Job Discussion Forums

[Otterman Ollie]

I think we all do it at sometime ,those things that we 've had from childhood ,lifetime skills and values together with a few ambitions and priorities thrown in for good measure.We usually stand by them and defend them because we see them as normal or the accepted norm you know what I mean rules and such only to see them turned on their head . The question I ask myself sometimes is have I been here too long when I start to accept that this is the way it is . I know I won't be able to challenge or change a deeply ingrained mindset but there was a time when I used to at least try,now I don't bother. Have I been here too long or do I just need an extended break from the absurdity of it all just what are we doing here it makes me wonder . Comments of the intelligent variety would be appreciated .

[calsimsek]

I don't know how intelligent this will be,
I often ask the same sort of quetion myself. If I had not stayed here and gone on to other green flieds, or better yet back to Melbourne, would I be the person I am now; or would I still be the person was.

I don't know, perhapes I would have changed and (lets call by its name)
sold out my principles by this age no matter where I was. A place can change you and its a tall order for you to try and either challenge or change the way things are.

All I can say is that as I get older my mindset is more in tune with my enviroment. This is perhapes may be the best reason to leave or accept.

So Otterman Ollie as Turks say don't ask why the fruit is grown just eat it.

[dmb]

Like many I got into to teaching to travel the world. I kind of got stuck here for about 10 years. so I left Turkey for a couple of years and now I am back and very happy to be back. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.(mind you, there is hardly any grass in the middle of the desert.)

[Baba Alex]

well I've maybe modified my ambitions a little, and teaching is not a life I've ever thought I'd follow, but when my principles have been chalanged I've stood up for them as I always have, and really I've found that kind of thing to be much more respected here than back in the UK

[almuze]

I always thought one of the purposes of life was to change, change principles, ideas, location, perception, hair colour, t-shirts.... whatever, really. And even if you had stayed home, you still would've ended up making choices that change you as a person, or challenge your principles. or leave you questioning "what if..."

So now that you're accepting things and saying "well, that's just the way it is" the question is - are you happy with the way it is? or would you like to go find a differnt type of reality? you will change if you go, change if stay, and both will be totally absurd, because that's really what reality is. So, are you happy in your absurd reality, or would you like a differnt one?

I hope it made sense, and I hope it was the intellegent type of answer you were looking for.. good luck.

[dervish]

isn't life the constant pursuit of happiness? we keep changing our circumstances to see if we can modify our happiness. when we become stagnant, we get bored. perhaps your not happy or unhappy; just comfortable, maybe leaning towards unhappiness a bit.

turkey, for me, causes a just comfortable enough feeling. you have the salary, place to live, access to travel being virtually in the center of the world. turkish people are friendly when they bother or when you do. so therefore life is ok, and i mean OK. Then you go to work and you drink tea with a coworker and they critique your teaching while they smoke a cigarette and the students are sitting right next to them. get it? absurd. you may have a great day at work only to go out shopping at night and wonder why the center of the world is so limited in the food variety. where are the jars of spaghetti sauce? honestly would a jar of ragu really throw the average turkish consumer into a tail spin? yep! so, you ask yourself why, why, why. these things are sooooo small, but they are absurd, and the list of things could go on and on and on. sometimes you can laugh at it, and then sometimes you just look at them like how stupid.

just this past week, my turkish neighbor brought home a prostitute and then got into a physical fight with her inside the apartment. she calls the police..............ummmmmmmmm stupid, beat her up in a different location! BTW, this is a true story. we live in a building full of families, so nice way to draw attention to yourself as a sleeze. turkish mentality!