November 24, 2009

So today is Öğregtmenler Günü (Teacher's Day) and my dad decided that I was going to work with him. I didn't expect it to be so thrilling. It started with the honor s-ceremony at Central which is where the entire town meets to kick off a holiday. Of course every school was there with their Turkish flag as well as their school flags, we sung the national anthem, and since my dad is the Minister of Education he did the kick off by wishing everyone a, "Öğretmenler Günü Kutlu Olsun."

Shortly after a meeting at his office we visited Çicekpınar Elementary School in Çicekpınar about 20 minutes outside of town. There the teachers were given roses and pendants. Also, the children performed  the traditional Turkish Dance in honor of all the teachers. It was beautiful! Afterwards, inside this rather large auditorium the children recitied poems, sang songs and put on plays for the teachers and the city officials. To conclude the program the teachers made a pledge to always teach dignified and with love and pleasure and all that other good stuff. Later outsied, while waiting for my father to salute the city officials and all his fellow conrads (which always takes a hell of a long time for whatever reason) I got bum-rushed by about a hundred elementary school students and about a million and one questions came along with them. "Adınız nedir (What is your name), kaç yaşındın (how old are you), Nerelisiniz(where did you come from), etc?" They took a bunch of unexpected pictures and then without my awareness, organized a line for everyone to take pictures with me one-by-one! They were all so cute. The part that warmed my heart was when they followed me and my dad all the way to the car and then chased the car waving and yelling that they loved me as we drove off! Boy I love Turkish kids... their innocence is priceless!