off and on now for about three years, i've been trying to teach myself the tongue of my father('s)land: Türkiye.
i must say, that either i'm a bad student or a terrible teacher. while i can say (sort of) and understand (maybe) things like "Kedi uyuyor" or "Bu bir adam insan, hayvan değil," i have trouble with important things like "hi, i'm a liberal westerner, where's the nearest oil wrestling tournament?" or "how may i best insult your culture with my boorish american ignorance?"
sigh. someday, perhaps, i'll feel confident enough with my language skills to attempt to return to Istanbul and find some of my aunts and uncles and cousins.
until then: "güle güle, ülkeyim."
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3 comments:
i picked up a boatload to Turkish living in Germany. I can't write or read, but a bunch of expressions still stick.
I spent my junior year up north in Olderberg, near the Dutch border and another year in Frankfurt in '95, so it;s been a while.
More than the language, the food was something of turkish culture that stands out. I was poor, so i had a lot of late night doenner kababs, but i am glad to report that this is not the extent of my Turkish culinary journey.
what part of turkey?
istanbul. (as far as i can tell, near Üsküdar/Scutari, within sight of the kiz kulesi.)
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