COMM 263 Interview Due in 6H

COMM 263 Interview Due in 6H
Running head: FROM TURKEY TO AMERICA 0 From Turkey to America Amila Jusufovic Comm 263 From Turkey to America For this project, I chose to interview a wonderful girl named Eldem Berksan who I work with at JC Penney here in Bowling Green. When I heard that she is from Istanbul Turkey, I immediately got excited because I love to meet people from my side of the world who have recently moved to the states. I feel a connection to these people because I am originally from Bosnia and I still feel like a European at heart. Not to mention the fact that the land that Bosnia sits on used to be controlled by the Turks so we have a lot of Turkish elements in our daily lives which I will discuss throughout the paper. In the short time that I have known Eldem, I can already tell how genuine, kind and hardworking she is. It was very easy for us to get along after we found out that we have many things in common, which I will further elaborate on in this paper. Overall, it felt good to connect with someone who is from a similar background to my own. One of the first things you hear about a person from another country is why they came to the United States in the first place. Of course, I told Eldem that if she felt uncomfortable answering this question, she should feel free to skip it. But her response was very open and honest and she simply told me that she was having family troubles and was offered a place to say by her aunt who had already lived here. Eldem has been in the United States for 5 years now (Eldem Berksan, personal communication, 03/10/17). The next question I asked her was if there was anything about her home country that she missed that she did not see here very often, and this is where she got excited. The first thing she mentioned was the food. To be specific, there are three things she loves the most: Iskender kebab, grape leaves, and manti. The first one is a pita bread base layer filled with lamb gyro, a special tomato sauce, and is served with rice or yogurt. This one sounds extremely good to me because my people eat the exact same thing so Eldem and I had a good time thinking back on all the great kebabs we have had. The next dish is grape leaves wrapped around meat, rice and other ingredients. Bosnians serve this dish as well except we call it “filovane paprike”, or in other words, “filled peppers”. Finally, manti is like the Turkish form of dumplings and these are filled with meat and served with a tomato sauce and yogurt just like the kebab. Seeing her face light up when talking about these dishes showed me just how good they tasted even without being able to taste it myself. Next, I asked if there were any traditions she either missed or still practiced here in the States. One tradition she misses from back home, that according to her is even fading back in Turkey, is kissing the hands of the elderly as a sign of respect. She also says that you only see this on holidays and I can attest to that because that is something that I had to do as a kid. At the end of the month of Ramadan there comes a four-day period of celebration to commemorate the end of fasting. While visiting family members, children are taught to kiss the hands of the elderly as a sign of respect for their age and wisdom. So it was amazing to learn about such a small but interesting commonality between our cultures. Another thing that she misses is the family dynamic in Turkey. To many Turkish people, family is an extremely important idea and it seems like in America it is not emphasized as a central core value. The final aspect of Turkish life that she mentions is the fact that you can never be too full when you are visiting someone. From coffee, to food and deserts, there is no such thing as “I am full I cannot eat anymore”. Moving on, my next set of questions involve her experience at Western and what she hopes to do after she graduates. As a math and Econ major, she hopes to be an Actuary after she graduates. This lead me to ask if she would ever go back to Turkey if she had the opportunity to work in this field and she enthusiastically answered “Of course!”. Sadly, she tells me that she is more likely to have better opportunities here in the States so she does not see this happening for herself. When I heard her answer, I wondered if she had an emotional connection to Turkey and what it felt like to be away from home. Her answer broke my heart because she says that she misses home and has trouble with the fact that she is thousands of miles away. The next topic I wanted to talk to her about was what it is like for people of different cultures who form intimate relationships in Turkey. The reason I asked this question is because where I am from, it is generally taught that you should date and marry people who have the same ethnic and religious background to your own. Due to war and strife among the different religious groups in Bosnia, a lot of issues have arisen that would otherwise not be an issue if religion was not used as a reason for violence. But Eldem’s response was a little different from what I expected. In her opinion, something like this is up to the family to decide so it is not something that the whole society teaches. It is rare to see someone of a different ethnic background in Turkey, apart from the occasional foreigner, but religion seems to be taught among the family. This topic lead Eldem to explain how young people start their intimate relationships. She says that, in Turkey, it is more common for people to become friends before going on dates. She says that here people tend to jump straight into dating and talking to someone as if they are boyfriend and girlfriend. Another thing that I found interesting is that the opinion of one’s friends is extremely important in the selection process of a boyfriend or girlfriend. In conclusion, Eldem feels that she is settled into American society and it has become her second home. I have learned a lot about Turkish life and how similar it is to my own life. From food to family life, Europeans have a lot in common. But it may be hard for them to integrate themselves into American culture because of the individualistic mindset that is prevalent here. In her opinion, Europeans are more involved in the lives of their friends and families. Finally, her vivid explanations of her life back home make me want to travel and experience the world.