Turkey & My Foreign Perspectives with Bea Vanni

Native English Speakers Required in Istanbul

It's that time again where Turkey is seeking native English teachers. Charlotte McPherson from the Greenhouse Bookshop in Kadikoy, Istanbul, sent me the notice about two schools she works with for school books. You can bet these are top international schools in Istanbul and great places to work where your work and skill is appreciated. So here's the info to send your CV and cover letter to.

 

Bosphorus International Preschool has been open since 1996 and caters to the needs of children between two and six years of age.

 

Your qualifications include working cooperatively in a team, either be a native speaker of English or excellent English speaker and a minimum of two years experience working with youngsters. Also and of course, you must be a qualified teacher.

 

Contact Colette Laffan-Persembe at 0212-277-8444 or by email cpersembe at bipschools.net. Check out their Bosphorus International School website before you submit your CV.

 

Eyuboglu Schools also have lots of opportunities. They've opened a brand new school in a wonderful part of Istanbul in North Atasehir and need preschool teachers for their new school in Atasehir, plus their other schools at the Sabanci University campus, Erenkoy (my old stomping grounds), and Kosuyolu.

 

Contact Tuna Mengu, the Deputy General Manager for Eyuboglu Schools. Email Tuna at tuna.mengu at eyuboglu.com. Check out the Eyoboglu Schools website too.

 

Don't forget to always send a a cover page of only one short page and a complete CV not more than two pages long sharing how you can contribute to their schools. Dollars, deadlines and decisions are what a new employer wants to know, so weave those concepts into your CV for teachers.

 

Ask me for help if you don't know how to write your best CV for a great teaching job. Best of luck!

 

 

Turkish Breakfast and Community with the State Treasurer

Saturday, I spent the morning at the Divan Cultural Center for a real Turkish breakfast and the best tea I've had since the NC Turkish Festival. Volkan Ozdemir invited me to breakfast to meet some of the Turkish expats living here in Cary, and there was lots of lively conversation.

 

Thanks to Ilker Uyanik I'm able to provide new videos from the NC Turkish Festival which will show you the process of Ebru (Water Marbling), Calligraphy and other clips from the festival. I hope you enjoy them.

 

While everyone lingered over conversations around work, economy, homeland and friendship, people from the area included young children, professors from UNC, and men and women from IBM, UNC and many other employers in the area.

 

After breakfast, we were happy to welcome our new NC State Treasurer, Janet Cowell, who spent her Saturday morning telling us about new initiatives, the status of the NC economy and answering questions that many of us had. She also listened carefully to our ideas about how to solve some of the more perplexing problems of health insurance, jobs, social security and lessons learned from other countries.

 

Everyone really appreciated that Ms. Cowell took her Saturday to meet with a group of NC citizens and made us feel like we were important and a critical part of the solutions for NC. Thanks, Janet Cowell!

 

I really appreciated the young mothers who attended and diligently ensured that all the children were well-behaved during our State Treasurer's address. Thanks to the Moms!

The Fascination of Turkey Wrapped Up in Facts and Figures

After the NC Turkish Festival, people buzz with interest about Turkey. Lo and behold, something very useful showed up in my inbox, so I’d like to share it with you.

 

Do you want to know more facts and figures about Turkey or a synopsis in a nutshell? Well, here it is delivered hot off the press.

 

Can we find some controversy in the numbers? I hope so; it always makes for a juicy conversation.

 

Don’t forget to connect with me on Facebook and Twitter because I give useful business tips and tools to improve your marketability. Ask me, the Solution Master, how you can streamline your business.

NC Turkish Festival Closes on a Resourceful Note

Today ends my commentary on the NC Turkish Festival sponsored by the Divan Cultural Center in Cary. As you know Raleigh and Cary have a large Turkish population, so I’ll let you know about a few of the resources for our local area.

 

If you haven’t checked out my video from Wednesday, you should. I met for lunch with some of my new Turkish friends to everyone’s delight. Can you imagine four Turkish women and a yabanci (foreigner) sharing lunch together for the first time? The noise we made attracted many onlookers due to our laughter and hugs and kisses, Eyvallah!

 

The Turkish Festival also witnessed lots of laughter and hugs and kisses. Friendly faces welcomed a relaxing day filled with Turkish food and lots of entertainment from the Bluestar Dance Troupe and Turkish Folk Dancers and the saz concert by Tarik. A few informational tables decorated one side of the festival, but for me, my favorites were the Harmony Mediterranean Market and Nil Varinca.

 

In Cary for many years now, the Harmony Market sits in the shopping strip mall down from TJ Maxx on Cary Towne Blvd. Harmony carries a wide variety of all your Turkish specialty foods, tea, sodas, jams, cezeriya and even a few essentials like Turkish teapots, souvenirs and the occasional blue evil eye to keep bad spirits away. Visit Selim Sen, the owner, for all your favorite Turkish foods, sweets and condiments. Every Saturday Selim features fresh simit for your epicurean tastes.

 

With the economic downturn this past year, festival goers wanted new and different ways to save money and right-size their households. In comes Nil Varinca of Nil Realty to teach you how to find the best house for your pocket. Nil greeted us with her friendly smile and shared what people need to know about the real estate market today. She even introduced me to Ali Baba, man of many Turkish secrets and speaker of seven languages.

 

Nil knows all about how the new stimulus act will benefit new home buyers, the credit increases for this year and income restrictions. You’ll be surprised what she has to say about how this economy can actually be the best time to buy, especially in Cary. It still ranks in the top places to live in the country and property here in Cary keeps its value far beyond that of other locales.

 

An added feature, Nil speaks fluent Turkish, so she can help your family members from Turkey understand real estate in America and the best plan to find their dream home or summer house. With more than 25 years experience, trust your real estate needs to Nil Varinca.

 

After you’ve bought some property, go celebrate at the Bosphorus Restaurant. Yes, it’s in Cary too. Every day The Bosphorus packs in the people who want to feast on Turkish culinary delights. While Onur Dilekoglu will playfully seat and serve you, his father masters the delicious food to tempt your taste buds. They serve only authentic Turkish food with an Anatolian spark. Better call ahead or come early because the place fills up fast. Tell Onur that Bea sent you.

 

You can find more Turkish resources in the greater Raleigh area courtesy of the ATA-NC website. Also, tell me what you think of the photos from the event.

 

See you next year at the NC Turkish Festival!

Foodies Seduced at the Turkish Festival with Dance on the Side

The NC Turkish Festival breaks barriers to the culturally challenged while Turkey still ranks as a mystery and captures the imagination of Americans. Humans possess a curiosity about peoples and cultures other than their own, so opportunities abound at cultural festivals here in the Triangle and elsewhere across America.

From the dust of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey still respects the different cultures and people existing side-by-side today as part of her heritage. Turkish culture encompasses unique dance, song, language, food and customs like every culture, but visitors to the Turkish Festival could experience it all at one time.

While Turkish dances captivated, yummy culinary aromas tempted throngs to line up in the food court. For me the Turkish language buzzed my ears, but my soul waxed poet with my first cup of Turkish tea. The Turkish cayci (tea man) kept making pot after perfect pot of tea to my increasing delight. This cay whiz outperformed some of the best. Bravo to you, Mr. Cayci.

One could not avoid a particularly delightful pleasure with the temptation of homemade Turkish pasta (pastries). A pleasant discovery, Nihal Gulseren whipped up some of her culinary cakes and desserts and then gave a demonstration on stage of how to make baklava at home. The best parts: Nihal gives lessons at the Divan Center and she’ll also cater your parties. If you ask her to cook a full Turkish dinner with dessert, Nihal may oblige you. Contact her through the Divan Cultural Center.

Sweet Traditions was my next stop to fill up on Turkish biscuits. They delivered hot biscuits stuffed with feta cheese and parsley. They came extra large and fresh out of the oven. Again, standing room only to get one of those morsels but worth every bite. For anyone living in Cary, find Sweet Traditions in the strip mall across from the train station where the daily wafting smells show the way to basketfuls of breads and sweets.

As the crowds relished every taste on their palates, the Bluestar Dance Troupe thrilled them with spirited renditions of traditional Turkish dances found in various regions of Turkey. Dressed in glittering costumes whirling softly around them, their exciting movements and graceful stances seized the day.

The Ahiskan Turks also returned this year with their powerful dance steps, perfect posture, and in-flight antics. I thought they’d jump right off the stage with their superb routines. Unfortunately, running through my head was the plight of their people and wondering if the Ahiskan Turks have been repatriated to their rightful homelands.

On Saturday, I’ll finish up with a few more comments. I hope if you attended the Turkish Festival that you enjoyed it, and if not, I hope you’ll make it next year.

Tribute to Friends from Turkey

Today, I had a wonderful lunch with some new Turkish friends where we chatted about our lives, the Turkish Festival, our mutual friends and how we miss Turkey. Not only that but we're all expats, love the Bosphorus Restaurant in Cary and have a mutual friend, Saadet in Istanbul.

 

I owe many thanks to Saadet for sharing her friend Pelin with me. In turn, Pelin brought along three more friends: Cigdem, Munevver and Fatos. Thank you, Saadet and Pelin.

 

I posted our video on Facebook and if I'm successful, you can check it out here!

Turkish Fest Honors Children and Introduces the Arts

Did you experience the delights of the NC Turkish Festival at the Raleigh Fairgrounds this past weekend? The Divan Cultural Center volunteers greeted us with warm smiles and courteous gestures. A packed house by 2 p.m., the Exposition Center hosted guests of all ages and nationalities along with wall-to-wall Turkish handcrafts, carpets, sweet pastries and a variety of Turkish food.

 

No surprise this year that some of the Turkish Festival expansion beckoned our children with activities galore. The Kids Corner gathered the munchkins for fun diversions and a bouncing tent. Face painting drew hearty giggles from the mouths of babes and cherub faces indulged in ice cream with parent approval.

 

It didn’t stop there though; in another corner, parents and youngsters discovered their fantasy of sultanhood and departed with a photo for their memories. Conversely, last year there were just a few happenings for the little sprouts, but Saturday, parents expressed much delight and gratitude, especially for a center stage one-man circus, just for the kids by the Fritzy Brothers.

 

You may not know it, but Turks love children. Since April 23, 1935, Turkey has celebrated this devotion with a national Children’s Day holiday. On this day Turkey honors their young people with special celebrations at schools, amusement centers, national monuments and other public attractions. Turkish families place particular importance to the education of their offspring and will do most anything to assure it.

 

Did you come looking for Turkish art? People of all ages crowded around the Ebru (water marbling) spot where young Turkish women invited onlookers to try it out. You had to wait your turn just to watch and get mesmerized by the water and paint as it emerged into a unique piece of art. If you wanted a beautiful wall hanging, you could purchase them for under $30. Even small children make lovely Ebru with a gentle mentor.

 

Aydin Cayir, a Turkish calligrapher traveled again this year to Raleigh to work all day at pleasing the visitors by writing nameplates and cards and creating other art with his elegant hand of Turkish Calligraphy. The art of Turkish Calligraphy dates back to ancient times when official documents were prepared only in calligraphy. Still in use today, calligraphers practice this art to perfection and even compete for prestigious awards in Turkey.

 

Next time, I’ll tell you all about the music and dance.