I’ve had a good day. I got up early and made it to the school in Kadikoy. The first class was a bit difficult to get through. I was told that the class was on unit 6, but found out in the morning 5 minutes before it started that I was actually on unit 7. I hadn’t really prepared very much, but I had reviewed and familiarized myself with what I thought I would be teaching. Walking into class and teaching modal verbs from the book wasn’t the easy thing I’ve ever done, but I got through it. I feel bad that class was pretty boring for the students – mostly me saying “now do this exercise” as I was trying to use the teacher’s book to figure out what the hell I was actually teaching. Hopefully tomorrow will go better. I also ended up teaching a speaking club in the afternoon that I enjoyed quite a bit.

I’ve been thinking today about how I had a difficult day, but my mood was much better than normal. I think it’s in large part because I’ve been busy and have felt useful and like I’m accomplishing something. It’s also nice to be able to joke around with the students and have fun which I got to do a lot more in speaking club this afternoon. I hope that tomorrow goes well, too. I have every reason to think that it well. I’m not well prepared for the morning class (I’m exhausted from today), but I’ll have a little time to review in the morning before teaching and I’m not willing to put a lot of time into it based on how today went.

I also heard back from the woman who interviewed me for the other job. She said that they would like to move forward with my application. She said that she would send a contract early next week. I got the news shortly after getting to school in the morning and it really brightened my spirits. I’m curious to see what the pay is, but I am confident it will be more than I expected before arriving in Turkey as far as pay is concerned. The job also offers paid vacation, holidays, health insurance and they are going to do most of the work to process my residence permit. I really don’t think that I’d be able to stay in Istanbul without major help from a school in getting my residence permit processed so it’s all pretty great. I hope the pay is adequate. I should find out soon enough. If it’s not enough I can always try to negotiate as well. It’s a great relief to finally have a definitive sign that everything on that end really is working out. This last month has given me a lot to think about as far as how my mood is affected by things and affects things. I’ve been at wits end this past month and really, all I had to do was chill out and let everything fall into place. I’ve just got a lot to think about and reflect on in that regard. It’s been a great, interesting and frustrating learning experience.

I got my haircut tonight. I walked in with the intention of asking how much a haircut cost right off the bat, but I was motioned into a chair and just let things happen after that. I ended up getting ripped off (by a lot) on the haircut. I should have called the guy out on it, but instead I just paid the bill and left. I’ll never go back there, of course, but it’s like I knew this was happening and I still didn’t say anything. I just allowed myself to get taken advantage of. I’m kind of pissed at myself about it. I also realize it’s a learning experience and now that it’s happened once I’ll be more vocal next time and certainly make sure to find out the price of the service before just sitting down. So in that regard, I can chalk it up to a learning experience and know that as a result next time I really will do things differently. And really, I will. I won’t let myself get ripped off like that again. I sometimes let down my guard, but I guess I just need to keep in mind that I can’t do that here. Especially when I’m doing things I’m not that familiar with.

And with that I’m off to bed. I’ll be getting up early again to teach in the morning. It should be easier since I’ll get getting such a better night’s sleep.