Well it's finally happened. I've hit the maximum excitement level that I can take.
I found out today that the visa situation has changed over here and my first 90 days is up on the 11 June. I've had endless hassles with work so the expected work permit is still going nowhere and at this point in time requires legal input just so Victoria University trust me when I say I don't have my certificate from graduation (the Turkish authorities love for you to send in 8 photos together with lots of original docs with red official looking stamps on them...).
So I'm all hands to the pump for the next few days to see what I can do as I want to stay. Pending getting anything sorted the rules say I have to leave for 3 months before I can re-enter. I can actually see that being a good thing as well as bad so watch this space...
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Death and Taxes
The paperwork with my new job is going pretty slowly. As I understand it they are going to help with getting a tax number and setting up a bank account.
Amazingly it's coming on 3 months since I first arrived. So I need to do a visa run within the next few weeks.
In terms of the paper work stuff I've decided to plug away at it myself. The bank account is proving hard to sort as they like to have very official looking documentation - preferably with nice red bold stamps on them. It's a work in progress which means I've asked the banks in NZ to send me something with a huge red stamp on it.
In terms of the tax number this proved to be a little easier.
On Wednesdays I have a 4 hour break in the middle of the day between classes. It makes for a long day and isn't really enough time to get anything major done but I managed to head out last Wednesday with a Google map in my hand.
I hadn't figured into the equation just what 27 degrees plus humidity would be like in the middle of the day so there was a fair amount of sweeting involved in my work clothes. This is pretty much par for the course and I'm dreading what it will be like when summer gets here. At the moment I need to arrive early just to cool off and let my clothes dry off a bit. Sounds pretty ugly doesn't it?
In theory the tax office was about 15 mins walk from work. In theory.
After heading down the main street for 20 mins I started to get that little itchy feeling. You know the one --- it's called "doubt". Even with map in hand it wasn't so obvious to me where I was headed and I hadn't looked at it in too much detail as the general area was familiar to me.
Even so I thought I must be going the wrong way. And in the heat I wasn't going to risk going further in the direction I was taking. So I took a good close look at the map and decided I needed to back-track a bit.
After crossing the main trunk road through the area (say about 4-5 lanes each way) I found myself all of a sudden in some small back streets. Looking at the map tough I felt assured I was closer than before. I found a sort of read-delta where 3 roads formed into one and it was clear this was the same place on the map where I wanted to be.
After walking further and bear in mind this means up and down a lot of hills as Istanbul is built almost entirely on hills, the roads started to get smaller.
On the way I spotted PTT which is the post office around here. Having queued 45 minutes to get one stamp last time (this is the norm) I headed there in the hope it would be faster than the previous time and I wanted a break from the sun anyways.
Inside I found a very small office with only 3 people waiting instead of the 100 or so (I kid you not) I met in the previous office.
Now the trick here is to make sure you join the right queue. So being a dumb tourist I go up and ask the first person. He was about to tell me to go elsewhere when he took sympathy on me and asked me to wait while he finished his current task.
A few minutes later I paid for my stamp and all was done. A very good result. I've found this can happen if you come across someone who takes an interest in you being a foreigner or wants to show you some of the local hospitality/service.
Outside I found some policemen who are usually good to ask directions from. In fact pretty much anyone is good to ask directions from in a non-touristy area. The Turks genuinely want to help.
The advised me to head down the road and to take the first right. I did this but didn't see anything obvious like a big business tax office. So I circled around the area a few times and then once on the opposite side from the police asked in an office the same question.
Funnily enough they advised me to head to the same street the police had. This time I noticed the entrance and headed in.
Uh oh. Even before heading in there was a huge number of people outside standing about. Inside it was worse. And to-boot there were only Turkish signs clearly stating which floor you should go to depending on what service you needed.
I headed inside on the ground floor and asked a passer by. This is what the Turks do - they'll grab anyone they can find (even if they are already serving someone) and ask for assistance. People don't seem to mind - it's the way it's done around here. Unfortunately for me I can't handle that and tend to politely wait till they are free which can sometimes be never. It pays to be aggressive at times over here.
The lady told me to go to the fourth floor at which point I remember reading a forum online saying that the numbers were given out on the fourth floor. Doh!
Each floor I passed had it's requisite queue of locals. Most lines were 20-30 people strong.
On the fourth floor - no lift and I was exhausted at this point - it was the same. I headed left looking for someone to ask where to go and found no one.
Heading right I found a small office with two people inside already with "customers". I patiently waited outside whilst a flood of locals kept going in front of me and asking for help. Oh well - if I can't act like a local then it's my own fault right?
In the end it worked out well. I flashed my passport and said "Vergi number". The first word being tax in Turkish (I think). He stood up and looked at it for a while and I was worried he was about to say he couldn't help when he disappeared off to photocopy it.
He came back and we both bypassed the long queues to head into the thick of staff behind the scenes. There at a desk was a lady tapping away at her machine. He interrupted her and asked her to sort me with a number. They were talking for a while and so I thought we might have to head elsewhere but never fair it was all sorted.
He chatted to me in broken English and we had a laugh at a couple of things. When the tea boy came around he offered me one and so there I was in the tax office having a nice cuppa with the locals whilst they sorted me with a tax number.
After I headed back towards work and had lunch at the local mall - if only just to cool off again!
All in all it was a successful trip on all fronts and I was very happy.
Amazingly it's coming on 3 months since I first arrived. So I need to do a visa run within the next few weeks.
In terms of the paper work stuff I've decided to plug away at it myself. The bank account is proving hard to sort as they like to have very official looking documentation - preferably with nice red bold stamps on them. It's a work in progress which means I've asked the banks in NZ to send me something with a huge red stamp on it.
In terms of the tax number this proved to be a little easier.
On Wednesdays I have a 4 hour break in the middle of the day between classes. It makes for a long day and isn't really enough time to get anything major done but I managed to head out last Wednesday with a Google map in my hand.
I hadn't figured into the equation just what 27 degrees plus humidity would be like in the middle of the day so there was a fair amount of sweeting involved in my work clothes. This is pretty much par for the course and I'm dreading what it will be like when summer gets here. At the moment I need to arrive early just to cool off and let my clothes dry off a bit. Sounds pretty ugly doesn't it?
In theory the tax office was about 15 mins walk from work. In theory.
After heading down the main street for 20 mins I started to get that little itchy feeling. You know the one --- it's called "doubt". Even with map in hand it wasn't so obvious to me where I was headed and I hadn't looked at it in too much detail as the general area was familiar to me.
Even so I thought I must be going the wrong way. And in the heat I wasn't going to risk going further in the direction I was taking. So I took a good close look at the map and decided I needed to back-track a bit.
After crossing the main trunk road through the area (say about 4-5 lanes each way) I found myself all of a sudden in some small back streets. Looking at the map tough I felt assured I was closer than before. I found a sort of read-delta where 3 roads formed into one and it was clear this was the same place on the map where I wanted to be.
After walking further and bear in mind this means up and down a lot of hills as Istanbul is built almost entirely on hills, the roads started to get smaller.
On the way I spotted PTT which is the post office around here. Having queued 45 minutes to get one stamp last time (this is the norm) I headed there in the hope it would be faster than the previous time and I wanted a break from the sun anyways.
Inside I found a very small office with only 3 people waiting instead of the 100 or so (I kid you not) I met in the previous office.
Now the trick here is to make sure you join the right queue. So being a dumb tourist I go up and ask the first person. He was about to tell me to go elsewhere when he took sympathy on me and asked me to wait while he finished his current task.
A few minutes later I paid for my stamp and all was done. A very good result. I've found this can happen if you come across someone who takes an interest in you being a foreigner or wants to show you some of the local hospitality/service.
Outside I found some policemen who are usually good to ask directions from. In fact pretty much anyone is good to ask directions from in a non-touristy area. The Turks genuinely want to help.
The advised me to head down the road and to take the first right. I did this but didn't see anything obvious like a big business tax office. So I circled around the area a few times and then once on the opposite side from the police asked in an office the same question.
Funnily enough they advised me to head to the same street the police had. This time I noticed the entrance and headed in.
Uh oh. Even before heading in there was a huge number of people outside standing about. Inside it was worse. And to-boot there were only Turkish signs clearly stating which floor you should go to depending on what service you needed.
I headed inside on the ground floor and asked a passer by. This is what the Turks do - they'll grab anyone they can find (even if they are already serving someone) and ask for assistance. People don't seem to mind - it's the way it's done around here. Unfortunately for me I can't handle that and tend to politely wait till they are free which can sometimes be never. It pays to be aggressive at times over here.
The lady told me to go to the fourth floor at which point I remember reading a forum online saying that the numbers were given out on the fourth floor. Doh!
Each floor I passed had it's requisite queue of locals. Most lines were 20-30 people strong.
On the fourth floor - no lift and I was exhausted at this point - it was the same. I headed left looking for someone to ask where to go and found no one.
Heading right I found a small office with two people inside already with "customers". I patiently waited outside whilst a flood of locals kept going in front of me and asking for help. Oh well - if I can't act like a local then it's my own fault right?
In the end it worked out well. I flashed my passport and said "Vergi number". The first word being tax in Turkish (I think). He stood up and looked at it for a while and I was worried he was about to say he couldn't help when he disappeared off to photocopy it.
He came back and we both bypassed the long queues to head into the thick of staff behind the scenes. There at a desk was a lady tapping away at her machine. He interrupted her and asked her to sort me with a number. They were talking for a while and so I thought we might have to head elsewhere but never fair it was all sorted.
He chatted to me in broken English and we had a laugh at a couple of things. When the tea boy came around he offered me one and so there I was in the tax office having a nice cuppa with the locals whilst they sorted me with a tax number.
After I headed back towards work and had lunch at the local mall - if only just to cool off again!
All in all it was a successful trip on all fronts and I was very happy.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Couch Surfing
A very quick post... I've only been a member two days but I like what I see with Couch Surfing. And indirectly you might get to learn something about me you didn't know - having a shite day at work has made me very open with my words.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Vegetables Are Good For You
And so is vegging out. In fact I, and I'm predicting you, don't do it nearly enough.
The other day I needed to kill some time whilst a Duty Free invoice was being prepared for me. They said it would take about an hour which wasn't enough time to return home and yet too much time to wander around the store.
So I headed off and eventually found myself in a small pide shop. Not only was the shop small but so also was the pide. That's not to say they were bad.
The good thing about this event is that I finished my pide and then just sat there watching the events outside unfold.
In direct line-of-site of the front door was a shoe-shine man of which there are many in Istanbul. I was wondering what he and many vendors like him thing about during the day just to pass the time. They are often unoccupied and I was thought it might be hard to a) simply sit there all day and b) avoid becoming mind numbingly bored.
Naturally I never got an answer to the question but as my own mind strayed from what I could see I found myself marvelling at the simple.
I thought how amazing it was that there I was: in Istanbul, eating pide, drinking Turkish tea and just watching things happen. I guess the coolest part was just that I was there.
I think it's often easy to be in a foreign country and get to the point where it isn't special anymore. Especially in my situation whereby I'm basically just in a routine of going to work and returning home every day.
I remember in a previous World Update talking about walking to work in Edinburgh and thinking how much like a bunch of ants we must look. I was particularly aware of how most people were simply looking down at the ground and were in their own little worlds.
There's more to life than staring at the ground or your feet I feel.
Take time to take time...
Stop and look and listen and smell and feel and hear....
The other day I needed to kill some time whilst a Duty Free invoice was being prepared for me. They said it would take about an hour which wasn't enough time to return home and yet too much time to wander around the store.
So I headed off and eventually found myself in a small pide shop. Not only was the shop small but so also was the pide. That's not to say they were bad.
The good thing about this event is that I finished my pide and then just sat there watching the events outside unfold.
In direct line-of-site of the front door was a shoe-shine man of which there are many in Istanbul. I was wondering what he and many vendors like him thing about during the day just to pass the time. They are often unoccupied and I was thought it might be hard to a) simply sit there all day and b) avoid becoming mind numbingly bored.
Naturally I never got an answer to the question but as my own mind strayed from what I could see I found myself marvelling at the simple.
I thought how amazing it was that there I was: in Istanbul, eating pide, drinking Turkish tea and just watching things happen. I guess the coolest part was just that I was there.
I think it's often easy to be in a foreign country and get to the point where it isn't special anymore. Especially in my situation whereby I'm basically just in a routine of going to work and returning home every day.
I remember in a previous World Update talking about walking to work in Edinburgh and thinking how much like a bunch of ants we must look. I was particularly aware of how most people were simply looking down at the ground and were in their own little worlds.
There's more to life than staring at the ground or your feet I feel.
Take time to take time...
Stop and look and listen and smell and feel and hear....
I Only Get One Day
Like God I only get one day off each week. There the comparison ends.
The idea being to make the most of it. So this weekend (said day is Sunday) I arranged to meet some students from Wall Street and friends at a park in the city. The theme was Meet and Greet (with the added incentive of speaking English).
When the chosen hour of 1.30pm had passed and there was no-one about I started to worry but wasn't overly concerned as it was a lovely day and I could just sit and bask in the sunshine.
But to my relief people started straggling in soon after. Now I know the Turks are like the Colombians - time is a relative concept. To be fair to them though a bunch were on time just they didn't happen to be at the same place as me.
Still in the end it all went swimmingly and 8 out of 12 appeared which nicely exceeded my expectations.
I'd been dreaming about how I would run the show and what I might do to break the ice and get people comfortable to talk. In addition I was telling myself that it's their event and to not be overly concerned if it goes in a completely different direction.
In the end I needn't have worried as we ended up with plenty of Chiefs and not many Indians. Of course that had it's problems as well. People were looking to me to lead which would have been fine but I wasn't going to compete over it so I left that to the Chiefs. Things got a little stressed but we managed to find a nice place to sit, eat and drink. Tea was ordered as well as toasted sandwiches as that was pretty much all that was available.
During the afternoon Turkish and English blended nicely together and I think people got something out of the day. My hope was that on top of the chance to practice English the locals got the opportunity to meet some new people.
There were a couple of cameras out in use so I'm off hunting for some pics....
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Meet and Greet
I'm quite nervous and excited at the same time about this coming Sunday.
Weather permitting I've arranged to meet a group of students and their friends at a local park to enable them to get together and practice their English.
As is usually the case when I set out to do something like this I have grand ideas about where I'd like to take it but need to bear in mind that it's for them and not me.
Having said that I'm hoping to be able to make some new friends as that front is still pretty barren.
On other matters I now have somewhere to hang my clothes which is nice. Popular here are wardrobes on top with 2 drawers on the bottom i.e. one unit which is half wardrobe half chest of drawers.
Having said that I'm hoping to be able to make some new friends as that front is still pretty barren.
On other matters I now have somewhere to hang my clothes which is nice. Popular here are wardrobes on top with 2 drawers on the bottom i.e. one unit which is half wardrobe half chest of drawers.
The Work Programme
Things are settling down into a routine at Wall Street although I'm still frustrated by the administration. I'm still not official yet.
I thought I'd punch out the hours so you can get an idea of just how different they really are:
Şişli:
Mon 2.30 to 9.30pm
Wed 11.30 to 9.30pm with a 4 hour break in the middle
Fri 5 to 9pm
Sat 11 to 6pm
Taksim:
Tue & Thur 5.30 to 9.30pm
In all a total of 30 hours which doesn't include prep time of course.
For the last few weeks I've been doing around 50 hours but that should come down now.
I thought I'd punch out the hours so you can get an idea of just how different they really are:
Şişli:
Mon 2.30 to 9.30pm
Wed 11.30 to 9.30pm with a 4 hour break in the middle
Fri 5 to 9pm
Sat 11 to 6pm
Taksim:
Tue & Thur 5.30 to 9.30pm
In all a total of 30 hours which doesn't include prep time of course.
For the last few weeks I've been doing around 50 hours but that should come down now.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
A Life in Turkey? [WU XXXI]
I was just sending a reply to an email I got from my cousin Annika in Sweden. She asked about life in Turkey. Part way through it occurred to me that I should really be typing here and letting you all know so here it is.
I'm not sure about you but I tend to summarise life in terms of: home, work and friends. So let me update you on those things.
Home
I live two Metro stops away from the centre of Istanbul. Which considering it has a population circa 12 million is pretty good going.
The bottom floor flat is owned by Mevlude (32). She has one son called Boran who is 9 years old. Then there is Emrah (29) and me. Mevlude is a student at a performing arts school and Emrah as you can tell from his site is a designer.
Mevlude speaks a few simple words in English and Emrah is pretty darn good. Most of the time we do our own things and our hours prevent us seeing a lot of each other anyways.
The flat is a "3" which means there are 3 rooms (which are now bedrooms). The hallway/entrance doubles as the dining area but really only seats two. There is a kitchen and bathroom.
My room was the lounge and has been converted. For the first week it served two roles as my bedroom and the lounge. We entertained Mevludes friends in it.
Although it's on the ground floor it's pretty secure. I'm not sure how to explain this but I guess a good term might be "triple bolted" for the doors. They are very heavy and you turn the key three times to push the bolt further into the door stud.
Then there is the external door for all tenants. On top of this the windows have bars in front of them so even if the window was left open you couldn't get in. This is standard for homes here.
We've had a couple of blow-ups at home. Poor Emrah is left to translate as well as participate so he tends to look pretty spaced out afterwards.
Work
I can't say how much I'm enjoying work. Wall Street Institute is known for holding onto staff and whilst it's administration sucks the staff are great. I'm very happy to be here. Things turned out well given that I turned down my first job offer elsewhere that was at a higher rate.
Our manager Gavin is from England. Then there are the "native teachers" which means native in terms of spoken English as opposed to native to Turkey.
I'm the only staff member who works in two locations. Essentially I gap fill. Across the two centres the native mix is something like this:
I'm not sure about you but I tend to summarise life in terms of: home, work and friends. So let me update you on those things.
Home
I live two Metro stops away from the centre of Istanbul. Which considering it has a population circa 12 million is pretty good going.
The bottom floor flat is owned by Mevlude (32). She has one son called Boran who is 9 years old. Then there is Emrah (29) and me. Mevlude is a student at a performing arts school and Emrah as you can tell from his site is a designer.
Mevlude speaks a few simple words in English and Emrah is pretty darn good. Most of the time we do our own things and our hours prevent us seeing a lot of each other anyways.
The flat is a "3" which means there are 3 rooms (which are now bedrooms). The hallway/entrance doubles as the dining area but really only seats two. There is a kitchen and bathroom.
My room was the lounge and has been converted. For the first week it served two roles as my bedroom and the lounge. We entertained Mevludes friends in it.
Although it's on the ground floor it's pretty secure. I'm not sure how to explain this but I guess a good term might be "triple bolted" for the doors. They are very heavy and you turn the key three times to push the bolt further into the door stud.
Then there is the external door for all tenants. On top of this the windows have bars in front of them so even if the window was left open you couldn't get in. This is standard for homes here.
We've had a couple of blow-ups at home. Poor Emrah is left to translate as well as participate so he tends to look pretty spaced out afterwards.
Work
I can't say how much I'm enjoying work. Wall Street Institute is known for holding onto staff and whilst it's administration sucks the staff are great. I'm very happy to be here. Things turned out well given that I turned down my first job offer elsewhere that was at a higher rate.
Our manager Gavin is from England. Then there are the "native teachers" which means native in terms of spoken English as opposed to native to Turkey.
I'm the only staff member who works in two locations. Essentially I gap fill. Across the two centres the native mix is something like this:
- United States: Anna, Sally
- New Zealand: Mark, Simon, Veronica
- England: Tim
They have been here between 3 weeks (me) and 3 years.
The natives are such a great bunch. They've been very kind to me in terms of observing and providing great feedback. That's largely finished now and I'm on my own.
Whilst I learnt to teach large classes of school children in Thailand this is probably the complete opposite in format. At Wall Street the students use multi-media and workbooks for two weeks and then come and see us for an Encounter. At the encounter it's the job of the natives to assess if they have learnt enough to be able to pass onto the next level.
There is still a large teaching component at the encounters but the emphasis is testing the students learning. The students themselves are either funded by workplaces or with their own money. By and large though we are dealing with wealthy people.
There is a large number of university students. Extending your opportunities by learning English is popular. This being said and Turkey not being a member of the European Union I wonder at what opportunities there are outside of Turkey for them. Although most say that's where they would like to head.
Friends
This is a sore point too although for different reasons. I've still not really mentally settled here. I don't mean that I've not succumbed to being here for a period. Rather it's an unsettled home and I'm still adjusting to the massive change in daily routine (see WU XXX).
Even though I have free time during the week it tends to be after work and until 2am. So there's not much opportunity to be out in the weather which at present isn't such a bad thing. So I mentally consider Sunday - my one day off - as my only free time.
Last Sunday I spent a wee while outside in the sunshine with my new toy - MacBook Pro. I haven't done any business work on it yet so haven't been able to assess that side versus the PC. However in terms of feel and use it is much more fun than a Windows environment.
Apart from the short stint in the sun I felt I largely wasted the day. I didn't go out because I didn't fancy it on my own. And there's the rub. I'm rather short on the friend front. Which when you look at it isn't that different from my life in New Zealand but ....
Illusion
It's easy to pretend I'm not in Turkey. I talk English at home. And I talk English at work. Unless I try to buy something there's little need for Turkish.
It's a double-edged sword. Let me explain.
On the pro side of learning Turkish is the obvious being able to communicate. I'd love to know what people are talking about and believe me - the Turks love to talk!
On the con side is the almost permanent bliss of not being able to understand people. Whether I'm on the Metro, on a bus or just walking in the street. I don't process one single word of conversation which is heaven. It's like being in a spring meadow just watching the flowers blow in the wind. If you believe that you'll believe anything.
But you get the idea. The "silence" is heaven.
Silly to think of it like that as to have friends is to listen and talk!
Be well...
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
An Average Day [WU XXX]
A day in the life... here in Turkey it's a little upside down... let me explain...
10.00 - 12.00 I get up, breakfast
12.00 - 14.00 I usually head of to work around this time. I work in two locations so it's either a 20 min walk or a combination of a 10 min walk and 10 min underground train ride (called the Metro here)
11.00 - 21.30 Work is a mixed bag somewhere in between these hours. As a teacher you only get paid for the teaching hours that you do. I do a whole heap extra as I'm learning the lesson plans and altering them to suit my own teaching style and improve them
15.30 - 18.30 In here there is usually a 1 hour gap for lunch. It's not really enough time to do anything other than order in and plan for the next lesson. In this sense the day is pretty full on
21.30 - 23.30 Depending on my mood and what I've eaten earlier I might have dinner in here
22.30 - 05.00 This is the "evening" for me. Most of the time I chill hacking away at the computer. It's a good time to Skype people in NZ. If not doing that I might be watching web TV - my current favourite is a programme called Game of Thrones
So as you can see it's all topsy-turvey.
The working day might only last 5 hours but I am paid for 30 teaching hours per week so there needs to be enough lessons in there to cover this number of hours. I don't know exactly what hours I'm doing but at a guess I'd say 50-60. Only 1 day off per week.
Hmm it's just started to pour outside and it's now 05.30. My latest bedtime thus far....
10.00 - 12.00 I get up, breakfast
12.00 - 14.00 I usually head of to work around this time. I work in two locations so it's either a 20 min walk or a combination of a 10 min walk and 10 min underground train ride (called the Metro here)
11.00 - 21.30 Work is a mixed bag somewhere in between these hours. As a teacher you only get paid for the teaching hours that you do. I do a whole heap extra as I'm learning the lesson plans and altering them to suit my own teaching style and improve them
15.30 - 18.30 In here there is usually a 1 hour gap for lunch. It's not really enough time to do anything other than order in and plan for the next lesson. In this sense the day is pretty full on
21.30 - 23.30 Depending on my mood and what I've eaten earlier I might have dinner in here
22.30 - 05.00 This is the "evening" for me. Most of the time I chill hacking away at the computer. It's a good time to Skype people in NZ. If not doing that I might be watching web TV - my current favourite is a programme called Game of Thrones
So as you can see it's all topsy-turvey.
The working day might only last 5 hours but I am paid for 30 teaching hours per week so there needs to be enough lessons in there to cover this number of hours. I don't know exactly what hours I'm doing but at a guess I'd say 50-60. Only 1 day off per week.
Hmm it's just started to pour outside and it's now 05.30. My latest bedtime thus far....
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