Bitter Oranges: our life in North Cyprus

Audrey and I were working at the Anadolu University in Eskişehir, Turkey. We had been on a teacher training course in Istanbul. The course was offered by the British Council. The course took about four weeks to complete. It was an intensive course, and we learned a lot about teaching English a foreign language. We had taken the course after working in Czechoslovakia for two years. We met several people on the course who were already working in turkey. One of them suggested that we apply to work at the Anadolu   university. After we graduated with our certificate and teaching English as a foreign language to Adults we went to the university and our application to work there was successful.

My brother worked as an ambulance driver while he was at university. He was able to get permission to use the ambulance to take me from University Hospital in Saskatoon to the graduation ceremony at Rosthern Junior College in Rosthern - about 40 mikes one way.   I had been in traction at the hospital since April 11 with a shattered femur. The break had not yet set, so the doctors weren’t keen on letting me go. They said they wouldn’t be responsible if the break was damaged further. There was a metal bolt screwed through my tibia on which the traction weights were hung. There was an aluminum frame supporting my leg. They took the weights off and tied the rope around the end of the aluminum frame to keep tension to hold the leg bone in place.  We weren’t sure it was going to work, so my attempt to join the graduation ceremony was kept a secret. Everyone was surprised as my brother wheeled me up the central aisle in the auditorium where the ceremony was taking place.  ​ They...