Perfection (Dedicated to 15)

Today. *aahh* Today. It was, for lack of a better word, perfect. And I'm coming to realize that maybe perfect is more of a mindset than a measurement. That maybe I've been too focused on things that can be measured and compared and not on feelings and points of view. So, although almost nothing today went as planned, I name it "Maeghan's First Perfect Day!" Note the first, suggesting that there will be many more to come. So let's start with the description!

This morning I woke up and thought "Melek won't let me stay home, will she?" and as I rolled out of bed at 6:30 am and tried to see through already watery eyes, I noticed how blue the world outside of my window was. The sun was shining and my thoughts became pleasant. I turned on some ELO (because ELO = Happy) and got ready for school. I made it out of the apartment early. Yay! Then, I cheerily greeted my bus driver (who is actually quite a nice man, and I really like him- I'm giving him something for Christmas!) and we went to school. At school I was given a candy by one of the English teachers, and Emily and I marked some tests (I love marking!) and tallied up scores. Then, Arzu (head of the second language department) came in and asked "I need your help today, we've got lots to do!" (Best words on the planet!!) and set us up making bulletin board designs for New Year's and just in general.

Then, other English teachers are talking and ask, "You guys were interrested in helping with kindergarten, right?" Of course!! "Good, because Alen has a conflict in his new schedule." Yes. Emily and I got to teach our own Kindergarten class. Gong show! But soooo much fun. "You have to be really enthusiastic," Ester told us. I can do enthusiastic. I can do big and outgoing and energetic. In fact, it's hard not to all the time. Especially on days like today.
These children love everyone. We introduced ourselves in English, talking like robots (lol) and then asked them about the weather (with lots of hand gestures). Then we sang songs with them for half an hour. It didn't work out at all like we had hoped, but it was soooo much fun. Kids would randomly come up and hug you, and suddenly half the class would be surrounding you in this giant hug. None of them stood taller than my waist. Awww!

After that interresting class, Emily and I worked on the bulletin board, and made a christmas tree out of paper chains. We also made a bunch of presents. Soo cute! And so addicting. I could have made pretty looking gifts all afternoon, but I resisted because we had more work to do! After that board was more or less done, we started on another with the title "Quench Your Thirst For Knowledge". We had cups and straws and made a giant Coke can. And of course to make it accurate I just had to buy a coke so that we could examine the can more closely. That's just how things work, you know ;D . So we worked on that bulletin board for the rest of the afternoon. I'll have to take pictures on Monday for you! They look sooooooo good! I'm so proud. And all the teachers loved them, I heard "Good job, girls" about a million times today in English and Turkish.

After school, on the bus home my little friend and I had a conversation. Starting with me saying "Yay! It's the weekend!" We talked about PS2s, computers, Canada, Turkish TV, age, and of course, Spiderman. Then, some of the boys from about 8th grade decided to talk to me and him. They asked questions like How old are you? (to which I answered 16, because really? Less than two weeks. And plus, I haven't felt 15 in a long time. Sorry 15. You never got your fair run. I'll dedicate this entry to you to make it up..) and What year were you born in? (Bin doksan yuz doksan iki! Woot! Into the thousands in Turkish!) and Do you play sports?... You get the idea. I caused great commotion on the bus when they asked me which football team I support. "Beşiktaş veya Fenarbahçe" I said. "No! Galatasaray!" Said one boy, to which I replied (in Turkish) "No. Galatasaray is bad." This was followed by a roar of laughter and arguments about how good or bad that team is. Also, one of the little girls looked upset and when I asked her what was wrong she told me that was her team and started spewing all these facts about how many goals it had beat each team by and what place it was in the league right now and stuff... Crazy. They asked me why I support two teams, and I told them about how my host mom won't feed me if I support Fenarbahçe. They spent quite a while trying to figure out how to say "boyfriend" in English. I never bothered to tell them that I knew what they were talking about. Lol. They clued in after a while that I understood them when they were asking each other how to say things (although this happend when they were past the boyfriend topic). After that they gave me heck when I talked in English, and insisted on hearing my Turkish. It was really, really good. I got laughed at a lot, but in a good way. I mean, I laughed at myself lots too. Like they asked me where I live and I told them Halkalı. As soon as the words left my lips I was struck by the stupidity of this- I was on the Halkalı bus... it was a given.

When I got home, I told Güner that I was going to call Mattie about the Rotary Ball tomorrow night. She asked me what I was wearing, and I told her that's why I was calling Mattie. "You don't have a dress?" She asked. I told her I have two, and need to decide which to wear. Then she insisted on seeing both and after loving both, told me which to wear. Then she asked about shoes, which she also fawned over. Then jewelery, and she went through my bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. Basically, she did everything I was calling Mattie about, and more. I know exactly what I'll wear tomorrow night. It was soo cute! And I loved doing something with my grandmother.

I blew a bunch of kontor calling Mattie anyways, but we had a good talk and laughed about our Enchanted Forests (I'm saying good-bye to it as soon as I finish this blog! *cry*). So there you have Maeghan's First Perfect Day. The kindergarteners didn't listen, my eyes kept watering and itching all day, I sneezed all the time, everything reminded me of The Game (ahaha you jsut lost!), I think I'm allergic to the glue we used, and the kids on my bus laughed at me all the way home. Yesterday I would have never defined this as perfect, but this mindset is my new goal. If I accomplish anything here, I want to take today's perspective and apply it to the rest of my life. I just feel so good.

Xoxo
-Meticulous Maeghan
(as Emily has named me)