Sore Losers

There is a fabulous expression in Turkish that is "Cok ayip".  Roughly translated into English it means, "What shame" or "How shameful."  Parents use it with children when they mess around with their food, strangers use it when they get bumped into in the street, and most recently I used it with one of my classes.  I had been having difficulty 'entertaining' one of my adult classes, with virtually every activity I have tried with them being declared 'boring' and pestering me to play games.  This is behaviour unlike I have ever seen from an adult class- copying answers from the back, copying each others papers from a speaking activity and insisting they had finished, "hiding" their phones under the desk (as though any teacher hasn't clued in to why students are staring at their crotch all class) and the like.  Finally this miserable class was ending on Saturday, so I rushed through the work so I could conclude with a Jeporady style wrap up game.  There were eight students: four boys and four girls, and they asked to be split up by gender.  I said ok, but told the boys they were going to lose to which they agreed and said no problem.  Within two minutes (before I had finished explaining) one of the girls informed me that it was a 'bad game' because 'she didn't understand'.  I pointed to the door and told her she was more than welcome to leave, but she didn't and I finished explaining and we got started. It went well for the first half an hour until the boys started to lose.  After adding up the rest of the numbers on the board and realizing they couldn't win, the boys told me they quit.  They weren't going to finish the game.   I have had this problem before (sorry for the stereotype but in general Turks are sore losers) but with their behaviour over the past few weeks, my patience had run its course.  I simply wrote on the board, "You lose, so you quit?"  Yes, they replied.  "Such shame." I wrote as the class got deathly quiet.  As there were only seven minutes left, I apologized to the girls, wiped the game off the board, bid them good day and good luck on the exam and finished.  Perhaps not my most professional moment as a teacher but I strongly feel that there are lessons more important than grammar that need to be taught and I cannot abide people who quit because they are losing. 

Women and children only day at the pool.

A busy two weeks finally wrapped up as our kid’s classes at the school finished (thank God!) as did a few other classes, so now we are back down to a manageable twenty hour week which is a pleasant change.  Our countdown has begun- and suddenly the six weeks that seemed as though they would last forever have whittled down to under four and I have no idea how that happened. 

Ms, Gulay, Aydan and I

  We have had fun- I went swimming with the girls again (although I baked brownies for the picnic this time) and that evening Gungor called and said he was bored and wanted to kill some time with some beers and didn’t want to drink alone.  Normally I don’t go out when I have to work the next day, but when you are running out of time to see people whose company you thoroughly enjoy, you do it.  I whipped in the shower and we grabbed some money and whisked back out the door for a thoroughly enjoyable evening despite the fact that Gungor can easily drink us under the table.   Joe and I had made plans with Eser to go to Mt. Nemrut last Friday as we had a rare day off together, but unfortunately his father was in the hospital (he has been battling cancer for the past year) so we postponed it a week in hopes that he would be doing better by then, but we will see.  Instead I gave Gungor and Tevfik a shout as we had been trying to organize a bbq in Gungor’s garden for a couple weeks, and they were both free.

Joe and I finished cleaning and headed into town to pick up some beer and chips (our contribution as the short notice didn't give me time to cook) and then we all headed out to the garden.  It is located about 30km north of Malatya and he is growing apricot trees that will be ready in a couple years.  He has built a little shed and it is a beautiful, peaceful- albeit stiflingly hot- 11 acres of land in the middle of nowhere.  We picked up oil and water on the way, and the oil managed to leak all over the trunk of the car and the vegetables.  We washed them in water and then mud and then more water, and then figured they would be fine.  

Tevfik starting to wash vegetables.

Gungor grilled the peppers and I peeled the cucumbers and tomatoes (nicking my fingers multiple times in the process) for a salad, and along with the kofte (meatballs) that we grilled it turned into quite a nice spread.  Afterwards, we pulled out the backgammon board and Joe and I got a thorough whooping from Tevfik who then lost to Gungor, but it was a nice change and a good way of learning new strategies for playing.  The mosquitos came out and so we headed home (I managed to only get a few bites) and then went back to Gungor’s house for Turkish coffee and conversation before Tevfik gave us a lift home as he had to pick up his wife and son in the same area.   A perfect bbq and alternative to Nemrut.

Men making fire