The strange part of being in a foreign country is that; you hear lots of stories about your own culture no matter how far you go. United States of America is a far far away country from Turkey, still every one people out of ten has a story to tell about Turkey. Yesterday, we went to a musical- bale kind of version of Carmen. There, sit an old man next to us with lots of old women. Probably one of them was his wife. For a while we watched our show and when act 1 finished he turned to us and asked where we are from. We said turkey, it is a regular question for us and our answer has a no attraction when it comes out from our mouths. Everyday we tell some people that we are from Turkey; Teachers, cleaners, students, cashiers, etc. When the old man heard we came from Turkey, he gave a reaction that I am sure it is much more enthusiastic than our answer. His eyes became larger and when he opened his mouth I was sure he has a story.

He came to Iskenderun as a soldier in 1950’s. His luck was that a general in their ship so from USA to Turkey they ate best food, they stayed cleanest cabins. First he stepped on to Istanbul; I could see how he liked this city from his facial expressions. Then they passed to Iskenderun. He told us how fast the flow between Marmara and Black sea does. It is so dangerous that there is a warning about it; if you fall from the boat in this area, do not try to swim against the flow to reach the boat, you can’t! Just try to swim with the flow, the boot will rescue you in this way. Old man continued his story. Things about how uneducated he was that he joined the army without studying university, he did not visit any where in Turkey, even Hagia Sophia. I was surprised that at least he remembered Hagia Sophia because it was fifty years ago when he came Turkey and he did not even visited this places but still his memory was strong enough to remember a name. After few years he turned back to his country and decided to go to a university, he graduated from the school and found a good job. Became successful in his job, retired and came to the campus to watch Carmen.

As soon as he finished his story, act 2 started. When we started to watch the show again my mind was not empty as it was twenty minutes ago. Now with this new memory of journey, I had lots of things to think.

A person goes a country for several months or years, but does not travel this country at all. How can that be possible? I am here in the United States for eight months and I had lots of memories to tell about different places I visit. New York, Niagara Falls, Boston, Washington, Orlando, Miami, Buffalo and lots of small city I passed during my journeys. Turkey is a relatively small country when you compare with the United States, it is easier to travel.

Still how can a person do not even attempt to see some different cities, it is impossible for my mind to understand…

Another question is that, he asked where we are from when we are speaking Turkish. When I stayed in Miami for several days, everybody here was speaking Spanish and in this couple of days I started to understand their language structure. It is not because I am a genius but because it is easy. How can not he understand that our language is Turkish as a man stayed and lived in turkey for a while.