I didn’t even know where Prague was - I only just found out that it’s in the Czech Republic. I have seen jobs on offer there, but dismissed them lightly because for some reason I always imagined it to be a grey place full of grim-faced over-worked people.

I was a bit wrong about that.

So, if anyone offers you the chance to visit Prague, grab it with both hands, and go there!

Cousin get-together

When I was a teenager in Devon, England, my three cousins would come and spend the summer with my family.

And then my family moved to Australia.

My cousin Max went to Spain, and then to Ireland.

I last saw Max 37 years ago. Read more..

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In the old days you would join “The Foreign legion” - if you were running away from a relationship (or the law) or just wanted a more interesting life.

Nowadays we play the ESL game, we go and teach English overseas. And we meet so many interesting people, some of them colleagues, some students, and some employers of ESL teachers.

While the teachers have a variety of reasons for joining the game - only one of which would be the need for money - employers join the game to make money.

With our experience of three schools in two countries as well as having talked to many other ESLers, we have found that payday comes once a month, on a particular day of the month. But - just like playing “Snakes and Ladders” there are a lot of traps to avoid!

Pay Day Game

Its always hard to know when is the best time to Read more..

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Our first bomb.

“I heard a loud bang.”

If the TV men had turned and asked me about it, that’s all I could say.

Usually I am teaching on a Sunday afternoon. But my class had their final exam yesterday, so no class today. So I was sitting at home, and I did think about going down to the shopping centre for a bit of exercise. But CSI was on TV and I was feeling lazy after four hours of teaching all morning.

And then, at 3.30, I heard the bang. I went out onto the balcony, expecting to see smoke … or something. But no one even reacted. Everyone at Dilko was just sitting there chatting and drinking tea.

About an hour later we went for a walk down the street to see how things were. A small news item on the internet told us that a bomb went off right in the centre Read more..

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The lovely weather continues. And the classes are getting less. And Stephanie has a friend staying with her for a few days. So - even though its not our day off - we went out for the day.

A dolmus (shared taxi) to Taksim, and then a bus to Ortakoy. That’s the spot by the Bosphorus where Charlotte and I went when we couldn’t go to the palace because of the journalist’s funeral. And of course we had to have Kumpir - those huge baked baked potatoes with all sorts of tasty things piled onto them.

In Ortakoy the streets are even tinier than here in Bakirkoy, just little brick-paved lane-ways, and there are lots of little touristy shops. We mulled over jewellery displays, and tried on hats and scarves …

And then we saw an Internet Cafe and play house that advertised “Air Hockey”! Its a standing joke here at our office Read more..

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We live in Europe (which is a long was away from Australia).

Today we went to Asia.

(British) Michael was giving a talk about the new TOEFL courses which will be starting soon, so Michael, Charlotte, Peter and I caught the sea bus across to the Kadıköy (in Asia) branch of our company.

This big ‘cat’ is one of those brilliant sea buses that runs between Europe and Asia. They are fast and quiet and smooth - just a slight roll when you get out into the sea of Marmara - and they are made in Western Australia.

When we left Europe it was almost sunny, but when we got to Asia twenty minutes later it Read more..

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We are a very mixed bunch from many different backgrounds, but we have become good friends. So when the lovely Alvin had a birthday, we were all together in the Teachers’ Office to celebrate with her.

Alvin was sure that everyone liked chocolate, so she ordered a cake that was chocolate, with chocolate cream, and chocolate icing, and chocolate chips inside too.

A few sparklers and a candle or two, along with plastic cups full of coke, and we were in full celebration mode.

All the chaps were there.

There was (Jordanian) Ali, our guide and protector.

Tony, the new boy Read more..

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Saturday was a public holiday. On Tuesday we discovered we could rearrange a coupla lessons and open a window of opportunity … so on Wednesday afternoon we shot down to Capadocia (Kapadokya) for three days.

It was a documentary on Kapadokya that sparked my interest in Turkey years ago, before we started any of this ESL caper.

We stayed at Göreme House in Göreme village, in one of their cave suites.

On Thursday morning we got up and went on a full-day tour of the whole area, and we saw the underground city of Kaymakli and other landmarks.

On Thursday evening we went to see a performance by the Whirling Dervishes.

On Friday we hiked all over Göreme and walked through Love Valley.

And then on Saturday morning we got up early (4 am) and went hot air Read more..

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Hey, we’re not here any more, we’re there.

I mean, we are not there (in Turkey) any more we are here (in the UK).

Look at my new blog here.

Read more..

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From the Town Square the crowds surge through a series of narrow winding streets to the Bridge. Again, on the way there are souvenir shops and al fresco restaurants.

We stopped at one for a coffee and a taste of apple strudel. Nice little spot. A little expensive compared to our favourite restaurant near the hotel. But the food?

Yeah, pretty good, ay? and a little dob of ice cream served on that funny bent spoon.

Then you come to a narrow busy road to cross just before the bridge. The crowd bunches up to wait for the lights to change. One of the little red ‘Don’t Walk’ men looked like Jesus on the cross, Read more..

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The Grand Bazaar is THE place to go to when you are in Istanbul - all of the guide books will tell you that.

And it’s not like any other market or bazaar you may have been to, ever. Nothing like the markets in China - outdoors, with rows of little stalls.

Most of it is indoors, and it’s like a maze. It’s dazzling, and confusing, and a little overwhelming the first time.

And even the second time.

Next to the main part of the (indoors) bazaar, there is an (outside) street with clothes stalls.

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This is where we met “Sock Man” - he has a plastic display sheet with several pairs of socks in pockets … he really wanted us to buy his socks, and so he kept jumping in front of us with his annoying little display. I never quite worked out whether there was only one sock man or umpteen - and if there was only one did he have a fixation with us in particular. (did every visitor to the bazaar have their own annoying little sock man, or was he just really fast on his feet?)

But inside there is an amazing variety of brilliant things for tourists to buy. The sellers all speak some English, and will accept your hard-earned cash in pretty well any currency you care to offer.

Although when I visited the WC I had to pay half a (New Turkish) lira, and I saw one lady trying in vain to pay her way in with an English pound note.

We bought a small piece of jewellery for me, and the seller agreed to a small “discount” on the basis that we live in Istanbul and may return to his stall another day. We remarked that there was no way we would be able to find it again. And he told us confidently that it was easy as he is situated opposite the one and only restaurant in the bazaar.

THE NEXT DAY WE CAME BACK AGAIN

He was wrong, there are several restaurants. And we were lost in the maze. We went round and round and back and forth - and gradually some parts began to look a little bit familiar. The same salesmen kept jumping out at us with the same lines: “There you are!You are the customer I have been looking for all week!” and the like.

We went down a side alley and found ourselves outside in one of the little courtyards that are embedded in the maze.

We sat down for a cup of çay (Turkish tea in a tulip-shaped glass) and persuaded the restaurateur to find us a map of the maze. After that it was easy. Well, a little easier.

I had been thinking about putting up some curtains in our bedroom, and noticing the material section of the bazaar on the map, we headed down there.

Some of these shoplets are deceptive. Once you enter that cave of fabric you discover more rooms and more shelves behind. We went into one of them, and were taken with a lot of typically Turkish rich velvet materials, all of them sparkly, and quite cheap.

We chose this one. Very velvet and very sparkly. We now hoave sparkly curtains in our bedroom.

And sparkle everywhere. It just trickles off the curtains onto everything - especially when I was sewing them!

The ubiquitous cats

Istanbul is full of cats - but we haven’t seen a single rat. The courtyard behind our apartment is full of them - yowling and arguing over the territory.

These bazaar cats seem quite happy to share.

Read more..

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