Mehmet

Yesterday we spent hours at the train station in Izmir waiting for the train to take us to the Sea of Marmara and onward by high speed ferry to Istanbul. As the appointed minute of ten past one approached, we realized that there was not a single train in the station. With five minutes to spare we discovered that 13:10 was not the time the train departs, but the time the bus left the train station to take us to the train. As I stood on the crowded, hot, bus I began to visit with a young turkish gentleman standing next to me. Besides reassuring me that we were on the right bus for the train he began sharing some of his stories. Mehmet was an exchange student in California and in Indiana and obviously spoke English very well. Because the train ride was six hours, the ferry boat another two, we ended riding together, visiting for hours, and going out to eat with him at one of his favorite restaurants. For me, the best part of travel has been getting to know the people. Memhet was a wonderful example of Turkish hospitality and I thoroughly enjoyed our visits that afternoon. First of all, I learned that the Turks prefer their country to be called Turkiye (pronounced turk - ee - ay). He says it is too easy to make fun of the English translation. We spoke about our people, the environment, religion, and philosophies of living. He told me that the most imortant thing for countries to work on is Food, Transportation, Healthcare, and Education. He says once these things are established, the rest all falls into place. We talked about the importance of educatıon and the need for our countries to learn about each other. We both realized that our people are not that different. At the end of the day, we exchanged addresses and hope to stay in touch. We shared a taxi in Istanbul back to Taksim and our day ended just after midnight as we collapsed into our beds at our apartment in Istanbul. What a great feeling to make new friends!