I'm in the process of learning about my new residence in Turkey. So far, it has been great: I've met many friendly people on the streets and in stores, and everyone seems so helpful. There is obviously a huge language barrier, but I am hoping to learn enough so that I will soon be able to get by - at least minimally! It is hard, though, learning the language. Even though I am surrounded by people who speak in a foreign tongue, I feel like if I lived with host family, I would learn much faster.
I had a friend who did the Fulbright in Morocco, and she said the best experience of her trip was that she chose the homestay option. She said she learned Arabic faster and better than anyone else - even with the rigorous language program the Fulbright offered. In addition to merely learning the language, she learned an enormous amount about the Moroccan culture. I have another friend who lived with a homestay family in Costa Rica, and she learned some of the craziest things there -- like about their small pet snake they had roam around to eat any bugs or mice. Scary! But, of course, it's only scary because I am not used to that... And I guess I do deploy my cat for many of the same duties!
I even have friends here who are living in dorms - a kind of student homestay. It seems much more effective when they live with native speakers rather than groups of native English speakers. Even with that, they, and I, have found that too often the interactions too quickly devolve into everyone speaking English. I am hoping that I can find a nice apartment to stay at, owned and occupied mainly by a family that doesn't speak any English so that I can practice my Turkish with them. It won't be a free homestay, but it will be better than nothing in terms of my language skills.
Plus, hopefully in the future, I will be able to find a host home that will fit my needs - one where I can do a language exchange and be able to live and work comfortably. For now, though, I am content to listen to the stories of others and learn from their experiences.
I signed up with a language class at a school here, which is kind of expensive. It's supposed to be really good, so hopefully the pretty high cost will be worth it. No matter what, I am sure forcing myself to study for a few hours a day will really help out with my langauge skills - as will living here longer! I especially need to learn some of the basic words for everyday foods - onions, garlic, and so on. Yesterday, I don't think there were onions at the store, but I had no way of asking, so maybe they were just hidden away somewhere! Hopefully in the future some nice family will help me out with learning basic words like that!