Matt: Merhaba, that's Hello in Turkish.
My name's Matt and this is uh, yo, wake up.
Perlie: Gunaydin.
That's good morning in Turkish.
My name is Perlie and we're coming to live from, Istanbul, Turkey.
Matt: So yeah, briefly, I guess, uh, why, why Istanbul?
Um, so while Perlie was searching for jobs, uh, we came between two schools,
one in Istanbul, one in Prague.
Um, I, I've been to both cities, um, but I've been to Istanbul twice most recently
last year on just another unrelated trip.
And, you know, I really enjoy the city.
I think there's so much to offer and you know, I told Perlie like, well, I
think we should do the Istanbul job.
You know, I'd have a familiarity with it and, You know, there's just so much more
I want to see, explore here kind of thing.
And I, I would really like, uh, the opportunity to, to live here as
opposed to just being as a tourist.
And yeah, I got Perlie to, uh, accept that.
And, uh, yeah, here we are.
Perlie: Well, after finishing Korea, I was pretty much flexible as to
like, wherever we would go around the world next for our next contract.
So yeah, it's the most seemed cool.
And, and um Matt, talked highly about it.
So yes, here we are.
So the both of us are from the United States, but we actually met in Busan,
South Korea, which is where we were living and teaching before coming to Turkey.
A funny story, we actually met because of ITA itself...
Matt: She actually slid into my DMs.
Perlie: Well because I found him on the Facebook alumni page for South Korea,
and I wanted to ask him questions about living a Busan since he had
moved there six months before me.
So that is why.
I messaged him and then he asked me on a date without even having met me.
And yeah, so when I landed in South Korea after two weeks of quarantine, my
first night out of quarantine was spent with yours too, on a date with this guy.
And here we are now.
Matt: And now here we are.
Turkey.
Funny how life works.
Yeah, so we have been here for about four months.
Uh, we arrived at the end of July.
Uh, we had a training period in August, and so school started about mid-September.
So we're going, you know, about three months at the.
Teaching comp part, but, uh, about four months here and, uh,
we found our job, Perlie found it.
Perlie: Um, so we found it on days esl.com.
Um, you guys might have heard of it.
And so there was just a job listing for our preschool and they were
looking for openings for the fall semester, fall school year.
And so we just sent, um, an email to the contact and yeah, just got an
interview and from then on, here we are.
Matt: All right.
So yeah, so we both work at preschools here.
Um, I work with the five year olds.
Perlie: I work with the four year olds,
Matt: and so we'll be showing you our different campuses later once we arrive.
Perlie: So the school we work at is a private school and they have
branches all throughout Istanbul.
They go from preschool all the way to high school.
So there are many, many, many campuses.
So it is a very prestigious, um, school.
Um, a lot of people has a very good reputation in here in Turkey.
Everyone seems to know about it.
Matt: All right.
Hello again.
It is about 6:50AM in the morning.
And we're both getting ready to go to school.
While we did come here together, we actually work at, uh, two different
campuses in two different locations.
So we take different ways to get to school.
So I am getting ready to go on a, a bus that the school provides to school.
Perlie: Um, so there is a rule where couples are not allowed to work on the
same campus with our school, um, company.
And so Matt takes the service, but I take a taxi.
Matt: All right.
I know y'all are dying to see our apartment, but it's just too
early in the morning to do that, so we'll be showing y'all a little
crib a little later, so stay tuned.
Hi y'all.
It's been great talking to you, uh, bright and early in the morning.
Wouldn't have wanted to start my day any other way, but we do have to go to school.
We'll have to part our separate ways, but in the meantime, if you
want to drop some questions for us, please do that right here.
Perlie: So now we're here at the school.
Uh, Matt and I are at our separate campuses now.
My campus is, um, more downtown in the city where you can see the buildings.
I'm in the garden right now.
Um, so just some background about me.
Um, I'm 25 years old from Los Angeles, California.
I got my TEFL certificate from ITA in the summer of 2020.
I have a bachelor's degree in economics.
Um, I also have a teaching license in elementary education.
So this is an example of the four year old students' classrooms, a
bit smaller than the five year olds.
So there is a drama corner circle, time area, book corner tables,
and then step outside the garden.
Matt: All right, MTV class tours.
Let's get it.
So we are the majestic me cats.
Don't forget it.
So here's an example of a class here in Istanbul.
Uh, so yeah, this is our class for 16 students.
Just so you know, your standard class.
We have our carpet for circle time, got our smart board that we use for all our
activities, just all our decorations.
And here is our, well, my desk for yours truly.
This is where my partner teacher sits.
So as mentioned before, I'm the native English speaker and I'm partnered
up with a Turkish teacher as well.
Here's my little meerkat I drew.
Majestic.
All right, so this is where I work.
Um, so I am a preschool teacher working with the five year olds.
This is the campus.
So here we have the preschool and the bottom floor here.
So here we have our garden.
So we have two sessions of garden time a day.
So it's 30 minutes each, and that's one hour.
So over here is the primary school.
Well, again, my name is Matt, uh, 27 years old from the us.
Uh, great state of Maryland.
Shout out.
Uh, yeah.
I went to University of Maryland.
I graduated in 2017 and then, uh, that fall afterwards of graduation,
I got my TEFL certificate, and then I went to Spain.
So I was in Spain teaching there in, uh, Galicia in the northwest.
I taught, uh, age 3 to 13 and then except, or stayed on with the same
company that I worked for, and so then was in Barcelona for the following year.
And then after that, you know, COVID kind of hit, was doing some traveling but
then, you know, ended up in, in Korea.
So I was in Busan.
So yeah, taught there for about 13 months.
Um, also taught English online and yeah, I'm just happy to talk about my
experiences in Spain and Korea, had a, had a great time and just wasn't ready to give
up the traveling, teaching kind of route.
So, you know, here we are in Turkey and yeah, just making moves.
Perlie: So some really cool facts about the city of Istanbul is that
it is a city that straddles two consonants, both Europe and Asia.
Um, The only city to do so, and the only thing that separates the two
continents is the Bosphorus Strait.
So Matt and I, we live on the European side.
ASAM is also considered the largest city in Europe.
Matt: All right, y'all MTV Apartments, editioned.
We up on the second floor.
So, yeah, housing is provided by our school.
So this is our crib.
Um, yeah, so here we have on the right side, we have our kitchen,
we got our fridge, got a nice little dishwasher, you know, all
our cabinets, little toaster oven.
So all that came provided.
We also got, provided with three chairs.
Make that a fourth one.
Got a little TV stand.
It did come with the tv.
This little desk up in here.
Uh, yeah, we did a little, little decoration, lacrosse.
. Um, yeah.
So here, here's our view.
Uh oh.
Hey, Maryland.
Okay, uh, yeah.
So here again, we're on the second floor.
So here's our view up here.
We have really tall, uh, hotel that you can go on the rooftop.
They have a rooftop bar up there.
Um, so here we have in this room.
Have our little bedroom.
So yeah, it did come with the bed and everything.
Closet up in here.
Uh, here's a little, little storage space.
Um, so we just put all our stuff up in there.
Uh, yeah.
So here's, here's our bed, Columbia, Maryland.
Okay.
Um, and here, here's our bathroom.
So, yeah, just, you know, simple.
Got our sink, toilet, and then little shower here.
So again, everything is provided.
Perlie: I just got back from the grocery store.
Gonna cook some dinner for my math while he watches the World Cup.
Matt: All right.
So how necessary is it to speak Turkish here?
I would say it definitely helps if you can, um, in terms of the lifestyle,
you know, going out and about, um, uni Istanbul I think is, is quite,
you know, you can get around with English, but once you go to smaller
towns or definitely outside of Istanbul, it is, it is more difficult.
But, you know, that's part of traveling.
But in terms of the job itself, um, it does, I mean, everything is in English.
So even with the native Turkish, uh, teacher, At least for mine, working with
the five year olds, they're not even allowed to speak Turkish to the children.
It's actually kind of, they're supposed to hide it from the children.
So yeah, no, every, everything is in again, English.
Yeah, it would help, I guess maybe sometimes if some, a kid's level of
English is so low and they're speaking to me in Turkish, I don't understand
what they're saying, but no, I mean, , you don't need it for this job.
Perlie: So we have intended to stay here for just one school year.
So we arrived in the beginning of August, is when the school year started, and
our contract is until the end of the school year, which is in late June.
And so for the time being, that is how long we intend to stay
here for, and we're to next.
Who knows?
So in light of the recent bombing here, in Taxim in Istanbul?
Yes, it is scary just because it is an area that we and a
lot of our friends frequent.
Um, it is a very popular area in Istanbul to go for, you
know, many activities to do.
Um, but in terms of if it's making us more scared or worried in our
day-to-day life, um, simple answer, no.
Matt: Yeah, I mean, uh, it's just the sad fact of.
Reality, you know, just that there is always a potential for, I guess, terrorist
threats or violence, not just in Turkey.
It's, it's a, it's a global issue and it's sad, you know, I guess you have to
be cognizant of that when you do go out.
But, no, here I, it did happen.
You know?
It is scary, but I think moving forward, we're not, not doing activities or
things as a result of that, but, but yeah, it, it is, it is scary.
Perlie: Honestly, that is a great question because we wondered the same
thing and we honestly do not know the answer because we've never seen anything.
Well, I've never seen anything like that in schools that I've worked at before.
But.
Matt: Yeah, we are one of three couples that are split across,
uh, the three preschool campuses.
But maybe a good answer to the question is, uh, my man Akon said it best.
Nobody wanna see us together.
I dunno.
Perlie: Honestly, the biggest concern for me moving abroad is really the job itself,
like moving to a new school, um, becoming more accustomed to a new work culture
that, you know, I'm unfamiliar with.
Um, but really it's more just like an adjustment, not, um,
really a big concern of mine.
Matt: Yeah.
For me, um, you know, this is my first rodeo, have lived abroad
several times, you know, moving to Spain twice and then Korea, so I am.
You know, quite accustomed and used to all the concerns, I guess,
if you will, of moving abroad.
But I guess now more than ever, especially when we're looking for jobs, um, looking
at the state of the economy and those specific countries and how inflation
is affecting it, cuz you know, in Turkey inflation is, is on the rise.
So again, just like being, preparing for that kind of thing, but, you know,
then I guess other little minor worries.
Um, You know, work-life balance, uh, and then you know how you
ma make friends kind of thing.
But yeah, quite, quite used to it now.
So yeah, in regards to the visa process, um, so as American citizens, we come
to the country under a tourist visa.
So you apply for one online, very quick and easy.
So we're allowed to be in the country for a 90 day period, within 180 days.
So in that time, the school works to convert that into a residency
permit, which takes some time.
But then once you get your residency permit, you then the school will, you
know, take specific documents and stuff that you bring over and then will help to
transfer that into a work permit, which could take up to eight to nine months.
So it is lengthy process.
Um, But yeah, that, that's how it works in Turkey.
Perlie: However, this year due to, you know, the upcoming election and
the government has decided to really crack down on the amount of foreigners
arriving and living in Istanbul.
Um, this year is sort of an anomaly.
Matt: Alright y'all.
Thank you so much for, uh, tuning in and spending your day with us today.
It is now time for bed.
Gotta wake up early and work and do it all again tomorrow.
Um, yeah, for the next screen we'll put on our personal accounts.
If you have any other questions about, you know, Korea, Spain, or you know,
Turkey, uh, we're happy to answer.
And yeah, hope to hear from you soon.
Perlie: Uh, yeah, we had such a blast showing you around, um, a day in our life
teaching and living in Istanbul, Turkey.
And hope you learned a lot from us.
Um, hopefully we could help out in any way we can.
Matt: All right.
Never stop making moves.