First day of orientation

Today was our first full day of orientation and it was long, but then isn’t it always? At least we got the paperwork for our residence visas under way yesterday and someone from the university took us around Ankara to help us complete the necessary steps. I was relieved that we weren’t left to flounder around on our own with our questionable grasp of Turkish; that could have been a hot mess.

In other news, I returned to my room and boy was my room clean! The best part was that I didn’t have to do it. Yay!

I would also like to take a moment to comment on the hospitality in Turkey. When we were sitting in the HR office yesterday, someone came in with small glasses of hot tea for everyone. It happened again today during orientation. Then at about 10:30, someone brought in a large tray that had small plates of sweet and savory cookies. I think I’m really gonna like it here! (I’m singing that last line to the tune of Postman Pat, particularly the part that says “Pat feels he’s a really happy man.)

The American teachers were taken down to the university-authorized bank in an attempt to open up Turkish bank accounts. We were told that we had to have our passports and our Turkish tax ID, which we knew beforehand wouldn’t be given until we had our residence visas. We won’t get our residence visas until close to the end of September, which means no bank account for these furr’ners yet. We all went down to the bank for nothing and it was hot out that day, we’d walked a few blocks out in the sun, we were thirsty, hot and pissy. (Okay, I was; I’m not sure about everyone else.) We walked outside the bank to walk back to where we could catch a bus back to TOBB, passing a fruit and vegetable stand. My ears perked up when I suddenly caught a whiff of fresh dill, something I’d been looking for each time I went to TW. I bought a bunch and it only ended up cost me 1.25 TL, or about 60 cents. I had a lovely omelet the next morning with my fresh dill. In addition to finding fresh dill, we all took our first ride on a city bus. The afternoon, then, was not a total waste.