Cultural Post 4

[Nile Harris]

Something that was very interesting to me is how friendly and tight-knit Turkish people are. Turkish people love Turkish people. They also love Turkey. Nationalism is huge in Turkey. Even to the point that Görkem was keeping up with the World Cup qualifying matches during our class meeting because Turkey was playing. The people of the United States do not share those same nationalistic qualities. These qualities also translate to them supporting local fellow Turks rather than big businesses. Görkem was telling me that when he was a little boy, him and his mom would go to the different farmers markets around the city. Each farmers market had a specific day of the week that they were open. Depending on the day would determine how far they would have to walk to get groceries. These farmers markets were much cheaper than grocery stores, and you were able to get exactly what you needed. For example: if you only needed one egg, you were able to buy one egg rather than having to buy a whole dozen. This also exemplified the gender roles that were in place at that time in Turkey. He talked about how the men were the breadwinners of the family and worked during the day to make all of the money. The women, on the other hand, were in charge of the duties around the house which is why he was always with his mom when she went shopping during the day. He also said that every single person at the farmers markets were also women taking care of the duties around the house. I think it is very interesting to see the shift from these farmers markets to grocery stores over the years. Nowadays it is more common for people to go do their grocery shopping at the grocery stores. My Italian classmate also said that this was the case in Italy. When he was a child, they also had the farmers markets while now they mostly have grocery stores. I guess it is all part of the evolution and industrialization of a nation. Grocery stores probably in bring a lot more money to the government rather than the farmers markets. Over the course of the semester, I have learned so much about Turkish culture. I feel that it has not only given so much insight into Turkish culture, but also a lot of insight about the culture in which I live. To truly know about a culture, you must live for an extended period of time in that culture. I would love to live in Turkey for an extended period of time just to experience the culture and better me Turkish language skills. I would also like to personally express how grateful I am for my language partner Görkem. He has been nothing be the best for me on this Turkish learning journey. I would also like to thank Dr. Soloway for always facilitating my language learning journeys over the past year. Without them, my knowledge would be extremely limited. This has been such a wonderful experience and I look forward to continuing this over the years.