Okul (School)

Sorry its been so long since my last post. I wake up at 7:30, get to class by 8:30, try to stay awake until 4:00, then get home and sleep till dinner time. Afterwards I either talk to Vedat about Turkish, talk to the neighbors who are leaving Friday, or go hang out with my new friends. But first, a little info about my school. Its called Marmara college, but its really a k-12th grade and has classes of about 60. Each class is separated into subjects; there's the math and science department, the history and Turkish department, the English department (which I'm in) and a few other's that I haven't heard of yet. There are about 11 of us in my class and we go from teacher to teacher together for different classes. So far my best friend is a kid named Hakaan. He used to live in New York, East Village with his parents as poor artists. But then they moved over here when the Arab hatred got too bad and now he speaks perfect English, perfect Turkish, and is a fun guy. I might add that its a good thing we get along really well because he is the only other guy in my class. The other two friends I've gotten close to are Dilara and Michelle. Michelle is originally from England, but lived in South Africa for so long, that I can only hear the south African accent. She's lived here for a few years and knows Turkish perfectly. Dilara, I haven't completely figured out yet, but somehow she has excellent English and is always helping me with Turkish. They are great people, but they are more than likely to get me in trouble. That's fine with me, Ive never really been in trouble and the 24/7 bus system always promises me a way out. I already love these guys and after only the first day they adopted my into their tight group. I couldn't have picked better people to be stuck with until I learn enough Turkish to go out on my own. School is boring so far. English is mildly interesting, as the teachers like to use me and Hakaan for walking, talking answer sheets. But non of the other teachers speak much English. Geography, some weird Turkish class about the subtle nuances of the language, Philosophy (which is going to get a lot more lively once I can speak Turkish) and Geometry are all taught by teachers with no English skills. It gives me time to learn my Turkish and work on my notebook I'm turning into a Turkish handbook. maybe Ill give it to the next exchange student or something. There's no recess but every 40 minutes we get a 10 minute break, and the cafeteria serves stuff that makes my old school look like a 5 star restaurant. But when I get hungry enough I can eat anything... even melted practically unmixed chocolate pudding. Nothing worse than mass produced Turkish food. The language is still coming along slower than I'd like, I only average about 2 words a day, but, I'm starting to teach myself verb conjugation. Hopefully Ill be putting full sentences together in 2 or three weeks. And if Mr. Francis Mayfield just happens to read this again, tell Mr. Miller that if any of his kids are complaining about how hard or pointless Spanish is, just threaten to drop them into a foreign country. It take ten minutes to explain to my host brother that I will come play with him in five. Plus even in this middle east part of the world I have been meeting Spanish speakers. Hosca kal