butterfly cloud

on sept 29th, four other speaking skills instructors (i.e. similarly-aged foreigners on my program) and i trekked down the street to middle eastern technical university to meet up with some turkish co-workers & see the wonderfully fun/wildly popular yugoslav goran bregovic with his wedding & funeral band. it was in an outdoor stadium and quickly turned into a full-fledged dance party once the crowd broke through the gates - the video below (not mine) gives a sense of the atmosphere.



this is a fairly good (& haunting) recording of one of the more somber pieces from a performance in Plovdiv:



but this (found on youtube and insanely edited - you've been warned) video from the night in ankara gives a much better feel of the whole thing. it was a great time.



other recent highlights include fancy taxpayer food & drinks at the u.s. ambassador's fulbright party (and the blissful realization that i can wear silly, colorful, barely-formal clothes and still hold my own among fancy-smancy government types), going out "drinking" with some turkish co-workers (most of whom drank energy drinks, re: ramazan) followed by the equivalent of an adult sleepover at a teacher named bedra's apartment and cozy turkish-style breakfast in the morning, and the promise of moving into our new apartments this wednesday.

teaching + planning lessons for 20-hours-a-week of english as a second language classes is surprisingly draining. on fridays i leave work after seven solid hours of conversation in a zombie-like burnt-out haze; it's amazing how much i cherish the time spent zoning out on the bus to and from work as part of my coping strategy. (a steady dose of chocolate and pomegranates are also involved.) still, there are moving moments: last thursday i walked into my dreaded uncooperative 8:50 class (of several hyper-masculine, somewhat intimidating 20-something male students) still red-eyed from the expected occasional sobbing that accompanies culture shock + loneliness mixed with mild heartache in the morning (not a good combination) and was shocked to find a class of suddenly eager, hilarious, good-natured students practically falling over themselves to speak english: ghost stories about haunted hamams, where i should go to get the best doner kebab, and why they call ferit (a student) "little cow." i guess life has a funny way of making sure you get what you need. without those students i really don't know if i could have made it through the day.

bedra invited me to stay with her and her mom in istanbul for bayram which means i'll probably be leaving this wednesday night until next sunday afternoon. i'm excited to get my first shot at istanbul with a native istanbul-er and maybe go to the istanbul biennial while i'm there. finally moving into my apartment will hopefully help settle things a bit - until then i'm off for another unpredictable week!