trip complete Trip started
(if you already knew that I was leaving for Turkey feel free to skip to the second paragraph)
I loved living in Portland, i view it as my hometown even if i did mostly grow up in Falmouth and it was the town i returned to after finishing university. I had an apartment that i loved with roommates that i enjoyed (most of them anyway, there was a brief period when the girl living in the extra room was pretty sketchy) and friends that i love; however i had a job that bored me to tears and nothing i was able to find in the area looked any better. So i decided to try something different, i have a friend who's teaching English in Japan and he seemed pretty enthused about it before he left. While Japan didn't interested me i looked around to see what was out there and ended up taking a course to become TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) certified and started applying. Germany was my first choice but they said i didn't have enough experience in the field, which is fair enough. So I flooded eastern Europe with applications and eventually accepted an offer from a school called English Time in Istanbul.
I spent the last week preparing to leave the states, saying good bye to my best friends where ever they were; i visited Farmington for a few days then spent most of the following nights at friends apartments in Portland. Some goodbyes were simple "I love you man, take care of yourself." style partings some where more drawn out. But as of Wednesday afternoon i had finished by farewells and about an hour latter i had finished packing. After a drive to Boston with my parents and a great many hugs and goodbyes i headed through security to prepare for my flight.
I spent most of my time waiting at the bar a hundred feet or so from my gate chatting with the bartender about travel and school and work and anything else we found interesting, throughout this conversation we often engaged the others who were sitting near by.
The flight was long, i played my game boy for a bit before i gained access to the in flight movies. watched the Sex and The City movie hopping to fall asleep while it was on and after realizing that i wasn't going to be able to sleep with the four year old girl sitting next to me constantly flailing in her sleep and hitting me, not painfully but often enough that it was going to prevent me from sleeping, I watched the second Narnia movie which i rather enjoyed as long as i viewed it as a fantasy action film and not as a recreation of my favorite childhood stories.
After seven hours in the air we landed in Zürich where I had a two and a half hour layover before my next flight, the time went uneventfully. I was to tired to attempt to be social with strangers and ended up watching some TV on my computer; a feat only made possible by my new computer battery (Thank you Poppa). On the second leg of the flight, only three hours, I had a window seat that i could lean against and i was sitting next to a very attractive English proficient German, maybe Austrian, girl; but in the end exhaustion won out and i spent the greater part of the flight sleeping against the bulkhead.
Arriving in Istanbul was easy. Other than waiting in a few lines to get my visa and get through customs it was a straight shot to get my luggage and find the guy outside who was holding a sign with my name on it (that felt pretty luxurious). There was another man who was new with me named Solomon who i chatted with while we waited for our car to arrive and take us to the Lojman which is the name of the dormitory style building where we're staying. Our driver didn't speak English but seemed very polite, he listened to western rap music and drove like a mad man to get out of the airport; the traffic and driving style of the Turks going too and from the airport terrified me quite a bit, Boston drivers have nothing on these guys, but at the end of it we arrived safely.
The Lojman is nice and very clean with a kitchen and lounge area on the top floor, five flights of stairs above the entrance, and two levels of men's rooms and two of women's rooms. I have a room on the second floor (which would be the third floor in the US but as with the rest of Europe they count them starting with the ground floor then first second etc.) the room is rather tiny, just large enough to hold a twin bed small little table w/ single chair and a military style locker for my possessions. The building itself is located very close to a large and very populated shopping strip where in my search for soap and shampoo yesterday i think i saw more people than i would see in Portland in a week.
I've eaten very little sense being here, last night because i was so tired and this morning because the heat takes away my apatite. the food however has been very good so far; I've decided i like lamb and the fruit is fresh at the grocery. I'm not sure at what point today I'll be taken to see the school I'm teaching at, or even if it will happen today but I've been invited to get a drink with some of the other people from the Lojman. I'm excited to go out with my new dorm mates but i don't know how long I'll be up for hanging out because I'm still a bit jet lagged.
The People I've met so far all seem quite nice and I'm excited to live with them for the time being. They are, in no particular order, and with their names likely spelled wrong:
Solomon: a 30 something man that arrived the same time i did, he's from Boston and the person i've spent the most time with thus far.
Niel: a mid 30's to early 40's man from Vancouver who showed Solomon and I around a bit last night.
Creig: a young Scottish man who has invited me to a drink latter who I've been spending some time with in the lounge as we both access the internet.
Nev: a young woman who is half Turkish but from Australia
Marybeth: another young woman who speaks Turkish she showed me where to find the money changer, i am uncertain of her nation of origin.
I loved living in Portland, i view it as my hometown even if i did mostly grow up in Falmouth and it was the town i returned to after finishing university. I had an apartment that i loved with roommates that i enjoyed (most of them anyway, there was a brief period when the girl living in the extra room was pretty sketchy) and friends that i love; however i had a job that bored me to tears and nothing i was able to find in the area looked any better. So i decided to try something different, i have a friend who's teaching English in Japan and he seemed pretty enthused about it before he left. While Japan didn't interested me i looked around to see what was out there and ended up taking a course to become TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) certified and started applying. Germany was my first choice but they said i didn't have enough experience in the field, which is fair enough. So I flooded eastern Europe with applications and eventually accepted an offer from a school called English Time in Istanbul.
I spent the last week preparing to leave the states, saying good bye to my best friends where ever they were; i visited Farmington for a few days then spent most of the following nights at friends apartments in Portland. Some goodbyes were simple "I love you man, take care of yourself." style partings some where more drawn out. But as of Wednesday afternoon i had finished by farewells and about an hour latter i had finished packing. After a drive to Boston with my parents and a great many hugs and goodbyes i headed through security to prepare for my flight.
I spent most of my time waiting at the bar a hundred feet or so from my gate chatting with the bartender about travel and school and work and anything else we found interesting, throughout this conversation we often engaged the others who were sitting near by.
The flight was long, i played my game boy for a bit before i gained access to the in flight movies. watched the Sex and The City movie hopping to fall asleep while it was on and after realizing that i wasn't going to be able to sleep with the four year old girl sitting next to me constantly flailing in her sleep and hitting me, not painfully but often enough that it was going to prevent me from sleeping, I watched the second Narnia movie which i rather enjoyed as long as i viewed it as a fantasy action film and not as a recreation of my favorite childhood stories.
After seven hours in the air we landed in Zürich where I had a two and a half hour layover before my next flight, the time went uneventfully. I was to tired to attempt to be social with strangers and ended up watching some TV on my computer; a feat only made possible by my new computer battery (Thank you Poppa). On the second leg of the flight, only three hours, I had a window seat that i could lean against and i was sitting next to a very attractive English proficient German, maybe Austrian, girl; but in the end exhaustion won out and i spent the greater part of the flight sleeping against the bulkhead.
Arriving in Istanbul was easy. Other than waiting in a few lines to get my visa and get through customs it was a straight shot to get my luggage and find the guy outside who was holding a sign with my name on it (that felt pretty luxurious). There was another man who was new with me named Solomon who i chatted with while we waited for our car to arrive and take us to the Lojman which is the name of the dormitory style building where we're staying. Our driver didn't speak English but seemed very polite, he listened to western rap music and drove like a mad man to get out of the airport; the traffic and driving style of the Turks going too and from the airport terrified me quite a bit, Boston drivers have nothing on these guys, but at the end of it we arrived safely.
The Lojman is nice and very clean with a kitchen and lounge area on the top floor, five flights of stairs above the entrance, and two levels of men's rooms and two of women's rooms. I have a room on the second floor (which would be the third floor in the US but as with the rest of Europe they count them starting with the ground floor then first second etc.) the room is rather tiny, just large enough to hold a twin bed small little table w/ single chair and a military style locker for my possessions. The building itself is located very close to a large and very populated shopping strip where in my search for soap and shampoo yesterday i think i saw more people than i would see in Portland in a week.
I've eaten very little sense being here, last night because i was so tired and this morning because the heat takes away my apatite. the food however has been very good so far; I've decided i like lamb and the fruit is fresh at the grocery. I'm not sure at what point today I'll be taken to see the school I'm teaching at, or even if it will happen today but I've been invited to get a drink with some of the other people from the Lojman. I'm excited to go out with my new dorm mates but i don't know how long I'll be up for hanging out because I'm still a bit jet lagged.
The People I've met so far all seem quite nice and I'm excited to live with them for the time being. They are, in no particular order, and with their names likely spelled wrong:
Solomon: a 30 something man that arrived the same time i did, he's from Boston and the person i've spent the most time with thus far.
Niel: a mid 30's to early 40's man from Vancouver who showed Solomon and I around a bit last night.
Creig: a young Scottish man who has invited me to a drink latter who I've been spending some time with in the lounge as we both access the internet.
Nev: a young woman who is half Turkish but from Australia
Marybeth: another young woman who speaks Turkish she showed me where to find the money changer, i am uncertain of her nation of origin.