Here's another interesting bit from the conversation with my host.
When he's not helping his family out picking cherries and other delicious fruits, Ihsan works as a house painter in the village and in Konya. He's been doing this for a few years. I asked how he got into the house-painting business, and he explained that when he did his military service in 2002 he painted officers' barracks for most of the time. I asked if he did any painting before that, or if he had some other profession, and he said no. He'd gone to primary school through 8th grade and maybe high school somewhere else (I wasn't quite sure on that point) but there was no way to go to university.
This unfortunately requires a tangent that I should have touched on a month ago - the use of var and yok in the Turkish language. Var is typically translated as 'there is' and yok is typically translated as 'there is not', though Lewis Thomas' Elementary Turkish translates them perhaps more accurately as 'extant' and 'not extant', as it implies a sense of finality that doesn't really translate. The var/yok construction is used for everything: Döner var? Döner var. Problem var? Problem yok! When you say that something yok, it doesn't mean that it isn't convenient or isn't readily available. It means it doesn't exist. It isn't an option. Period. When Ihsan said "Universite yok," he was expressing the situation of most of the rural population of Turkey - there is no university.
Anyway. He didn't go to university, so he picked cherries until he picked up the house-painting trade through the military. In such a context it's hard to condemn the mandatory military service that Turkey expects of all its male citizens. It serves as a form of vocational training that may be filling a niche for which there is not currently any alternative for much of the population. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I'm just saying it may not be as universally terrible as many Americans (including myself, in this very blog!) have described it. Food for thought.
When he's not helping his family out picking cherries and other delicious fruits, Ihsan works as a house painter in the village and in Konya. He's been doing this for a few years. I asked how he got into the house-painting business, and he explained that when he did his military service in 2002 he painted officers' barracks for most of the time. I asked if he did any painting before that, or if he had some other profession, and he said no. He'd gone to primary school through 8th grade and maybe high school somewhere else (I wasn't quite sure on that point) but there was no way to go to university.
This unfortunately requires a tangent that I should have touched on a month ago - the use of var and yok in the Turkish language. Var is typically translated as 'there is' and yok is typically translated as 'there is not', though Lewis Thomas' Elementary Turkish translates them perhaps more accurately as 'extant' and 'not extant', as it implies a sense of finality that doesn't really translate. The var/yok construction is used for everything: Döner var? Döner var. Problem var? Problem yok! When you say that something yok, it doesn't mean that it isn't convenient or isn't readily available. It means it doesn't exist. It isn't an option. Period. When Ihsan said "Universite yok," he was expressing the situation of most of the rural population of Turkey - there is no university.
Anyway. He didn't go to university, so he picked cherries until he picked up the house-painting trade through the military. In such a context it's hard to condemn the mandatory military service that Turkey expects of all its male citizens. It serves as a form of vocational training that may be filling a niche for which there is not currently any alternative for much of the population. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I'm just saying it may not be as universally terrible as many Americans (including myself, in this very blog!) have described it. Food for thought.
2 comments:
It sounds like your language skills/progress helped immensely!
I want to volunteer that I fully support mandatory military training (or as alternative some form of service to the country). Most people, including me, could at least learn a skill even if be painting... Some of the other countries in the Middle East do practice them with a ligh level of success.
There should be VOK option.
Personally, I favor the more surreptitious trades. Rangers Lead The Way!
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