We woke up very early today like 05:30 am, to get ready  to leave. The company is a while away from the place we stay at, so we have to get ready fast and have breakfast to go so we have enough strenght for the day.

The factory is 0:45 min away with the shuttle service provided by the company. We were anticipating that not much attention would be given to us since the company is a big firm and they have to run like a well oiled machine, but we were wrong. The people were very friendly to us and went to great lenghts to get to know us, especially to me since I can’t speak Turkish at all so they tried to speak as much english as possible.

The company was established 1931 in Oberderdingen, Germany. The company produced electrical appliances such as coils for stoves, fridges and their grills etc. After becoming a huge success they moved in 1988 to Ćorlu, Turkey. They have been successfull ever since and have many different branches through out Europ. They also have customers all over the world like Spian,  Usa, Uk etc.

We met the section chief of the electrical side. He told is that we are going to have a tour around the factory to day and get introduced to our workplace. The administration asked us for the insurance papers, and gave us some i.d cards. We were also given factory appropriate shoes and vests, so we can be part of the firm. We have to log in at work when we arrive and log out afterwards, one can also get lunch in the Caféteria witg the card. There are lots of vending machines as well through out the factory.

We saw how the electrical coils were made from just a thin pressed strip of metal like substance to the coils we are used to see. The metal strip is put into a machine in which it is heated in over 100° C to form into a pipe. The pipe comes in different sizes such as 7 to 10 m. The pipe is than weighed and sorted out accordingly. In the pipe than is added a transistor for heating purposes. The pipe undergoes another check by machines, because the firm wants to uphold the best standert possible for their customers. The pipe is than send to a different machine operated by other people. Inside the pipe they fill MgO   (magnesium oxide), for better heat conduction so no energy is lost and a max amount is obtimized. The MgO filled pipe is than on its way to a check up, afterwards which they heat the pipe again so the MgO is than solid and can’t fall out of the pipe. The pipe is than complet and ready to be put in form. Every processing machine has an human interface panel to monitor the process.

The forms are done by machines,who are controlled by a worker constantly. The different forms have serial no. which are fed to something like a computer which than executes the order.

The finished forms are than send for the finishing touches.

The coil are worked on depending on the form, each form has an different purpose. Some coils are put together, a small coil inside a bigger coil with a safety bar in the middel so the coils don’t move around. A thermometer is added as well for Temperature monitoring. Silicon is than used on the almost finished products to glue littel caps on the ends as well as littel metal plates, which are further processed later.

After the metal plates are attached the details are worked upon different stations and later the metal plates are veld together by an automaton (automatic machine) with 110 V, an operaton is controlled by a single person who manages the machine manuelly, and than the ware is packed and ready to be sent.

Afterwards went to get lunch in the cafeteria and went to play table tennis in the break room, we lost(Ertugul and I). Afterwards we were onlookers as some machines got maintainence. Than  we were allowed to help with changing the flags, afterwarts the day enden for us at 15:30 pm, and we went home via shuttel.

I liked the company a lot, they were very dedicated to their work and they had a lot of female workers their too. Unlike in Germany they have çai break where as we usually have smoke breaks.

Back home we told the family about what we experienced today. We had lunch and went to bed early since we have an early day tommorrow too.

Heute sind wir schon sehr früh aufgestanden, da wieder eine lange Fahrt nach Tekirdağ bevorsteht, die ca. bis zu 5 oder 6 stunden dauert.

Nach dem Frühstück, hat uns mein Onkel noch zum Reisebus gebracht, der uns bis nach Istanbul bringt.

In Istanbul angekommen, haben wir uns die Tickets mach Tekirdağ gekauft, aber den Bus der nach 3 Stunden kommt. Da in der Nähe ein riesen großes Einkaufszenter ist. Dort haben wir noch viel sehen können, ein sehr schönes Einkaufszentrum übrigens.

Da unser Bus kam, war es wieder Zeit für uns nach Tekirdağ zurück zu fahren.

Als wir in Tekirdağ angekommen sind, sind wir nach Hause, und verbringen den Rest des Tages mit der Gastfamilie.

Bevor ich zu meiner Gastfamilie gegangen bin hat mich Baris noch zu seiner mitgenommen (Naveeds Gastfamilie).

Diese ist übrigens auch sehr nett wie meine Gastfamilie.

Da die Mutter von Baris mich nicht wieder gehen gelassen hat, übernachte ich heute hier.

Es war ein sehr schönes Wichenende, besser könnte ich es mr nicht vorstellen.

Heute haben wir nach einem langen Tag gut ausschlafen können. Mit einem schönen Frühstück sind wir gut in den Tag gestartet.

Heute habe ich endlich meine kranke Oma, die im Krankenhaus liegt besuchen können. Ich habe mich sehr gefreut, und meine Oma sich ebenso.

Später kam dann mein Onkel nach Hause und hat uns mitgenommen, um uns ein bisschen rumzuführen, damit wir was von Sakarya sehen können.

Zu erst sind wir zu einem Ort gefahren, den ich übrigens selbst nicht kannte. Es war ein sehr schöner Ort, draußen in den Bergen. Dort befand sich ein Fisch Restaurant, die ihr Fische selbst züchten. Man konnte die Fische auch mit den eigenen Augen betrachten.

Nach dem wir gut gegessen hatten, hat uns mein Onkel wohin gebracht, wo man die ganze Stadt sehen konnte.

Danach sind wir wieder zurück nach Hause, und haben Zeit mit der Familie verbracht, da ich meine Familie in der Türkei nur einmal im Jahr sehe.

Da wir morgen ganz früh wieder zurück nach Tekirdağ müssen, haben wir uns bettbereit gemacht und sind schlafen gegangen.

Today we woke up early, so we could get ready to leave for Tekirdag again. We went upstairs to meet with  the family and have breakfast, it was ravishing. They had traditional food as well as fries with nuggets. After we ate we had an heartfelt farwell. They told us to come back again sometime and stay with them, we were happy to hear that and left. The uncle drove us to the bus stop and bid us farewell there.

We drove for what felt like an eternity to Istanbul. We then bought tickets for Tekirdag but delayed the time to look around Istanbul. We went to a shopping mall nearby and looked around. It was huge and similar to our Arkaden in Germany. We found and Real there(a German store) and wanted to buy some familiar goods, but realised that they have different things than us so we settled for Lipton Ice tea and left. We than went back to the bus station to get our bus and left for Tekirdag.

Once back home we told the foster family, about our adventures had some lunch. Ertugul stayed over because he felt sick, he stays with me in a room. After having an conversation we left for bed early, because tommorrow is a big day. We are finally starting our Internship in E.G.O.

It was a long day but worth all the trouble.

Today we slept in after ages. We had a hearty breakfast and talked to Ertugul’s familie. It was the usuall talk do you like Turkey, do you like Sakarya etc. I ensured them that I very much liked it here, due to its naturall beauty and small size and Turkey due to its vast history and beatifull culture. It makes moving around easier and faster. After the tea which is an absulote must to have we left to meet Ertugul’s sick grandmother in the hospital.

She looked well but was very weak due to the continued medication. We left after some time with a saddend expression, and hope of her recovery soon.

Afterwards Ertugul’s cousin took us to a Café to lighten the mood. We felt better and decided to go around the block.

When we returned we got to meet the rest of Ertugul’s familie who were eagerly awiting us. The family owns the building and lives in it too. They have built Apartment’s over each other. We are staying on the ground floor. After talking the uncle took us out for dinner in a hilly area. It was very beautiful and covered in snow. The history of Turkey is etched onto the walls making it a lot more magnificent tgsn it already was. We went to a resturant near that place and ordered their speciality fish. The fish is bred by the resturant and than skilldully cooked. We had some kind of baked fish platter with slightly baked cheese on it. As well as baked cheese and mushrooms, needless to say it was delicious. We had coffee amd left afterwards. We were on our way back home when Barisch got contacted by a truck funk service which he know. We went to them and they talked I didn’t get a single word and Ertugul was to tired to translate anything (well I doubt that he got most of it). They tried to make an effort to talk but couldnt make it so we left it as it was and I was quiet the entire time and acted interessted.

After that we went home and finished the day.

I woke up in the morning again like usuall and had a hearty breakfast with Barisch and his family.

We had decided a few days ago to go to Sakarya to visit Ertugul’s sick grandmother who is in the hospital. We informed the school that we want to leave for Sakarya, and they gave us off for the rest of the day so we could leave as early as possible. So we left at 8:00 am and met up with Ertugul and his fostet brother by the bus station. Alpcan, Ertuguls foster brother didn’t come along , because he thaught that too many people wouldn’t suit well with Ertugul grandmother.

We left at 09:00 am with the bus for Istanbul. The journey took 2:15 hours. As soon as we arrived in Istanbul we bought the tickets for Sakarya. We grabed a quick bize at a food stall to pass the time. We left Istanbul at 12:15 and arrived in Adapazar at 15:25. The drive was long and boring even with someone to talk too (Ertugul, Barisch).

We looked around in the city didn’t dislike the way it looked, since it was similar to Tekirdag. We walked around got ourself’s some fingerfood chick kofta (spicy minced meat in a wrap with a black sauce) afterward we went to Burgerking for lunch.

We took the bus to Hendek where Ertuguls family lived, it took us 0:30 min to arrive there. We are currently staying at Ertugul aunt’s house, since they were nice enough to invite us to stay.

Ertuguls family made an nice expression and welcomed us with open hands. We talked quiet long, about why we are here, how do I like Turkey, do I like Sakarya etc. Communication was possible thanks to Ertugul since they didn’t speak english. We were offered food even though we told them that we ate already and were stuffed. We still had to eat a littel because it would be considered rude, after that we resumed talking.

After talking, Ertugul’s cousins took us to an Arcade where you can bowl as well. We bowled twice and both times I was first, Barish second , Ertugul’s cousin third, and Ertugul dead last.

After that we went around and came back home we talked a bit again and left to get some rest.

I personaly like this city since it has an canal somewhat similar to the once in Italy, where people in the summer even ride gondola in a certain section in the canal. The city is small and rather easy to move around in and everthing is nearby like shops, banks, hotels etc.

Heute morgen haben wir wie immer, nach dem aufstehen gut gefrühstückt.

Für heute haben uns die Lehrer frei gegeben, da ich in meiner Heimatstadt eine Oma habe, die sehr krank ist.

Früh morgens haben wir uns auf dem Weg nach Sakarya gemacht, da die Busfahrt über 4 Stunden dauert. Bevor wir bei mir zu Hause ankamen, waren wir noch in der Stadt um erwas zu sehen. Da ich schon alles da kannte, konnte ich den Naveed und (Baris), der übrigens mitkam, vieles zeigen. Später sind wir noch bei Burger King was essen gegangen, und haben uns auf dem Weg zu mir gemacht.

In einer knappen halben Stunde waren wir dann bei mir. Da es aber schon spöt war als wir ankamen, konnte ich meine Oma im Krankenhaus nicht besuchen gehen, aber dafür habe ich morgen noch genug Zeit.

Wir sind dann noch raus gegangen, damit Baris znd Naveed ein bisschen von Sakarya sehen konnten.

Morgen werden wir noch mehr von Sakarya sehen, bzw. Naveed und Baris

Heute morgen sind wir wieder wie üblich frühauffestanden, und haben mit der Gastfamilie, wie jeden morgen ein leckeres Frühstück gehabt.

Danach haben wir uns wie jeden morgen  auf dem Weg zur Schule gemacht. Heute hatten die Lehrer, für uns etwas sehr besonderes geplant, Firmenbesichtigungen, bei Firmen die alle nah bei einander sind.

Die erste Firma die wie besucht haben, war die AC Elektric. Diese Firma stellt elektrische Gehäuse her, z.B. Lampen, Sicherheitsschalter, Einzelteile etc. Die Fabrik stellt Ihre Produkte alles selbst her. Sie importiert Reagenten für Plastik von Südkorea. Die Maschinen die sie benutzen, sind auch aus dem Ausland. Die befolgen den englischen Standart, und liefern deren Produkte durchaus der Welt, (z.B. America, Pakistan, Ireland etc.). Die Innereien der Geräte, werden alle von England importiert. Nachdem alles manuell eingeschraubt worden ist, wird es gleich verdrahtet. Danach wir noch ein letzer qualitäts Check durchgeführt, zu guter Letzt werden die Geräte eingepackt und versandt.

Die zweite Firma die wir besucht haben, war die Muratli Karton Firma, eine Papier und Karton Firma. Dort wurden wir Özgür vorgestellt. Özgür hat bis zu seinem dritten Lebebsjahr in Deutschland gelebt, und ist dann zurück nach Türkei migriert. Daher war er gut in der Lage uns die Firma auf Deutsch vorzustellen. Diese Firma spezialisiert sich in recycled Papier. Papiermüll und Weißpapier, wird von einander getrennt. Zu erst wird das Papier genässt und gereinigt, danach wird das gereinigte Papier, in die Presse geschickt, wo es dann zu 23% trocken ist. Danach wird es zur Hitzekammer geschickt, wo es 185 Grad heiß ist, dort wird das Papier weiterhin getrocknet, bis es dann bis zu 50% getrocknet wird. Dann wird es zu verscheiden lagiges Papier und Kartons verarbeitet. Bevor das Papier oder die Kartons fertig sind, müssen sie noch dreimal mit Farbe besprüht werden, was dazu führt, dass das Produkt zu 93% trocken ist und bereit für den letzten qualitäts check ist. *Die Farbe ist Radioaktiv znd wird alle 10 Jahre ausgetauscht*. Nach 2007 wurde ein neues System eingeführt, so dass die Arbeiter alles bewachen konnten, gewisse Sachen wie die Produktion anzuhalten war ab dann möglich. Nachdem wir mit der Führung zu Ende waren, wurden wir noch zur Cafeeteria zum Essen eingeladen. Nach den Essen, haben wir uns zur dritten Firma begeben.

Die dritte Firma wo wir waren, war eine Textilfirma. Diese hat verschiedene Abteilungen, wie z.B. Grafikdesign, Farbenmischung etc. In der Druckabteilung, werden die verschiedensten Muster, auf den Stoff gestochen werden. Die letzte Abteilung, die wir gesehen haben, war die Design Gestaltung, wo die Muster per Computer gezeichnet und als Schablone gedruckt werden.

Nachdem wir die Firmen vesichtigt haben, sind wir wieder zurück nach Hause gefahren, und hatten für den Rest des Tages frei.

We woke up early as usuall  today it wasn’t as cold as yesterday so we can say the day startes out good. We went to get breakfast from a shop nearby the school. We had freshly squeezed apple juice and chese filled Börek.

We went to the technical school today just to meet up with two teacher’s. They have planned a tour in different factories somewhere near Tekirdag. We drove by car for 20ish minute’s and reached the first factory.

It was the Ac electronics factory. They produced elctrical appliance cases and attaching wires to the lamps after producing and assembling their outer cases, they producethe outer cases of circuit breakers as well in which quiet a few women work. They follow english standarts and have their merchandise ordered from around the world such as America, Pakistan, Ireland etc. They produce almost everything themself except the lamps and circuits of the circuit breaker. The tour was interesting even though no one spoke english, Ertugul my fellow exchange student tried to translate as much as possible since his Turkey is limited as well. I got the gist of what was happening due to him and some simple deduction while lookin at the contraptions (machines).

Afterwards we went to a Muratli Carto aCartbox and paper factory. We drank some chai (Turkish tee) while we waited for the foreman Ozğüre to show us around. Ozğüre migrated back from Germany when he was littel and lived in Turkey ever since. We were glad to hear that he spoke German. The tour was very exciting and informative since we understood everything. The factory only works with used paper, recycling it and not letting anything go to waste. They divide regular paper trash (wrapping, candy, packiging paper) with white paper trash ( block, phone pages etc). The white paper is served as the outer part where as the regular paper trash is the inside of the new paper. They have a new controll and monitoring system since 2007, which allows them see irregularities easier and monitor even the most miniscule thing ( Quality of paper to the density of the paint). The recycled paper is wet when its further processed and send to the giant squeezers, afterwards its 23% dry  and ready to be sent to the heating rooms where afterwards its 50% dry and easier to proses them further. The next step is the paint which is radio active and changed every 10 years. The paint is applied 3 times on the paper making it 93% dry and ready  to be shipped of after some last quality checks. Electricians and IT experts are ready to spring in action when the situation arises. We had lunch in their Cafeteria. We had some mushroom soup, Spaghetti, and some peas with meat. It was  all very delicious, afterwards we said our goodbye’s and left for the next factory which was nearby.

The third  factory was Sezginler Zekstil, a clothing paint factory. There as well no one was speaking english, so it was on Ertugul to translate to the best of his ability’s. The factory was rather huge and divided in several  departments fabrik colouring, form designing, form applying. There were several workers in each department. The graphical designing team only consisted of women where as the working class was mixed. Most of it was as the name suggested. Some machines were exportet from Italy.

My intake was that the factories were efficent just like German factories, but not as modernized as ours. They had some rather outdated machinery and still many thinks were done by people where as in Germany many thinks are done by machines to reduce errors and costs but all in all it wasnt bad, I am happy to have seen all those factories.

After viewing all 3 factories we were driven home, to some well deserved rest.

wie immer starten wir den Tag, mit einem schönen Frühstück.

Da der Lehrer nicht da war heute morgen, haben wir uns ein bisschen selbst beschäftigt, und zwar mit ein bisschen Sport in der Sporthalle. Wir haben zwei Teams gebildet und eine Runde Fußball gespielt.

Ein Lehrer, der auf dieser Schule unterrichtet, hat den Naveed darauf hingewiesen, dass ebenfalls ein Pakistaner auf diese Schule geht, dieser konnte aber nicht die Muttersprache von Naveed, da er mit zweieinhalb Jahren nach Türkei kam. Naveed wollte ihn dann gerne mal kennenlernen. Er hat sogar mit seiner Mutter telefoniert, die Sprach die selbe Sprache wie Naveed, und es stellte sich heraus, dass sie aus der selben Stadt kommen, in Pakistan.

Danach haben wir frei bekommen um noch etwas von Tekirdağ zu sehen.

Es war gegen Mittag, und wir bekamen hunger. Wir haben in Ruhe noch was gegessen, bevor wir zur Universität von Tekirdağ gefahren sind.

Das Highlight am Tag, war die Universität. Am Anfang gab es vorne am Eingang noch paar Probleme um reinzukommen, mit den Wachen, aber letzten Endes haben sie uns ja doch reingelassen. Die Universität fand ich vielleicht deswegen so interessant, weil ich selber noch nie in so Klassenräumen von einer war. Wir waren nicht lange in der Universität, weil sie vollkommen leer war, es war niemand da.

Danach sind wir noch zum Arkaden, direkt um die Ecke. Dort haben wir ein bisschen Billard, Kicker, Tischtennis znd so weiter gespielt.

Heute haben wir wieder ein paar schöne Ecken in Tekirdağ gesehen. Es gefällt mir immer mehr hier, hier gibt es viel zu sehen.

Am 10. Februar fand am Max-Weber-Berufskolleg in Kooperation mit der Geschäftsstelle für EU-Projekte und berufliche Qualifizierung der Bezirksregierung Düsseldorf (GEB) im Rahmen des EU-Projektes weLab (http://cevet.eu/index.php?id=144) eine Fortbildung und Informationsveranstaltung für Berufsschullehrerinnen und -lehrern des Regierungsbezirks Düsseldorf statt.

Die Kolleginnen und Kollegen des Max-Weber-Berufskollegs informierten über den Einsatz von Weblogs in der Betreuung ihrer Auslandspraktikanten. Im Mittelpunkt standen pädagogische und technische Entscheidungen sowie die praktische Anwendung von Weblogs. Die Berufsschullehrerinnen und -lehrer sollten hautnah erleben, wie einfach und sinnvoll der kreative Einsatz von Blogs im Praktikum sind. Und sie erlebten – wie die Schülerinnen und Schüler im Auslandspraktikum – den Spaß am Bloggen.

webLab-Schulung

I woke up early in the morning today too, just to realize its gotten a lot colder than yesterday. After gearing up accordingly we left for classes.

In school everything was fine, in the first period  the students were very eager to talk to us, so the teacher permitted it saying that this usually isn’t allowed. So we became friends very quickly. They were truly curios to the life in Germany. We  exchanged some information and they were eager to learn more about us while in the meantime we learned a lot about them too. They mostly wanted to know about how we pass our time during the week and weekends, and they told us about how they spent theirs. We told them that over the week people just meet with friends and hang out, occasionaly doing something since they have work/school in the next day. In the weekend on the other hand people go out have some fun, like going to party, or drinking with friends etc.

Where as in Turkey they don’t have the liberty to do much im the week, because unlike us in Germany they have school till 17:00 o’clock. Unlike us who at most stay till 15:00 o’clock. They mostly stay home and play games (PS3, computer, Xbox etc), where as some people do some out door activities such as martial arts, soccer training etc.In the weekends they meet up and go around town, to the arcade bowling etc. Some of the things we in Germany do durimg the week.

The mai

n difference I percieved  was the society in which both country are different. Germans who are very open minded, independent, and Turkey  people conservative, traditionele.eg. Germans one can do what they want (within the jurisdiction of the law) and no one would bat an eye, where as in turkey kissing on the streets wouldn’t be a crime but enough a reason to be judged and disliked since such a display of affection isn’t publicly accepted.

After the 3 period we went to the media technicians and saw them in action. They practice on old tube TVs and Antennas, sometimes even on modern TVs on how they work, how to assemble them and do some basic corrections on error. I asked if they learned to open up those new modem boxes but they said that not here in this school. Afterwards we were released of classes and left.

*Compared to a conventional Berufskollege (technical school) they have more of a mix between school and Ausbildung (apprenticeship). They have normall classes like any school (maths, physics, biology etc) then specific lectures depending on their chosen fields electro technician, mechanic etc. Similar to us in Germany but the after the lunch break at 13:00 o’clock they have practical lessons in school which finish at 17:00 o’clock.*

We went to go get lunch at a kebab house. We ordered Dönner Kebab and afterwards we could concur that the taste and assembly in the Döner is different to Germany but in no way inferior. We went to see the Kemal University. There was a minor problem at the gate, we weren’t permitted to enter the University unannounced but after some reasning we were allowed to enter. The University was rather big and divided in different aprartment buildings just like here in Germany. We just went to the electric part of the University. Which to my suprise was set up like a normal classroom and not like our  lecture halls.Then we went to the arcade to play some billiard(snooker) and bowling.

Afterwards we came back home and thus finished this fun day.