Job Discussion Forums

[Qaaolchoura]

I discovered a posting for the American Cultural Center in Turhal, and I'm thinking of applying. I haven't heard anything too bad about the ACC, and the terms of the position look largely good. (Though there's one point about the deal--the overtime, which would be a dealbreaker if I were offered the position and couldn't negotiate better terms.)

My real question is: would it be worth living in Turhal? It's in a part of Turkey I've heard is beautiful, but it's also in the middle of nowhere. So it's sort of like the part of the US I come from. Except that's the US and I'm considerably more familiar which my home region. And also, I'd expect Turkey's developing country-ness to show up far more apparently in the countryside than Istanbul.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
~Q

[Dedicated]

Qaaolchoura,

I don't know the American Cultural Centre in Turhal, but I think this must be a franchise. I passed through Turhal on a recent visit to the Black Sea area, and it is only a small, conservative place with about 120,000 inhabitants.

With such a small population, I cannot see how they will have lots of English classes. Also, I don't know what they are offering you, but I would investigate a bit further. Unfortunately, franchises in small towns are notorious for running out of money, then the teacher(s) is left without a salary.

Turhal is on a fertile plain, well known for sugar beet processing, textiles, marble, dairy products and animal feed. It looked really dull. You would probably be the only foreigner in town!

Good luck!

[delal]

Have to agree with Dedicated, especially as I worked for an American Cultural Centre franchise. The first month they paid on time and then in bits and pieces running into the next month (students weren't paying on time or just not paying). They were also totally disorganised and my classes-levels and times-changed on a weekly basis. The final straw was when most of most classes were given to a new Turkish teacher (who was presumably working for less than me) with no notice and no explaination. Anyway, that was my first job here eons ago and has left me very wary of that kind of set up

The other thing you should consider is that, as Dedicated highlighted, you would probably be the only foreigner there and it's highly unlikely that a language centre in a town that nobody's even heard of-I've been in Turkey around 10 years now-will get you work papers. While many get away with that in the big cities, in a small place like that I can imagine that everybody will want to know your business, will be watching you closely and if you upset someone or they just decide they don't like you, they could well report you to the authorities

[Kirkpatrick]

I worked with this school for about a week. The owner is a really nice guy. However, the city is very very small. They count the population for the whole region and say that is the population of this town. The city center has a population of maybe 20,000 tops. You wil be a hour away from Tokat the nearest town of any size. If you want to be in a quiet place by yourself this is the place.

[delal]

Oops-should have checked the map. Tokat's an Alevi area and so should be a lot less less conservative than many, many other places.
Why didn't you stay Kirkpatrick? Not enough guaranteed hours?

[Kirkpatrick]

I took a job at his friends school here in Eskincan. Like I said nice people. Turhal was a too small for my tastes.