A Kind of Marriage

A Kind of Marriage  

There are some inevitable moments for people who are living in a foreign country that include where I am and why I am in here. They feel like a lost child. If they ask the questions to themselves, they actually know the answers, but it means they have lost their culture. When I can’t find Turkish tea culture, kosher food, or pastane in Chicago, I ask myself the questions and realize that I am between two cultures, and I am trying to marry American culture. Many immigrants have experienced this situation because many people only understand the value of health when they lose it. However, they may also gain many things which allow them to look at the world from a different window.

One of the parts of my culture, tea is more significant in Turkey, and many people drink at least two times a day. Tea in Turkey is like coffee in the United States. Many people in Turkey don’t eat breakfast without tea, and they usually drink tea in small glass cup. Tea represents affection, intimacy, and friendship in Turkey. When I feel bitter, bored or burdened, I like to go outside to drink tea. In Turkey, there are many magnificent tea cafés for this, and they usually have city landscape and clean air because they are at high attitude. When I am in a tea cafe, it makes me relax, happy, and a daydreamer because it also makes me forget my problems with a mesmerizing landscape. Even though there are many places that have tea, there is no tea café that is on a mountain in Chicago. Most places don’t have glass cups, and their tea is not like Turkish tea. There is a word in my culture that lets drink tea and start over again. When something goes wrong, the word is said by friends because many Turkish people believe that tea takes negative energy and recreates people such as stepping on the soil with bare feet.   

Many people in Turkey are Muslim, and many of them can just consume kosher or halal food. Kosher is more prevalent than halal, so finding kosher food is easier. If there is no “K” or “U” in food packaging, most Muslims don’t eat the food. It is important especially for prepared food, but it is not necessary for fruit and vegetables. If I buy a product, I check three points that are kosher, no alcohol, and oil. If there is a halal mark, I don’t need to check the others. I can only eat halal meat. In Turkey, many products in markets are halal, but it is hard to find halal food in the U.S. Sometimes, I go to three or four different markets to find just one product, and I also don’t eat many dishes in restaurants in Chicago. I usually eat vegetable or cheese pizza outside. Some people ask me if am I vegetarian, but I am not vegetarian because many people don’t know what does kosher means. It means the product made in accordance with Jewish rules.  

Even though I don’t like to eat a lot, I miss Turkish food culture because Turkish cuisine is very rich and famous, and it dates to back very old times. I have been living in Chicago for two years, and I have never seen pastane here. It includes a bakery and a café together, so it is different than American bakeries. Many American bakeries are just a store without tables, but pastane has some tables. When I go into a pastane in Turkey, very nice smells come to my nose from the bakery. It has a peaceful environment, and people can read a book or a newspaper in pastane. They are nostalgic and a factor that increases reading. The bakeries in Chicago don’t have the same role, and they usually don’t have kosher products.   

When I have a hard time finding something which is normally under my hands, I feel like that this place is not my home. I think if people feel like this, they haven’t adopted to their new country. Although not being able to eat some foods is not that important, being far from my own culture makes me sad. However, seeing and adopting to different cultures can give people a new perspective and sense of beauty. Living a foreign country is always about giving and taking a lot, so immigrants have lost a lot but gain a lot just like a marriage.