ELF Mid-Year Conference in Antalya, Turkey

The English Language Fellow's Mid-Year Conference for those of us in the Balkans (Bosnia, & Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania), Ukraine, Belarus, and parts of the Caucasus region (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia) was held in Turkey's southern Mediterranean city of Antalya. Because it's currently the low, low season of this highly touristic destination (Antalya is the 4th visited destination in the world!), for very little money, we were able to stay in a place like this:

And I was lucky enough to get a suite like this:

Since the all-inclusive resort business really isn't my style of travel (let alone the fact that the resorts are located 25km outside of Antalya itself), I headed to Turkey a few days before the conference to stay at a little guest house in old town and to take in some of the local flavor (photo blog posts to come)!

Of course, for a conference, this hotel was excellent!

The conference itself was a much-welcomed, inspirational gathering of neighboring English Language Fellows (ELFs), Regional English Language Officers (RELOs), and a few employees of Georgetown University and the U.S. Department of State. It was a good opportunity to not only enjoy presentations from our colleagues, but to give presentations as well:

In addition, we were able to share struggles, challenges, and successes within our programs, which really brought us together as a group:

Of course, there was time for socializing and getting to know each other better, as well as to meet many Turkish teachers who participate in the Access English Program across Turkey:

The Ukrainian ELFs:

Enjoying the beach on the one day during the conference that it didn't rain!

Although the weather is beyond chilly back here in Ukraine, I feel refreshed and inspired for a whole new semester of language and culture with my students! A special thanks to Georgetown and the English Language Fellows Program for putting together such a great event, and to all my neighboring ELFs for being all-around inspirational and funny people!