Ch 35, Day 2: A Day with the Locals

 10.8
kms, Sept 2, 2010

The
Traveler continues on, deeper into the Anatolian Plateau. He buys a
ticket to Hamadiye which looks like a sizable town on the map,
but it turns out to be a sleepy farm village, forgotten by time.

Here,
instead of modern cinder block buildings and streets lined with shops
bursting with goods for sale, he walks along silent dirt streets
lined with whitewashed mud brick windowless houses with traditional
red tiled roofs. It reminds the Traveler of traditional villages in
Latin America or Morocco from his childhood. In some places there
people really try to preserve that timeless feel.

Here
in Turkey, though, he bets the reason this village still feels
traditional is, well, because it's poor and there isn't much economic
activity. People just don't have money or interest in demolishing
their old houses and building new ones. It isn't so much out of love
for history.

The
Traveler finds a quiet spot by a small forest to strum his guitar a
bit... then heads back to the highway, hoping a bus will stop to take
him on down the road.

Emirdag
feels like another generic town
you'd walk around for an hour or two, then be ready to move on. But
when he stops at an open air restaurant, the owner seems really happy
to see the Traveler—and his guitar.

With
a few broken sentences and gestures, he asks the Traveler to stick
around—so he can play music for the evening crowd. The Traveler
figures, hey, why not? After hopping from town to town to town with
little social interaction, this seems like a good excuse to change
his pace.

People
come and go throughout the afternoon. Luckily there is one fellow,
an emigrant to France, who speaks English and French, so he can
introduce the Traveler to people—and give him some insights into
life here.

“So
what do you think about Turkey joining the EU?” the Traveler asks
him. “Would that be good for the country?”

The
French-Turk points to the young waiter “How much do you think he
makes? 5 euros a day! And see that young boy there? He makes 2.50
a day. This is what is normal here in Turkey. These are the only
jobs these guys can find in a town like this. There are 70 million
people in Turkey... if the EU opened its borders, there'd be no one
left here! I think it would be a disaster. People here do have the
language skills to adapt in Western Europe. It just wouldn't work.”

The
Traveler asks him to ask the waiter if he's thought of trying to go
to Western Europe.

“It's
not possible” the waiter responds “I don't have papers to work
there and I don't speak any other languages.”

There
Traveler notices a very different attitude about immigration here
than in some other developing countries. In other countries, the
lack of opportunities to work legally or language barriers don't
discourage people. They still go, by the tens of thousands... and
many of them find a way. The Traveler met many, many young men who
who think up all sorts of creative ideas for getting out of their
country. Here in Turkey, with the same very meager wages, but many
people seem to just accept things as they are. Of course, as the
Traveler saw in the industrialized northeast, Turkey does offer more
opportunities than other countries.... one does not have to just work
as a waiter in a small town.

And
it isn't just the men. “I married a girl from here in town, but in
the end she didn't want to go with me to France. She said she was
too attached to her family... so I had to get divorced.”

The
continue chatting and the Traveler gleans more insights into life in
small town Turkey. The fellow shows the Traveler his brass rings
with engravings of airplanes on them. “I just smashed a fellow's
face the other day... He was pestering my sister, so I made him pay.”

Suddenly
the Traveler has an idea why he does see harassment of women on the
streets as is so commonplace elsewhere. Maybe it's more out of fear.
Turkish men can be brutal in defending the honor of their daughters
and sisters. Harassing a woman on the street just isn't worth the
risk.

Dusk
is approaching, and the fellows invite the Traveler to join them for
a “free supper”. Well, actually it's breakfast—Ramadan dusk
break-fast. As in many Muslim countries it's the custom here to
offer a free meal to the public. People all sit together and
dutifully wait for the call to prayer so you know that it's time to
collectively end your daily fast. If someone is not fasting, they
don't dare to eat in front of the others—it will cause collective
shock and anger.

But
here in Turkey it's different. They sit down, and the fellows just
start eating before the end of fast call!

“Oh,
we don't fast—and no one cares... We just enjoy the free food.”

Evening
comes, and no one shows up at the restaurant. There is no audience,
no live music show. At least I had the chance to spend time with
people and learn more about the culture, the Traveler tells
himself....