Wednesday Mailbag

Dear Chris and Sarah,

When you go to American movies do you see subtitles in Turkish and laugh before the rest of the audience is done reading? I doubt you have buttered popcorn.

Sincerely,

txscottrc

Dear txscottrc,

Your question raises an even more important question: Why, in the month that we have been living in Turkey, have we not made it to see a movie at the movie theatre?

I think the answer is tri-fold:

1. Teaching during the day

2. Learning during the night

3. Inability to summon up any more strength after completing #'s 1 and 2

We did see the movie theatre once. It was right next door to the Schlotzsky's and appeared to have movies in their original version.

I didn't smell any popcorn popping but am eager to investigate further.

Mayhaps this weekend? We will keep you updated.

Great question - better answer coming.

Sincerely,

Theatre-notgoers in Turkey

Chris & Sarah:

Where is Bilkent University and do they speak English? Why does Turkey not have air conditioning? Why do you want a degree from Bilkent University? I don’t think Bilkent University degrees are accepted here in the U.S. Please ponder these questions until next Wednesday.

Aunt Mary from Garden City, Kansas

Dear Aunt Mary from Garden City,

What great questions.

First, Bilkent University is in Ankara, Turkey. Our school BUPS, is actually on the Bilkent campus.

The professors do speak English. In fact, the one we had last night is an American who studied at Dartmouth and received his PhD from UCLA.

We want a degree from Bilkent for a number of reasons.

Sarah has a passion for education, second language acquisition especially, and would like to learn more on the subject. She hopes to develop a curriculum or teaching resources to help teachers teach second language learners.

Chris has just stumbled upon his excitement about education and is eager to further explore the field. He is thinking about one day maybe getting his PhD and becoming a college professor.

There are also salary considerations. Both of us would be looking at more money if we had our masters degrees.

And why Bilkent specifically you might ask?

Because it's free and we live on its campus.

Our school BUPS has an agreement with the University that their teachers can enroll in the masters program for free.

To achieve the same goal at home would set up back at least $100,000.

The recognition of the degree varies from university to university in the States.

One of our professors has his PhD from Harvard, the other from Brown, and then Mr. UCLA. They have all led us to feel certain that Bilkent is an internationally recognized University and we should have no problems with US schools recognizing its validity.

Some places in Turkey do have air-conditioning, but most don't.

As far as we can gather, this is due to the fact that it's only really necessary 3 months out of the year. The other months open windows are said to be more than enough to stay happy, cold in fact.

We would like to say that it's environmental friendliness that is keeping AC's out of most Turkish homes but we don't have solid research to support that theory.

When we complain to people that it's hot, they look at us like we're crazy and say, "it's summer."

Hope that answers your questions, or at least causes you to think of more.

Sincerely,

The Masters of Bilkent

(As a side note to the mailbag, it rained here today. That is the first time since we have been here, over 4 weeks now, that we have seen any precipitation...now that's newsworthy).

Keep the questions coming!