Let’s talk about sports!! Okay, I am going to preface this post stating that I have very little interest in sports but Gökhan says that soccer is a big part of the culture so I can’t not learn about it. There are three big teams in Turkey that are based in Istanbul: Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, and Beşiktaş. According to Gökhan, they are not that good compared to other teams like FC Barcelona or Real Madrid, but people go CRAZY in Turkey when these teams play. They even shut down a lot of stores early sometimes for the games.
While learning about the different sports teams, Gökhan and I actually read this random article in Turkish. http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/spor/963233/Fenerbahce_taraftarindan_Senol_Gunes_e_kufurlu_tepki.html. (It was the first thing that popped up. Thankfully it was really short haha). It is about a rivalry match between Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş and in which Fenerbahçe fans were cheering “Şenol Güneş Ölmedi Kalbimizde Yaşıyor” (“Şenol Güneş did not die, he lives in our hearts”). Şenol Güneş is the coach for the opposing team, Beşiktaş, so they were basically making fun of him because he apparently faked that he was hit by something from the tribunes. (Very dramatic, right? haha!) I found this lesson and article especially helpful because it gave me some insight to another part of the culture in a fun way and I learned a lot of new words like tezahürat yapmak (cheer), ruh (spirit, soul), aleyhine (against), tribün (tribune, bleachers), stat (stadium), and more. Oh! And I also got an idea about Turkish humor because “XXX ölmedi kalbimizde yaşıyor” is a common phrase that people use a lot jokingly.
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