We had stayed five nights at our hotel which had been central, cheap and provided a good communal area. We put the photos from the Children’s Festival on the computer there for the cleaner to have, and said goodbye to Jesus, who was on duty at the time. He is one of the 25 Christians in the area.
We change buses at Nevşehir, and then continued on the seven hour trip to Antakya. Once we had climbed out of the Cappodocian valleys and plateaus, the scenery continued as a mixture of villages, towns and agricultural areas. The further east we came, the neater and larger the plantings and paddocks became.
We had failed to check the credit on our phone so we could not make the promised call to Metin, who was to be our couch surfing host in Antakya. Arriving at the Bus Station, Keith tried to buy credit in the cafeteria and was told that they didn’t sell any but to use the metered phone. The brief local call cost 6.50 lira – incredibly high and as Metin told us later, an illegal scam. Nevertheless, contact was made and Metin came to pick us up.
Metin is a fascinating person who has done many varied things and led an interesting life. He has a wonderful ability with languages, speaking English very well, using a wide vocabulary, fluent Arabic and Turkish, Bulgarian which he learnt in a year, and some other languages to a lesser degree. He is very considerate and thoughtful and a great conversationalist. We chatted while we waited for his neighbour, whose house we would stay in, to return.
His own home, with his family, was on the first floor of an apartment building. We stayed with Besime Teyze (Aunt Besime) who lives on the ground floor of a free standing house, surrounded by well tended gardens. She is about 84, and speaks, reads and writes Arabic and Turkish. This is unusual for a woman of her age, but she grew up in a very learned household and was educated at home. She also had snippets of French which she picked up from her brothers when they were learning it. She welcomed us, as acquaintances of Metin, one of her favourites and the close friend of her sixth son, photographer and journalist, Kâmal.
When Besime Teyze returned, we took our things into our room, and set about sorting out how we would organise meals etc. We needed to do it while Metin was present to do the interpreting. We established that we would cook and eat together, so we had a look at what was in the fridge, made some suggestions and went shopping with Metin at the local shops. Everyone was so kind and helpful, with one greengrocer refusing payment from us - his friend’s friends. The bread was nearly too hot to carry, having just been withdrawn on the baker’s paddle from the oven. We asked Metin what to buy as a gift for Besime Teyze, and he suggested chicken wings, so I went to the butcher next door to buy them. We are learning that practical and useful items are appreciated here.
I think that Besime Teyze is an amazing person. She happily took in complete strangers with no language in common and then managed, with gestures and prodding, to allow us to help cook in her kitchen. We were definitely the assistants. When I was preparing a dish I had learnt from Umit in Turgutreis, my chopped items kept disappearing into the salad we were making together. Metin had gone home and Besime Teyze had no idea that I was making a separate dish as well as helping. Nevertheless, we prepared a feast which was delicious. Metin joined us but had to pop out now and then, which left great silences in what was a vibrant chat fest while he was present.
That evening we watched some traditional singers on TV with impassioned, eyes shut renditions from a middle aged lady and mimed singing along for an appreciative ‘Today’ program style host. I cut Besime Teyse’s fingernails and when Metin joked that I would charge five lira per hand, she quipped that she would charge ten lira if I hurt her. She was not impressed with our curved nail scissors and asked if that was all that Australian’s had for a manicure. Apparently she was used to nail clippers.I went to bed, changing quickly, and just as well because Besime Teyse had jumped out of her bed, come down to our room and gestured forcefully that I should hop out of mine so that we could have some time together. We sat on the couch, and with no common language, somehow patted and hugged to show that we liked each other and that we were girls together. Part of it was conveyed by pointing to the lounge room where Keith and Metin were talking, using hand gestures to show yacking on, and throwing hands up in the air. After a while she left and I hopped back into bed.
While travelling by bus to Antakya in Turkey's deep south we noticed that all the houses and most other buildings in one district had corrugated iron rooves. Most houses we have seen in Turkey have tiled rooves. There was even a mosque with a corrugated iron roof!
The price of fuel in Turkey is about double the Australian price. The Turkish lira is valued at a bit less than a dollar (about 85 cents).
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