(no subject)
Of, I know I ought to update more, but it's hot and I'm sticky and where do I start?
Well. Finally I have been in proper contact with three potential employers for next year. Fatih University is in Büyükçekmece, which really is, as Kitty would say, "Bumblefuck" -- way beyond the airport, and you get there by getting a bus from Şirinevler, where I've never been, but I know you can get there by minibus from Bakırköy, and all in all it sounds like I would be living there and never leaving and for all intents and purposes not being in İstanbul.
Sounds like a good job though... work visa, health insurance, more money per month than I'm making now, accommodation allowance twice what's given at Interlang... not bad. And Büyükçekmece, which means "big lake," is supposed to be very beautiful, somehow managing to be on the coast both of its own Big Lake and the seaside as well.
Then, Alison put me on the trail of a primary school called FMV Işık in a business district called Maslak which is close to Taksim (the happeningest part of European İstanbul). The pay there is even better than Fatih and they offer free accommodation, again health insurance, work visa etc, and about nine weeks vacation per year (it's a school after all) although I don't know if those would be paid or un-. Finally, while trying to get in touch with the director, I talked to a teacher there who says she's really happy, the conditions are great, none of the teachers are leaving this year, it's just that a new position has apparently opened up. I finally got in contact with the director last Friday. She told me she was going on holiday but if I sent her my CV she'd forward it to the principals and hopefully they could arrange something. Fingers crossed, it sounds like an amazing deal, although I really wish I had some proper training in teaching children. I know others have done it, and done it well, I know I'm good with children and I know I've become a good teacher, but combining the two...? Well, we'll see if I even have a shot at the job and then I'll think about it.
Finally, another private university, Yıldız Technical University, sent me an email last Friday in response to the CV I sent almost two weeks ago saying that I can go in and take their candidate teacher exam on Monday (ie TOMORROW) at ten a.m. Good luck me. Yıldız is in İstanbul proper -- in Davutpaşa, just a few metro stops away from Bakırköy.
Of. Did I say it was hot? I tried wearing jeans on my day off last Friday and they were sticking to me in ten minutes so I peeled them off. Then I tried skirts... anything even mildly close-fitting sticks, especially if it's synthetic fabric, or the waistband itches. I need to get me some blowsy cotton dresses, I do. When I got off the dolmuş from Taksim today my thighs were slippery against each other and I didn't even realise till that moment that my legs had been sweating. And I'm wearing a blowsy natural fibre skirt!
Anyway, I am thinking about 2006. My advisors and reference letter writers have me so pegged for PhD material that my mentor, Professor Polzer, sent me an email advising me to look at quality but lower-profile unis in the USA such as the U of Indiana, Bloomington. But I'm beginning to realise more and more that I don't want just some, any, now please, PhD in some religion-related topic. I'd far rather have a second M.A. that leads me to a hands-on career in international relations of some sort. Or... well... maybe not... *thinks back to American Academy of Religion conference which made me so starry-eyed back in '02*...
Well, anyway. While I was job-hunting, I took a risk by going in person to Galatasary University, which is a state, not private university, and I was therefore looked at down the nose of the man who spoke to me, who informed me that their language of instruction was French, not English (oops... I didn't do my homework properly) and therefore their preparatory programme is in French and their English classes are run through the school of Foreign Languages. He said there might be part-time, evening and weekend work, for me, and took my CV, but advised me to look at the private universities rather than the state ones. Right then.
Although I don't think I'll be working for Galatasary or any of the state unis, wandering around their beautiful campus made me think that it wouldn't be a bad place to *study.* There are quite a few unis in Turkey that have good reputations in IR-related fields. And they're cheap. And I have a feeling that finding Turkish-language courses at them would be really easy. I had a troll through the offerings on the internet and found most of the websites very unhelpful, but had my interest piqued by an MSc European Union Studies at Bosphorus University and a set of three -- European Studies, Eurasian Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies -- at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, which apparently has the best reputation within Turkey.
None of them are perfect, but I wonder if I could get in touch with someone at one of these universities who could advise me on where I *could* look for a programme matching my interests.
I've been honing these interests quite finely, and was actually able to pin it all down fairly neatly recently while pondering Life the Universe and Everything on one of my frequent dolmuş jaunts to or from Taksim, I forget which.
First, I am interested in Islam in Europe. I am interested in its historical place, considering especially Moorish Spain and the Balkans; and its current place, considering the ever-increasing migration of people from Islamic nations to Europe, and the mixed welcome they're receiving. And I'm interested in the effect that Turkey -- and no matter how comfortable and normal I feel here and how cosmopolitan and modern I consider it, Turkey is a 99% Muslim nation -- joining the EU would have on this relationship. Is it historically justifiable? IS Turkey European?
So, second, I'm interested in Turkey. I'm interested in Turkey and the Balkans, Turkey and the Muslim world, Turkey and the Black Sea region, Turkey and the Caucasus, with the Turkic "stan" nations. I'm interested in the 'stans as ex-Soviet states. I'm interested in Turkish Islam, resurgent fundamentalism, the headscarf ban. I'm interested in its 6,000 year history, from the Hittites to Byzantium to the Osmanlık Empire to Atatürk and the blink of time from him to now.
I seem to remember that there's a Turkish studies MA at Harvard. Uh-oh, here we go again....
Speaking of here we go again, I still have a nagging feeling that I ought to re-apply to McGill law, as well as to the UK Colleges of Law.
Oh, and finally...
Bought my tickets to Düsseldorf yesterday. I was so fussy about dates -- the tenth or the eleventh there please, no, not too late or too early, the sixteenth coming back, ONLY the sixteenth will do, and seven-forty-five a.m. is NOT OK (too early for bookshops to be open) and so forth -- that I ended up having to get an Al Italia ticket. Price-wise, this is OK, but it means I'm stopping over in Milan both ways. LOL... result? Leaving five a.m. from İstanbul, arriving 11:45 a.m. Düsseldorf on the tenth... I forget what time I'm leaving Düsseldorf but I seem to remember mid-afternoon, and arriving after midnight in İstanbul. Of ya. Oh well. Prepare for a flying visit, Jabs!
Well. Finally I have been in proper contact with three potential employers for next year. Fatih University is in Büyükçekmece, which really is, as Kitty would say, "Bumblefuck" -- way beyond the airport, and you get there by getting a bus from Şirinevler, where I've never been, but I know you can get there by minibus from Bakırköy, and all in all it sounds like I would be living there and never leaving and for all intents and purposes not being in İstanbul.
Sounds like a good job though... work visa, health insurance, more money per month than I'm making now, accommodation allowance twice what's given at Interlang... not bad. And Büyükçekmece, which means "big lake," is supposed to be very beautiful, somehow managing to be on the coast both of its own Big Lake and the seaside as well.
Then, Alison put me on the trail of a primary school called FMV Işık in a business district called Maslak which is close to Taksim (the happeningest part of European İstanbul). The pay there is even better than Fatih and they offer free accommodation, again health insurance, work visa etc, and about nine weeks vacation per year (it's a school after all) although I don't know if those would be paid or un-. Finally, while trying to get in touch with the director, I talked to a teacher there who says she's really happy, the conditions are great, none of the teachers are leaving this year, it's just that a new position has apparently opened up. I finally got in contact with the director last Friday. She told me she was going on holiday but if I sent her my CV she'd forward it to the principals and hopefully they could arrange something. Fingers crossed, it sounds like an amazing deal, although I really wish I had some proper training in teaching children. I know others have done it, and done it well, I know I'm good with children and I know I've become a good teacher, but combining the two...? Well, we'll see if I even have a shot at the job and then I'll think about it.
Finally, another private university, Yıldız Technical University, sent me an email last Friday in response to the CV I sent almost two weeks ago saying that I can go in and take their candidate teacher exam on Monday (ie TOMORROW) at ten a.m. Good luck me. Yıldız is in İstanbul proper -- in Davutpaşa, just a few metro stops away from Bakırköy.
Of. Did I say it was hot? I tried wearing jeans on my day off last Friday and they were sticking to me in ten minutes so I peeled them off. Then I tried skirts... anything even mildly close-fitting sticks, especially if it's synthetic fabric, or the waistband itches. I need to get me some blowsy cotton dresses, I do. When I got off the dolmuş from Taksim today my thighs were slippery against each other and I didn't even realise till that moment that my legs had been sweating. And I'm wearing a blowsy natural fibre skirt!
Anyway, I am thinking about 2006. My advisors and reference letter writers have me so pegged for PhD material that my mentor, Professor Polzer, sent me an email advising me to look at quality but lower-profile unis in the USA such as the U of Indiana, Bloomington. But I'm beginning to realise more and more that I don't want just some, any, now please, PhD in some religion-related topic. I'd far rather have a second M.A. that leads me to a hands-on career in international relations of some sort. Or... well... maybe not... *thinks back to American Academy of Religion conference which made me so starry-eyed back in '02*...
Well, anyway. While I was job-hunting, I took a risk by going in person to Galatasary University, which is a state, not private university, and I was therefore looked at down the nose of the man who spoke to me, who informed me that their language of instruction was French, not English (oops... I didn't do my homework properly) and therefore their preparatory programme is in French and their English classes are run through the school of Foreign Languages. He said there might be part-time, evening and weekend work, for me, and took my CV, but advised me to look at the private universities rather than the state ones. Right then.
Although I don't think I'll be working for Galatasary or any of the state unis, wandering around their beautiful campus made me think that it wouldn't be a bad place to *study.* There are quite a few unis in Turkey that have good reputations in IR-related fields. And they're cheap. And I have a feeling that finding Turkish-language courses at them would be really easy. I had a troll through the offerings on the internet and found most of the websites very unhelpful, but had my interest piqued by an MSc European Union Studies at Bosphorus University and a set of three -- European Studies, Eurasian Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies -- at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, which apparently has the best reputation within Turkey.
None of them are perfect, but I wonder if I could get in touch with someone at one of these universities who could advise me on where I *could* look for a programme matching my interests.
I've been honing these interests quite finely, and was actually able to pin it all down fairly neatly recently while pondering Life the Universe and Everything on one of my frequent dolmuş jaunts to or from Taksim, I forget which.
First, I am interested in Islam in Europe. I am interested in its historical place, considering especially Moorish Spain and the Balkans; and its current place, considering the ever-increasing migration of people from Islamic nations to Europe, and the mixed welcome they're receiving. And I'm interested in the effect that Turkey -- and no matter how comfortable and normal I feel here and how cosmopolitan and modern I consider it, Turkey is a 99% Muslim nation -- joining the EU would have on this relationship. Is it historically justifiable? IS Turkey European?
So, second, I'm interested in Turkey. I'm interested in Turkey and the Balkans, Turkey and the Muslim world, Turkey and the Black Sea region, Turkey and the Caucasus, with the Turkic "stan" nations. I'm interested in the 'stans as ex-Soviet states. I'm interested in Turkish Islam, resurgent fundamentalism, the headscarf ban. I'm interested in its 6,000 year history, from the Hittites to Byzantium to the Osmanlık Empire to Atatürk and the blink of time from him to now.
I seem to remember that there's a Turkish studies MA at Harvard. Uh-oh, here we go again....
Speaking of here we go again, I still have a nagging feeling that I ought to re-apply to McGill law, as well as to the UK Colleges of Law.
Oh, and finally...
Bought my tickets to Düsseldorf yesterday. I was so fussy about dates -- the tenth or the eleventh there please, no, not too late or too early, the sixteenth coming back, ONLY the sixteenth will do, and seven-forty-five a.m. is NOT OK (too early for bookshops to be open) and so forth -- that I ended up having to get an Al Italia ticket. Price-wise, this is OK, but it means I'm stopping over in Milan both ways. LOL... result? Leaving five a.m. from İstanbul, arriving 11:45 a.m. Düsseldorf on the tenth... I forget what time I'm leaving Düsseldorf but I seem to remember mid-afternoon, and arriving after midnight in İstanbul. Of ya. Oh well. Prepare for a flying visit, Jabs!