Labor Day

I hope those of you in the States enjoyed Labor Day; I went to work. Labor Day in Turkey is May 1 and apparently a holiday with much history,  and it has only been recently celebrated again.

I must say I felt the last 24 hours have been quite fruitful: biked home from school yesterday (used a bike from the school), biked to school this morning (only was honked at once), ate İzmır grapes (delicious), asked the tech guy to install the printer on my laptop (successful), bought a bike at lunch (pink and purple -- pictures to follow), bought some olive oil (have no idea what the gentleman said to me -- smiled and nodded), observed exams being proctored (I'll have to do this next year), played some tennis at the Tarsus Tennis Club (nice outdoor clay courts), set up twice weekly tennis lessons with a fellow Tarsus teacher, ate left over salsa and refried beans...whew!

While I was busy, I felt like today I stepped out from the campus and started to get to know Tarsus and my community. There is still so much to learn; I'm sorry to keep repeating myself, but I'm still in awe of the learning. I swear my brain has grown in the last two weeks.

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update....Nothing insighful, but most of the day, I couldn't help but smile because I'm beginning to navigate things on my own... (well, I did take the translator with me for the bike purchase)...my learning is painfully slow and challenging, but I'm slowly gaining indepedence.

(Oh, and I learned how to insert a video into my blog! Sweet!)