Work
Still going strong. I administered my first exam tonight to my Intermediate class. It was nice and relaxing and I got to sit and look at my students, a nice change from them normally watching me sweat bullets. This was the class that I inherited from three previous teachers (over the course of the last couple months), so the class has shrunk considerably from its initial enrollment. The six who are left (including one woman) form a pretty nice group of students, though. My businessmen! They're always in there in their suits and ties. They're a hard bunch to impress and I don't know if maybe they just feel silly learning English from such a little girl, but they haven't dropped out yet so they're motivated.

I have my first observed lesson this Saturday. I'm a bit nervous since this is one of the check points towards actually having a job for a year at PEÉ. I'm sure it'll be fine but it'd be so absurd if I ended up being sent back to the States... I'll be teaching my Pre Intermediate class and they're a fun bunch. Last week we were learning dating/relationship vocabulary and I made them do a speed dating activity where they had to create personas for ridiculous photos (like a clown in a magenta costume; a guy with huge red, yellow and blue mohawk spikes; a gold digger; a deep-sea diver; etc). They had a good time and I think we're developing rapport, but I'm still learning a lot about how to speak slowly and deliver instructions clearly.

Turkish Friend?
In the front office of PEÉ there are about five or six women who do various secretarial duties. One of them is this super sweet one who knows enough English to communicate with me. She's 21 and is a student, so she only works a couple days a week, but we've started emailing each other to make plans to hang out. She's promised to take me to the cool venues in Izmir--I need a guide--but it'll have to wait until I get my first substantial paycheck and can afford to go out. It's exciting, though...

Adventures in the Grocery Store
Okay, here are my new foods of the week.



Milk. In Turkey, milk is primarily available in vacuum sealed boxes and is unrefrigerated. I heard weird things about it from people at work--that it tastes super gross compared to regular, refrigerated milk--so I've been avoiding it. I decided to suck it up and spend the 80 kuruş to find out what it tasted like. I stuck it in the fridge before work and just tried some. I can report that I am pleasantly surprised at its drinkability. It's got a mild flavor of baby formula, and it doesn't taste like the rich and amazing California milk I'm used to, but I will definitely be buying more of it. Now if I could just find granola...

Peanut Butter. The jar that I bought had the creamy, whipped consistency of Jiff PB. A tiny bite of it proves it to be suited for the filling of a candy bar--this "peanut spread" is more like peanut-tinted Nutella. It's creamy, sugary, and nothing like peantus ground up with salt. Oh well.

Mystery Meat. George and I couldn't figure out if this meat needed to be cooked, or if it's salami. I guess we'll find out tomorrow when we try to make sandwiches to take on our day trip to a beach out past Çeşme.