The Turkish work ethic is insane. They work six days a week, many even work 7 days a week, and this is considered normal. Many Turks wouldn’t even think of asking for a vacation until they have worked that kind of schedule for at least two years. Many Turks never take vacation ever. The average…

All around the world, we see examples of vast gulf between the theory and practice of religion. A warmongering Christian American president, who seems to not understand the basic tenets of Christianity that are peace, love and tolerance. Muslim fundamentalists who do not seem to understand or follow the teachings of Mohammed, the Prophet, who…

After a lifetime of travelling, I am starting to notice that every place is more or less the same. Each place, albeit with a different culture and different lifestyles, has its positives and its negatives. Some wonderful things and some horrible things. In this way, all places begin to blend together and the aspects that…

Half of his Saturday class was conversation and today’s conversation was ‘Relationships.’ Anywhere else in the world, people would talk about their own relationships, the relationships of their friends or celebrities. But not in Turkey. In Turkey, a Muslim country progressive though it may appear is still a Muslim country, dating is the exception and…

I didn’t learn as much about Turkish culture as I have about other places I’ve lived in, mainly because I didn’t really manage to make any Turkish friends while I was there. My options mainly consisted of Steve’s colleagues, who were fine and seemed very nice, but for some reason people in the teaching English…

Up until moving to Bakirkoy, Istanbul I had worked doing all kinds of things. Translator, human rights reporter, editor, grant writer, archivist, etc. I had been hoping to get back into human rights again and thought that Istanbul would be great seeing that my first memories of the place were with my mother, the UNICEF…