Robert College

Each day begins with a trek from my treehouse apartment at the Konak building to my office in Woods Hall, including the now-familiar and increasingly less painful walk up the hill to Gould Hall. I have been forced into inactivity for so long that even this relatively tame walk has been difficult to do, but I'm getting better at it.As the weather has been gorgeous I am inclined to follow the outside path to Woods Hall, which is generally filled with students and/or cats. The Forum is another of the outdoor gathering areas for students, especially during the day as it sits just outside and a few steps away from the entrance to the cafeteria. Lunch is free for teachers every school day, and both students and teachers have the additional option of buying goodies from the canteen. The students are phenomenal kids and I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to teach them. I have now met them all, know several of their names, and they laugh when I throw things at them. My 9th grade fiction class is about to begin The Catcher in the Rye, while the rest of my students are practicing their oral English skills. At Robert College there are five years of matriculation beginning with a "prep" year in which students are able to develop academic fluency in their use of English, learn study skills, and prepare their minds so that they can give their best performance as high school students.

The best views are available at the Plateau, an open green playing field on which students can play sports, teachers and students can gather for social events in nice weather, and anyone with the inclination can go for a pleasant walk with great views of Istanbul.There are dozens of different types of trees, ranging from linden trees to pine trees to plum and fig trees, and ivy covers most of the grounds and some of the buildings. There are cats everywhere, small gecko-like lizards, parrots, magpies, hooded crows, other random birds, one dog (we call him Scruffy-he hangs out with the maintenance crews), hedgehogs, and weasels who all live here on campus. There are also scorpions and earwigs (their tail curves like a scorpion's, and mistook one for a scorpion my first week) but considering that they're the playthings of the cats, it's clear they are non-lethal and probably only carry enough venom to kill smaller insects.

Robert College is the most prestigious high school in Turkey; I've heard it said that it is the most prestigious school in the Middle East. All I know for sure is that this is home sweet home, and I don't plan to leave for some time!

(Arnavutkoy, the village in which Robert College lies.)