Istantidbitx VI

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Turkish Men
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In Istanbul, they never wear shorts except when exercising, hats and backpacks are rare, and they rarely walk fast. They sit for hours drinking many hour-glass-shaped cups of sweet, hot tea, no matter what the temperature is, smoking, talking, arguing, gesturing, playing backgammon, and another board game featuring bronze dice. They walk or sit with their arms linked or around one another, like lovers. They greet one another with a stylized kiss: press right cheek to the other’s right cheek, then repeat left. (Women do the same, but they make a kissing, “smooch” sound with their lips.) Men generally do not shave for about two weeks, whereupon they have a barber do it. I have adopted this practice. It is a most pleasurable Turkish custom that I will miss very much.
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MEF International School
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Turkish pencils have no erasers. Students must provide their own rubbers (unlike in America, where they are handed out by the school nurse. This is a pun.). Classrooms have no pencil sharpeners. Students must sharpen their pencils with little plastic hand-held sharpeners that they carry in a bag shaped like a burrito, which is full of pens, pencils and, other school related paraphernalia.
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Students in the Turkish National School can pass with a 50% average. In the International School, if a student is at 58%, teachers are "encouraged" to find ways to bring the score up to 60%. These kids are worth a lot of money -- we can’t let laziness and stupidity get in then way of them passing. That would obstruct profits!
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Bus Duty
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Breakfast and lunch are provided for student and faculty every day. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, there are snacks at the bus tables. All Primary School students are required to be assembled and led to their 16 passenger bus by a faculty member. I am in charge of Bus 62. I am responsible for the largest group of PS bus riders in the school (kids from China, Korea, Pakistan, Russia, USA). Luckily, Bus 62 is the last in line, placing it right next to a MEF playground with swings, slides, etc., so I let my kids scamper around until the "get on board" whistle sounded. All the other Bus Duty staff had to try and keep their charges corralled in or around their bus.
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This spring, the rules changed, and all Primary School students were to get on the bus, take their seats and fasten their seat belts, then wait for 15 minutes before the buses left. That worked fine as long as the weather was bad. But when it started getting warm, I said "No way," and I let my kids stand or sit outside close to the bus. The other Bus Duty staff resented my action, but my kids were happy, and all the other kids wanted to go home on Bus 62.
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Upon Finally Being De-Greased
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The Middle School production of Grease is now just over three months behind me, and I have finally recovered from Post Traumatic Distress Syndrome. The shows went well, there were few embarrassing moments or pauses, and the students felt good about their performances. The cast consisted mostly of 6th graders.
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I had hoped that the karaoke CD I had ordered the previous spring would serve for the accompaniments of the well-known songs, freeing me up be the vocal coach and prompter. However, the CD worked only for the solos; in the large ensemble numbers, the singers couldn’t feel the beat, so I had to play (i.e., pound on) the piano much more than I had anticipated. In addition, we only had enough boys to fill out the roles of the Burger Palace Boys and the nerd, Eugene. So I became Johnny Casino, sitting at the piano onstage with my back turned to the audience, shouting a few lines and singing “Hand Jive” at the top of my lungs. The music wasn’t difficult, but the playing of it was -- pounding '50s rock. My arms ached after each rehearsal. Meanwhile, "Beauty School Drop-Out" was done in pantomime because our Teen Angel’s voice broke in January and he could no longer sing the climactic falsetto passages.
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Check out the names and nationalities:
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Leads: Sandy – Aylin (‘eye-lin’, Russia), Danny – Jimmy (USA)
Burger Palace Boys: Kenickie – Anar (‘ah-nar’, Russia), Roger – Danny (Korea), Doody – Kayhan (‘kye-hahn’, Turkey), Sunny – Fuzuli (‘foo-zoo-lee’,Uzbekistan)
Pink Ladies: Rizzo – Suzan (pronounced ‘Suzanne’, USA), Marty – Abisheree (‘ah-bee-shree’, Pakistan), Jan – Erin (USA), Frenchy – Ana (Spain)
Others: Patty – Joanna (France), Eugene – Atif (‘ah-teef’, India), Miss Lynch – Antonia (Germany), Vince Fontaine – Rashad (Turkey), Teen Angel – Allejandro (Spain)
Chorus : Leoni (‘lay-oh-nee’, Holland), Natia (‘nah-ti-ah’, Georgia), Melina (‘me-lee-na’, Italy), Olga (pronounced ‘Olya’, Russia), Lara (USA)
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