Job Discussion Forums

[gloomyGumi]

After 9 months of packing-ın worse than a sardine on tramways, and I mean worse than a sardine, and practically passing out on a regular basis from eıther the body-odor, bad-breath, or cigarette smoke, split shıfts, lazy students (lazy ones are actually a tad better than the ones who never show up at all), metro, lack of cooperation when asking for sımple thıngs lıke receıpts for example, etc etc etc oh and let me mentıon the paınt snıffers, beggıng gypsıes, and other undesırables lurkıng outsıde my apartment entrance day and nıght, people steppıng on my feet or bulldozıng me on the sıdewalks or on publıc transportatıon, cuttıng ın lınes, etc etc
I cannot see how anybody ın theır rıght mınd would be able to (let alone WANT to) go through thıs for more than the novelty of say 6 months to a year.

I AM OUTTA HERE. THIS TOWN AINT BIG ENOUGH FOR THE 2 OF US.

[sixthchild]

Hardly surprising, what exactly did you expect?
Fortunately, you do have at least another 79 cities to choose from for your next gig, only this time try to be a bit more selective about who you work for!

[oipivo]

Yup, that's Istanbul. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the work is steady, the pay is decent, and the food is good. If only it were a nicer place to live.

[parnett]

Any large city which has a thriving ESL industry (outside of Europe) will have the same scenario you described so eloquently. Try living in a large city in China, and the things you brought out will seem minor when compared with the spitting, public defecation and urination, incredible noise etc. that is so commonplace here.
I worked in Pusan, South Korea for a year. The noise was unbearable, along with the traffic, rude people and pollution.
I also lived in Istanbul for many years. I had to get out of Turkey every 6 months for a few weeks each time to maintain my sanity.
My advice to you is to go home and stay there (and don't even think about working in Asia).

[sixthchild]

I have to say (just to rub salt in) you have only been here for less than a year and you are whining like a little spoilt brat!
Try 15 years of going through the same day to day drudge, I am still here though and guess what, I will stay a while longer, probably because I had the sense and foresight to choose the right city and employers, get some money saved, buy a car, kick public transport, get my own place to live without undesirable neighbours and generally start to live my own life. You can do the same, just spend less on those things that may seem important to your short term happiness, but give you zilch in the long term.

[billy orr]

Get out of Turkey every six months to preserve sanity? Are you sure that is the best strategy? Sanity is a much over-rated condition, and doesn't help one at all when it comes to teaching English.

[Sashadroogie]

Come to Russia!

[parnett]

I was married to a Turk who had two children (boys 10 and 14) from a previous marriage. Try dealing with everything the poster described and then coming home to a worse situation.

[sixthchild]

Yep, seen that, got the t-shirt, some people just don't know they are born!
Ahhh, Turkish families, don't you just love them.........! When they are far, far, away!!

[gloomyGumi]

thx 2 all who responded----yeah ı know ı could try other cıtıes ın Turkey....
no thanks.....as for Korea ıts true they are ın equal ways rude and boorish, steppıng on your feet and not even apologızıng, etc. In Istanbul gettıng on the tram ıs lıke playıng rugby.

how ıs malaysıa?

[delal]

Gloomy-you should try Moscow for a while as after 3 months there, you'd be BEGGING to return to Ist!
In the three months I lasted there, I twice had to walk around dead-yep, deceased-drunks to get ınto the metro statıon near my flat. That was before even attempting to get on the metro and battlıng wıth old ladıes (rugby would get you nowhere wıth that crowd) just to get standıng room before the doors snapped shut, threatening to cut off any part of you that was near them. Then there was the smell at 7 am: a blend of body odour, garlic and onıons. If that wasn't enough, I then had to entrust my life to a "marchutka" drıver (similar to a dolmuş but much faster). Getting to work in one piece physically and pschologically was always a surprıse.
Sort of mıss those days

[cartago]

At least in China taxis are reasonably cheap so you don't have to take public transport. I would seriously avoid living in Istanbul unless I had a place reasonably close to where I worked. The smaller cities in Turkey can also be less of a pain, I didn't find the public transport in Bursa to be so crowded. They have the metro and something like shared taxis that go on specific routes and are very cheap.

[gloomyGumi]

delal--my wıfe and I thank you for that Russıan tıdbıt of ınfo there Holy crap that sounds bad-- esp the garlıc onıon BO part---I'll take a few dead drunks over bad breath/BO at 7am ANYday!

[parnett]

I lived in Istanbul for almost 13 years and found riding the buses, trains, subway etc. less trying than in many other large cities around the world. Would you like to ride the bus in China where each passenger gets his very own spitting bag upon entering the bus? How about Vietnam where the no smoking rules are completely ignored? How about the NY subway where your wife can get groped and you can't find a seat because homeless people are occupying all of them?
I have never ridden on a bus in Tokyo, Bangkok, Shanghai, Paris, London and all of the other large cities I have had the pleasure of visiting in which passengers weren't crammed on the buses/trains like sardines if it were necessary. Turkish passengers are much, much more polite and civil when compared to their Asian counterparts.

[scot47]

I recommend Saudi Arabia - one of the few places where a mere EFLer can pretend to be a "pukka sahib" !