Going Out

Going out always proves to be hard. At least when you're in group of Turkish youngsters, because we Turks just like to laugh and talk really loudly... it just happens. One of the main reasons might be that the groups are pretty big, counting at least 5 or 6 people every time. So it's rather natural to be loud, isn't it? Because it doesn't happen in smaller groups. But it just might be the Turkish temper after all. That'll be pretty hard to prove though...

Despite all this, I know how disturbing it can be, especially for other costumers. Having such loud group of people really is annoying for the customers and the owner as well. And that's who I feel sorry for the most: because it's the restaurant manager or the waiter who now has to maintain us as costumers, but keep us calm so we don't disturb other costumers either.

I just wanted you to know all this. It definitely does not happen out of disrespect. We just have another idea of having fun, that's all.



Did you ever experienced something similar to this? I guess it just happens when two different cultures get in touch.

Religious Holidays

Today is the day the Prophet Muhammed (Peace may be upon him!) is born. Celebrating Islamic holidays is already hard enough living in an environment where you do not too much attention on these topics because you're busy with work, school or just usual business. It gets even harder to remember the holidays or even be aware of them because the Islamic calendar is based on the Lunar Months which means that the Islamic calendar is 11 days shorter than the worldwide used Gregorian calendar.

This causes an annual shift for any given holiday or event  related to Islam so that it gets even harder to remember them.

Happy holiday for all the Muslims all over the world! And thanks a lot to all those reading this!
I'll gladly answer your questions about this or any other topic. Just let me know about them.

I'm not going to

I'm not going to use "Lost in Translation" as the title for this entry, since it might cause a wrong assumption, because I never saw this movie, but it's going to be about exactly this: how language, poetry or proverbs are lost in translation.

Joseph Brodsky claims that "Poetry is gained in translation", when we consider translation as a transformative act. He might be right, accounting his profession and that he was able to speak several languages fluently.
But for average person (even though none of us is average) it's a bit different. I just lack the ability to do that. It's nearly impossible to translate a simple Turkish proverb into German, let alone English. The same goes the other way round of course.

That's one thing that really annoys me (and surely others too) living in a multi-cultural place. It's challenging every single time to explain the details of my culture and religion. That does not mean that I'm tired of doing it though. I'll keep on doing it as long as others ask and as long as they want to listen.

So thanks for your attention! Did you ever experience something similar?