How many of you have experienced culture shock every time you have traveled to a different
country, or even moved to another place? In this episode I would love to share with you what were
my personal culture shocks that I experienced here in Turkey. Remember that every person is different
and we experience different things, that's why maybe to some people they didn't have a culture
shock in a particular thing but in my case I did so remember that this is my personal thoughts
and I would love to share it with you.
This is something that at the very beginning took me a bit
of time to get used to it but to be honest this is something that I really love the most nowadays.
Many of you might already know about this custom but in case you don't, I will explain it to you.
Turkish people before entering their house they always take off their shoes and they are also
expecting that their guests will do the same before entering the home, this is why every
time you have the chance and hopefully, you do one day if you get to visit one Turkish local house
you will see that they have a lot of slippers in the house so also the guests can wear them
and these are "terlik" this is how we call them in Turkey, this is in order to keep away most of
the bacteria and dirt that we bring from outside through our shoes. In the American continent we
have the habit of entering everywhere with the shoes on we don't really take them off before
entering someone else's house or even our house but now that I really think about it I do not
see myself entering to someone else's house with my shoes on that truly saves you a lot of time
especially in cleaning the house and for example in Turkey, as you already know, carpets are a main
accessory in houses that way also they can last longer and you don't have to clean them that often.
The prayer time was something very different and new to me at the very beginning
I am a catholic and in my home country we were used to only listening bells coming from the
churches but here the first time I heard the "ezan" or the prayer it was something so mysterious and
different that I couldn't believe it even I could to to be honest at the beginning I was just wanted
to go and sit on the balcony and enjoy the prayer and I was wondering what they were saying
now of course I already got used to it but at the beginning it was something out of this world.
And I will not lie but in my first months getting used to the "ezan" especially the
morning one it really took me some time because of course, I wasn't used to it, and the earliest
calling to pray it's around 5:40 to 6:40 in the morning so for the first month I was all
the time waking up right now I got used to it of course after six years so I don't even
hear it even though I have a mosque just right next to the building I'm currently living in.
This one I haven't really experienced it that often in Istanbul or even in any other bigger
cities but I remember when I used to live in Ordu which is a very small city in the Black Sea region
sometimes I saw people throwing some water after the others were leaving their house and at first I
thought that probably they just wanted to keep their main entrance clean but after asking to
some of my Turkish friends and even my husband they told me that it is the way that when a
relative or a close friend leaves their house is a way to wish them luck and to wish them a good
journey or travel they even have a saying in Turkish "su gibi git, su gibi gel" which in English
literally means come as water go as water. If you ever experience this one in Turkey don't
get scared and don't think that people are being rude towards you or that it's something strange
this is the way they are wishing you luck and they would love to wish you also a happy travel.
Probably this has been one of the biggest shocks we have all had at some point in Turkey and I will
talk about these particular toilets these are the squat toilets and I can still remember the first
day I saw one for the first time I remember I was on my way to Ordu after the first week that I
spent in Istanbul when I first arrived in Turkey, I was taking a bus for 14 hours to that city and in
the middle of the night we just stopped somewhere and it was like a 10-15 minutes break so people
could go to the toilet then, to be honest, I really needed to go to to the toilet as quick as possible
so I was just running to go and look for one and I remember that there were like three or four
doors and then I go open the first door and oh my God there was that strange toilet I
couldn't just believe myself, I was like what! I mean, seriously how the hell am I gonna do this?
Even I imagined myself falling in but then I said, okay there are two or three more doors I bet
there might be a normal toilet there, I opened the second door was the same, then the third
and the fourth, and it was exactly the same so I just said okay don't worry just be brave enough
just roll up your jeans and that's what I did I literally felt like a spider woman but that
is an experience that I won't forget ever and I still laugh about it even nowadays
but i will be very honest with you and this is something that in present times I always do, at
least when I'm outside and I have to use the public toilet I tend to look for the squat
one because I believe and I feel they are a bit cleaner than the normal ones because you don't
need to touch or you won't feel like okay this might be dirty I prefer using those ones nowadays
of course, i already have practice so for me there is no problem but if it is your first time
coming to Turkey and if you think they only have squat toilets, don't worry, they have both types
and even in the touristic areas in the modern houses everywhere you will find the normal ones
but there might be some places that you might find only squat toilets especially in smaller cities
but you will always find places where they have both ones so you don't have to worry.
This is something that we already know that Turkey is one of the countries where people consume
a lot of black tea and this is something that as well took me a bit by surprise at
the very beginning because I didn't really know how to to do it with this tea thing.
For example, here you will see Turkish people that they will be drinking tea doesn't matter the
time or the season even though it's boiling hot outside they will be drinking tea and boiling tea
so I don't know I mean they really love it and it is also a good way how they can go
hang out let's go have a tea it's just saying let's go have a beer or let's have a coffee for
Turkish people is mostly is mostly tea even after any meal they will all the time offer you some
some of these and also even here in the Turkish culture it can be a bit disrespectful when
someone offers you some tea and you refuse it especially when you're visiting some families
but this is something that even in the present times because I'm not a lot of a tea person i
prefer more coffee or just water but here I have learned how to drink more more black tea but that
is something that at the very beginning it took me time to get used to it especially in the summer season.
This is something funny as well that so at some point you will see in Turkey and when many people
are drinking this tea and it is so hot that you will listen some people drinking it like
and they believe I don't know I feel like it's a way maybe they will control the temperature
of the tea and they won't get buried but still even though I do that a few times still I burn
my tongue I just need to wait a couple of minutes until it gets cold.
This one also it can get you by surprise especially if you come from another country or in your culture
you're not used to this and when you try to keep some personal information to yourself or only to
share it with family or closer friends but here in turkey I mean people really people are so friendly
this is something that I really love about the culture, when you start meeting new people with
Turkish especially, they are so interested in your life but at some point they start from the
very beginning they start asking you some personal questions and maybe some people might feel it
as a bit intrusive but they are not being rude this is just the way they are and they
are lovely they are friendly and we just need to to accustom ourselves to the to their culture at
the end of the day we are in a foreign country and we just need to get used to their customs
and the way they are but yes at the beginning just get ready with that some people might ask
you for example since the very beginning from the very beginning what are you working at
what's your salary what about your parents how much are they earning or stuff like
that so just get ready with that don't get offended it's just the way they are.
This is another funny thing that happened to me and I remember a month after I moved
to Turkey, it was the holy month of the Ramadan so I remember that it was also I was already
sleeping it was in the middle of the night and all of a sudden I heard a big drum just like
playing playing playing I got so scared as soon as I hear it so I had to run to my window just to see
what was going on because I was confused I didn't know what was going on or the reason for that I
just saw a man that they're walking and playing the drum at the next day or early morning I just
sent a message quickly to my husband and I asked him like you know I heard the drum do you know
what's the reason for that and then he explained to me that in every year in every Ramadan month
every night at three in the morning two forthy in the morning there is a person passing by in
every street in every neighborhood playing a drum and this is a way to wake up the
the people who are fasting to consume the last meal of the day because they will spend a whole
day fasting so this is a tradition that has been going on for centuries and even nowadays
in many places, they still keep using it so this is why right now after many years of living in Turkey
every year maybe for the first a week while I get used to it again maybe it might tend to wake
me up but after that, I can sleep normally and I don't even hear it so if you are spending your
holidays here in Turkey and maybe you're staying in a very local area and you hear this drum
don't get scared you already know that this is a tradition taking place during the Ramadan season.
This was probably the one that shocked me the most once I was living already in Turkey and I'm pretty
sure that if you are an expat yourself living in this country you have experienced it at some point
if you're somewhere let's imagine that you're in your place you're at your home and all of a
sudden you will hear tons of cars all together honking at the same time this can turn so loud
and noisy and at the very first moment you might wonder yourself what is going on is something
bad happening outside or something you know because it's strange to us but in reality this
is the groom and the bride who are going to their ceremony and they are announcing to others their
happy moment and at the same time their family members and the closest friends are escorting them
to the ceremony day i personally experienced this too during our wedding day and it was something
so much fun and unique that I will never forget another thing is putting some money inside
some envelopes because this way there is also the tradition that some people and especially
children when they hear the cars honking they already know that the groom and the bride
are driving by so they immediately run towards the car and they are trying to get an envelope
so that's why if you are attending a Turkish wedding and if you have the chance of escorting
the family you will also see this.
In every country, people tend to have their own gestures and body
language and in Turkey is not the exception so here it really took me by surprise because
everything was so different I remember when I was for example with some of my Turkish friends
it was also my very first weeks and when I was offering them let's say some water and they
were just like like that so for us in my country it is like some yes or just moving the eyebrows
means like yes but here that means I know so sometimes i was bringing water and they were like
but i told you no i was like but for me this is yes it was so confusing also they tend to say like
this is like okay what are you trying to tell me but now of course i know all of them but at the
beginning it was so confusing. Another funny one to me and even still but this is one that I
love a lot when a person sees something that maybe it's not normal or they do not approve something
that another person is doing you suddenly will listen this noise and this is so funny because
sometimes you are in the public transportation and if someone is doing something that is not
cool or is not good you all of a sudden will hear like two or three people at the same time like
so if you ever hear this one it's that there is something bad going on so try to pay attention
to that one.
This is something little but that for me it was something very different from my culture
and I will explain to you about let's imagine if someone sneezes in public well in my country
in Mexico, we are used to say bless you even to strangers outside on the street if you see
someone sneezing of course we will say bless you and the person will reply with a thank
you but here in Turkey is totally the opposite the culture is different and usually people do not say
these things to strangers on the street usually is with colleagues with friends with family with any
person that you already know so I am a person that I'm used to saying even bless you if the sun sneezes
so at the beginning i just tried to hold myself not to say to strangers like that but of course
now i got used to it but at the beginning it was a bit hard for me another funny thing
is that for example let's imagine you're going in the minibus there are many people inside and
the bus driver at some point will ask everybody if there is someone who needs to get off in this
particular bus stop but if he asks in a group and if nobody answers that means a no at the beginning
it took me by surprise because of course, I didn't know about this and the driver asked something
like if somebody was getting off in that bus station and I just replied "hayir" and everybody
just looked at me like oh why did she reply and it was something funny later on some people
tell me no actually it's something that we do when they are asking a group we do not really
give a reply if it's a no only if it's something that okay we are going to get off for example then
yes we say "evet, var" but not like if it's a no later on I learned and now I do not do it anymore.
So these were my personal culture shocks, I know everybody is different and if you are an
expat living in Turkey or also tourists but you find out that you have some culture shocks please
make sure to share it share them in the comments below that way we can have fun and we can just tell each
other our stories so thanks a lot for watching our video and don't forget to like it to share and
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see content like this see you next time bye