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– What does Turkey mean to you?
– The country where I can sigh when I get off the plane: finally! at home! I don’t have a house there though.
– How did you discover this country? After all, without a break?
– In general, a country is discovered for business or love. Business followed me, and love … not yet. I think that will never happen again. How did I find out? Hmmm Probably through Resato Nurio Giuntekino’s novel The Squeak, which I learned almost by heart when I was a teenager. When Alma Littera relaunched it in 2016, I didn’t dare read anymore, so I wouldn’t be too disappointed. So, like a feminine dream … Of course, in the eyes of the public, everything seemed much more serious: journalistic matters, articles.
A wealthy person in a store pays for two loaves of bread but picks up one. When a hungry man arrives, the seller gives him the bread he has bought.
– Have you heard any stereotype that reality has denied?
– I heard most of the stereotypes when I started going there often: what are you doing there? who pays the trip? Maybe you settled on a lover? .. So the first and most common stereotype is that you go to Turkey, well, and to all the warmer countries just for sex. There is nothing to deny: some drive. But certainly not all.
The second is to catch, rape, kill. There is no need to eat. So far, he has not been caught, raped, or killed. I didn’t even try, although I often travel alone. On the contrary, people see a lonely foreigner and think: “Maybe she needs help, maybe she feels uncomfortable, maybe she wants to drink, maybe she is hungry, maybe she is not happy.” And offers help. And if you thank and keep responding in your native language, the mind loses its happiness. By the way, from the journalistic experience: if a person asks if he can be photographed, a common man will respond: “If it will help my country, I am determined for anyone.”
But the most unpleasant stereotype that hurts me the most is that the Turks are dirty. Dear Lithuanians, I will say openly: if we wash as much as the Turks, our country would smell of roses. Incidentally, like the Isparta region. There are huge roses, several generations of farmers extract incredible essential oils and smell everything around them. Shops, streets, even gas stations smell like roses. I’m not talking about people anymore. And Islam says, “God loves clean people.”
Turks are crazy about cleanliness. The shoes always come out the door of the house, sometimes they are even fun in the hallways to see their style. And you go to the mosques just barefoot. The house is cleaned daily with many cleaners. Even the flower leaves are wiped with “stripes”. Because of those chlorides, of course, they don’t stay in this world for long.
If you get on a bus or subway on a hot summer day, you don’t smell sweat, I’m not talking about unwashed socks anymore. For the sake of cleanliness, they have also created an impressive hammam – sauna – tradition.
– What do those people who rest in Turkish hotels see and what have you seen like this?
– I apologize if I appear arrogant, but I think that people who go to rest alone in hotels do not see anything that they would not see in hotels in another country. What is the difference: Turkey, Italy, Thailand, Namibia or Lebanon? Hotels are the same everywhere.
Okay, okay, I agree, a little differently. Curtain color, room furniture, service staff, price and quality of service. But still sitting behind the fence, interacting with only a limited number of carefully selected people, eating what the boss decides, walking to a designated beach, and it’s not a headache for the tour operator. But real life is on the other side of the fence. And not even close, but further from the tourist sites.
It’s always fun for me to see tourists imagine themselves smart and dumb on the other side of the counter.
For me, the most valuable people. Those who do not work in the tourism business. Full of experience, wisdom. Next time, only the fingers may appear, but those few minutes are more valuable than the whole world of mass tourism.
– What were you looking for in that country and what did you discover?
– I’m still watching. People and good stories. Europe is boring compared to Turkey. Although we affirm that we have a great gap between the poor and the rich, in reality it is not so great. In Turkey, the social strata are unimaginably distant from each other. A rich person can have a wealth of three in the GDP of the country, and the poor eat what they find in the containers.
In Turkey, people know that the most direct way to get rich is through education. Those who choose paper or plastic on the streets do not dream of being the president of the country, so educated people are proud and always emphasize that they have graduated from university.
– How was the idea of establishing a small “Four Cantons” community that organized trips to Turkey different from others?
– Every year, almost 300 thousand people go on vacation to Turkey. Lithuanian. The vast majority of time is spent in the Antalya region. Good if you prepare for the tours. On those excursions you can see really interesting and beautiful things, unfortunately completely unlit, and there you often have to reach your elbows. Turkey is not just Antalya. This is just a small region. Fun, but much more interesting. That is Cappadocia or Mardin.
I am not interested in mass tourism. A woman asked to be photographed at a street restaurant. He said, “My family will lose their promise when they see me eating on the street! I am doing what no one could expect from me.” Street food is a special Turkish tradition. It’s worth trying, nurturing, and storing. Also, where else but the street food vendors will find the latest news?
I want people to dare to break stereotypes, get out of the comfort zone, act like they never have before, and as a result, they have acquired lifelong, sometimes living, memories. Of course, I don’t force them to, but if I feel that someone has the courage, I certainly will not lose the opportunity to be seduced as Mephistopheles. And I want you not to look at the country through the bus window, but to go, talk, see, scan, discover and, most importantly, understand yourself a little.
– How do Turks view Lithuanians? Are we just a source of tourist income for them?
– If you are resting in a tourist area, yes. Sorry if you disappointed me. But from mass tourism and don’t expect anything else. They provide the services you buy. Normal relationship Do you want to be loved even more? Many Turkish people come to tourist regions to earn a family all year round. So if you find that bargaining fiercely is great, think again.
It’s always fun for me to see tourists imagine themselves smart and dumb on the other side of the counter. I have had the opportunity to be across the counter more than once; from there you can see much better than you can imagine. The whole person as in the palm of your hand, including your past and future life, relationships. I could charge money for the prophecies.
Secondly, there are not always children standing there with three classes of education, and if a merchant pretends to be a fool, it is only for you. Sell better and decide less. The world is distorted in tourist areas, the realities are few.
I am glad that the image of Lithuanian girls is better than that of Russian or Ukrainian girls. It is true, however, that he agrees with the clothing, accompanies the mind. It is only necessary to keep in mind that after wearing certain clothes, no one can search the mind anymore. And they are powered by the freedom of your personality.
If we talk about real life in Turkey, Lithuanians won’t agree much, for one simple reason: 27 times less of us than Turks. However, there are scientists, businessmen, students who have affairs in this country, even some municipalities have close ties, such as Šilutė, Trakai and Alanya. A friendship is building between Cappadocia and Birstonas.
– We have something in common?
– We are all humans. We all love equally and hate equally. And even religion, when deepened, does not separate but unites. People all over the world want to live quietly, work, raise families, raise children, enjoy. Don’t be surprised if the Turks say they hate ISIS, that they are terrified of acts of terrorism, that they are scorned by racism and Islamophobia. The basics are common, but when politics, the desire for wealth, and the desire to rule intervene, our world begins to fall apart.
Also, we have a common history. Even Sultan Hiurem’s correspondence with Bona Sforca, one of the 1831 rebel generals Ludwig Mykolas Pacas was buried in Izmir and Adam Mickiewicz died in Istanbul. It is possible to see it differently: Asia Minor, which almost coincides with the current borders of Turkey, is the cradle of Christianity, you can travel around the country looking for the origins of your faith, for example, on the roads of Saint Paul.
Symbol: One of the symbols of Istanbul is the Galata Tower, and the surrounding area is the center of a hectic nightlife.
– What surprises you the most in that country? What is difficult to understand or get used to?
Wherever you live, one day there is a routine that destroys all romantic dreams.
– Amazing sense of community of people. There is still a living tradition of sharing food. Not just between the neighbors: I baked baklava or cooked soup, it will divide the entire staircase, but much more delicate. For example, a wealthy person in a store pays for two loaves of bread but picks up one. When a hungry man arrives, the seller gives him the bread he has bought.
Many people donate money to charitable foundations each year. This is a very old tradition. You will meet not only people with physical disabilities who work in institutions, but also people with intellectual disabilities. Every store, company, restaurant, institution buys food and feeds stray dogs and cats.
In this country, I got rid of preconceptions, I began to realize that at first glance, the most stupid acts or traditions have a very old rational basis. It is true, I cannot accept some. But these are not actions of the state, but of dark people, often criminals. So you don’t have to deal with them.
– Was there no desire to settle permanently in Turkey?
– There is a good anecdote about not having to confuse tourism with emigration … No matter where you live, one day there is a routine that destroys all romantic dreams.
Turkey is not a very comfortable country to live in: a lot of people, a lot of exclusion, a different culture. I am not talking about what we imagine here: turbans, kebabs, Allah, etc. There are many subtle things that only open when you dive deeper into society. You can live with some and not with others.
Another nuance that should be appreciated is the unrelenting desire to move to Turkey, where people are fighting much more and more for a place in the sun than we are. Working at a Turk wouldn’t scratch your nose. So, if you decide to emigrate, unless you have a million euros or marry a rich local. I have a home and a family in Lithuania. And yet I really enjoy traveling.
I have a home and a family in Lithuania. And yet I really enjoy traveling.
Turkey at sunrise at home
* Turks have a long tradition of making colonies since time immemorial. This product is as important as soap. People who wash their hands always disinfect them with a cologne. It comes in a variety of scents and is supplemented with, for example, aloe vera juice to prevent hands from drying out, as odeocolone contains about 75-80 percent. alcohol. He would also advise me to relive this tradition, I remember, my grandmother always had a bottle of cologne by the mirror. We could not only fight the coronavirus more effectively.
* On a hot summer day, I prepare a salad – kisser. Fresh, nutritious and healthy. I drank medium sized bulgur grits overnight. It’s costing me a lot. I finely chopped the vegetables and fresh vegetables I have: tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, onions, coriander very suitable. I add a lot of tomato paste, without sauce! And a little bit of hot pepper paste, I really like it, so I add more. Salt and pepper are generally no longer needed. You can season it with lemon juice. I mix well Delicious!
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