If all goes well, I leave today.
So apparently I'm supposed to reflect, and draw out life lessons from my recent experiences.
I came here with a cold in the head, and I'm leaving with a different one.
I came knowing exactly one word of Turkish, and I leave having learned I was mispronouncing it.
I came expecting to work for a charitable business, and I leave expecting to work for a business disguised as a charity.
I came with luggage full of casual clothes, and GBP200 in lira. Anything I don't spend or especially want to wear can go to my hosts - they can probably find a better use for the running shoes that always chafed.
I've managed to aquire three jackets, five pairs of trousers, seven shirts and a tie - which can all stay right here in storage.
The fashion is like the TV. 40 years out of date, and the reason you can enjoy it ironically is that it's incapable of grasping irony.
The food is simple fare, expertly prepared. And I have a curious yearning for fish and chips.
The people...I've barely met any actual turks in Turkey. Everyone's been kurdish, syrian, russian etc. But turks seem parochial rather than xenophobic. If you like heavily built men with a casual attitude to sex but a horror of admitting it, this could be the holiday destination for you.
I'll be back.
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| Inside, looking out. Away, looking back. |
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