DAY 14 - Wait!....I thought I was on vacation from teaching singing!

April 2 - Going to High School with our English Teaching Host

We left on April 1st for Demre, Turkey (a 3 hour bus ride).  It was a full bus, so Rich had to sit on a little box in the aisle.  That's me in the center back.  Catching the correct bus to our destination is always challenging!

Long bus ride - time to take  a little "cat nap".

  Demre is the Lycian town of Myra and the home of Saint Nicholas of Myra, the historical man later developed into the figure of Santa Claus. The district was known as Kale until it was renamed in 2005.  It's a relatively small town with 16,000 inhabitants. We arrived in time for a light dinner with our host, Zeki, an English Teacher and his friend, Elif, also an English Teacher.  After dinner, we went to the local hang-out, a pastry and coffee shop where other teachers and friends came to hang out with Zeki and meet us, I think.

Zeki , our CS host is on the right and the others are his friends & teachers

A popular Turkish & Greek dessert - Baklava-  a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of phyllo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey.

YUM!  It tastes better when we share!

This little 2 yr. old didn't smile til I sang  "Baby Bumble Bee"

Zeki is feeding her ice cream - isn't she cute?

The Turkish families typically consist of only one child.  Recently the Turkish Prime Minister issued this statement:  “One or two children mean bankruptcy. Three children mean we are not improving but not receding either. So, I repeat, at least three children are necessary in each family, because our population risks aging. We are still on the good side, as we still own a young and dynamic population. But we are slowly aging. Presently, the whole western world is trying to cope with this problem. Please do not take our susceptibility lightly, this is a very serious issue.”   Only time will tell if Turkish families are taking this seriously.

The next morning, I walked with Zeki to his class.

Just taking her goats out for a walk.

 As we got to school, he went into an abandoned building where he caught some boys smoking cigarettes.  He told me to take out my camera and take a picture of them, so I did.

Uh oh, caught in the act!

He says that he never turns them in, but just likes to scare them a little.  Unfortunately, most people in Turkey smoke, so the children grow up with it and start themselves at an early age.

I enjoyed my time with the classes.  For the morning classes, I taught high school, so I used some folk songs and rounds.

 Then the students asked me questions; the most common one being, "What do you think of Obama?"  The second one was "What do the American people think of Turkish people?"  Another common one was, "What did you think it would be like before you came to Turkey?"  Rich came to the third class in the morning and they enjoyed what he had to say. Zeki had them sing a song of "Clean Up the World," in English.

They made a connection right away

This young man seemed to be the class clown.

Teachers for a day!

A really great experience at Demre High School teaching music and answering questions in English.

 Then we asked if they would sing or dance for us.  They loved showing off their traditional culture, especially.   In the afternoon, I taught two early elementary classes.  We had a lot of fun with those children as well.  They seemed very excited to be learning English whereas the high school students were only doing it because it was required.  They wanted to correspond with me on facebook, however, so I now have many of them as friends and I think their English is improving and maybe I am making a difference in their desire.

After school, we went to see the ancient city of Myra.

The Theatre of the Ancient Lycian city of Myra

 In early Christian times, Myra was the metropolis of Lycia. The town is traditionally associated with Saint Paul, who changed ships in its harbor.  Saint Nicholas was the bishop of Myra in the 4th century. After a seige in 809, Myra fell to Abbasid troops. Early in the reign of Alexius I Comnenus (ruled between 1081 and 1118), Myra was again overtaken by Islamic invaders, this time the Seljuk Turks. In the confusion, sailors from Bari in Italy seized the relics of Saint Nicholas, over the objections of the monks caring for them.

A duo of sopranos through the ages!

  Here is what we had for lunch with our new friends, Zeki and Elif.

Salad with pieces of flatbread.

Lavas - warm flat bread with butter

Ayran - yogurt, salt and water frothed up - VERY popular drink

"Hurry and get off that so we can go shopping!"

Everyone in town seems to have scooters or motorbikes.  It's easier to get around and much cheaper than cars.  This little couple were so cute riding it!  I wish I had gotten a picture of these two older women.  One was driving and the other riding sideways carrying a couple of dozen big loaves of bread from the bakery.  It was the funniest sites ever!








We went to the Sea - the Mediterranean Sea to walk and be refreshed.  The teachers do it most every day.
I can't believe we're actually here!

A wonderful CS host and an absolute great day!