Baby Shower... via Skype

My mom threw a baby shower for us, and we were there via Skype. I didn't talk to a single guest because of the garbled sound, but it was still nice. They played games and had cake over there, we had cake and watched the games over here.

Maybe the Skype noise and sugar made me cranky because I really didn't want to go out, but we walked around and looked at people jumping over fires for a festival that I didn't fully understand, but kids were burning broken furniture and tires in the small parks around our apartment and no one seemed to mind. With no adults to supervise, the children were free to kick ashes around and pick up the burning pieces of wood to reposition them so they could make more impressive jumps.We also made a wish under a rosebush - if the things we put under the bush are disturbed, out wishes will come true.  As a festival, it fell a little flat, but there were a lot of people walking around on the street, presumably looking for a fire to jump over or a rosebush to wish on.

Last night was also the supermoon, but I saw it for just a few seconds. When the moon was out, this old man was already in bed!

Faced with a new challenge

Hunkered down, laying low, staying home, watching movies. That has been my life of late. I'm saving money. Why?

I'm having a baby.

American abroad having a baby with his Turkish spouse.

The timing couldn't have been bettter.

That last bit is not true.

The truth is that I was making serious plans to leave Turkey and scattering my resume all over the world while fretting about where I will find the money to buy planefare to relocate. That would be quite difficult with a baby and a spouse who would frankly prefer to stay in Turkey.

The Ride

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

- Hunter S. Thompson

Today I'm thinking about retirement. That's right. Today. I've spent quite a few years living and working in various places and at various jobs. The path of my teaching career is either sideways or downward. Sure, last year was a brief upward spike, but this year I am squeaking by month to month. Teaching in America was a bust. Japan was a crabwalk towards old age. Turkey is just too tight a fit.

So where do I go from here? I find myself thinking about jumping off again towards a paradise location where there may or may not be amenities like hospitals, electricity and hurricanes. Low salaries are a real consideration. Should I try to stomach the UAE or Saudi Arabia in exchange for some savings in the bank? It's a possibility.

(I'm also wondering if I should change the tone of this blog to sound like a know-it-all expert)



Teaching Abroad

Teaching abroad is a good way to see the world. If you're from an English speaking country, are a native English speaker, can pass the photo test and are in the preferred age range for your chosen country, you can get there and 'see the world'.

However, there's one very serious reality to consider, and that is that teaching is a difficult job. Your salary will generally allow you to live comfortably (but not always), and depending on the type of school or company you work for, you may have enough time to see a number of different places.

But when you're teaching, you're working. It's possible that you'll be working and working and working, just like you would be in your own hometown.

Clever expats find different ways of circumventing the daily grind, but if you're teaching abroad, count on a full workload.

Settling Down... in spite of myself

Going global sounds good, but momentum comes and goes. Teaching means having a job and hardly ever eating exotic... or even nice cuisine. It means taking the bus at a regular time. It means not strolling jauntily around in a foreign land. But it still sounds nice, and it's better than being stuck in your home town. It's much better to leave your home town and later wish to return than to never have left at all.

As it stands, sometimes get homesick. I also sometimes want to shoot off to India. My mind changes every time I see a travel program... but mostly I just want to leave this place.

Try and fail

Try something... then fail. Realize that you're still alive... no longer afraid to try.
Today I'm trying to be optomistic.... and failing a little bit, but that's ok. 2012 is just another label for a block of time, which is just a label for getting older and things happening. Still, I'm eyeing 2012 as something that can be full of promise. I want to promise that I'll zig when I'd normally zag... I feel like I've been zagging my whole life.

Recent days have been appalling... I am the frog that's boiled slowly, gradually warming up but too complacent to jump out of the pot until it's too late. Right now it is too late... or is it never too late? When is dinner time?

I'd really like to take a walk today - it's been awhile since I've gotten any exercise. My legs feel like going all the way to Karsiyaka or Bostanli, but we're having the kind of wet, cold weather that makes chilled bones and runny noses that never stop. Besides, but kitchen is warming up and my pajamas feel comfortable.

Throw up your hands, tear out your hair... stuck in the minor leagues

2011, the year of intended change... it turned surreal and hit a wall of blind, stupid vengeance. Actually it was more of a storm of blind, stupid vengeance. For me, the moment of numb weightlessness immediately after the impact- that dull, shocked slow motion stretched over an entire summer and I'm still waiting for the full realization of what exactly has happened and what might come next. My attempt at making large changes in my life only achieved a holding pattern. I'm still in Turkey, feeling a little bit trapped here. No amount of slowly whirling meatlogs could make me like it better. The story is purely personal... it would be of no educational value to share details, but the life of an expat can take unpredictable turns. I definitely stepped on some cultural toes and caught some bad surprises.

In hindsight, I can see where I hesitated when it was time to make a move and when I moved at the wrong time, but these lessons may or may not be applicable in the future.

Despite things gone wrong, I'm finding quite a bit to be happy about. I like my job and my apartment... and there's a new Mexican restaurant...

The next move (plan B) requires a bit more planning. I'd like to borrow a few pages from a successful expat handbook somewhere and get back on track, hopefully improving my game.