When I signed up for this cross cultural trip
to Turkey I did not know what I was getting myself into. Considering it was the first time I left my
comfortable life in the United States and entered into another country’s
culture. As I watched the Health and
Safety video and the Cross Cultural Awareness video I felt overwhelmed and
unsure of what I was about to experience in the coming weeks. Then the day came
when we traveled ungodly amounts of hours on busses and airplanes, finally I
arriving in Turkey with 30 unfamiliar faces.
The one thing that I wanted was the one thing that I could not find,
familiarity, the word that describes my whole life at home, now inherited two
small letters in the front of it, Unfamiliar.
This word has new meaning for me now that have been in Turkey for 8
days. The Unfamiliarity is something I
am getting accustomed to as we travel to new places every day. Unfamiliarity means that I am growing and learning.
In Izmir Reuben, Dan, Logan and I stayed with
a family for three days and experienced something amazing.
 |
| Izmir as seen from the old elevator |
All four of us got out of the small bus that
we were herded into to go in a separate way than the other half of the group to
save time. We crossed the street to be
met by Hal and his young daughter.
“Merhaba” we all exclaimed, which means hello in Turkish, and Hal
responds “hello” with a big smile. Hal
leads us to the small elevator and told to go to the sixth floor of their
apartment building where his apartment is.
I walked into the apartment met with a huge smile and a “welcome” from
Hal’s wife as she led us to our rooms to put our bags in. After all four of us hauled our luggage into
our rooms our host family met us in the living room to chat. The first thing Hal did was introduce his
wife, who was pregnant, and his daughter.
He exuded happiness when looking and interacting with them as though he
was extremely proud of his family. Then
he brought us into the kitchen and said some things that really made me
think. He said in is Turkish accent
“This is your house now, this is your family”.
I have visited many friends’ houses in the states and even friends of
friends’ houses and never have received such a welcome as Hal just gave us,
“This is your house now, this is your family”.
I think this statement speaks volumes of what I experienced of Turkish
hospitality.
This profound experience in Izmir, across the
world from everything familiar certainly has changed my perspective on
cross-cultural experiences, hospitality, and family. Although I don’t own a home or have a wife
and a daughter, I can learn from my homestay experience. The welcome I received is one that I would
love to recreate and give to everyone I come in contact with regardless of
perceived differences. There are so many
things about the Turkish culture that I love.
First being the hospitality, and another being the family value. Hal was so proud that his wife was pregnant
he probably told us 15 times during our stay.
The incredible look in his eye when he saw his daughter drawing pictures
with Dan and throwing a ball to Logan in the living room, made me think about
how much I love my family. I know that
the family we stayed with is just one of millions in Turkey and I have
experienced several families in United States, but I think that Hal had
something right. Family is forever and
we might as well enjoy it to the greatest extent. I heard someone say once; “if you love
something, you can’t help but talk about it”.
Hal talked about his family all the time which showed his love brightly.
My take away from the first 8 days in Turkey
is; embrace the unknown because it’s never as frightening as it seems. This place of unfamiliarity is where I learn
the most, sometimes it looks like going to another country, sometimes it’s
welcoming guests into my home as family, sometimes it’s being proud of your
family and eventually it will be going back home to work a new job for the
summer, regardless of what it is, God wants to work powerfully through it.
- Eric
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