What now?

So, I'm starting to think that maybe my Turkish is not quite as bad as I often feel it is. Lately when I tell people what I'm doing here if they ask (that is, I'm studying Turkish) their reaction is not "right, what school are you at?" or something to that effect, now the reaction I usually get is a confused look and then "but you already know good Turkish?!" I guess I do. I've actually started to pray out loud in Turkish during our prayer meetings which has been one of the most difficult things for me to do. I even translated for a group doing street dramas this past week!

My language helper has even become more complimentary as of late. She looked at me with genuine surprise the other day at this sentence that I used while talking with her. We actually have a hard time staying on the lesson these days, we usually end up just talking for long periods of time! She's my age, knows and loves God, and is in the same phase of life as me...really, I couldn't have asked for a better language helper! We try to limit the chats until after the official lesson time is over but, well, it doesn't always happen that way. It's still language learning in some sense I suppose but she doesn't correct me then and doesn't go into explanations of grammar and its usage in such-and-such a context, or idioms, or new vocabulary--you know, things I'm paying her to teach me!

While I know I'm nowhere near as fluent as I'd like to be and definitely not ready to teach in this language yet, it's nice to know I'm well on my way:)

I suppose this means that I should be moving on now, I mean using Turkish rather than studying it as a way to grow in it. But what, where, how? Good questions...there are options on the table but nothing is clear or definite, I'll continue praying and seeking, and I'll keep you posted.


Here's a shot of me using my language skills, teaching 4 & 5 year olds:) I'm not sure what's with the expression on my face here, I was actually enjoying telling the story that evening!