The first day

Vacation started off fairly smoothly. I passed the morning by packing and then visiting a friend. I figured this meant everything would go smoothly, and then I got to the airport. I went through the first two security points, checked in, went through passport control, and waited for them to announce the flight. Then, as I was going through the final security scan into the gate, the workers stopped me. They took my shaving gel, toothpaste, and small container of hand sanitizer.

I am not sure why they were so adamant about taking these things as they were, according to the website, allowable on the plane. It looks like that from now on, I will be unable to travel with only one bag, at least if I want to take anything on the plane with me.

The flight itself was uneventful. We went up, we landed. Of course we were an hour late, but that is nothing new from this airline. Normally I wouldn't have cared that I was an hour late, but I was planning on meeting someone at the airport in Istanbul and catch a train to Thessaloniki, Greece. Upon arrival to the airport, things went smoothly. I found Meredith very easily, and we boarded the metro.

We exited the metro to transfer to the tram. Unfortunately, we needed to buy another token in order to achieve this transfer. We didn't have enough money for the two of us, so Meredeth pulled money out of the ATM so we could purchase a couple of tokens. We hurried and boarded the first tram we saw. After the first couple of stops, I realized we were going in the wrong direction, so we got out and waited for one going in the other direction. We road back to where we started and waited to move on to the next station. Finally the tram started moving...in the wrong direction!

We got off at the very next stop, caught the next tram back, and got out. I was very grateful that as long as we didn't leave the gate, we wouldn't have to pay for anymore tokens. I just couldn't figure out why this tram didn't go where the sign said it would. We walked up to the turnstiles and looked around. Off to the right was another tram! We rushed onto that one and made it to the train station.

We ran into the train station only to find our train had left 5 minutes earlier! I looked at Meredith and asked her where she wanted to go. We decided that we would go to Belgrade. They were unable to sell us a ticket to Belgrade, so we went to Sophia, Bulgaria. We then got something to eat and waited for the train.

The train ride was long and uneventful. When we stopped at the border, passport control took Meredith's and my passports. He told me to go into the office and wait for him. I waited for what seemed an eternity. Finally he came from the train with only our two passports. The passport control guy stamped them and we were on our way. 9:30am Sophia!

Ahh...the Pain!

Now that I am back from vacation, I have to get back into work mode. I am not so sure I was ready for work on Wednesday and Thursday, but it went alright. I have been exhausted, and I did nothing all day yesterday. But I feel much better about things here since I left.

Of course, I have to write a little about my vacation, but I am having a bit of a problem concentrating. I am having severe tooth pain. It seems that my wisdom tooth is pushing on my others; perhaps it wasn't so wise to keep it in. It has been causing headaches as well.

My roommate's brother is a dentist, so perhaps the beginning of next month, I can go to him and get this taken care of. I hope that it isn't too expensive; there is just no way that I can take this pain for too much longer.

What to do?!

I finished marking exams and found that only one of my students actually answered the essay question correctly. It seems that all the others misunderstood, or didn't understand at all, the word "deserve". Due to this, the highest grade they are supposedly able to earn is a 4 out of 20. This just seems a bit unfair to me. As the exam was a reading and writing exam, I feel that they should get a bit more if they were able to construct the essay in a coherent manner. I can't help but think that they shouldn't be held accountable for a word that was not taught to them.

I guess I need to talk with the dean (or someone) about this. They may all just get failing grades because of this. I guess we shall just have to wait and see.

The class is going great besides that though. We are now lessening the number of books we have to get through, so I have more time to work and practice the material. The class is only 9 students so we can do more group work. Things are definitely looking up.

Teaching pluses

The days have been filled with weirdness and such. We have started to implement changes in how we are doing things. We are now able to give back the tests and go over them with the students so they can learn from them (we are all happy about that), and we have learned that the books we are using are not meant to be used until the next class. Quite the interesting bit of information.

In addition to all of this, I was told by one of my students that she was accepted into the Iraqi Youth Leadership Program! If all goes well at her interview at the embassy in Baghdad, she will be going to Washington, DC for six weeks this summer to interact with other Iraqis and Americans in a program that emphasizes cultural exchange. I am so excited for her. It was very exciting to be a part of her getting into this program.

My part of the process was quite small, but the sense of accomplishment or helpfulness (or whatever it is) is intense. For the first time in my life, I wrote a recommendation letter. She is a great student and very deserving of this opportunity, so it was easy to write a glowing report, but to know that I had a part in it, no matter how small, makes me feel good. I just hope she is able to take advantage of it.

Still alive and well!!

Another Tuesday. This is the day of my split shift. Unfortunately, the time that I have off is useless for anything. I can't really go home and accomplish anything, so once again, I basically sit at the office and try to finish work that I normally wouldn't be able to do. I really don't know if my brain has something against concentrating when it is supposed to, but it seems to be the case.

I am having loads of fun with my classes now. The Advanced students are doing things that "real" university students are supposed to be doing, and my Intermediate students are nontraditional students and therefore more focused and serious. I have sat in on the math class, a couple science classes. These have been both fun and informative. I have reaffirmed some of my ideas that I have, but of course, this doesn't allow for the fact that I have no power to do anything except suggest.

I am learning so much here, and I may actually decided to spend another year here in hopes that things improve. (I was supposed to have made that decision by yesterday, but they don't have the new contracts for us to look at yet. I was informed that they are reevaluating the pay, which will be a HUGE plus.) I still look at other positions locally and in other places as I like to keep my options open and to dream, but I will not make a final decision until they finally present a contract.

We were told that all of the complaints we have been having about not being listened to, and that they were trying to run things from Lebanon while not really knowing what is going on here have all been heard. It seems that they have actually been looking to us to help them in the planning and implementation of everything. They realize that they need our help because we are the ones here and, therefore, the ones who know what is going on. I am not sure where, but somewhere along the line, this message has not been getting through.

My sleeping and eating habits have not really gotten much better. I know they are bad and need to be improved; I just hope that I am able to do that. I drink too much coffee, but it puts me to sleep, so it doesn't cause quite the problem one would expect. This probably has to do with the needing of various vitamins and minerals that I am not currently getting, but I am working on it. Fruits and vegetables are my friends!

All in all, I am doing well. Vacation is coming and I can't wait! I get to meet up with a friend, go to a teacher conference in Athens, hopefully go to Sophia, Bulgaria, and then tour around Istanbul, Turkey again. There will hopefully be other stops on the way, but we shall see that when the time comes. Here's to hoping~