Exam Tears

I entered my 9th grade class yesterday to slumped shoulders, red eyes, and despondent faces. The students had just finished taking a GDS exam, a 160 minute, 160 multiple choice question exam. The students take one of the high-stakes exams 4 times per year and tremendous weight, including the distribution of scholarship money, is placed upon the outcome of these exams.

One young girl said she just wanted to transfer to a school where she could be at the top of the academic list instead of the bottom. (Trust me, she's very far from from the bottom, but in the eyes of a teenager, even a few points from the top can feel like the bottom.) As added pressure, I can imagine that many of these students will go home to questions like "How did you do?" "Who is above you?" "Why didn't you do better than him or her?" "We'd better buy more practice books and sign up for more after- school and Saturday tutoring so you can be at the top of the list." and so on...

Anyway, after all this, I knew a lot of learning was not going to take place. In essence they had just completed an SAT test in terms of time and brain power. So I felt some talking, reassurances from a teacher, and fun could be in order. Plus, I love these students and it was breaking my heart to see their despondency.

I started like this: "Don't let yourself be defined by a number. When I look around this room I see intelligent, creative, curious, enthusiastic and hard-working students. I see kind, generous, honest and loving people. You have wonderful futures and bright opportunities ahead."

Then I related an anecdote about one of my favorite administrators in Maryland. He used to tell the middle school students that he left law school after 2 years. He always started his pep talks with "someone has to be at the bottom" and that "bottom of the list" was him.  He was a  "B" student in a competitive law school environment and that just wasn't good enough. Lucky for me, he found his niche in education. I went on to explain that he was amazing with students and an amazing role model. He taught me how to relate to adolescents and how to make learning fun.

The amazing thing is the students listened. You could hear a pin drop. (I never get this kind of quiet in Turkey.) Then they clapped at the end. They dried their tears and started laughing especially when I explained how my Maryland administrator used to dress up to demonstrate the school dress-code.

We ended the class with a fun speaking lesson using maps from around the world about "asking for" and "giving" directions. Many will head abroad, including New York City and Boston, for the upcoming semester break and their iPhones with Google maps will be too expensive in the absence of WiFi so the conversation was fun and practical. And, they have another skill that is not necessarily measured on a standardized test.

Downton Abby Fest

I was prompted to purchase Season 3 of Downton Abby yesterday when all the Facebook posts started coming across about Lady Edith. Worried that the "Lady Edith" whatever (I still didn't know if it was good or bad) would be revealed before I had a chance to watch it for myself, I decided to take action. This morning, promptly at 6:00 am, I started the Season 3 downloads on my computer. After a day at school in anticipation of a great evening of entertainment, I forced myself to exercise, warmed up some leftovers, poured myself a glass of wine and settled in for a 3 episode TV fest. What a great night!

My favorite character is Shirley Mac Lane as the American grandmother. She captures the subtle American mannerisms with her own Shirley Mac Lane twist. When she suggests they all have a picnic in the middle of castle, I laughed out loud. I can't tell you how many times I've suggested "outrageous" (they seem normal to me) ideas over here with my American optimism and matter-of-fact-ness only to be given looks like I was an alien from outer space. What I lack is Shirley's ability to suggest an idea with the assumption that it will be followed. My new hair color with its tinge of red and  some red lipstick should help with the empowerment.

Unfortunately, regarding Lady Edith saga, the Facebook posts did impact my viewing. I was able to predict the unfortunate outcome thus making it a little less enjoyable. But, I'm trying to remain vague enough to not spoil the show for my readers.

Although this post really has nothing to do with Turkey, it does show how I've changed my evening routine. I've never been much of a TV watcher, but lately I've discovered the pleasure in purchasing an entire HBO or PBS series on line and watching one hour (tonight's the exception) per weekday. The cost is less than monthly cable TV. I avoid commercials. I don't have the stress of programming those recording devices..I can't even remember what they're called. And, I only get to choose the exact moment I start watching.

By they way, I'm open for suggestions about other series. I've enjoyed Band of Brothers, Boardwalk Empire, Homeland, and, of course, Downton Abby. Anything I'm missing?

Make a Wish

I was almost mentally prepared for the 75 kilometer bike ride today that I'd signed up for and embarked upon this morning at 9:00 a.m., but when, after pedaling for almost 4 hours and after having  passed 3 exit signs for Kemalpasa, what I'd thought was our destination, I knew I was going to have to dig deep for enthusiasm, energy, and enjoyment because this was going to be a long day. It already felt longer than 35 or 40 km which would have been half-way.

The reason I'd signed up for this trip was because I'd been to Kemalpasa before. It's a cute village nestled among some mountains so I was anticipating some windy, hilly one lane donkey cart paths..I actually love these little villages and roads. But the reality was I was riding on was a 4 - 6 lane divided highway complete with on and off ramps, piles of litter along the side of the road, and factories spewing smoke and emitting very nasty manure-like smells, and guard dogs chasing us (or barking from their chains..which was better and safer for us) every 100 yards or so. One smart guy even brought what I thought was a tazer that he was shooting at the dogs. He would point it at them, a blue light would go on and the dogs would whimper away. Lucky for me, however, it must have been a noise emitter because he was rather careless with his pointing and aimed it several times in the direction of us the bikers but nothing happened.Thank God because I was just imagining writhing on the ground in agony from an electric shock.

At 4 1/2 hours into the ride, we stopped at a little restaurant/house. I was so happy..not only was my  tush sore because I haven't ridden in over a month, but I was starving, too. Unfortunately, the man indicated he was closed on Sunday. This was his loss..well, ours too because we were starving..but I'll bet the 14 of us may have been more income than he'd had the entire month...But his loss was our gain because we rode another 5 kilometers(who's counting? Oh, I was) down the highway. We pulled into what turned out to be a lovely, clean...actually I should say, clean, lovely restaurant..Our odemeters registered 55 kilometers. We all inhaled a delicious meal of homemade chicken soup and iskender...meat on top of bread slathered with a yogurt, tomato sauce. We then mounted our bikes and started the long journey home.

The good thing about living on the coast is everything from inland is downhill heading home.The ride was much quicker and easier, and we almost got back to our respective towns before it was too dark.

I was able to muster just enough energy to stop at the grocery story en route to my house.  I'm glad I did because this stop was the highlight of my day. Just as I was trying to swing my very exhausted leg over my seat to park my bike, a strange woman approached me, pointed to my gold earrings, pointed to the newly risen crescent moon and indicated we needed to make a wish. Apparently gold and crescent moons are special so we turned, faced the moon, and shared this special wish making moment in silence. I thanked her for sharing this bit of tradition and culture and we introduced ourselves. It was a very special, sentimental moment and the start of a tradition that I will continue indefinitely. By the way, my wish did come true and that was to have enough energy to make it home and to give the Turkish drivers enough patience and eyesight to see me while I was riding in the dark.

In case you're wondering, the final total was 110 kilometers or about 70 miles..Normally, that's a doable day but the key is to be mentally prepared...Today, I just wasn't...

I've attached some pictures for you to grasp the "beauty" of the day.