Wednesday's in Bilecik

Wednesday’s are weird. I wake up earlier than sin for class at 8:00 and teach through to 12:00. I don’t teach again until 8:20, and that’s only for a 45 minute session. Not a bad afternoon, then. I nap, e-mail, and nosy around the Internet for future job and school opportunities. I catch up on errands, which always takes an unexpectedly long time. That last sentence may not have made sense to you, but it makes sense to me. Trust.

I traversed to the nearest TurkCell store hoping to exchange large amounts of money for inadequate services and an inevitable gauntlet of inconveniences. TurkCell is Turkey’s premier cell phone service provider, and I am their victim. I have remained a loyal victim since my arrival and I don’t intend to stop. I like their orange and blue logo, and despite not having to pay to see it, I do anyway. But I digress…

I needed minutes for my phone, and that’s all. A half hour later, I’m chatting it up with the TurkCell employees, tea in hand, minutes nowhere to be found. Forty-five minutes later, my Turkish and my tea has run out. They’re finally getting around to the minutes, and when they do, I realize I need a blank CD (my colleague wants American music). Twenty minutes later, I leave TurkCell with everything I need minus a few Lira.

If nothing else, such experiences have taught me to leave my pride at the door. After all, my level of pride freshman year of college should last me through a few decades. I’ve chilled out… I stumble through broken Turkish, looking up words, and trying to substitute “confused” with “sexy.” Today was fun because I finally broke free of any reservations I’ve had with the language. I laughed, pointed, danced (interpretively), jumped, yelled, and swayed to get my point across. By the end, I wonder if the employees learned more about musical theatre than my desire for a blank CD. Probably. And in the midst of it, I felt like shouting: “All American’s are like this!,” but I didn’t.

I’ve realized singing “I’ll be Home for Christmas” doesn’t help.

I’ll try to teach Christmas without being accused of proselytizing.

Wish me luck. Goodnight, readers.