School

First off, I would like to apologize for how lacking I have been with the updates. Internet is down at my home for the past week, so I am left to use the schools network. On that note, school is alright, not fantastic, not horrible, just alright. It is in fact high school after all. I've come to realize that it doesn't matter what country you are in, high schoolers are the same all around. We all have some place we rather be than school, there is a good chance that at least one of us will fall asleep in class (in this case that person is usually me), and it is very cliquey.

The school that I am attending is called Doga Kolleji, it is a K-12 school that is located fairly far away from Manisa in the farm country, in the middle of what I think is an olive grove. Some differences between Turkish school and American school are: The students are the ones who stay in the room, not the teachers, instead of blackboards they have these nifty digital boards that can hook up to the internet and play videos on them, the food is much better, we have to wear uniforms, religion is taught in class, and the classes are a lot smaller. The food is probably my favorite part. In America, if you were served lamb in school, you would think that the budget cuts were over for good, but here it's normal, and it is delicious. Also there is this student store of sorts where they sell drinks and food, I have yet to find something from there that isn't covered in chocolate. It is really interesting being in a K-12 school. Often I see the little kids and think, "Was I really that small?" We don't see the younger kids very much since our breaks are worked out differently, but when we do I always get weird looks from them.

That's  another thing, being a foreigner you are treated much differently. I find it really funny since I've hosted students, and I know what it's like to be so interested in them because they're from a different country, and now I am in there shoes. At times it can be a little overwhelming when you have 10 people asking you questions in Turkish, and only have one person translating, at other times it can be quite boring when all of your classes are taught in a language you don't understand. To pass the time in classes I have taken up perfecting my artistic skills. I have a small journal that I use for drawing, and since discovering that I'm not that bad of an artist, all of my classmates want me to draw them. This wouldn't be that difficult since there are only 5 of them, but I have never been good at drawing other people. My teachers find my drawings entertaining, but sometimes I feel that they are distracting.

All of my teachers are very nice, they usually talk to me in fractured English, but more and more they are asking me simple questions in Turkish, like how I am. Luckily I have no formal homework, which has been wonderful, but my ongoing task is to learn Turkish. One of my teachers has been assigning me segments of my Turkish book that I have been studying from to memorize. Along with my teachers helping me learn, I also have my family and friends. It has been good for me that my family doesn't speak much English, because this forces me to learn Turkish much quicker.

After school is over, Alkin and I take the bus home. Now the buses here are not like the massive yellow ones we have back home. They are small runner vans, and instead of a school having 4-5, they have a whole fleet of them. Once we get home we change out of our uniforms into something more comfortable, and then go out again. Everyday so far we have gone to play basketball. It's funny, because in the states I'm average, but here, or at least with the people I play with I'm considered very good. I think my reputation as an American who is good at basketball has gotten out of hand a bit since I have received multiple requests to join my schools team. I think that it would be a lot of fun to play with them, but I'm sure they are much better and more competitive than the people I play with on the streets.

In any case things are going well. I am making a lot of new friends, I can feel myself learning the language word by word, and I have a great relationship with my host family. I'm really looking forward to all of the trips my group of exchange students will go on, and everything else I will be doing this year.

Hosca Kalin
-Torvald