that Monday was so chaotic with the new schedule that no one had the time to stop us and slap our wrists. The schedule I have isn't too horrible; it's just a very tiring Monday, seven lessons with the only break being a 40-minute lunch break at 12.45.
I wish I would have gone on a larger excursion since I had Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. Jon set off to SW Turkey to Kaş for a few days. All I did was a take a quick bus ride to Beykoz (a district north of Istanbul) which was cut short because the rain kicked in. Walking around a park when it's pouring isn't too fun, especially as you draw attention being one of the only people trudging about on the pathways. A security officer on a moped told me I couldn't go on one particular path; it passed by some compound, like some police headquarters. I must have gone too close. All that remained on the agenda was to have a bite of food. As I waited for my grub, I wrote a bit. I had a generous helping of ezogelin soup with a side of rice; I also ordered a portion of künefe, which I hadn't had yet since my return. It wasn't the best even though it tasted delicious. For one, they had no clotted cream or crumbled pistachios for the top! So I guess it wasn't "true" künefe...
There was a Halloween party on Saturday, which I was looking forward to. I had done a lot of work on my costume, at least to make it look somewhat realistic. You all know I went as Dexter. Here's one of the only shots of me from that night:
I kid you not. It was as if I repelled all photographers from taking a photo of me; I guess it appeared as if I had normal clothes on, no blood, excessive facial make-up. Only a bit of blood on the shirt. And the makeshift syringe. I did clasp my syringe and beer in the same hand - which eventually caused the tip to break off from everyone accidentally bumping into me. The place wasn't the largest of bars, and way too many people came for the event. Another expat group from some university had booked the bar for the night (in agreement with whomever had invited me). Ergo, I didn't have the greatest of times being cramped and sulky. It was good and all: I talked with quite a few people I hadn't yet since my return.
There were people however that I didn't want to see. For one, American John (the asshole who called me a Nazi two years ago) was there. Other tossers were as well. One of the newer people I've met (Gavin) and I both kept on mocking the DJ's music selection. There were a few good songs played, but it's a bit sad when you have to play "Smooth Criminal" (Alien Ant Farm's) four times and "Thriller" around the same number.
Variety. Please.
The screams on the mike got old very fast.
One of good people in the group lost her camera in the kerfluffle of bodies and dickheads; she probably had the most shots of me.
Oh, forgot to mention, Fenerbahçe beat Galatasaray on the 25th of October! It was a great derby match. Very fun stuff. Now if only Fener could have beaten Kayserispor last week, then I'd feel better about our current lead margin. I'm going to the Europa League match here tomorrow! Hoping for a win...
|
|
| nice dream? |
[27 Oct 2009|06:53pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 strange |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"positive tension" - bloc party |
] |
When I have strange dreams, I usually don't wake up feeling too off-kilter or with my heart racing. I do drag myself out of bed for some water or maybe to write a few notes down about it. Nothing incredibly major.
Last night though, I had a very unusual dream. Most of it lies forgotten except for a part where I found myself lying in bed at my old house in Lakewood. My mother came into the room wearing a nightdress; her hair was frizzy and flyaway as if having just woken up. Her eyes were shut, but perhaps a tiny bit squinted. Her mouth was wide open, and she seemed to be floating towards me. With her mouth open it looked like she wanted to say something, but all I could hear was a raspy noise from her throat. I couldn't get up from my bed; I could just watch her at the foot of my bed.
Thankfully I woke up then. I sat bolt upright, looked at my clock, saw it was 5.30, but I didn't really fall back asleep.
|
|
| oops. |
[24 Oct 2009|02:57pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 bored |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"this is an emergency" - the pigeon detectives |
] |
"I before E except after C
or when sounded like AY
as in 'neighbour' and 'weigh'"
( but... )
|
|
| killer pigs. |
[23 Oct 2009|06:36pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 paranoid |
] |
Started buying Dexter costume today. I bought some acrylic paint just because the tube was 3TL. For those who are artistically inclined, especially in regards to paint: How difficult is it to get acrylics off skin? I was planning on being a "messy" Dexter and doing a good blood splatter across my face. The hope is that I don't have to do excessive scrubbing and peel off my epidermis in the process.
I also got some latex gloves to add to the serial-killer/forensics analyst vibe.
Therefore, I need to buy:
1) a white shirt that will be allowed to have blood patterns on it (I have none)
2) a knife (preferably plastic as I'll be drinking)
3) maybe light colored pants (cargo khakis)
As it's easy for me to have stubble and my hair is close enough to his, the rest should be simple.
In other news, illnesses are popping up left and right at the lise. One of these is the H1N1 virus, as you all know. At times it's trying to have to teach kids who have been endlessly coddled and preened by their parents, but now it's good. The Turks are paranoid and have already closed down schools where the virus has reached, some for a week, maybe longer depending. I foresee this possibly happening at my branch if flu test results come back positive. We already have a holiday Thursday and Friday of next week, so I'm hoping - if it comes down to closure - that it occurs at the start of November.
Hell, it can wait until Kurban Bayram (end of November); an extra week tacked onto four-day weekend is fine with me.
|
|
| 13 days... |
[18 Oct 2009|03:14pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
listless |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
"love reign over me" - the who |
] |
I've been invited to a Halloween party at a local bar in Kadikoy. So far I'm not sure who/what to go as. I was toying with Dexter because 1) it would be easy, 2) it would not be too, too expensive, and 3) a few students said I look like him.
There's a photo of him a few entries back if you want to see the difficult transformation process.
Other ideas welcome.
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
rizardofoz's journal