As a Muslim, I pray my five daily prayers (sala'at or namaz). Before, I had to print out the times and had to look them up every day as there was obviously no call to prayer. Some people I know have one of those popular adhan clocks (click here o see some examples).
But now, in Turkey, I live right next to the mosque and I can hear the adhan (Turkish: ezan) clearly. I love it!
Listen to this one from Makkah (Sorry for the bad quality of the video)
I was born in Turkey and spent my first five years in Bursa. Then I moved abroad and only visited during holidays. Now, I moved back. Bursa has changed a lot since. At the moment, I am exploring how to use blogs and other Web 2.0 tools in my classroom. This is one reason why I have started this blog. The other is, that I want to write about my experience as a "native expat" - I don't know how else to describe what I am and how I am feeling. It is a strange combination of feelings like being at home and being a foreigner at the same time. Before moving "back" to Bursa, I actually searched for expat meetings in Bursa. Then, I thought: "Wait a minute, you are not an expat!"
Some time ago, I was searching for lesson material - an interesting topic. I found something about "culture shock". The article said that there were five stages: 1. The honemoon (tourist) stage 2. Shock 3. The adjustment stage 4. Acceptance or acculturation 5. Re-entry shock (when you go back home) I think I'm between stages 2 and 4. I realise how critical I am about Turkey and compare things with Germany, where I lived before, and other countries. I seem to see the negative sides most of the time. Although, regarding Bursa, I actually see it in a more favourable light. But more about this in my following posts. Cheers
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