I have been so busy lately and haven't taken the time to update this. Recently I have just been spending a lot of time in the Summer house in Sariyar Istanbul Turkey. I am going to upload some links on the side of my page of the places I have been- so you can just click on the link and see the pictures of what I am talking about! I also linked my pictures with the location in turkey...so you may be able to see on the map of turkey where I am talking about.
At the summer house it feels mostly routine now, but we stay in the house for 3 days and than go do something in the other house and come back for 3 days. The Summer house is quite beautiful and its located in ... what you would call a forest in Istanbul. Istanbul is not very tropical...its very much city life. To find so many trees in one area is quite impressive. The architecture in the house is very nice but also very simple. I am a fan of the buildings I have seen so far. In the summer house Kiveli usually gets a friend to come over some time each day and so sometimes I do stuff with them but sometimes I let them play by there selves. Depending on what they want...or if they get bored easily. They have a pool in their back yard, but its a very small pool for Kiveli to Swim in. She loves swimming and wants to become a diver in the Olympics. One of the days their I made a house out of the couch cushions for her and her friend! They had a lot of fun playing in it.
After we were in the summer house we went on Holiday to a place called Buyuka Islands. It took about two hours by boat to get there. The boat rides here are very enjoyable..and it makes me want to live by the sea! Buyuka Island has some beaches but the beaches are very different from what I am used to. There is no nice sand to sit on the beach by they just have a dock you go in the water with. Kiveli Loves the island. It was very nice and a fun place to swim...until I found out there are Jelly fish EVERYWHERE IN THE WATER! I thought the Jelly Fish stung because Kiveli told me they did so I was watching out for them...but I was swimming along and I hit something and looked around and I was SURROUNDED by Jelly fish! Like in Finding Nemo!! I started freaking out and they were all laughing at me... apparently the jelly fish in this area don't sting and I just made a big fool out of myself... haha oh well. The island is very touristy and expensive- but because it is surrounded by water they have tonz of fish stores and restaurants.
Kiveli is going to school starting this Monday the 13 of September. We attended her school and got her uniform and school supplies the other day. She goes to a very nice school which is very expensive. I was talking to a mom there who is a family friend and she was telling me why this school is so expensive. Apparently, they have American or English speaking teachers in the school. They say that this school is expensive because it is like AMERICAN schools. They say that the American mind is what they want their children to have. At turkish schools children don't think for themselves. They memorize things and present the memorization. The children are not treated as individuals. The school Kiveli is going to is called Enka and she is learning Turkish and English as part of the classes. I find it interesting that English is one of the best things to learn in Turkey to get ahead in life. If you want to make more money you have to know English. Which is one of the reasons this family wanted me here to help there girl get more familiar with English. Kiveli speaks and understands almost everything I say. Sometimes I have to learn how to explain things to her. Its been good for me- it helps me think about when I am going to be a Elementary Teacher- you have to think outside the box when you explain things to kids.
After we went to the school we went to the friends house of Kivelis. Her friends name is Daren and she has an older sister named Daffney. They are super cute girls with lots of energy. They also have a lot of facial expressions. They would be really good in a play or drama. The house we went to was absolute amazing. It was in a hotel...that you have to have big bucks to live in. Like more than 4 million. Its crazy. The door even had a finger print checker to get in. They also had a pool which was amazing. The little girls have dream princess bedrooms. They were more done up than any girls bedroom I have ever seen- it reminds me of shows on nickelodeon. (side note) Hannah Montanna is so funny in Turkish. The girls watched that and the dads voice is a horrible pick-its so funny! The mom of these two girls is extremely nice to me and she wants us to come over and plan activities to see ...what you would call their sea world!
Last week I had a day off to go sight seeing. I decided to go to see some castles called Rumeli Fortress! Its located right by the seaside, Bosporus and its amazing! Its very old and use to be a very big battle zone. They have lots of canyons located through out the fortress. It was very cheap to get in as well. I would say that that the fortress is a must see. Its kind of crazy to drive around Istanbul and see castles and History every where! Makes me want to know more about the History and the life here. I have learned a lot so far- mostly about religions...but I want to learn more about how some of these things came to be. I find the Turkish language very interesting. To translate something in english to turkish is fairly simple because most of the words in English can be summed up in one word. Example... the words good, beautiful, very nice, pretty, wonderful, heavenly, gorgeous all sum up to one word. Choke Guzel... I don't really like this translation for all of those words because I would like to be more descriptive... but... its how they say it here... It kinda confuses me how Turkish people can learn English... will they understand what all of our adjectives mean? Its funny to hear some turkish people speak to me in english...they use words that are so improper for the sentence they are trying to use. Sometimes its confusing cause they say it and I have to clarify to make sure I am understanding correctly.
Anyway- that is a little bit for now
-Chan
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