NYC Public School Teacher

NYC Public School Teacher I recently uploaded a new picture. It's a real one — no filters, no flattery, just me. I came to this country from Türkiye at three years old and have spent the fifty-some years since figuring out what that actually means. I've taught in NYC for almost twenty years, I'm bilingual, working on a third language, and I've got two more years before I trade the classroom for whatever comes next. I'm 57. I train six days a week and don't take much for granted. I write, I act, I ask questions most people stop asking somewhere around their thirties. Lately I've gone down a real rabbit hole into my own culture and history — Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and the wider Turkic world, along with Japan and Korea. Not a checklist of countries to visit, more like actually understanding where I come from and why. I'd love to explore some of that with someone who has her own version of that curiosity, wherever it points. I'm looking for someone I can build something with, not someone to save or be saved by. Growth and companionship are the point — not a shared address, not a shared bank account. If two people can genuinely add to each other's lives while keeping their own homes and their own footing, that works fine by me. I've got a decent sense of humor, though I tend to keep it in reserve until I know you can handle it. If you're the type who reads to the end of a profile instead of just the photos, we're probably going to get along.