Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Turkey in My Rear View Mirror

     Our adventures in Turkey came to an end on Monday, May 4.  We flew back home with a brief overnight layover in Germany – backtracking the same way we went there.  We’ve been home a couple of days now and we’ve re-entered our world here in storm ravaged Dublin, Texas . . . which is another kind of adventure altogether.  It was a weird feeling knowing our house and my truck got beat up while we were 8,000 miles away and couldn’t do a thing until we returned 18 days later.

     We want to thank a bunch of people who were looking out for our interests while we were away.  Some we know of . . . others we may never know . . . but a deep sense of appreciation flows from our hearts to everyone involved.  As we roamed through ancient and quaint villages in Turkey and seeing how they live and work as one . . . our people were doing likewise as they pitched in.  I love the village mentality and mutual care we see demonstrated here.

He Leads Us to the Green Pastures

     I want to draw the net on my favorite and most memorable impressions as we move onward.  We have lots of things that need to be done here and I don’t want to let these memories get shuffled to the back burner just to fade into the past.  The things we saw, the places we visited, the people we met, the homes we were invited into, the lives we intersected with . . . all of which are just too rich to not speak more about.  Most of our blog followers will never travel to Turkey.  A year ago it certainly wasn’t on my wish list of places to visit either, but “never say never” really applies here.  And that’s the really cool thing about being willing to follow the Lord’s promptings.  He nudges us now and then to do the unthinkable, and once we let go of those unwarranted fears and surrender our inhibitions to His will – we find ourselves overflowing once again with gratitude for His “favor” in allowing us to participate in things bigger than ourselves.

Another Egg Facial

     I’m an incurable visionary, always projecting what I think a new situation will look and feel like . . . you know . . . my own kind of movie trailers, so to speak.  Furthermore, I’m always surprised how inaccurate those internal movie trailers are.  (Please don’t make fun of me – I don’t know how to stop it).

TOP  TEN  MEMORIES  IN  A  WORD

10.   Friendly.  A multiplicity of cultures and religious diversity in Turkey equates to a general openness and friendliness that rivals southern hospitality.  I wasn’t expecting that.  I was expecting this to be like a covert operation, careful about being seen and heard.  Baloney.

9.  Muish.  Turkish people have a local saying “muish” (moo-ish) - which has a similar connotation to our “ish” which we add to a time or action which means basically “so so.”  For example, we say “I’ll be ready to go at 10ish” which means “10-10:30 . . . maybe.”  They say “Come to our house for dinner around 12:00 – which in reality could be sometime between 1:00-3:00.”  Or, I will sell this teapot to you for 10.00 . . . well maybe . . . yes, I will . . . but I’m not really sure . . . but probably I will . . . or it could be more . . . or less.”  This whole conversation is called “muish.”  Hmmmm?

8. Auto Muish.  Turks seem to apply the principal of muish to their driving habits.  They obviously have no problem running stop signs and red lights - as if they are saying to other drivers - “I will stop . . . maybe.  Ehh, maybe not.”  Don’t bet on it.  To ensure that you “arrive  alive” . . . don’t trust the traffic signs to protect you.

7.  Olives.  Need I say more?  This region must be the epicenter of olive production.  No matter where you look, you see olive trees.   Thousands upon thousands of rolling acres graced with olive groves, filling in every undeveloped land space, flower beds, parking lots.  You can’t escape them . . . but you don’t want to either.  Olive production has been the number one commodity and income producer in this part of the world for centuries.  Olives appear on your table at every meal – not to mention olive oil drizzled on everything you eat.  Soaps, lotions, you name it.  Olive this and olive that.  It’s all about olives, and I suspect that’s a good thing for their health.  I love olives and my taste buds were in heaven.

6.  Bread.  Artisan bread shops like you’ve never seen before.  Yippee!  I love bread, especially artisan bread.  Little mom and pop bakeries are on every corner with the day’s fresh baked breads adorning their windows - stacked deep and selling them cheap.  Everyone grabs a fresh loaf each day it seems.  There are two primary kinds, the first being the football shaped loaf (much like French bread) for 1 lire (=35 cents).  The second is what they call village bread - which looks like a cushion for a round bar stool or perhaps a chrome hubcap.  It’s about 12” in diameter and about 4” thick.  It’s a heavy and hearty bread I think you could probably live on . . . (well, not in the biblical sense).                   

     Watching them make these is really interesting too.  They use long narrow paddles that are about 8 feet long with 10 foot long poles.  This allows them to load about 8 loaves at a time into the brick fired ovens.  The paddle goes in with 8 pieces of dough, and out it comes with 8 nice loaves.  Ahhh . . .do you  remember that wonderful aroma coming from the old Mrs. Baird’s plant in Fort Worth back in our younger years?

5.  Shoes.  These people know shoes.  I couldn’t help noticing how trendy and stylish the men’s shoes were in the shops.  Very European I suppose.  I had to buy me a pair, of course.  Ask my girls - stylish and trendy I am not.  Next time you see me, hopefully I’ll have those on and you can say “Man, those shoes are really cool!  You’re so suave and debonair.”  I’ll just probably reply “Yeah, I know.  I got them in Turkey.”  You’ll say “No way!”  I’ll say “Yes, way.” 

4.  Turquoise.  The unforgettable color of the Aegean Sea just 2 blocks away.   We literally had to wake up every day and stare at that from our balcony, trying to absorb its panoramic beauty.   Everywhere we went – it was there in front of us.  Our friend the linguist, said that turquoise is an ancient Turkish word for the sea - from which the natural gem we associate with Native American jewelry is named.  He should know.

3.  Gardening.  Everyone seems to take advantage of any amount of dirt to grow fruits, veggies and flowers.   Produce in the bazars (farmer’s market) is beautiful and plenteous.  Water is very pure in this region since it flows freely from the mountain springs, and that surely has an advantageous effect on agriculture.  In fact, water spouts and cisterns are everywhere flowing non-stop with “cool, clear, water.”  Sing that if you need to.

2.  Chai.  Otherwise known as hot tea in a teensy little glass, chai is available anytime - anywhere – because this is the glue that holds these people together.  All day long, at every turn, you see 2 or 3 folks (usually men) sitting at small tables drinking their chai.  Though the glasses may be small, the place this has in Turkish culture is huge.  Don’t forget, the iced tea we drink probably comes from tea leaves found in northern Turkey along the Black Sea.  Pekoe Cut Black Tea is one of their biggest exports.

1.  Family.  It’s seems to be the law of the land.  People are richly embedded into their family relationships.  This made it easy to bond quickly with several very special friends we made while there who’ve come to share our hopes, values and aspirations.  The sense of brothers and sisters in a family was very apparent among us, even though we required constant translation services.  Family love like this, however, is the best language.  Spoken words are optional.  Thank you Sandi Patti for writing these lyrics back in the 70’s when your song was a Grammy Award winner:

              The sounds are all as different as the lands from which they came

              And though our words are all unique our hearts are still the same

                             Love in any language

                             Straight from the heart

                             Pulls us all together, never apart

                             And once we learn to speak it

                             All the world will hear

                             Love in any language

                             Fluently spoken here

 

Thank you Turkey for a wonderful experience.

 

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment