* This post is the translation of a previous post for Allison whom I
promised I would tell it in English as well ... So here it is...
It was a beautiful Saturday night in May whispering us spring is on
its way to NY. We were about to enter the Marriott Hotel, heading the ball room where Turkish American Giresun’s Organization would host for dinner.
(I’m not sure if this name makes any sense in English, to put it in other words
it means the “Turkish American Association of People whose Home Town is Giresun”
… not a practical way to say it though!
In Turkey we are used to coming across “associations of friendship and
solidarity” of different cities, towns in our daily lives. We may bump into these
associations anytime; sometimes we lift our head up on the street and see a signboard on an
apartment; or we receive an invitation to an association's dinner through an acquaintance.
However, when you receive such an invitation in New York, you stop for
a moment and ask yourself: “How come??”
Knowing that delays are a part of Turkish life style, we decided to go to
dinner, which was supposed to start at 7 pm, at around 8 pm. But to our
surprise not only the ballroom was half empty when we arrived but also there
were a couple of people walking around with a ladder in their hands, trying to
decide where to hang those American, Turkish flags and the association’s
banner. Sitting on our table for half an hour observing around, we desperately
realized that we were no where close to being served food! We ordered some
bread and butter and waited to see if the night could get
anyhow better after this moment.
A few minutes later we freaked out by the super loud voice rising
from the mic. Apparently our host did not realize that he did not need to
shout if he had a mic! In Turkey in organizations like this you cannot escape heavy bureaucracy,
and this night was no exception. One after another the Mayor of Yaglidere (a
town in Giresun), the Chief Police of the town, the President of Turkish
American Associations Federation and several people I don’t remember now made
their speeches which had more or less the same content… As the protocol started
to address the guests, the waiters started serving the food which made me think
that we were being bribed for standing these never ending talks. Anyway, the
point is I do not recall anything from those talks whereas I do remember our
host crying to the guests during the talks, "the owners of those kids running
around, please take them away!” (Note to the reader: There is no translation
mistake in this sentence, he literally said "the owners"!)
According to our invitation, we would be accompanied by Sevval Sam (a
singer from Turkey) and some surprise singers. As we could already guess
“surprise
singers” refer to “local singers from Giresun” we were not surprised by
them at
all. There was one surprising moment though when one of the singers
got
pissed off with the orchestra complaining that they could not accompany
him! I don’t
know what exactly happened inbetween but after a few minutes the
orchestra left
the stage and the singer decided to go on with playback. However, soon
after that we were exposed to terrible scratchy sounds from the stereo.
It was annoying but also quite funny how our host tried to calm down the
irritated guests by saying “It’s just because
of a scratch on the CD, no worries, it can happen to anyone!”
As I was watching what was going on at the stage with amazement, I was also
checking if there was anything on our table worth mentioning here. Well, the
organization’s brochure fulfilled my expectations immediately. It was fun
reading the one-page so called “Giresun’s History” which included just two
lines about the city’s history but mainly focused on attracting investors to
the city by telling how green, how beautiful etc. the city is. Besides seeing
that piece of paper, which covered the alcoholic drinks -not officially
included in the menu but served at the bar outside the ballroom- made me smile
because this is a very Turkish way of dealing with restrictions: Always come up
with something practical!
Near the end of the night I was hesitating whether I drank a little too much
wine or all these people jumping up and down on the stage were real. I also couldn’t
be sure if Sevval Sam was singing songs from Blacksea with a football uniform
of Giresun on her shoulders or if one of the waiters was dancing Horon (a very
local dance from Blacksea) with a guest. Only by the time I sat down to write my
blog and saw all those photos in my cam I understood they were as real as the night itself.
But there is one moment among all those sound and fury that I do not doubt
its reality at all. It’s the moment when Sevval Sam said “We’re all gonna
commemorate Kazim Koyuncu with this song” (a beloved singer from Blacksea who
passed away in 2005 due to cancer). I stood up and accompanied her while singing the
song quietly on my own with watery eyes. You are not forgotten, and will never be... Rest in Peace Kazim Koyuncu...
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