Drinking Turkey

                You probably think I’ve gone bamboo and slipped off into an oriental haze as you desperately refresh my blog for a new update. Not quite, but I did underestimate the time commitment of a CELTA course  by a few dozen hours. It’s an 8am-10pm workday mon-fri with a few more spare hours on the weekend, but I haven’t got anything else to do so I can’t really complain. The group couldn’t be better and it’s not particularly difficult so much as it is tedious. Also, there’s the unexpected learning curve of forgetting everything you know about teaching and starting over (much harder for experienced teachers). The class is about half native and half non-native speakers, which is good for when I need to know the name of an English grammar point that native Turks have memorized by heart. We’ve already started teaching and I did well in the first session (there’s always a tutor monitoring us as we teach and giving feedback afterwards). Also, it’s a great refresher from Mr Morris’s high school grammar packet.

                Outside of class, I haven’t done a whole hell of a lot. I was invited to study at a pool the other and did so gladly, although I didn’t get as much work done as sun on  my shoulders. Either way, a good session.

Then I drank. And drank. And I ate one of those soggy hamburgers that I mentioned in an earlier post. Sweet, salty, disgusting.

 I tried the Turkish drink of choice, raki, which is an anise liquor not unlike a dry jagermeister. It turns milky white when mixed with water, the only thing people drink it with as far as I can tell.

 I also tried ayran, a salty yogurt drink that is supposedly the best thing to drink in the hot summer. My friend Owen Beacock (British pirate) warned me that it tastes like warm cum. Yes, yes it does. Thank you.

Right now I’m drinking what the Spanish would call tinto de verano, but what I’ll deem the only surefire way to drown the disgustingly bitter aftertaste of Turkish wine. Do better, Turkey. This wasn’t supposed to be a post on Turkish drinks, but my mind always goes to food as a last resort. I’m quite tired and have another lesson tomorrow morning to look forward to, so I’ll say that I hope you are all well and have a pleasant tomorrow.