Then I moved to Izmir sometime.
I was very scared at first. By making small experiments, I tried to determine in which conditions I can survive in this new environment.
I went into the simulator mode, for example simulating the responses from the shop owner by asking for “3 GEVREK LÜTFEN” on day 1. The next day, I was going to ask the same shop for “3 SİMİT”.
I tried to measure their reactions between being asked for a GEVREK vs a SİMİT. My findings were that, it did not matter. Nobody tried to kill me because I called the GEVREK a SİMİT, or vice versa. No one chase me with pitchforks and torches. I survived saying SIMIT when I felt 5-6 out of 10, and “Ehehehehe GEVREK be keranacı” when I felt 7-8 out of 10 …
Of course, this was until …
Until I went to the 100 years old Alsancak Gevrek Bakery and said “3 SİMİT LÜTFEN”.
He looked in my eyes, to my soul. I looked at him too. “DO YOU MEAN GEVREK?” He said softly.
I was able to say “yes”. “That is totally what I meant”
And I survived, once again.
...and #beer
