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The First Week of School

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind! We spent many hours at the school preparing our classrooms and lesson plans. Before we knew it, the first day of school had arrived! I was excited and a little nervous; this is my first time on the instructor side of a classroom.

 

New teachers at Oasis!

Dressed and ready for the first day of school!

 

We were so glad to finally meet our students. There are about 250 students in preschool through 12th grade. All grades met outside the first day and our director welcomed everyone to the new school year. Holding to tradition, we all walked a lap around the building in silence, taking a moment to be thankful in our hearts for the opportunity to be a part of the school.

David is having a blast with his 6th graders, as well as with his lower elementary Bible and 7th/8th grade character education class.

My computer graphic design class is going well. It’s been a fun challenge to create the curriculum, as I am not using a textbook this year. I also have upper elementary computer courses. There are many skilled typists in every grade! I am still learning some of the ropes of the library, and am so thankful for the support of the previous librarian who has been able to answer my many questions through email.

We had a day off of school on Thursday for Victory Day (a Turkish holiday). All schools are required to hang the Turkish flag and a flag of Atatürk

 

Victory Day in Turkey

 

David and I slept in, worked on lesson plans, and had a nice walk down to the pazar (outdoor market). David also got a haircut! He wasn’t able to communicate much other than the fact he wanted a haircut, but the barber did a great job.

 

David's First Haircut in Turkey

Over the past two weeks, several of the teachers have been watching a Bourne movie marathon. The evening of our day off, we watched the last installment of the Jason Bourne movies at one of the teacher’s apartments.

The school had open house Friday evening and we got to meet the parents of several of our students. There are families from all over the world! Korea, the Netherlands, Africa, France…

After open house, a large group of teachers and several students (mostly children of staff members) took several taxis to the movie theater to see The Bourne Legacy. The movie was in English, but had Turkish subtitles. I thought it was stylistically different than the previous movies, but enjoyed it for the most part. The week kind of caught up to me and I fell asleep after intermission. (I greatly appreciate that about seeing movies in Turkey – about halfway through the movie, they stop it so you can go to the bathroom, get more snacks, etc.)

All in all, it was a successful first week. We are looking forward to the many weeks ahead!

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