Never Neutral

I'm never going to feel neutral about anything here.

1. I think labor unions are nonexistent. I was told today that I'd be teaching six classes tomorrow.
2. People can't properly tell me where stuff is-- they'll tell me in English and Turkish '204' when they really mean '24' or the 'literature building' when they mean the 'laboratory building'.
3. When I make suggestions that I perceive to be reasonable, my coworkers stare at me blankly.
4. But this really wonderful, important polyglot has offered to give me private lessons in academic Turkish.
5. People with connections in Ankara and Istanbul really want to take me to those places and take care of me.
6. People are always giving me tea, chocolate, cookies, peaches, TyloHot and generally fattening me up.
7. People ask me to proofread school exams.
8. One of my coworkers has asked me to co-author a presentation for an EFL conference in November. Cool-- I feel like a professional.

I'm going away for the weekend to Zonguldak, which is another town on the Black Sea. I hope I can tell you all about it when I get back. Maybe Monday?