TOBB: The First Week in Review

As of last Monday, I began working as an English "Native" at TOBB University. The morning got off to a rocky start: Zack and Will thought I had woken up and gone upstairs to the girls' apartment in order to take a shower (our apartment still had no electricity, so it was impossible to use the bathroom safely), so they had forgotten to wake me up. I rushed to get dressed, and in the end it was, fortunately, a non-issue.

We arrived at TOBB "dressed to the nines" (as Annie likes to say) for our first day. Semihbay, the director of the Foreign Language Department, introduced us to Inci (In-jay), our academic coordinator and scheduler. Inci took us upstairs to the teachers' wing of TOBB, where we got to choose offices. I am incredibly fortunate: my office has the four most sociable, brilliant teachers in this University (and I'm not even counting myself!). For most of them, TOBB is a temporary job while they work on their Masters in English Literature: TOBB, despite its demanding schedule, affords some downtime for the hardworking teachers to study (frequently, I will see them studying thick pamphlets of philosophy, highlighting and rereading obstruse, heady passages). Teachers arrive around 8 am and leave no earlier than 6pm. This long work week is softened somewhat by a "half day" once a week--half days are from 8 until 3:30, when the last classes finish. I will write more about my new "colleagues" in later posts; they have helped me out alot in my integration with TOBB, Ankara, and Turkish culture.

The first day ended as a disappoint. Once we were in our office, we were given free time-- until 6pm. At first it was nice to have unabridged Internet access for the first time since arriving in Turkey. It quickly became dull, however, as we were told we really had no responsibilities for the day and could do whatever we wanted. Imagining six more months of such a cushy co-op disheartened me, and I ended the day in foul spirits.

The second day, I vowed to use my time productively: if I was going to have nine hours every day of freetime, I would put myself to work. I organized a schedule that includes reading, journaling, communicating, and researching. Before I took the TOBB co-op, I was informed about the downtime; I decided then that I would try and conduct some type of research in my free time here. Serendipitously, my NEU co-op advisor told me about a Middle East Studies Department research grant available for students living in the Middle East. So, last week, with the informal supervision of my Anthropology professor at NEU, I began writing a proposal for the research grant. Any ill-will I had towards my free time disappeared as I set to work on the proposal. I researched Turkey and Turkish culture to try and get an idea of the topic. One thing that emerged immediately in any discussion of Turkey is their recent economic ascendancy; therefore, I decided to examine the aspects of Turkish environmentalism. Particularly, I want to discover the responses to environmental degradation as a result of the economic growth (for example, the Turkish response to increased water pollution due to increased traffic in the Bospohoros, or protests against mining). Indeed, Turkey does have several environmental problems that are readily identified by even the students here, such as water, air, and sound pollution. I spent most of last week preparing the grant proposal; I submitted it Friday with the approval of my professor and am awaiting a response (more on the research later).

Once we had a staff meeting on Tuesday, our responsibilities became much clearer, and it was evident that Monday's freetime was not indicative of the rest of the semester. Indeed, when I wasn't researching and writing, the other Natives and I were introducing ourselves to the Turkish students. I have been very busy talking with students: we discuss American and Turkish culture, talk politics, and, of course, debate football (soccer). So far, I have not been able to mention that I play soccer without the immediate follow-up question of, "Who is your favorite team?" They mean Turkish teams, and I essentially have three choices: Fenerbache, Beshitash, and Galatasaray, the biggest teams in Turkey, all based in Istanbul (note that these are almost certainly NOT the correct spellings haha). I have yet to actually WATCH a Turkish game however-- to them this shouldn't prevent me from choosing a favorite team.

The students are incredibly friendly: most conversations start out with "Where are you from?" and end up diverging in every direction. Many of them speak slowly and haltingly; however, they are not deterred by their speed and take time to practice the language. They are enthusiastic to communicate with us. For example, a student named Habib sat with us for over an hour: it seemed as though he had only taken a month or two of English. Every sentence was a struggle-- it wasn't so much of a conversation as an exercise in patience. However, Habib is a prime example of the Turks' refreshing approach to language: their perservance differs from my experience in the United States with language education (more on this later). Despite the misunderstandings, dropped topics, and failed attempts to make a joke, talking with the students is fun and educational ("fun-ducational" as I told the teachers in my office): they are very curious and want to learn; we are curious and want to learn, so the relationship works out despite the frequent language difficulties.

I taught my first two classes yesterday: it was extremely gratifying. I have occasionally toyed with the idea of teaching; yesterday confirmed that I may one day seek to pursue teaching further. There are 3-5 50min. conversation classes per week. The students were all very good, and there were few problems. I enjoyed speaking with them, and they liked asking me questions about where I was from. For the most part, everyone in both my classes contributed to the conversations at different points. Students even seemed to have a good time when we (they) were debating football teams. In one class, there was a bit of a bump: one of the best speakers asked me if I thought the Obama administration would accept the reality of the Armenian genocide. This is, of course, a taboo discussion topic in almost any situation, and with good reason: for Turks, the Armenia question is preventing them from entrance into the European Union and creating bad press for them in an era of economic expansion. After initial surprise, I sufficiently deflected the question, saying I would answer it after class because of the topics' sensitivity. Later, I gave the student an abridged answer to his question. I told him I wasn't averse to talking about it; in fact, because we have differing opinions, we should discuss it. However, that particular classroom was not the place for a lesson in Turkish-American international relations (more on this later). The student was apologetic, not so much for the question, but for my reaction I think. I was very surprised by this: I naively thought the subject wouldn't be broached.

Other than that one incident, the classes both went swimmingly. I look forward to teaching again tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm going to do some preliminary work on my research. Also, Mackenzie and I are in charge of Movie Club this month: tomorrow's film selection is Tarzan. We are shamelessly using free food as an incentive for the students (we chose Tarzan because of its simplicity, rating, and availability more than its appeal to college students).

So far, I am very happy to be to TOBB. It will still be a bit before I fall into something resembling a professional routine: I am constantly looking out for opportunities to make a real contribution to the school and not squander my time. In the meantime, I am catching up on my reading (right now: Turkish culture books and Jack Kerouac's On the Road, a book I feel is suited to my youthful wanderlust).

Hope to hear from all of you soon! More updates later this week (a lot has happened!). Hoshcakal!