October 14th, 2009

Hello again!

Although I had been meaning to keep my letters current, the TEFL program here in Istanbul has been incredibly intensive and I usually find myself with very little energy left over at the end of the day. However, today we were quite fortunate to have a day off and the effect has been both immediate and overwhelming. Last night I was so exhausted and emotionally wrung out that I actually watched two hours of an old black and white Hollywood epic dubbed into Turkish (no subtitles, of course) just for the veg-factor. But a night of comfort food and mindless TV, followed by a solid night’s sleep, did the trick and by this morning I felt ready to face anything the universe could throw at me (even a faux gamma ray burst). By noon I had completed both of my lesson plans for the next two teaching practices, so I decided to get dressed and head to the school to take advantage of their free wireless.
Since my day could now pretty much be dedicated to leisure (and I only had to carry my computer and not all of my notes and books) I found my usual walk back to the school becoming more of a stroll. I paid more attention to the shops and the people within them. I looked up more and realized that most of the upper stories were taken up by apartments. I watched the people and the cars and listened to the steady thrum of the city around me. I smiled as I passed the small café where they cook chicken over open wood coals every morning right there on the streetside. Everything here is just so normal. Yes, the language is different and some of the customs are unfamiliar, but the people are like people everywhere. They shop and drink and eat and talk and love. Their lives are so much like our own and yet I know there are also profound differences. Yet the ease and familiarity I feel here makes me wonder if those differences are really so critical after all. I arrived here in Istanbul two weeks ago ready to stretch myself beyond my own personal comfort zone and face the challenge of making those new outer boundaries a part of my comfort zone as well. And yet, within a few days, those newer boundaries were already set and set so easily and so naturally that they felt as if they had always been mine. I ponder now whether that says more about me or more about this place I now find myself in. Istanbul, by whatever name you call her, has been a cultural melting pot for centuries untold. She still is. I think that for those who are willing feeling at home here is as simple as wanting it to be so.