Breakfast Conversation In Antalya Turkey
I have never seen so many stray cats in a country. The people put food outside their doorways to feed them. Dogs too. The surprising thing is they are so mild and gentle and approachable. Never seen an approachable cat before! I think this says a lot about the people here. They treat animals with love and care and it is a joy to watch.
And they love children! A month here and I’ve never seen anyone give a child a harsh word. Visiting a family on a Friday…their Sunday…with a 7 month old baby in Adana with my couchsurfing host, the whole extended family was waiting in the living room for the child to wake up. The word came. All 7 of them jumped up to run to the child’s room…hovering over the crib. Oh, I thought, all these big people staring down at him will frighten him. But he wasn’t frightened at all. He just looked at first one person and then the other with a big grin on his face. They brought him out to the living room with a blanket on the floor. I had to laugh at all the ridiculous “baby sounds” the family was making…especially…I noticed…an older uncle. lol. They were so proud of this child!
In the breakfast room early this morning I had a warm conversation with one of the pansiyon employees. There is an old resident dog and as I was sitting out on the patio with my coffee petting her, the breakfast manager brought out some pieces of buttered bread. She is fat, I said, smiling. But she likes buttered bread, he said. It is delicious for her! 🙂
He said he has two children, 7 and 4. I asked him about the schools here. The schools don’t cost money but there are a lot of other expenses. There is morning school and afternoon school…split schedules…because there is not enough money for schools. Then suddenly he says, “I love my children!” And pulled out his phone to show me their photos.
I told him that in the month I have been in Turkey I have found the people to very gentle and kind. Why is this, I asked. He said, we are mostly a Muslim country. It is in our character. We must not be rude. I told him that I wished people in America knew this…because all they hear and see in the media are the words and actions of the militant jihadists. However another Turk…a modern secular one…says she thinks it’s an individual thing…people are either kind or they aren’t just like in any other country. So there you have it. Well, I’ve only been here a month and haven’t had time to drill down into the bias, prejudices, loves and hates that exist in every country and every culture.
The breakfast manager has been reading an autobiography of Ataturk. Ataturk is very important to us, he said. As the conversations progressed to world affairs he said that there are about 10 American military installations in Turkey. He added that 85% of Turks hate America. They killed one and a half million muslims in Iraq, he said. It is unbelievable, he said! Your defense minister lied. They said they were bringing democracy. What good is democracy if you are dead, he said. They just wanted the petrol. I was sick to my stomach… knowing Iraq didn’t have to happen.
Breakfast Table
Then we moved on to domestic matters. Seeing an old woman walk by in the street he said, “That is my boss!” Her three sons own and run the Pansiyon. “But when she says something it is finished, he said!” I said that families in Mexico are like that too. People there say I am a bad mother because I “let” my sons, in their 40’s, leave home to live in Hong Kong and Thailand. “Why you let them live there, they ask! I told my Turkish breakfast friend that when I tell my sons to do something they just roll their eyes and say “Moooommmm!” We laughed.
And now I have to go to thank the Pansiyon employees for a wonderful week here in Antalya and go catch a bus to Bodrum where I will stay with Gunes (which means sun in Turkish), another Couchsurfing host.
Tags: Antalya, Turkey
Zoe
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