Making My Own Merry In Turkey

Look! It is a new post within a month of the last one! I am getting better. With it being Thanksgiving today, I thought it would only be proper to send out a little holiday cheer from this country that I am pretty sure is named after the centerpiece of almost every home in America today. (Yes I am very informed on this county’s history!) Actually ironically enough, it is incredibly hard to find whole turkeys here. Chicken and beef are the popular proteins, but if you find the right butcher, you can get a turkey. Unfortunately we found the wrong butcher who said he would deliver the bird on time, and then at the last minute said he couldn’t. In the end it all worked out though; we had an amazing Thanksgiving feast of all sorts of “American” Thanksgiving food with chicken and ham! The very best part was that I was surrounded by the  wonderful friends I have made here in Turkey, so the holiday was as it should be, full of wonderful fellowship with wonderful people. I am truly blessed!

            I will say though, holidays here are very different. It is mainly because my “traditional” holidays- Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter- are not celebrated here. The whole holiday atmosphere I am use to experiencing in stores, at schools, in the neighborhoods is totally not here. No bell ringers in front of the storefronts, no drives in the car to look at lights, no nativity scenes; I really miss it all!  Now this may come as a surprise to people who know me well because let’s be honest, I am kind of a Grinch when it comes to “Christmas” tradition. I use to complain if someone played  one more Christmas song, or groaned every time my mother mentioned driving around to look at lights. Now I want it all (I can hear the “You always want what you can’t have” echoes).  But instead of wallow in my sorrows because the “Who’s down in Whoville” would not approve, I decided to make my own holiday “merry”!  For me that mean baking and cooking holiday food, and my favorite seasonal yummiest food in the pumpkin roll!!!! Problem is canned pumpkin is nonexistent here sooooooooooo an already putsy (a word my mom made up to mean lots of tedious steps that I didn’t know was a word she made up until a few years ago) recipe has become even more putsy. I had this amazing idea to show you the steps in photographs, and it all went well until I got to the fun parts of rolling the roll, filling the roll with cream cheese frosting, and then eating it, but you’ll get the gist. Love you all and soak up some extra holiday merriment for me! Blessings!  

Step 1: Get a whole bunch of raw pumpkin from the pazar

Step 2:  Boil pumpkin in water until it is nice and  mushy!

Step 3: Pretend like you know how to cut the rind off of a pumpkin then later realize using a spoon is a lot easier!

Step 4:  Mash it into a nice baby food texture

Step 5: Store a whole bunch extra in your freezer, so you don't have to keep doing this process all year!

Step 6: Add a whole bunch of other ingredients after you run the names through googletranslate

Step 7: Pour the batter into a parchment paper lined cookie sheet (odd color!)

Step 8: Bake in the most finicky oven known to man!

Steps 9, 10, and 11 which are roll, fill, and eat are sadly left out because I was so excited that it turned out that I forgot to take pictures! I promise; it was delish!

Three months later...

Cappadocia

So I am officially the worst "blogger" ever! I have basically not posted anything for almost three months which is yes, I know, pathetic. I wish I could come up with an amazing excuse, but in reality life has just been happening, just like it does for everyone. Before I knew it, it had been three months and the last post I posted was a about toilets! So let we just flush my excuses down the pipe (Ha Ha Ha that’s so punny) and instead tell you what I have been up to these last few months:

SCHOOL, SCHOOL, AND MORE SCHOOL

Cappadocia

Well as you may have guessed it, when someone goes overseas to teach school, one spends the majority of  their time teaching and doing other school related activities.   I just happen to be half way across the world doing it. Yes my students come from 40 or so different nations, but surprisingly they are still kids! Shocking news I know. They still have that amazing ability to drive me crazy, inspire me, frustrate me, and make me laugh all at the same time. It has been so fun to get to know them and all their unique personalities. That is definitely the best part of my job. I love talking to them about literature and writing (even math sometimes because this English teacher is teaching Algebra 1), but I mostly love talking to them about who they are and who they want to become. I truly feel blessed that I get to be in the "business" of being a part of these students' lives. Not that it is always sunshine and butterflies, but I just hope that I always strive to see each student for who they are and all they can become. (Yep they probably have that last statement on a mug somewhere- it's a sappy statement, but it is true). 

Cappadocia with my teacher friends

EXPLORING

Now, though teaching does consume about 90% of my life, there has still been some time to explore this side of the world. Turkey in and of itself is a diverse place to explore, and I have gone on two long weekend trips so far. The first one was shortly after we started school. We had a three day weekend for a national holiday. All the new teachers went up to a little town called Amasra which is located on the Black Sea. It was beautiful and so relaxing; we swam, ate fish (heads and all!), hiked. It was wonderful. The next long weekend we had, I went  to Cappadocia or Kapadokya (which is how they spell it here). This is probably one of my new favorite places. The only way I can really describe it is that it is like entering a landscape conjured up by Dr. Seuss! Unbelievable rock formations that people built h

Dinner on the beach  in Amasra at sunset 

omes into, underground cities, hot air balloons at dawn. It is crazy! I can definitely see myself going back to Cappadocia many

Amasra

more times.

Let’s see where else have I gone..... um oh yeah for our fall break (another national holiday)  I went to GREECE! Since Turkey is so close to so many countries, hopping over to Greece is just like hopping from state to state in the U.S. A fellow teacher and friend Lori and I went to some of the iconic islands of Greece for a few days and stopped by Athens while we were at it. I never really thought I would be standing in the places I read about in my history books and in Greek mythology; it was kind of a surreal experience, and I am still in awe about the whole experience.

Well I think that is about all the news I have to offer for now. I am going to get better at posting more than once every three months; I promise! Thanks for reading this and keeping me and my students in your thoughts. Lots of love

Athens

Crete

Charissa

Oia, Santorini

Patmos

Toilets and Tap Water

I know this may surprise some of you, but Turkey is not exactly like the USA! Shocking I know. Of course some of those differences have led to some awkward, but I’ll admit  funny situations. Here are a couple of those “situations”.

Story #1 Bathroom Humor

One day last week we were at the mall to get some school supplies. The malls in Turkey are some of the only public places that have public bathrooms, so naturally we all needed to use them.  So when it was my turn, I went into the stall and did what most people do in a bathroom stall. After I was finished,  I went to flush the toilet. There was a slight problem though; I couldn’t locate the knob to flush the toilet. I panicked for a minute looking everywhere by the toilet seat cover dispenser, feeling the top of the toilet, everywhere. Then relief!  I saw a little blue knob by the bottom of the toilet. I had found the flush handle! I quickly turned it. As I did, a powerful Jet stream of water from the toilet started spraying my leg and the floor around me with an intense stream of water. Yep toilets in Turkey have a bidet like “option” on them. Now I was really panicked. I quickly turned off the water, unrolled half the toilet paper roll, and started mopping up the floor. What was worse is I still couldn’t figure out how to flush the toilet. I heard a light knock on the stall door. I thought, Oh no, someone thinks I am a rude American hogging the stall and then they will really think I am rude and dirty when I leave a dirty stall and have my pant leg drenched in “wetness”. But from the far reaches of my panic I heard an  angelic voice call my name “Charissa?” It was my roommate! “Hannah, I can’t figure out how to flush the toilet!” “It’s that big box like thing above the toilet” (The thing I thought dispensed toilet seat covers!) I quickly cleaned up the water, flushed the toilet, and emerged from the stall with yes a wet toilet water pant leg, but I had survived!

Story #2 Ordering Water Ankara Style

Here in the great desert of Ankara people do not drink the water out of the tap. It isn’t because of bacteria or anything; it is because the pipes are so rusty that sediment is in the water. Drinking sediment = kidney stones= excruciating pain. No thank you. So like everyone else here, we order big five gallon water jugs that get delivered right to your door by a nice Turkish gentleman right after you call the company (Well anytime between 20 minutes to 5 ish hours after you call the company). The first time we ordered water it went like this.

Day one

Boss and other teachers at the school tell us it is really easy to order water. You just call,  and say “bir su istiyorom”  which means “I want  one water” and then hang up. Most companies’ phones tell them what address you are calling from. Easy, right? Wrong!

First Call: My brave roommate calls the number on the sticker on our old empty five gallon jug and says the phrase. Man on the other line says something and hangs up. We soon realize we had called a residence and said “I want one water”? Water did not come.

Day Two:

Second Call: Try another number on the jug. This time we were prepared. We had our address out, we had the phrase written down, we had practiced saying it; we would not be conquered by the water! Called an actual water company this time, but after about 15 minutes of us trying to tell them our address in our “super fluent” Turkish and them trying to use their very limited English while we were all laughing hysterically.  They hung up on us. We waited. Water did not come.

Day Three:

Third Call: Called the same number again. Said we wanted water and gave them our address. They immediately hung up. We waited. Water did not come.

Three hours later: We wrote everything down in Turkish on a 3 x 5 card.  Hannah, my roommate, walked the card down to a different water place about two apartments away and handed it to the man there. Two hours later…. A nice Turkish man showed up with a 5 gallon jug of water!!!!!  It was Christmas Day and my birthday all wrapped in to one!

Awe, Turkey you are so full of surprises! The pictures below have nothing to do with the stories (no I did not take a picture of the toilet!). They are just some pictures of Ankara- Enjoy!

Walking trail in the forest (Ankara in the distance) 

Cool old grain silos in the "forest" behind our house

Cool old grain silos in the "forest" behind our house

Saturday morning hike!

Fresh produce from the pazari (open market)!

Merhaba! (Hello!)

       Well I have been in Ankara for a few days now, and I am pretty much fluent! I wish! Though the lack of my Turkish language knowledge is quite frustrating, other than that everything has gone pretty smoothly thus far. Thank you so much for all your wonderful thoughts throughout this time; I know they are what carry me through it! The flight here couldn't have gone any better. No missing luggage, friendly people on all the planes; the most confusing airport was the one in Chicago and everything was in English! Thanks America! My apartment is quite comfy and very close to the school. The other new teachers her  e have been great companions to explore Ankara with (a.k.a. get lost). Thus far we have successfully shopped at the local grocery store, IKEA, and the mall. No, I am not on a world shopping tour; you just have to get a lot of stuff when you move to a new country.  I have successfully ordered wonderful Turkish food from a restaurant (tavuk Şiş- chicken kebab).  We walk pretty much everywhere, but we have somewhat successfully ridden in a taxi and a dolmuş (small Turkish bus). Locals have been very patient with us all. There aren’t too many non-Turkish people in Ankara so we do a lot of hand gestures and shaking of heads. I really want to learn the language as fast as possible, but must remind myself that it won’t happen overnight. I just hope for courage to use the Turkish I know and am learning when I am out and about. It is a very humbling experience for me, but very good too. It has given me great respect for the people trying to learn English in America! Well I work tomorrow morning, so I will keep this short, but I wanted to share some pictures of my new home and city.   Görüşürüz (See you later!) Love CC

My New School!

My classroom- Lots of windows and no air- conditioning!

Middle of the school- All the different countries the students are from! SOOOOOOO COOOOOL!!!!!

A huge man-made "forest" a block from our house. This Idaho girl can still get her nature fix!

mosque in our neighborhood

Our apartment balcony

West view from the balcony

West view

East view from our balcony

Goodbyes

As I have been preparing to leave for Turkey in just a SHORT time, I have of course been thinking about all the stuff I will really miss that I know Turkey will not have (no matter how cool it may be). So I thought I would list the top five things I will miss when I am in Turkey because i know you are all just dying to know!

5. My Sweet Ride -My 99' Lumina also known by many as The Shuttle because she is so fast, it is like being in a space shuttle. She has been a reliable companion on my many road trips where I would listen to books on tape (yep I said books on TAPE- I am that cool!)

 4. Idaho Sunsets- I know everyone thinks their town/state has the best sunsets, but I am sorry I am have never seen a sunset anywhere that is as breathtaking as an Idaho sunset. (This isn't even the a great picture of one)

3. The Great Northwest Outdoors- As John Muir once said or wrote or whispered or thought or some how communicated "The mountains are calling and I  must go." I am so fortune to have friends and family who hear the mountains calling too, so I have had many great adventures in the Northwest. I feel so fortunate to have grown up here.

  2. My adoptive Dogs, Sadie and Autumn- Yes Autumn I never really appreciated your "Sneaky Frenches" or Sadie I know you are too cool to even acknowledge me most of the time let alone accept me as your friend, but you two canines have enriched my life and your furry backs have collected my tears many a times because sometimes you gave the best hugs when I was blue.










1. The biggest blessing anyone could have- my wonderful friends and family- You are a group of loving, inspiring, unique, and yes sometimes weird individuals and that is why I love you.

I can survive without my car and sunsets, but it will be hard to leave you amazing people. Your love, support, and encouragement is what has made this new adventure in my life a reality,and I feel so fortunate to have all of you  in my life. I love you all and take you in my heart as I go half way across the world!

To Mississippi and back

Dear friend Jill and I trying fried green tomatoes!

Wow, I am not very good at this blogging thing! It is hard to write about life as it is happening, but I will try. So in the midst of gearing up for moving to Turkey to teach and preparing myself for saying goodbye to all my loved ones, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Southaven, Mississippi, a town right next to Memphis, Tennessee, for the last two weeks. Why? Well it wasn't because I wanted to see Elvis's Graceland, or see where



Memphis

MLKJ was shot, or was dying to see the famous ducks at the Peabody Hotel, or listen to some tunes while I walked down Beale Street, or dip my feet in the mighty Mississippi. Though I did enjoy doing all of the above, touring Memphis was not the reason I went to this part of the  states. I went to Mississippi for the one and only PFO (Pre-Field Orientation). At PFO I was able to learn more about Oasis, fellowship with the 98 other teachers going overseas to teach including the five other teachers going to Ankara, Turkey, learn about the students I will be teaching, and yes eat good old southern cuisine breakfast, lunch, and dinner! It was two whole weeks full of vital information for teaching overseas that I feel is helping me see this new step in my life as a reality that will come

Roomies at PFO

very, very soon! I have less than a month before I leave now and though I enjoyed PFO, I am so glad to be back in my neck of the woods to spend the little time I have left here with my loved ones. So if I am not able to see you face-to-face before Ileave,  know I love you and my thoughts are with you!

-CC

Here We Go...

     If you ask my closest friends, they will tell you I am not exactly savvy when it comes to technology or social networking (Is that even the correct word-social networking?), so blogging is a new concept to me. I am not sure what exactly to write about. I just figure I will write stuff that I would personally find interesting about this adventure and would want to read about. Of course, who doesn't like to read about themselves, so my plan may not work.  I will try my best though.

    If you are reading this blog, you probably already know I am in the process of packing up my whole life here in the states to teach middle school and high school English at an international school in Ankara, Turkey (See cool pink map of Turkey; Ankara is the giant star).Though I don’t leave for a couple more months, it has been a crazy whirlwind of making to-do lists, preparing myself to say tearful goodbyes, scheduling my couple months of summer, figuring out what parts of my life deserve to go in the two suitcases I can bring,  while still teaching my amazing 8^th graders here in Pocatello for the last few weeks of school. I don’t think my brain has rested since April when I found out I would be moving. I know it will all come together nonetheless.Though the process has been stressful, there have been some fun parts to it also.     

   For example, after I found out I would be moving to Turkey, I gradually started telling the people in my life. First of course my parents, then close friends and family, then I moved on to my current boss and coworkers. Finally, a week or so ago, I decided to tell my current students about the move. I figured it wouldn't  be a huge deal since they are all moving up to high school next year. I wouldn't see many of them after this year anyway. Overall they all seem very excited for me, but I must say, some of their questions have been interesting. I thought I would share a few:

Most common question:

                  “Are you going to eat a lot of turkey there?” (Yes it is the  only food available in the country! I  feel I need a drum set to carry around, so I can do the ba-doom-tssh after such a great joke every time I hear it!)

Funniest response so far: 

                   "Isn't that by Kentucky?" (A student asked this in all seriousness)

Latest hilarity they have conjured up:

                 "Does it smell like Thanksgiving in here?" (They say this every time they walk in to my classroom) 

 
     Oh the joys of teaching; you never know what you are going to get! I know deep down that what all of my loving students are trying to say is “Awesome, Miss Campbell! Congratulations! We are so excited for you! You are so inspiring, how you are following your dreams! It makes me want to follow mine!….” At least that is what I tell myself. Either way, I am sure going to miss them!   

     Thanks for reading this first post if you made it this far! Also thanks to all of you for all your love and support! I know your thoughts are with me, and mine are with you! I hope this post is acceptable to all you blog readers; please tune in for more! If you enter your email in the top, you will get email alerts when I post again. (I think!)
CC