My Favorite Things about Bringing a Little Bit of Turkey to Texas

We’ve been here in the states for 2 months and having all kinds of adventures.  I love hearing my husband’s observations about the U.S. and more specifically about Texas.
We were able to travel a little bit the first month we were here and so he has got to see how different all the regions in Texas are.  We learned that the area of Texas is about the same area as the country of Turkey, except that Turkey has a lot more people!! (Turkey 74 Million: Texas 24 Million)

A few observations of my husband’s that are worth sharing:

1.       The Texas Panhandle is Flat. I Mean Really Flat.

While driving through the Texas Panhandle for the first time, he was sitting staring out the window, and a little taken aback by how flat and open it is. You can seriously see for miles.  I told him this before, but I think seeing it first hand was a whole different thing.  I could hear him saying repeatedly to himself, “It’s so flat!” and asking questions like “Was there a huge lake here a long time ago?” and “How can it be this flat?”. Then, he said something I don’t think I’ll ever forget, because I think it describes thoughts of the Texas Panhandle perfectly. He said, “This is all so interesting, but I don’t know why?!” If you’ve been through the Panhandle, you would understand this statement and agree, and if you’ve never been there before, maybe its time for a road trip!

2.       Texas Really is the Friendly State.

After travelling through Texas a bit, and to several other states as well, E has concluded that Texas has the nicest people hands down. Thank you Texas for being the friendly state!

3.       Chicken Fried Steak is Not Chicken.

This lesson learned on a men’s retreat. He has issues ordering at restaurants sometimes because he’s not sure what everything is on the menu. This particular time, he ordered what all the other guys ordered and to his shock and surprise when he cut into his food, there was no chicken. He thought the restaurant must have messed up the order, but no one else at the table was surprised about their food, so he ate it. Now he has mixed emotions about chicken fried steak because he was expecting  chicken and got something totally different. My brother in law has vowed to change his mind with the best chicken fried steak he’s ever had. We’ll save that for a different post.

4.       People in Texas Follow the Rules for Driving.

First let me say that driving in Turkey is crazy and like a rollercoaster ride. The first week we were here, we came upon a traffic light that was not working and was a flashing a red light for a four way stop and I have to mention it was in the middle of Dallas traffic so there were lots of cars coming from all four directions. Enes was sitting in the front seat with my sister and he was asking “What is this?”, “What is going on?”. He was in disbelief that everyone was taking their turn from all directions and actually stopping at the stop sign. When we explained how it works and what everyone was doing, he said that if this happened in Turkey we would be stuck here for hours because no one would want to wait and they would all try to go at the same time.

5.       Americans are Just Plain Lazy.

The first time E saw someone drive up to an ATM and hang out of their car to withdraw money, he about died laughing and he still starts chuckling to himself when he’s sees a drive through anything.

6.      If People See You Walking on the Street, They Will Think You are Homeless.

Now, I’m not exactly sure where this came from, but I think it partially coincides with observation #5.  I’m going to break this down from my own observations.  We are in a city where everybody drives everywhere , and we are coming from a city where everyone walks everywhere.  E loves to be outside and wants to walk or bike places instead of driving.  The only people E has seen on the streets are homeless people, so I think he made this decision based on Who he sees on the streets. Its funny, but I can make sense of it in a round about sort of way. So he thinks that if people see him walking on the street, they will automatically think he is like the other people walking down the street…homeless.

More to Come…