Hoşbulduk!

Here's a little post for the English speakers...

Dear Readers,

After leaving home around 4:00 on Wednesday, we had a really uneventful flight, during which we alternately slept and tried to sleep. Maria enjoyed the novelty of playing with the seatback TV/entertainment unit, and was thrilled when we finally got close enough to the ground so she could see Istanbul for the first time. After the customary two hours in visa, passport and customs lines, we found our shuttle fairly easily, and then proceeded to sit in Istanbul traffic for nearly three hours. Even though we spent quite a bit of time literally parked in the street (drivers were out smoking and chatting with each other while waiting), I spent the time enoying the nice views and fresh breeze from the Bosphorous. I was really glad we hadn't tried to take a taxi, since I'm sure their prices would have inflated dramatically while they stood around smoking and chatting in the traffic jam. Our driver was great, and actually managed to find our unmarked apartment on an unmarked, winding and parked-car congested narrow street after dark, in a part of town he had apparently never been to before.

Our apartment is in a nice neighborhood with surprisingly little noise, considering it is only a couple blocks of one of the busiest areas in Istanbul.

When we arrived, our host's father-in-law met us, and spent the remainder of the evening entertaining Maria by playing various musical instruments with her, making us dinner and chatting.

Given that I lost a day traveling, and that usually nothing really remarkable happens between airports, flights and hotels, I'd say we had a pretty good day. Tomorrow I am set to take care of the remaining paperwork, and hopefully Saturday we'll get out to do a bit of sight seeing.

I'm planning on Topkapı Sarayı and surrounds, even though I have seen it before, because it will be easy to find (a huge plus on the first day in a foreign country) and we can just walk around all day without doing too much thinking or wading through crowds.

After all that waiting, I still can't believe I'm finally back in Istanbul again! I really missed it, and felt at home again immediately as soon as we drove out into traffic. I am anxious to explore the neighborhood, walk along the Bosphorous, meet people, improve my Turkish, and learn as much about this area as I can while we're here. I haven't decided yet whether it would be better to take the bus or try to walk to school. Walking is an option, but I might end up back at my 18-yr-old weight if I do, since it is uphill both ways, in the snow. Wait...

And now, I must shove the ZuZu Cat off my bed so I can sleep.

I'll probably post some pictures tomorrow. I'm just too exhausted to do it now.
Thank you all for reading!

This is me, signing off...

Goodbye America!

Çıkıyorum!

Mis Ultimas Preparaciones

Buenas tardes amigos y familiares,

Disculpen la falta de acentos, que no los he podido encontrar en el teclado. Tambien disculpen la falta de gramatica, que han pasado varios años desde que no use el Español...

Hoy es mi ultimo dia aqui en los EEUU. Escribo este blog mientras espero a que salgan de la escuela los niños. En la mañana sali a copiar a los pasaportes y a notificar a todos los bancos que voy a viajar para que no me bloqueen cuando intente usar mis tarjetas de credito en varios paises. Todas las preparaciones estan completas y ahora, al esperar, me siento demasiada lista para salir y empezar el viaje. Desde salir de la casa, tardaremos mas o menos 17 horas en llegar a nuestro apartamento en Istanbul. Ojala que mi hija no se aburre durante tan largo viaje. Tambien espero que no nos de demasiado "jet lag."

Le agradezco a mi buen amigo de la Turkia, que me dio un monton de informacion acerca de mi apartamento y la vecindad. Parece que el tambien ha quedado en ese mismo apartamento con la chica que ahora me lo renta a mi. Le gusto mucho el hogar y tambien los dueños. Ahora se cuales autobuses debo usar y aproximadamente cuanto tiempo durare en caminar del apartamento al autobus y a la escuela. Todavia estoy esperando a que me den el nombre de la guarderia donde se quedara Maria durante mis clases. Ya que tengo mas informacion me siento mas comoda y relajada.

Espero llegar cansada y feliz a mi nuevo hogar (temporaneo). Ya empeze a planear nuestras escursiones a los lugares historicos. La primera escursion probablemente se realizara durante nuestro primer fin de semana en Istanbul. Tengo en mente un lugar increible que ya visite y podre visitar otra vez facilmente mientras ande como zombi por no haber descansado durante los ultimos dias. Cada vez que estoy a punto de salir del pais me pasa lo mismo. Me siento tan emocionada que no puedo ni dormir, a veces ni comer. Empaco y vuelvo a empacar mis maletas, y gasto mucho tiempo en imaginar como sera el viaje. Mi esposo me dice que siempre experimento la vida por mirar hacia adelante, sin disfrutar al presente, pero para mi, la vida es compuesta por disfrutar en el momento las maravillas que estan a punto de descubrirse. Asi disfruto de la vida dos veces, una vez al anticipar y la segunda vez al cumplirse mis deseos.

Agradecida por su amable atencion...Me despido...

Bir Gün Kaldı--Heyecanla Bekliyorum!

Merhaba Arkadaşlar!

Gitmemize sadece bir gün kaldı. Çok heyecanlıyım! Bavullarımız hazır, kızım hazır, ben de hazırım. Gidip bu yeni maceraya başlamak istiyorum artık ama bir gün daha beklemem gerekiyor.

Bu sabah birkaç Türk arkadaşımla buluşup güzel bir kahvaltı yaptıktan sonra, özel Türkçe ders verip yürüyüşe çıkıp, Urbana'nın güzel ormanda biraz hava aldım. Bu arada hava çok güzel. Geçen aylarki sıcaklığını yaşamıyoruz artık. Maalesef, ormanın renklerinin değiştireceğini bu yıl göremeyeceğim ama iyi ki bu sonbaharın tadını İstanbul'da çıkarabilirim. Geçen yıl gittiğimde de sonbahardı, ve gerçekten çok güzel bir mevsim. Bu üç haftadır, yolculuğuma çıkmaya beklerken, yeniden 'İstanbul'da Sonbahar' şarkısından çok zevk alıyorum. Bu sitede bulunur: http://www.timsah.com/Teoman-istanbulda-sonbahar-Aksama-Dogru/nTPMV0TbL_r Bu kere İstanbul'dayken sevdiğim kızım benimle olacağından çok mutluyum!

Yarın çocuklar okuldan çıktıktan sonra hep beraber arabayla Chicago'nun büyük havaalanına gideceğiz. Eşim bizi bırakacağına çok mutluyum. Bırakmasaydı bütün gün tren, metroyla uğraşmamız gerekecekti. Tek başıma problem değil ama çocuklarla öyle yapmak zor. Uçuşumuz gece geç saatte kalkıp, direk İstanbul'a gidip, akşam'da varacağız inşallah. Dayre'ye gittikten sonra biraz yemek yiyip uyuyacağız galiba.

Sonraki gün okuluma uğraşıp derslere kaldığı kağıtları hazırlayacağım ve Maria'nın okuluna da gidip öğretmenleriyle tanışmak istiyorum. Sonra da telefon alıp metro sistemini anlamaya çalışacağım. Hafta sonunda, sonunda biraz gezebileceğimizi sanıyorum. Nereye gideceğimizi belli olmadı daha ama çok ilginç ve güzel bir gezme olacağını bekliyorum.

Okuduğunuz için çok teşekkür ediyorum!

İmzalayıp çıkıyorum...

"Wayfarer in China..." Book Review

Hello, Faithful Readers,

Once again I am being lazy and writing in English instead of Turkish or Spanish. Since the book I am about to comment on was in English, and it is too early on a Saturday morning, I will excuse myself...I really must get to practicing Turkish at some point--but then I guess since I will be leaving in less than a week, whatever Turkish I haven't practiced enough for the last several weeks is about to bite me anyway, so I guess I'll enjoy my last few days of being able to communicate unhampered. Hmm. That word always makes me think of the piles of laundry I still haven't done...But I digress.

This post is about a book I recently "read." I say "read," because my eyes didn't actually read it. I once again let the nifty text-to-speech feature of my Kindle do all the hard work, while I sat back and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the rolling Kansas hills. My family made a brief trip to Kansas last weekend, where we all congregated at a convenient mid-point between Illinois and Colorado. I don't know when we'll have a chance to see everyone again, since my intrepid sister is taking off today for a little hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro, followed by some months in Antarctica and who knows where after that...

Did I say this post was about a book? Oh, yes...
The book, A Wayfarer in China: Impressions of a Trip Across West China and Mongolia, by Elizabeth Kendall, can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Wayfarer-In-China-Impressions-Mongolia/dp/1164102591

So, my favorite thing about my Kindle is the awesomeness of the incredible number of free books available in the public domain, which Kindle offers on their devices (and all of which include text-to-speech), allowing me to read the classic books I love at a fraction of the cost. Is $0 a fraction? My math isn't so good...Recently, I went on a Kindle-loading spree and downloaded about a thousand free books, in case I get bored exploring Turkey...yeah. Like that's going to happen.

Anyway, one of the treasures I found was this little book about a bold and fearless adventurer who appears to have had the travel bug as much as (or more than) I do, and wrote about wandering around China and Mongolia in 1911. This was back when travel was dangerous, and people had to actually take their food with them and worry about things like finding banks, and robbers attacking the caravans. Also, she was a woman, traveling alone (with her load of servants, chair-carriers, cook, interpreter, and the occasional soldier), when everyone told her she couldn't do it. It appears that this simple statement did more to motivate her than anything else...

She traveled from West to East across China as far as Peking, then cut northwest into Mongolia almost to the border of Russia. Her vivid and sometimes humorous descriptions of local dress, eating habits, customs, and especially scenery made the story come alive and did a lot to spark an interest in learning more about China. I especially liked that she didn't use flowery speech, as a lot of writers of her time did, she just told it how it was and moved on.

Aside from learning a bit about how China and its people used to be, the thing that most attracted me about the book was something that was I'm sure wholly unintentional on the part of the author: what her writing reveals about the stereotypes, norms, attitudes and ingrained prejudices of her day. Although she was eager to explore and genuinely wanted to learn as much about the people and their culture as possible, she at the same time belies her belief that her Western ideals and ways of life are superior to those of the people she encountered on her journey. These attitudes and prejudices seemed to be mostly subconscious, making them all the more interesting to me.

Noticing how her culture and attitudes shaped her view of the people she met made me consider how my own ways of thinking may be affecting my interactions with people I meet, especially those in cultures somewhat different from my own. On a philosophical note, is it possible for a person to get past their subconscious ideas about the world and truly see another culture for what it is? I suppose not. One's culture, upbringing, personal history and education are sure to influence one's view of others, no matter the context...Sigh.

Today is Saturday. A sunny, bright day after a heavy rain. It's the perfect time for a stroll and picnic in Allerton Park. This is the last weekend I get to enjoy with my family before I head off to strange lands, so I'd better get to it.

Thanks to everyone dedicated enough to keep reading my little experimental blog! Stay tuned for more (and hopefully better) writing in the following weeks.

This is me, signing off...

Heyecanlık ve Tatil

Merhaba arkadaşlar!

Çok heyecanlıyım! Bugün büyük macerama çıkmaya hazırlıyorum. Gitmeme sadece altı gün kaldı. Zaman nasıl bu kadar hızlı geçtiğini anlayamıyorum. Dün, sadece bir hafta kaldığını fark edip şaşırdım.

Hâlâ ders için okumam gerekeceğini kitapların hepsini okuyamadım. Valizlerimi henüz hazırlayamadım. Saçlarımı daha kestiremedim...Fakat altı gün sonra ne olursa olsun (inşallah) kızımla beraber uçağa binip Türkiye'ye gideceğim.

Geçen hafta sonu annem, babam, ablamla beraber çok güzel bir tatil geçtik. Kansas'a gidip, KS City'nin güzel parkları keşfedip, lezetli yemekleri yiyip, eğlendik. Pazar günü da ablamın kayın pederinin gölüne gidip, kamp ettik. Sadece bir gün kalabildiğimize rağmen gölde yüzüp, şeker (marshmallows) ateşte pişirdik.

Uff! Uzun haftalar Türkçe yazmadığım için, ifade edmeye çok zorlanıyorum. İnşallah bundan sonra bu kadar zor olmaz. Okuyabileceklere, yanlışlarıma bakmayın deyince...

İmzalayıp çıkıyorum...

Experiences in Language Learning (Part Three)

Here is the final installment of the "Experiences in Language Learning" set...

At this point, I began considering all my failed attempts at language learning and the methods I had employed. I was increasingly frustrated that although I had studied many languages, some for months or years, I still could really only speak English and Spanish. I decided it was time to focus exclusively on one language until I reached near-fluency, but was not content with how I had gone about learning languages in the past. I wondered if creating an immersion-like environment for myself would give me success closer to what I had experienced in learning Spanish. With this idea in mind, I began thinking of all the ways I could create an immersion-like experience while studying independently. I wrote a list of all the activities I could think of which would help me immerse myself in the language, and determined to use them.

I started studying Turkish on my own in October of 2009. The resources I used in the first two months were online radio and TV, Turkish music from www.youtube.com , a good dictionary, a workbook, a web page with an explanation of grammar issues, online newspapers, www.livemocha.com exercises, two good online conversation partners willing to correct my mistakes, www.byki.com ‘s free flashcards with pronunciation and pictures, and Pimsleur’s CDs, which helped a lot with pronunciation practice.

I spent every minute studying, memorizing vocabulary, intently listening to the TV and radio and trying to hear words I knew. I practiced my pronunciation, tried to work out the complicated grammar, and tested sentences on my conversation partners; I frequently had the TV or radio on in the background, even after the kids came home from school, just to get used to hearing the intonation and stress patterns in the speech.

I went looking for Turks in the community, and found several. I made friends with one woman who had just arrived with her family and who didn’t speak any English at all. I went to her house several times a week and we started out with a picture dictionary, pointing at things and copying each other’s speech. I worked on verb conjugations until I had memorized the most important 20-30 verbs, and kept practicing making sentences with them and having my friend correct them. About two months into this, we were able to understand each other fairly well, and were both extremely motivated to keep learning, because we had become good friends.

After I had been studying about six months, another friend suggested I audit the class offered at the university in my town. I had been unaware that Turkish was offered, or that I could audit classes there, but was thrilled to discover the opportunity to more formally expand my knowledge of the grammatical structures. I decided the best way to maximize my exposure to the language was to enroll in all three levels at the same time. I figured I could breeze through the beginner material, struggle a bit in intermediate because I didn’t have all the prerequisite grammar structures, and just listen to the discussions in the advanced class. The same teacher taught all three classes, and when I showed up the first day with my audit paper, he looked a bit confused about my wanting taking all three classes, but signed the form and welcomed me to participate as much as I was able in all the classes.

Around this time I started a Masters course, and so had a lot less time to devote to Turkish, but continued to follow my schedule as much as possible, and having formal classes helped me stay on track. The first year I studied beginner, intermediate and advanced, and continued using the other methods that had worked so well for me in the beginning. My Turkish friends also gave me a nice selection of good quality workbooks and grammar explanation books, most of which I worked through right away. In the winter of that year, my good friend moved away and I was left searching for someone to take her place, but found no one. The second year of my formal study I continued taking intermediate and advanced classes, and in the second semester of that year I finally found a good study partner who was as enthusiastic about Turkish as I was. We could only work one day a week since he lived in another town, but I learned a lot from him during our time together.

I have been thrilled with the results of my efforts, and seem to have finally discovered how study in such a way that my brain can retain what I learn about new languages. I feel confident in my Turkish and know that it is a language that I won’t easily forget, as long as I keep listening to the radio and talking to friends. This year, I am excited about the opportunity to expand my Turkish in a real immersion environment during my three months in Turkey. I have set a goal of attaining an ‘advanced high’ or ‘superior’ rating (on the OPI scale) by the time I return home.
I plan to further test my ideas about language learning when I start taking Russian again in the spring.

Please feel free to comment and share your language learning experiences, especially the methods that  have worked best for you. Stay tuned for a review of an interesting book I have been listening to this weekend about a woman traveling in China and Mongolia...

Thanks for reading!

This is me, signing off...