New images from Konya

Tuesday, July 26

Okay, so picked up the mood a bit after the last entry. Went to see my friends Fatih and Arif in the market next to Mevlana yesterday afternoon. Fatih has been teaching me about Turkish traditions and culture as well as the language, and I have been teaching him about our traditions and language. We are having a blast. His younger cousin, Ali, is studying English from Fatih and at school as well. He is one of the funniest kids I have met. He thinks my photography is amazing, so I have been teaching to use the camera. Lets just say he can hold the thing! Fatıh seems to be a very responsible older brother to everyone in his family, it’s interesting. He runs the kilim shop like a seasoned businessman, and always takes time to teach his brother or cousin about the carpets, people, business and language. He tells Alı to listen to what I tell him, that I am a much better teacher than his school prof. Can’t seem to escape this teaching thing! We had a fun afternoon making portraits and talking about girls. A few other shopkeepers came over for a while to sit and practice their English, even get a portrait made. Funny how I seem to be teaching more English than I am learning Turkish! I translated an application for one gentleman that is applying for a government grant to be a computer engineer through the E.U. Honestly, Turkish people are amazingly friendly. The one down side: they LOVE to talk, especially the carpet salesmen. Actually, in Konya, the only people that have talked to me are carpet salesmen...its kind of tiresome. Fatih sells as well, but is much more gentle about it. He feels these men are bad for business, as well as Turkey.

İ also met the mayor of Konya yesterday, a wicked cute old guy about 5 feet tall, Kurdish. He spoke English fairly well. He was eager to talk about current affairs and political positions of Konya/Turkey. He was very curious to know about how we handle our government and issues, even simple infrastructure. The economic stuff I went sailing off on, but we had a very interesting talk. The upside to all of these meetings and talks with all these people...lots of tea and snacks and Turkish coffee! They are VERY well known for their hospitality!

So some other travel advice for you all:

1) What the hell is with the letter İ,i,ı,I on this freaking keyboard!?!?!?.

2) Do NOT think that when someone talks to you in English that they are interested in just talking...they are trying to sell you a kilim or carpet...or they are trying to sell for their brother/uncle/father/friend/grandfather/cousin/brother in law/nephew.

3) No matter how much they say there is no obligation, trust me, there is.

4) If you find yourself somewhat trapped, tell them that you have already bought your carpets. They will ask what you paid; tell them you bought two big ones for 200.00 US dollars. They will say -is good price! - And leave you alone, for you are shrewd!

5) Do NOT let them get you into the shop! Once you are there and have a glass of tea, you’re sunk!

6) If you do get suckered into their shop, immediately feign that you are nauseous from the smoke and heat.

7) The best defense is to ignore them, or speak in Spanish, they hate that! People from Spain RARELY travel to Turkey, so they do not know that language yet. But let me tell you, they know all others!

8) If anyone offers you tea, accept it, and the second one as well, they like to think you like them and they are acceptable to you as well. Hell, I went all day a couple of times just accepting food and drink from people I met on the street.

9) No matter how tempting it is to photograph older women here, just don’t bother. You think you can get an ear full from the African American women in the south, man look out!

10) Looking Turkish men in the eye, good: looking Turkish women in the eye, BAD! Got one in trouble last night with her mother...man can they be strict!

I think that is all for now. I will be traveling to Van tonight, and arrive in the later morning. Lets hope there are no kids barfing this time; it’s a long bus ride!

More soon