Turkish Delights

So Katy brought to my attention a really interesting article in Newsweek! Apparently Turkey is the most anti-American country. Truthfully I haven't seen a thing! My class had about a minute of applause for Obama when he was mentioned in class! Of course this article is based off of polls. Well for one thing it could be that the only people who went to respond to the poll were feeling negative or (what I think is more likely) is that Turks feel like they should hate America but when it comes to the American tv shows, music, movies, people, and language, that doesn't seem to be related to the "America" that they hate. I don't know if that makes much sense...I'll try to clarify. It's like they feel its their duty as Turks to hate America, but America is a foreign thing that attacks Iraq and hates Muslims, its not the people they meet, the tv they watch, the music they listen to, or the movies they see (Twilight mania is insane here). So in the end, don't believe everything you see in the polls! If someone posts a poll on a Harry Potter fan website "which is better: Harry Potter or Star Wars" most likely you'll get Harry Potter. I'm not saying thats what was done here and thats a generalized analogy but just reader beware! The End!

So we're learning! I can only speak for myself but there's still a lot of room for improvement. One thing I've started noticing though is that being bilingual and being fluent in two languages is two separate things. For example, bilingual is having the two languages simultaneously like my dad who understands english and turkish at the same time. I have to make a conscious mental switch between english or turkish so I can't hear both at the same time or I'll get a head ache.

Haha so I need to clear some things up. I am not happy with my class here. But I do like being here! The school program I was placed in is suppose to be teaching English. In that case we have 6 classes of English and all the other classes are the very basics. Without school I really enjoy it here. The people are nice and helpful and I love city life!

I officially stink at this blogging thing! Its been almost two months! It just seems like not much is happening that there's not much to say. So we've been going to these schools and I really can't stand it. Yes I know thats what every kid my age says but I think I have a different reason. We don't learn! I'm missing AP US history so much that I've been doing my own research! The classes are simple. The teacher gives you information, and you memorize it. Then you take the MCAS style test every week! Than if that's not enough, we have midterms esque tests every month!!! Oh and then there's the problem that I don't understand the tests but I'm really not worried about that. I'm more worried that I'm falling behind and really wasting time while my classmates at home are learning valuable information instead of the first five old ottoman newspapers (tercuman-i ahual is one. thats OLD turkish) The bright side is that I love the dorms and think my turkish has really improved there. I can now at least cary on a basic conversation with people.
    Speaking is the hardest for any language. Next time your talking with someone think about the different ways you talk to your family, teachers, and friends. For someone learning English thats basically three sub languages to learn.

Before I post more details on school life, I want to shed some light on a controversial topic. Scarves in Turkey. This is a social and political war more than it is religious.

So I haven't blogged in a reaaaaaaaaallly long time and thats b/c i've been busy w/ school! So school is....different here.