In the United States you are not supposed to touch children familiarly unless they are yours, or the spawn of a close friend or family member. As a teacher I was always very careful to keep my physical distance. The…
Category: Culture
In Turkey, November 24th is Teacher’s Day. Inside and outside of one of my cards. (We are still practicing articles. There are none in Turkish. My kids think they are tricky—clearly.) Teacher’s day is a serious business in Turkey. …
Now that I have been in the U.S. for six months and will be going back to Turkey soon I have been thinking about my experiences when I first went there. I knew after a fair amount of time here…
The other day I was having a conversation with some male colleagues. They were asking about the dress code at work. For women, the rule is--if you wear pants, you need to wear a long jacket, or a tunic. They…
Back from the delicious lands of vacation and back to work. This year I have adjusted my teaching style from Western to Turkish. If I treated my students in the US this way there would have been a mutiny. I…
I have been in Turkey for one year. A full year of living in a country where I am not part of the hegemonic culture. Being an outsider in a different land has allowed me to observe Turkish culture closely…
Breasts in a way are fairly public sphere. I mean, they are out there, some more than others. They are constantly being appraised and viewed. When I used to nanny I found that small children view them as comfort objects…