bursa

White Cloud to Mother Bird

2005-05-01T22:40:00.000-07:00

So, it's finally happened. From now on this Blog will be considered to be filed in the "archive" section, and there'll be a new and improved, but most important SINGLE, place to go to keep up with LB news. My new, and ideally final, Blog is finally here, courtesy of Nomadlife-thanks Dody! Hey, I warned you it would happen.

Epic

2005-04-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

Whoa, I just watched this crazy little 8 minute clip about media and news in the year 2014. Check this puppy out from the Museum of Media History site.

Nomad Life

2005-04-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

I also wanted to include that I've created an account with this kind of Blog collective called Nomadlife. You can read up on it and check it out yourself if you're interested. I already have a site, but haven't started posting there yet. Eventually I think I'll use it as my main blog. Why? Well, to be perfectly honest, I think "nomadlife" sounds so much cooler than "blogspot". Okay, so that's true, but also because I think the idea is pretty sweet. Anyhoo, I'll keep you guys posted, but I won't make any sudden changes without announcements and links, don't worry. I'm not sure when the transition will take place, though, seeing as how I'll start my job soon, I think I won't have time to fiddle around right away.

Host Family

2005-04-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

Two nights ago I moved in with my new host family. I think it will be a "happily ever after" type story. There is a mom, Berna, who is thirty-three, and a teenage daughter, Bensu. The mom works two jobs, one out of her home that has something to do with import/export, and the other with a real estate company. The daughter is really excited to have me there, I think she's a little lonely. Oh, there is also a pet bird, a blue parakeet named Gigi. The apartment is in the same neighborhood as my old host family so it's nice to live in a familiar area. I have my own room, and even my own wardrobe, which is awesome! In the summer I think it will be really awesome, because the apartment has a balcony all the way around the outside; and it is also so close to the Saturday fruit and vegetable pazar. It's literally less than 1/2 a block away!!

The past couple of weeks have been a little crazy. I've been helping out with Aiesec matching and reception activities, which included a three day matching mania where we didn't leave the office. The past few days I've been trying to take care of extending my tourist visa and applying for a residence permit. I've been to the police station so many times, they recognize me there now, which I'm not sure if it's good or bad. I've even made a friend there, Fulia, who has been taking English courses for two or three months twice a week for a couple of hours. I sat with her one day and we had a conversation so she could practice her English. I also had to go to some building, I'm still trying to figure out what the hell it was and why exactly we went there, that they didn't tell us we had to go to until we showed up at the station. Anyway, the whole reason we did things this way was so I wouldn't have to fly back to the states just to get the special Aiesec visa, but I'm starting to think it might've just been easier and cheaper to do it that way. Everything seems to be in order now, though, and I'm supposed to go yet again to my favorite place, the 5-0's, to pick up all my stuff on Monday.

I'm also supposed to start my new job on Monday. I'll meet with my manager, Bülent, today to talk more about the job description. Afterward, Onur, Berk, Ufuk and I were going to have a BBQ, but seeing as how it's been raining all day today, we postponed it. The rain has really been making everything green, though. I'm really starting to see why this place is called "Green Bursa".

New Photos

2005-04-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Just a quick little "Howdy do" to let you know that there is a new link to the mmf photos site. If you've checked it recently, you'll see a link to a new album called Uludağ.

By the way, I haven't solved the problem of all of my posts displaying in the right-hand column under the heading 'Previous Posts', so when you visit a page it would be best to just scroll down and look at the pictures. If you click on a post, you run the risk of not being able to see all of the pictures in the album.

Happy Anniversary!!

2005-04-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

First, I just realized that it's Joe and Sara's anniversary today so HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! Second, thanks Auntie Juantita and Robin for your comments!! Congratulations Auntie Rob and figuring out that posting comments business! :) Yes, they have TP and all those kinds of goodies, but I will say, at the risk of grossing out some guys, that it's a lot harder to find tampons here.

I will miss Loni's graduation and I'm sorry about that. I am going to start at my office next week, so I'll let you all know how that goes. I really want to to come home for Joey's christening and I just found out it is going to happen on June 25th. When I go in on Monday, I will talk to my manager and see if it is possible for me to make it back. I've heard that they are pretty understanding when it comes to time off if you ask in advance, but I'll be asking for about a week's worth and I'll have been working there only about a month so we'll see.

I think that at least at first I'm going to live with a host family. I've been weighing my options and am almost positive that's what my decision will be. I won't live with them the whole time, just a few months, but during that time I won't have to pay rent, which is nice. Like I said, I'm not positive, but things should start to pan out by the end of next week.

The Haps

2005-04-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to see that some of you are posting comments. Let's keep the good times rolling, eh? I've been tinkering with the MMF Project photo album main page. I took the suggestion of Bro Joe and added the cities from which the OC members come. I wanted to make some adjustments to the pictures, but right now the network is kapooey and all of the photos are there, so that will just have to wait. By the way, you can find that site by clicking on "MMF" under "Bursa Photos" on the lefthand side of the screen or just click here.

So, let's see, the past few days have been pretty great. Two days ago I hung out with Diane and Jafet, from Mexico, and Daniel, from Nigeria. We cooked some Mexican food and danced to some African music. The best parts were when we would try and imitate Daniel's crazy African dance jumping. Jafet was the funniest.

Yesterday I interviewed some of the new Student Nominees (SN's), the students who are preparing to be matched to a traineeship abroad, from Bursa to test their level of English. It was a pretty good time. Most of the ones I encountered could comprehend very well what I was saying, and I tend to speak a little quickly because I'm a native speaker. Some of them were better at responding, organizing, and generally just expressing themselves.

Today has been kind of a free day. I've used it to catch up on things like my Blogs, and I'm trying sort out this whole cell phone business so that I can finally be contacted via a telephonic device. I'm happy to say that at least I've heard back from the Support, so that's a start.

Tomorrow a professor from England is coming in to give a training session for the Aiesecers. I am going to go to that, and then on Wednesday I am going to help out with some of the reception activities planned for him to show him Bursa-like a city tour, lunch, etc.

Also, I'm sorry to say that it is Daniel's last week here, so I think we will have some kind of Nigerian culture night as well as a goodbye activity/party for him.

Rome wasn't built in a day

2005-04-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

I said farewell to my mom today. Our mini Turkey tour has ended and we both have to get back into the grind. I promise to talk about our adventures soon, but I wanted to share something that has been (well, to be honest, shoulda been but it wasn't) in the works for a looong time.

I finally have started to work out that whole pesky pics on the internet thing! I have big plans that will turn out to be one sweet network of blogs serving as photo albums, buuut who knows if I can pull it off. I've been playing around with some stuff and have created the web address for what will be the launching point.

You can find that address by clicking here. It looks bunk right now, but that's just because I was experimenting with uploading a few photos. In the future it will just have some links and the photos will be in the other blogs. Anyway, I hope I can keep on it and actually make something that will turn out remotely like my vision.

More to come on my little holiday and photo posting progress...

April Fools...or is it

2005-04-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

As most of you know because of my mass email, I will stay in Bursa and begin a new job. I want to apologize for the mass emailing and blogging with such big news, but it happened quickly and I wanted to let all of you know as soon as possible.

Also, my mom arrived a couple of days ago in one piece with no cast!! She still has to wear a brace, though. Things have been a little crazy with the end of the project, so the past couple of days we haven't had very much QT. After today, though, it will be much better and we will have mother daughter time galore! :)

Hopefully I will be keeping up my blog more often like I did when I was in Jena.

Oh, and by the way, I know it's around April Fools Time, but no, I'm not joking...my mom really is here and I really will be working in Turkey. Just wanted to make sure.. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

2005-03-21T21:30:00.000-08:00

Yes yes, today is my Mom's birthday (that also means, "Spring, here we come!") and she's living it up in sunny Florida! Even though, word has it that it's been a little rainy there as of late. So, Happy Birthday Momma B!

Old School Crew

2005-03-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

Rumor has it that Marloes is back in town. We have one of our biweekly meetings this evening, so we will see, but I hope that it's true.

Last week Ewa and I were at another private school called Tuncsiper. It was an overall nice experience. We had a meeting one day with the founder, a very old and kind man, which was, in my opinion, one of the best, if not the best, moment of the whole week. We talked about experiences in foreign countries, what we were doing in Turkey, our future, etc.-it was like story time with Grandpa Tuncsiper.

On Saturday we went to a Book and Education fair here in Bursa. It was very hot and crowded, and there were only a few tables to put all of our stuff on; but, it was definitely worth it when we were swarmed by herds of children. Some were brave enough to speak and ask questions, while others just kind of stood and stared.

I received 2 boxes worth of books, pamphlets, and brochures, thanks to the American consulate in Istanbul. Now I have information on everything from American Literature to being Muslim in the US, to the US Economy, and a lot of the materials are in Turkish and English.

I also got my hands on two Powerpoints about America, and I made something myself that I like to call, "Tour the 50 States". I did it in Powerpoint, but it is not a presentation per say. It has the state flag of all 50 states and then at least one picture from each state. There are no words except the names of each state, but I am thinking about adding the state motto as well. Like I said, it's not a presentation; but, I think it is a good thing, for example, to have running on a laptop at an American information table at a Global Village. I also have been forming a collection of American Patriotic mp3's. I have things like our national anthem, Auld Lang Syne, Taps, songs of the airforce, navy, army, etc, God Bless America, America the Beautiful, yada yada yada. I think this would also be nice to play.

Sunday we had a free day! Woo! The second one of the whole project. I did absolutely nothing, and it was fantabulous.

This week we are at Tan College. It's only the beginning of the week, so we'll see how it goes. I've talked with a couple of the German teachers, who I like very much, but I can tell my German is quickly fading, even though they complimented me on it.

Two more full weeks and the project will be over. I've been thinking about trying to find another opportunity here, but it's not so easy to look for jobs during the week because we are at school from early in the morning until about 5 pm. If I'm serious about it, I better get on the stick, eh? The end of the project also means that it's mother and daughter vacation time!!! I've been trying to improve my Turkish so that it will be that much easier to get around, but it's difficult to learn any foreign language when you are speaking English all the time..

By the way, thanks mom for being the ONLY ONE to even bother to post any comments!!!

Endings and New Beginnings

2005-03-06T20:20:00.000-08:00

First, I think we should all send our condolences Marloes' way. Last night she lost her grandfather. It was very sudden and unexpected-she will be going home tomorrow to be with her family, but will eventually return before the end of the project. We'll all think about her a ton the whole time she's gone, and we can't wait for her to get back so we can be together again.

Now, on a much lighter note, I'd like to tell you about our weekend...

On Friday Onur, Marloes, Nikola, and I went to a bar called Ivory. Yes, I know I mentioned something about Danza before, but most people weren't really in the mood to go out and I don't think anybody was in the sort of mood to go to Danza. Ivory is a nice place, that I bet rocks in the summer time because it has a nice patio area out front. I've only been there twice, but both times I've been there they've had live music. It's mostly Turkish songs that everyone (every Turk, that is) knows and, depending on how late it is and how much they've had to drink, the bar will sing along with the few performers that usually consist of a girl singer and one or two acoustic guitars.

On Saturday Ewa (Yes, she's recovering finally!!!) and I went to a teacher's house from Milli Piyango. We had breakfast with Banu (the teacher) and her mother. It was a great way to start the day-crepes, cheeses, her mom's homemade jam, mmmm... then we all went over to Tan school to have a fun sports play date-there was basketball, volleyball, a swimming pool, and a game of indoor soccer. But the day didn't end there! That evening we had an awesome dinner at a journalist from bursa's house. We polished off a good amount of food and then sat around talking about the history of Bursa, Turkey in general, and singing songs.

I guess that brings us to today (Sunday), where I didn't really do a whole lot of anything. I caught up on a lot of emails and other things I'd been meaning to do, as well as made a list of things to do for next week. Now I just have to get them done...

Ewa and I will start our day bright and early at 9 am. This week we'll be going to a school called Tunç Siper.

Our one weekend in Bursa

2005-03-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

I made it through another week! I just finished at Milli Piyango, the only state (public) school out of the six we visit. It was a long week because my partner, Ewa, from Poland was/is very ill and spent the entire week recuperating. This means I was taking on the teens single-handed. By the way, I saw her (Ewa) today for the first time since Monday, I think, and she said she was feeling much better. Hopefully she will feel good enough to join me next week.

This weekend starts tonight with a night out at a club called Danza. We've gone there before and the general consensus is that the club is very nice, but we're not such big fans of the music. Tomorrow Ewa and I will have breakfast at the home of Banu, one of the teachers from Milli Piyango. She is a very kind lady, and I'm looking forward to it and to actually spending some time with Ewa! Then we will all meet at 11am for a kind of Sports Fun Fest Day. We will spend the good part of the day just playing-basketball, volleyball, tennis, ping pong, and I think we can use the pool, too. After we've worn ourselves out, we're going to get changed and head over to some kind of "traditional Turkish dinner". I'm not exactly sure what this is all about, but I think it may have to do with eating with some city officials or something. Nothing fancy shmancy, though.

On Sunday we'll get to do something really fabulous that we haven't been able to do yet-REST! Sunday is a free day to do as we please. I will try and spend most of it sleeping in, as I'm sure most other people will do, too; but, the last time I tried this I woke up at 8am, so I'm not sure how well it will work out. Then I was thinking about trying to get some folks together, or if not I could just go by myself, to walk to the top of Tophane. It is a type of clock tower structure that is situated very high up on a cliff, and when you go up there you can see pretty much all of Bursa. I think it would be a great way to spend Sunday, though I think a lot of people will have this idea. Sunday is supposed to be beautiful and 18 degrees!

There are many other things I would like to do here in Bursa, that will have to wait for another day. I want to visit the tomb of Osmangazi (it's at the top of Tophane, so if it's not closed on Sunday I can do it then I s'pose) and also something called the green mosque or tomb or something like that.

Better Late than Never

2005-03-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

I know that I've been in Turkey about 3 1/3 weeks, but I've been periodically sending out some emails to let you know what I've been up to. Believe you me, there are not many people who like this blogging stuff as much as I do and it's been hard for me to not be able to keep one up-to-date while I'm here in Bursa. I am going to try my darndest from here on out to keep this updated. Now, this doen't mean that I'll post even close to as often as I did when I was in Jena, but I like the idea of y'all being able to visit an online journal any old time and see what's the haps in the Land o' LBows.

One thing you might be interested in is that one of the trainees, Marloes from Holland, uploaded a few of her pictures to the internet. These photos are by no means all-encompassing-there are still a ton on the network in the aiesec office as well as a ton that aren't so I can't even get to them. Anyway, as I've said before, I'll let you guys know as soon as anything happens. Meanwhile, enjoy these. And just for reference, I wanted to put the link for the other photos I sent out in an email. Some of them I took from Marloes' pictures, so there will be a few repeats.