TÖMER

at the beginning of october, i enrolled in intensive turkish lessons at TÖMER, a language institute that's run by a local university.  i was really scared at first.  when i went to sign up, they had me sit for a 100 question exam, then write an essay, to test my level of turkish.  obviously this was just a way for them to determine what level i should start at, but still i found it intimidating.  i had taken the whole summer off from learning turkish (and as a result had forgotten some), plus from my exam they found that my turkish  didn't fit into one of their levels:  from taking lessons at the turkish american association & then with a private tutor, my knowledge of the language was all over the place.  so they started me at level 3 and i began lessons 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, straight away.  

i thought i was going to hate it!  the idea of sitting in a classroom with only a faint understanding of what was going on did not appeal.  but luckily, that's not at all how the lessons have gone.  first, i have kept up quite well with the lessons.  second, we have a really interesting class.  we started out as all women, until a guy from azerbaijan started with us this past week. everyone is from a different country... no exceptions!  we have all gotten to know one another via a series of languages.  when we need to help each other understand a lesson, a translation can go from turkish to arabic to french to italian to english, and sometimes we'll throw in a bit of farsi for good measure.  both the women from irak and iran asked me, at different times, if i didn't like them because i'm american.  i've been so glad for the opportunity to dispel that myth, and become their friend.

during our breaks we talk about our cultures and our languages, and mostly we talk in turkish.  we're all here for different reasons (ok ok, 3 of us are married to turks) and i think we all appreciate the opportunity to befriend other women who are going through a similar experience.   several of the girls are studying turkish with the hope of entering a turkish university.  some of them are living here with family and simply need better language proficiency to find work.  

for the final weeks, our assignment is to present on an aspect of our culture, in turkish.  i decided to present on thanksgiving, and baked a pumpkin pie so they could better appreciate the food i was describing (and hopefully be distracted from my terrible turkish).  they loved it!  none of them had ever tasted (or heard of) pumpkin pie.  our teacher ordered coffee & tea for everyone to enjoy their pie with, and we had a fun class of discussing americana and comparing cultural traditions.  then golnaz presented on her culture's wedding traditions (she is from iran, but her family is turkik).

our class, enjoying their pie, left to right:  the dude from azerbaijan, assya from algeria, nur from irak, didem (our teacher, who is turkish), golnaz from iran and francesca from italy.  missing are victoria from belarus and issa from estonia

golnaz, presenting on turkmeni wedding traditions

oh yeah, and the other good news?  is that i think my turkish has really improved.  i have to take next month off for a trip to the us, but i'm definitely planning to re-enroll in december.