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Where are you from from Turkey? - Izmir
So what are traditions that you have?
They kiss them, they give them sugar like chocolate
or sweet stuff. like delights? - Yeah, delights.
I moved to United States in 2007.
Was there a big shock when you moved here? Was there
a big difference? I like it. Because everything here is big, like whenever you come here it's
like the city shines, Turkey is like more the buildings are more historical. The buildings
are maximum like ten stories high. Whenever I first moved here I was like, look at that.
Culture difference in every city. Every city how they speak is different, how they act is different,
their food is different.
What would you say is different when it comes to family values?
Family, they are so connected, kind of like a Cuban, Colombian. Whenever I speak to my friends, it's like the same culture. They are so close.
In here, in the United States culture, after 18 years old, you're free and you can do everything but in Turkey you're family cares about you so much, even if you're 25 you're still a little baby.
Can you show us some of your favourite items here?
This is a nice tea.
That's my favourite coffee in Turkey.
That's just similar to any drink, a little shot of this coffee can open your eyes. And you need
to try this. You guys don't have that. I don't know why you guys don't have that. It's a
hazelnut. But it's a roast hazelnut. It's not like a dry hazelnut. I love this thing.
And they're super healthy. But the old people, you got to shake
hands all the time.Whenever you see someone, you don't shake ladies' hands like this, you
have to just hold the lady's hand like this. Guys, we kiss too much in Turkey.
Like, you're going to kiss everybody. Whenever, even you just stop by you're friend's house for 5 minutes,
you kiss hi, you kiss bye. On the cheeks.
How was bringing that gesture in the United States?
Like, do they find that weird? They did, they feel, whenever they see that two
guys are kissing like that, they think like, oh, gay.
Can you tell us are you first generation or second generation immigrant from Turkey?
- I am Turkish and I live in the US, I would be first generation but, I'm not a resident or
a US citizen. I am here on a temporary work visa. I have been here 14 years.
Can you tell us about experiences and perceptions of Turkish culture that would be interesting
to outsiders like Americans, for example? - The Turkish culture in general, they are family
oriented. And families are involved in their kids' lives quite more than they do here in
the general US culture. People are more independent in the US. Whereas in Turkey, families are
more intertwined. It's a Mediterrenean country that's a combination of Europe and Middle
East. You have some really traditional, more Middle Eastern families or cultural motions and then
on the other hand you have very modernized very Western, very European cultural aspect.
Would you consider Turkey as a High Context culture or a Low Context culture? It's somewhere
in between. It's definitly not as direct, not as low context as the United States, it's
not as complex as, for instance, China or Japan, either.
People say something, you have to think about the context, you have to think about the back story, you have to understand
the context. What reasons brought you to the United
States? - I came here for educational reasons, I finished
college in Turkey and then I came here to study Communications for my Master's and then I
stayed also for my phD, my doctorate's, and now I'm working!