WHAT: A Self-Progress Report

My Turkish Language Preparation course ended a week ago after almost nine months. And as I promised to myself I was supposed to update this blog yet due to some reasons, I failed myself again. So the final exam was quite dofficult especially the Listening and Reading but Alhamdulillah I passed. So I was asking myself this one big question: In the last 9 months what happened to me? Yeah, you've heard this drama before and maybe you're sick of it already. Yet, this is the time I make a self progress report to track where I am right now in the perplexing road of life and how far I have gone to reach my supposed place. 

What I have done?

This is what frustrates me most because whenever I try to ask this question to myself I ended up with only one single answer. That is in the last nine months what I did only was go to TÖMER every single day to learn Turkish. Yet, until now I don't have the confident to say "Yes, I can speak Turkish" whenever someone asked me the usual and not surprising question to foreigners like me "Türkçe biliyor musun?" I don't have the confidence like other students have. In other times I prefer to say "Az biliyorum" which I think is much appropriate since it does reflect my level of profeciency. I feel like my level is comparable to "Apple is red and the sky is blue." 

I wouldn't be harboring this ill feeling if I have done other things in the span of nine months. I remember my roomate who asked me what I want to do. His reaction is still fresh in my mind, an expression of utter shock and amazement. Who wouldn't? I told him that going to Syria to give humanitarian aide or whatever my self can offer is one of many things I want to accomplish in the near future. He was giving me that expression "But Syria is torn by civil war and you might die by just going there." I know it is dangerous of course. Before coming to Turkey, I heard of the on-going slaughter in Syria by its oppressive government to the point of using chemical weapon which according to international rules of engagement is not permissible at whatever cost. But the proximity effect has lend me more urge and think of the struggles the Syrians are into. 

What have I read?

Sine I was doing language preparation, I was expected to read books, newspapers, pamphlets, novels, etc to facilitate my fast learning. But in reality, this never happened. To survive Ankara University's Turkish preparation course, one has to buy three books of different level from basic to intermediate then finally to advance. As the level progressed, the diffulculty of the subject, grammar rules, and the passages for reading comprehension progressed at the same time. But I have to admit that I never fell in love to the language and that I keep on coming back to English.

Long time ago, I decided to include building my own library as one of my lifetime goals. I wasn't actually a big fan of reading. This might be the reason why my reading speed is way too slow compared to my other friends who get to finish a 500-page novel in a day. Meet the new additions to my babies.

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Greeen
2. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
3. A Game of Thrones by George Martin
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Outliers by Malcolm Matthew
6. The Secret by Rhonda Bryne
7. The Divergent Trilogy (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant) by Veronica Roth
8. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
9. My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
10. The 8th Habit by Stephem Covey
11. A Supplication of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)
12. From the Risale-i Nur Collection
13. ISLAM: A Short History by Karen Armstrong
14. Muhammad: Prophet of God by Fethüllah Gülen
15. PassKey to New GRE
16. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
17. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
18. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
19. INFERNO by Dan Brown
20. Booklets about Islam (Miracle of the Qur'an, A Brief Illustrated Guide to Islam, and Discover Islam)
21. A World Without Islam by Graham Fuller
22. Easy to Learn Turkish Grammar and Dialogue by Mualla Atlamaz
23. Turkish Grammar by Lewis
24. Hayvanların Ansiklopedesi

Who did I meet?

One of many advantages of being an international student is that you're not always alone. Turkey government for example invites thousands of students from different parts of the world from Africa to as far as Latin America. It becomes then a melting pot or skin color, cultures, and languages. From black to brown to almost white skin color of the Europe, division by skin color is almost non-existent the fact that we were able to forge strong friendship. From French to Spanish to Arabic then to English, language barrier was a thing of the past and after we learned Turkish communication was not a problem. There was also a readily available learning opportunity to meet a new culture every day. 

In my next post Inshaallah I will talk about on how meeting new people led me to discover their struggles. As for now, goodbye friends!