... how I love thee. What will I miss most about living in Turkey and the lira and moving to Europe and living on the euro?
Well ... just two examples might summarize.
4 kilos grapefruit for 1 lira!
(almost 9 pounds for about 55 cents!)
1 kilo apples for 1 lira!
(just over 2 pounds for 55 cents!)
4 pairs pajama for 80 lira made by the greatest tailor ever!
(that's $44 folks!)
Another thing that I will forever treasure is the reminder that while the world is at war, we are just people all the same.
I went to the Mosque Park the other day (I have blogged about this mosque and park previously. Click here or here or here or here or here to see for yourself) with my friend Logan, Cathy, and Cathy's son Trez. Afterwards we went to the only "fast food" place in our area -- a McDonalds. While waiting in line, an Italian man who spoke no Turkish was having trouble communicating with the woman taking his order. He spoke Italian with a little bit of English. I spoke English with a little bit of Turkish. And we were able to figure it out. The man spoke to me in English, I spoke to the woman in Turkish, and the woman spoke back to me in Turkish. I then translated into English. The Italian man then turned to his group and spoke in Italian, translating what I had just said.
Shortly after that interaction, I went outside. Abigail was flocked, as blonde blue-eyed babies often are, by a group of what appeared to be Turkish individuals. I tried speaking Turkish to them, however, and there was no response. Turns out they were Iranian. Visiting their Turkish brother-in-law. As they held and kissed Abigail and took all of our pictures (Abigail is probably a star on Facebook, and she doesn't even know it) the man said to me, in broken English, "You know. Our countries are at war. But we are all brothers."
Amen. In the end, most people are good. I love that about the life I have lived here. I am able to see the world from a wider perspective. Most people are good.
It's just those darned few that ruin it for the rest of us.
3 comments:
I can imagine that you will miss it a lot! I loved it while I was there this summer. I couldn't believe how cheap some of the services were!
"...the man said to me, in broken English, 'You know. Our countries are at war. But we are all brothers.'"
LOVE this! You need a love button. I'd push it a couple times here.
wow... that last bit made my eyes water...
That, is what it's all about...
-Patty
Post a Comment