Here are some things that occur when I am off-Base that I am still trying to get a handle on:
- No obesity. While no one seems extremely "fit", there are very few, if any, obsese people here. Everyone is built very similar. I think this is because so much of life is done by foot. Walking is the norm.
- Smoking. There are a lot of smokers here. Tons. Most restaurants allow it. It seems nearly every Turkish person I meets, smokes.
- Men congregating together. You see men sitting together, talking together, drinking tea together, playing cards together. The women are never with them.
- Kids sitting inside grocery carts. Turkish people do not feel comfortable with kids sitting in the seats of grocery carts. I took my housekeeper to the store to pick out some products she needed, and she insisted Elijah sit inside the cart. Parents will sometimes bring pillows and blankets and lay infants inside the carts. Many carts do not even have the seat for children.
- The call to prayer. Five times a day. Still strange to me. We can hear it from Base.
- Trash. There is trash everywhere. And I can sort of understand why. I can't EVER find a garbage can. If I have trash, I usually have to stash it in my diaper bag or purse and wait until I get home to throw it away.
- Driving. Completely and utterly terrifying to me. Sometimes I just hold onto the side of the door and pray for JB. I don't know how he does it. I can't figure out what these people are doing. Roundabouts and squeezing in and out of non-existent lanes. Yikes. JB is, amazing. He really seems like he belongs here the way he can navigate and drive. I don't know how he does it.
1 comment:
All of this is very interesting to me Wendi. I went through similar surprises in culture when we moved to Mexico my senior year. Interesting about the grocery carts. I think for me, at first I didn't want to conform to their ways. (kids are fine sitting in the child seat) But with time, I did what they did more often. Perhaps it was out of love for the people that I became less resistant to their ways.
I especially relate with the driving. Those round abouts are stressful at first. And there are no lines on the roads lots of times, so if 3 cars can fit, there are three lanes. You you can fit, go for it. If your lane suddenly no longer exists, slow down, and get into the lane that still does. It was stressful at first, but I got used to it. It really makes you become a more proactive, defensive driver, because there are less rules to rely on for protection and safety. I say I got used to it, but I have to admit that I got in one car accident down there. I'll not bore you with the details here, but it had to do with the differences between here and there.
And spending more than you expect on things, because comunication is hard, and the exchange is so different. Been there.
Thanks for sharing.
You'll look back on all of this with fondness eventually.
Post a Comment