Turkish Cultural Experiences

Now that we have been here for a while, we are beginning to feel what we really wanted to feel from this experience. We wanted to experience different cultures and build relationships with different people. In the past few months I have been able to participate in a few events that really gave me a flavor for the culture.

First of all I got a haircut. I know what you're think "whoopty doo Alan." I didn't expect it to be that different either, but it was. Because unlike my normal trips to Supercuts in America this is full service care for less than a simple cut at Supercuts. Full service includes a wash, dry (usually with a blow dryer which makes my hair look similar to a 70's Disco star), and a fire show. Check it out...

Then after that they did this:

That wasn't it, because then the guy massaged my arms and shoulders, not knowing this was coming did make me a little uncomfortable. All I could think was "Dude is rubbin' me, Dude is rubbin' me!!! Did I go to the wrong place? Was something lost in the translation? Do I have to pay more for this service?" Luckily after the shoulder rub he was done and I had to need to worry. When it was all done it totaled up to about $10 American!!! One of the many reason I love Turkey.

The second event was Culture Day (Kültür günü). Like most schools the schools here love to put their children on display and show what they can do. This show was a Cultural show so the children had worked for months with the folklore teacher ( How cool is it that they have a teacher who only teaches the children the traditional dances, songs and stories of their culture) on several different types of shows ranging from groups of children clapping while another takes a solo to an entire play depicting the traditional Turkish wedding party. As always the day was filled with great moments of seeing your kids perform and have a great time. Dance is a very important part of the Turkish culture. From belly dancing to something that looks similar to the River dance, everyone knows about the dances and where they originated. You can see at an early age that children have incorporated the styles of dance into their child like moves. So many of my young girls shake their hips and move their bellies like the girls I have seen at the Turkish night shows, moves that Erin has difficulty doing because she hasn't been doing them from birth.

When approached by the Turkish teacher at the kindergarten with the idea of dancing on the stage I was dead set on avoiding that by any means possible. The means of avoidance turned out to be a compromise in the form of singing in a chorus of teachers, which I figured provided a little more anonymity for the only male on the staff (boy was I wrong). As we started our practices they were all giddily excited about how quickly I was learning some of the songs and they decided Wouldn't it be great if he had a solo!?! It has happened several times in my time here that I am not being told anything in English but am somehow agreeing to things, like having a Turkish solo in front of every single Kindergarten parent at Culture Day. So we practiced for months and I was very comfortable with the songs and ready for the show. During one of our rehearsals just before the show it was decided that the music in the auditorium was too loud to hear us so a microphone was needed. Guess who got to hold that microphone. So now not only was I singing a solo in Turkish, but I was now singing into a microphone...so much for hiding in the crowd. To top it all, not only did we do this show, we did it in costume, I had a traditional Alanya villager costume on including a hat borrowed from the school owner's father. Somewhat unfortunately there were no pictures of me taken in my outfit that show it all, but when Erin came to watch the show she did happen to take this video, Enjoy:

All in all it was a great experience and I have enjoyed wowing some of our Turkish friends with the songs I know. And I did slightly regret not learning the dance moves, but I'm sure there will be another opportunity for that. Many of the parents commented on how they expect even more from me next time... Next time Shakespeare in Turkish.