Staying with the Times

Before arriving in Turkey, I viewed my journey as an opportunity to sink deep into Turkish culture. This meant, in part, detaching myself from the New York Times and American media sources and supplanting them with Hurriyet and Turkish media. I've sought to do the same with Pop culture (Atiye's "Dondurma" is a current favorite), food (which ain't hard), and general living habits.

But at the same time, I've grown much closer to the more tasteful US television series'. I watched the grand finale of 'The Wire' last night, and was simply blown away. Now of course I'm at a loss. I read fairly often, but sitting down to a good television program before bed as a means of unwinding is precious. It also helps alleviate the sometimes overbearing stress of culture shock by transporting me back to the good ole' USA (although Baltimore as depicted in 'The Wire' may not be a top choice of mine). A refreshing half-hour or so of American idiosyncrasies serves me well.

Every Tuesday I walk by at least 3 corn vendors. These corny little corn kiosks charge 1 TL for a cup of corn, buttered and salted, although the options for corn toppings don't stop there. YOU CAN REALLY MAKE A MESS OF YOUR CORN, LET ME TELL YOU! I'm not sure exactly how nutritious these cups of corn are, and I'm suspicious of their capacity to provide a solid source of vitamins and nutrients, but they're damn tasty and sure do beat out, say, a bag of chips.

As I stopped at the corn vendor nearest to campus, I finally graduated my "Turkce komusmiyorum" (I don't speak Turkish) go-to phrase, and instead used a new favorite: "Turkce az biliyorum" (I understand a little Turkish). I'm proud of myself, and look forward to saying it hundreds of more times before I finally get around to something like, "I can sometimes understand what you're saying, but often not. Please be patient as I sort through my dictionary in search of the most appropriate word for this situation. Thank you." Inshallah, I'll get there.

Iyi aksamlar.