Leigh in Azerbaijan

After school on Tuesday I’m obliged to help with an activity. There are many happening in the elementary school. Last week it was computing, but from now it’s Scouts. It seems that a large core of scouts is a project on the scarcity of water. Not something we would have done in scouts.After activity there is an hour of study hall where the expats who live on campus are obliged to work with struggling students in small groups. We had some study and then they shared their collective wisdom on Turkish. One kid would burst out laughing every time I tried something in Turkish. It gave me a bit of enthusiasm for learning a few more phrases. The following is a brief history of modern Turkish. Ataturk was behind the change from Arabic to a Roman alphabet.
_{From http://www.transparent.com/languagepages/Turkish/overview.htm}

_{The Turkish Alphabet and Turkish Vocabulary Until 1928, five years after the founding of the Turkish Republic, Turkish was written in the Arabic script, due to the enormous Islamic influence on the area. After language reforms were initiated in 1928, Turkish began to be written in a Roman-based alphabet with 28 letters. This new alphabet adopted special phonetic symbols that correspond to specific sounds in the language. The old writing system was outlawed and soon became obsolete. In the transition to a Roman alphabet, many words of Arabic and Persian origin were purged from the language.}

_{Some English words of Turkish descent include caviar, yogurt, and shish kebab. Also, the word tulip is derived from the Turkish word for turban, because the flower’s shape was thought to resemble a turban.}

Tulip! Bet you thought it came from The Netherlands. Yoghurt, I can understand. It is such a popular and cheap food here.

This place has BIG history.  Atilla the Hun, Ghengis Khan, Byzantines, Ottomans, Genoa, Sultans, Roman Empire, Eastern Orthodox, Christianity, Greeks, Biblical sites a plenty, Islam.  Try saying that in one breath.