24th November 2010
In Turkey, 24 Kasım is known as Ögretmenler Günü, or Teachers' Day. In some other places around the world, a few people know it as my birthday. This year the two collided, and the result was pretty special.
The celebrations got off to an early start, as Dave arrived home the evening before with a bunch of 27 roses. Yes I really am that old, and no I do not know where the time went. We have yet to purchase any vases, so the flowers have been divided between a couple of empty wine bottles and the large turkish teapot. Nothing if not classy, but in fact they look rather nice.
On my birthday I was lucky enough to have several packages from home to unwrap, as well as a couple of cards and a present from Dave. That last one was less of a surprise and more of a 'yes, finally I can have it!' as we'd found a lovely silver necklace during our Bayram adventures in Mardin last week. The gifts from home were full of lovely things and I set off to work with a grin on my face.
Except for the fact that it was raining.
School was all of a hubub; children carrying oversized bouquets for their class teachers, teachers excited about the prospect of a half-day, and beautiful Teachers' Day artwork going up on the walls. This artwork consisted of photos of all the teachers' faces, with bodies drawn underneath by the children. Some were pretty special, and others just genius. There was a festice air, that even the rain couldn't wash away. At twenty past nine, we trudged off to first lessons as normal. I was lucky in that I had one of my favourite classes and they were little angels, which continued the good start to the day. Things got even better when it was announced that we wouldn't be going to any more lessons for the rest of the morning!
An hour or so later the performances started. Half of the classes came out to the central area, known as the 'main street' of the Kindergarten. Different classes made little speeches or sang little ditties about how they love their teachers (in Turkish, but I know those two words so the gist was clear...) and then everyone danced about like mad fools to the Hokey Kokey. It was very sweet, and generated a real atmosphere of warmth. They filed off, and the second set of classes came out to repeat the whole thing again.
We returned to our office to find the publishers of one of the books we use had sent us a box of delicious chocolates for Teachers' Day. Shortly afterwards, representatives from one class brought us all handicraft butterflies, and then it was time for the children to go home. We had to gather in the drama studio for photos, before more sweet treats were handed out, and then it was lunchtime.
This was a special lunch just for teachers and staff, so of course the sparkling white tablecloths came out. The food was a bit more fancy than normal, and, get this, we were “treated” to glasses of Pepsi. The nicest part of lunch was actually the duo of music teachers who serenaded us as we ate. One played the flute, the other the baglama saz - guitar-esque in appearance but with a longer neck and far deeper, rounder wooden body.
After eating it was onto the school buses and off to Anıtkabir, also known as Atatürk's Mausoleum. This is a tradition only followed at my school, as it was essentially founded by the great man himself. Upon arrival, we (a giant sprawling crowd) filed slowly up the steps and into the large room where his tomb lies. We observed a minute's silence and then walked past the tomb, where a wreath had been laid on behalf of us all. It was a brief ceremony, but touching. The mausoleum itself was quite impressive; a wide open space surrounded by stone pillars, gardens leading off in one direction and a museum off to the side. Inside, more of the same stone pillars and a simple décor...except for the ceiling, which is ornate gold and red mosaic. At some point we'll go back to look around the museum and soak it up at a slower pace.
Once everyone began to disperse, Dave and I headed off with a few other teachers, one of whom was giving us a lift to the nearby(ish) Ankamall. Here we putzed around for a couple of hours, found an exceedingly comfortable sofa in one interior decorations shop, before finally it was time for Harry Potter. I should note that Dave is not a fan, but after some careful encouragement he was happy to come along (ie- he was supplied with sweets). For the record, I enjoyed the film. Pretty tense stuff.
By the time the film had finished and we'd made it home in the rain, the day was drawing to a close. This was a different birthday than others that came before it, and definitely a memorable one. I also strongly recommend the UK adopt Teachers' Day, and for the record November 24th is a pretty good day to hold it.
ETA: photos now up on flickr.