Ramadhan and New Arrivals

Ramadhan is upon us.  This is my first ‘full’ Ramadhan, as the years before in Indonesia, I arrived for the tail end, was home for the second one, and was teaching at the Japanese school for the third  so only a handful of students were participating.  Despite the finale when Emily and Jason were visiting and we got to listen to the mosque go off for a solid 24 hrs (including the horrendous decision to allow children to sing/pray over the loud speakers), I have never really taught during it.  That being said, I do not enjoy teaching during Ramadhan.  The students and teachers alike have a zombie-esque quality to them, as they are not eating, drinking or smoking for seventeen hours of the day in 30+ degree heat.  Although Turkey is technically a secular state (meaning most shops and restaurants are still open), Malatya is fairly conservative so the majority of people are fasting.  It has led to some very interesting discussions about the meaning of Ramadhan and they whys/why nots of why people participate.  The main reason that I can discern is that they are sympathizing with the poor (I have never seen so many beggars in Malatya until it began) and those who can’t fast due to health concerns, pay a daily fee to the poor as I learned from one of my students who is diabetic and thus can’t fast. 

Otherwise, not much has been happening.  A plethora of new classes has begun (although Joe and I are still teaching under 20hrs a week) and they are on a ‘summer course’ meaning they last only 8 weeks, and we zip through the book.  Naturally none of the staff felt the need to tell us, and I found out from one of my co-teachers a week in, and am now behind in 2 of my 3 classes which is a pain.  How no one felt it necessary to pass on this vital piece of information I have yet to decipher, but alas.   Language schools seem to seriously lack in communication which is irony in itself. 

Joe messaged me on Thursday to inform me a new teacher would be arriving on Monday night.  Naturally I was shocked, as Joe and I hardly have full schedules, and we know next to nothing about him.  Since we have gotten used to having the house to ourselves (taking up three of the four bedrooms) we spent our day off on Saturday cleaning and rearranging the house. (Joe finished up the cherries baking another pie).    I had a Skype interview that day so I had rearranged Buglem, and I sat around and waited for the new teacher.  He hadn’t arrived by the time Joe got home, so I looked up flights, but there had been no flights arriving at 6:30 (the time they had given me).  A bit confused, I messaged Onder and of course I got no reply, so I messaged Gungor.  He called around for me (not managing to get ahold of Onder either) and found out from Yasar that he was coming in at 6, and that Onder must have taken him for dinner.  We waited and waited- I went to bed at 11 and Joe at midnight. I got a message from Onder shortly thereafter saying that the new teacher wouldn’t be arriving that day- no explanation at all.

The next day, I found Onder after my classes to ask him what had happened.  He informed me that he had found out the previous afternoon that there had been a problem and the teacher would be late.  I looked at him, baffled, and asked him if he had gone to the airport.

“No.” He replied.

Trying not to call him a moron, I answered, “You didn’t even go the airport?  You didn’t think that this was information we needed?”

“I told Joe there was a problem,” he replied, trying to pass on the blame to Joe when he clearly hadn’t told him anything.

“No you didn’t.” I answered.  He didn’t say anything, and since I knew he was never going to apologize for being self-concerned and unaware of others, I simply said, “If you hear anything you need to let us know immediately,” and walked away.

He called that evening saying the teacher was at the bus station, and he was going to pick him up.  Hours passed, no sign.  I called him to ask what was happening.

“I am at home.”  He said. “I couldn’t find him. He will call me.”

Horrified at the thought of this guy (the only foreigner at the bus station) just hanging out, was appalling, so we offered to go help him locate him.  Fortunately he did manage to call before that, but we were shocked. 

He made it here in one piece, thoroughly exhausted, and we made small talk for a bit before he crashed.  Talk about adventures.