Well, it's the Friday before my first week of classes and I am (as to be expected) quite freaked out. The last week of training has involved some hurried moments, frustrating timetakers, and much appreciated helpful guidance. While I look forward to this week, I am feeling not at all prepared. I am trying to stay as calm as possible knowing that it all will, well has to, work out.
This last week has involved many things you would probably see in the States. We started with an all staff meeting, then picture. Some department meetings, more all staff meetings, LOTS of technical training, running down to the IT department for a computer update, then again because your mouse is no longer working, and 5 more staff meetings. I would put my meeting to planning ratio at about 10:1 and I believe if anything I am underrating the time I have had to myself to work. Seeing the harried teachers trying to get things done doesn't calm me down, but legitimizes my feelings of unease going into this week. We all feel like there is so much more to be done, but I know in the end, we all will get it done and be ready when the time comes.
While there have been some experiences here that all teachers I am sure have felt, some I think are truly unique to this school.
- At every RC all staff meeting, everything has to be translated because many teachers don't speak Turkish and others (for example Turkish and Turkish history teachers) don't speak English. At some meetings, they have headphones all teachers can grab. There is someone hired at these meetings to simultaneously translate the entire meeting. When a Turkish teacher talks, I have to put on my headphones to hear them in English. The translator does the same from Turkish to English. This is an extremely hard job. They have to switch the language in a split second because someone can ask a question or the next speaker can be speaking the other language without ever a pause. While this is nice because it doesn't slow down the meeting, listening to the staticy wireless headphones can get quite old quickly. Some pairs are also much worse than others and it's hard to hear the translator above the static and actual presentation going on.
- I shouldn't complain about the above because in the other staff meetings without a translator, other teachers and staff would go back and forth presenting in both languages. This doubles the time but not the material. In the state us teachers felt that we had little time for planning, this was even harder to sit though.
- The Ministry is involved in everything. Field trip, class planning, special events all have specific forms and books so they can get approved and go through. Also, all teachers need to be involved in a club and have an extra duty (again Ministry rules). Of course, we had meetings to explain this all. At 2:45pm this afternoon, the testing system opened up and all of us teachers frantically plugged in our test dates for the semester hoping they weren't already closed. Why...again the Ministry. Students can have no more than 2 tests per day. While this may sound like a fantastic idea protecting students from the evil teachers, with schedules the way they are, I can only test my kids on certain days since that's the only day I see them all. Luckily I got all my dates so no need to move things back or forward a week or two.
- We had an emergency preparedness meeting and all staff are on teams. Seriously, if there is an earthquake in Istanbul, this campus is where I want to be. They don't do this halfway. All the old buildings have all had reinforcements added. There are emergency containers throughout the grounds with food, water, and medical supplies. They are continually updated and resupplied. I am on the first aid team and we will be trained to respond to medical problems should such a disaster hit. Other teams are search and rescue, watering and supplies, damage assessment, etc.
- The faculty and staff is really amazing. Although everyone is stressed like I am, all have taken time to explain and patiently help me whenever I need it. It really is a spectacular staff and from what I hear, this student body outshines them.
- A major highlight of the week is finding an NFL fan base here on campus. They all share an online football package so they can watch the games whenever. I was invited over after work today to watch the kickoff Thursday night game, the only stipulation was that if I found out the score I couldn't say a word. I had a great time which is saying a lot seeing that the Packers won. But drinking beer (although it was the poor Turkish variety) and watching football on the bigscreen made me feel so happy and at home. They asked after if I could stand all the testosterone and wanted to join this NFL crew which I of course agreed. I have heard stories of this group pulling all-nighters for great games Sunday and Monday night (remember we are 8 hours ahead of Chicago). While I don't plan on doing that, especially the first part of my teaching career, I am very excited about watching the first half of the Bears game Sunday night! Go Bears!!!
