When I first moved to Turkey I made a short list of observations, you know the kind of observations that only an outsider can deduce, especially an outsider that doesn’t understand the language and therefore has a lot of free time to look around for stimulus while everyone else is having conversations.
Here is my short list:
- Turkish men love pointy shoes.
- Conservative Turkish women love patterned clothing, particularly mixing different patterned clothing that would never be combined under natural circumstances.
- Turkish men like to appear tough by playing with a string of beads in their hands while leaning against walls-James Dean styling.
- The Turkish young look like they’ve just stepped out of a Pearl Jam music video. In the land where East meets West, grunge is not dead, and my hope for humanity lives on.
- Turkish women are close talkers.
- Turkish people make lots of sounds, sounds of agreement, sounds of disagreement, sounds just to let the speaker know that the listener is still there…you know in case you got confused.
- Turkish people kiss to say hello and goodbye, once on either cheek. They will often hold hands, or link arms, regardless of gender or age, to not be this intimate with everyone you know is considered odd and cold. In this country, I am odd and cold.
- Turkish people do not say hello unless they know you. There are no ‘good mornings’ or ‘good evenings’ to passersby on the street, not unless you are united within the confines of a small space such as a store, a home, or a hallway.
- Once you are united within the confines of a small space such as a store, a home, or a hallway Turkish people will do everything in their power to make you feel comfortable.
- There are more happy people, or at least warm and inviting people, or at least people who will do everything in their power to make you feel comfortable in Turkey than anywhere else I have ever been.
- Turkish people love children. I mean LOVE children.
- No matter how nice someone is, how kind and loving, when Turkish people board public transportation, its every man, woman, or child for him or herself.
- Turkish people are fearless of other people’s transportation–I’ve never known brazen jay walking across highways to be considered both casual and normal.
- Turkish people are both the masters of getting themselves into traffic jams and getting themselves out of traffic jams.
- Turkish people endure an enormous amount of traffic, daily.
- Turkish people drink tea like its going out of style-I can guarantee you that tea in Turkey is not going out of style.
- For the amount of tea Turkish people drink and the amount of time Turkish people sit in traffic, I rarely hear Turkish people complain about having to go to the bathroom. I always have to go to the bathroom.
- Turkish food is supposed to be one of the most diverse culinary palettes in the world, a melting pot of different tastes, and yet the Turkish menu is pretty damn near the same no matter what restaurant you walk into.
- No matter what restaurant you walk into, the food is almost always delicious.
- Despite the fact that Turkish food is delicious, Turkish people are not fat.
- The vast quantity of yogurt, cheese and meat that Turkish people consume on a daily basis leads me to believe that lactose intolerance or vegetarianism are considered birth defects here, generating from some problem during pregnancy.
- Turkish people love the taste of a licorice liquor called Raki. You couldn’t pay me to smell it, but they will gladly pay you to let them drink bottle after bottle of it.
- Turkish people love to hear non Turkish people speak Turkish. They are so supportive and impressed by the smallest bit of effort that it becomes impossible to not make one.
- Turkish people love Turkey.
- I love Turkish people and I love Turkey.
Love,
Maya
P.S. I am in no way speaking of all Turkish people, clearly this list is made up of vast generalizations deduced after minimal speculation…Turkey is made up of individuals who differ in countless and unknowable ways, like all people everywhere.
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