50 signs you've been in Turkey for too long...
1. You automatically take off your shoes when entering a
house.
2. You’ve tried all the types of street food Istanbul
offers: corn, stuffed mussels, chickpeas on rice, nuts, pomegranate juice,
popcorn...
3. Not a day goes by without drinking at least one çay (tea).
If it does, you feel weird about it.
4. Friends don’t invite you to their homes for dinner, but
for breakfast.
5. You know the name of the guy at the bakkal (corner
store) on your street.
6. Everything is çok (very): çok güzel, çok
iyi, çok ayıp...
7. You have started to answer questions by repeating the
answer (evet, evet; var, var; hayır, hayır; yok, yok).
8. You’ve forgotten what it means to recycle.
9. You no longer hear the honking of car horns.
10. You know there is always traffic in Istanbul: the
question is whether there is traffic or A LOT of traffic.
11. You know you’ll find a portrait of Atatürk everywhere
you go.
12. You have learned to accept yogurt as something salty you
drink with your food rather than something sweet you eat for dessert.
13. You hardly hear it anymore when the mosques issue
the call to prayer. Five times a day. Starting at 05.30.
14. You have drunk çay when it’s 35 degrees
Celsius outside.
15. You know the only way to cross the street is
kamikaze-style, with the cars passing just a few centimetres away. Traffic
lights? What are those?
16. You know the first rule about Atatürk is: you do not say
anything bad about Atatürk.
17. And the second rule about Atatürk is: you do not say
anything bad about Atatürk.
18. You ask for a student discount or try to bargain for
almost everything.
19. Remember when you used to notice how there was always a
smartass jumping the queue without anyone complaining? Now you’re that
smartass.
20. You go to the Tarlabaşı market
every Sunday to buy fruits
and vegetables at extremely cheap prices. And you still try to bargain
for a better deal.
21. You know where all the happy-hour
places are in Taksim.
22. You always drink the biggest beer because "it’s
just one lira more."
23. You’re still looking for the cheapest kebab in
the city.
24. You have a nazar boncuğu ("evil
eye") in your house or your room.
25. You do not say "ok"; you say
"tamam."
26. You kiss both cheeks with your close male friends.
27. It doesn’t surprise you anymore to see two macho guys
walking together with linked arms.
28. The entrance to your house looks like a shoe store.
29. You have accepted olives and cheese as part of your
breakfast.
30. You have accepted that there will always be soup and
yogurt with your food.
31. You have a favourite brand of rakı.
32. You have accepted yogurt as a sauce.
33. You are thinking about growing a moustache to look cool.
34. You think it’s normal to "drink a cigarette,"
"close the phone" or having it be "raining snow."
35. You call older neighbours "aunt" and
"uncle."
36. You say "allah allah" to complain or express
anger.
37. You don’t get surprised when some people still give
prices in millions of liras.
38. You compare the price of an alcoholic drink to the food
you could eat for that same amount.
39. You now expect to get a wet-wipe soaked in lemon scent
at the end of a restaurant meal.
40. When you need groceries, you call the shop on the corner
and have them sent up to you in a basket.
41. You know that kahvaltı means "under or
after the coffee" – and that there is never coffee after breakfast.
42. You have eaten an islak (wet) hamburger after
partying.
43. You have eaten midye dolma (stuffed mussels)
after a night out. And you’ve stopped asking yourself where they come from or
how they’re prepared.
44. You know you’ll always find the sugar served in cubes
45. You’ve stopped expecting sauce in your döner kebab
and know it is normal to find French fries in it instead.
46. You expect to climb a ton of stairs to reach a bar or
nightclub.
47. You only go to the historic part of the city when your
friends visit you.
48. You think it’s normal for motorcyclists to ride in the
wrong direction, without a helmet.
49. You know every building has a name of a person on it,
and usually two numbers: the old one and the new one.
50. You have learned to play tavla (backgammon).
Better yet, you’ve spent a whole afternoon drinking çay, smoking nargile (hookah)
and playing tavla.
by: Santiago Brusadin
Perrfecttt :)
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