Category: life lessons

Tipping in Turkiye

M's Adventures
The bill at the liver place.

With the tipping percentage near 25 percent in the United States, one might wonder how much to tip in Turkiye. It is definitely not 25 percent. Actually, you do not have to tip at all. If you do, then you can tip up to the round number or ten percent. But if you do not tip, no one will run after you and scold you for not tipping.

Tipping is primarily only done at restaurants that are sit down. Many places will have a tip jar (written in English) to make it clear to foreigners that they appreciate tips. Most places will be happy if you tip, but again, you do not need to. If you are at a restaurant and want to tip, make sure to put the tip (cash only) in the tip box or the folder that held the bill or check. Or hand straight to the person you want to tip. You cannot tip on a credit card.

Other places where one can tip is at other service places such as salons. I leave a small tip under the bottles for the water delivery person (20 Lira for carrying three 19-liter bottles which cost three dollars per bottle = 50 cent tip for carrying three 42-pound bottles). Most people do not tip the water guy. (I use an app to order water and I can use my credit card to pay for it.)

The water delivery guy.

I keep looking for a “service fee” being added to bills but I have not seen it yet, even when there were more than six of us at the table.

Meals in Adana have cost me between 340 to 2,600 Turkish Lira ($8 to $63) for one person. The average monthly salary in Turkiye per month is 35,000 TRY ($909).

While tipping might seem like an extra “thank you” for good service, but for some, it is their entire salary.

Turkish 102

M's Adventures
The fries at Barks are the crispiest I’ve had in Adana.

I was trying to learn how to ask for my fries to be fried crispy and crunchy, and accidentally learned a slang word.

Citar (Che-ter): Crispy as in how I like my fries. Apparently also slang for a hot young thang. But for fries, I was told to ask for “citar citar olsun” and it worked.

Fries are a normal part of any “khavalti” — Turkish breakfast. To the left is menemen, a shakshouka-like egg dish.

I also learned that “mashallah” which is used joyfully as “god willing” is also slang for “fat.”

Who Will Rid Me of This Fly?

M's Adventures

I like Adana. I like living in Adana. And the flies in Adana like me. The moment I step outside, the fly is dive bombing straight at the corner of my mouth. (I now see why ladies of olden times wore gauze around their heads.) When we go out to eat if outdoors (and sometimes indoors), there will be a fly that will start to buzz around our food and our heads.

If you recall, I carried mosquito rackets with me in Dhaka. While I have yet to see a mosquito here in Adana, I decided that I needed a fly racket to defend myself and my khavalti (Turkish breakfast) from the flies. I bought an electrified fly racket at Koctas (like Home Depot), the home goods store. It didn’t seem to work. Maybe because it was too small and cute. I bought another.

But, more than that, I had seen that one of the bakeries used a table fly fan to keep the flies off their baked goods. I went hunting for it. The electronic stores did not have it. The home goods store did not have it. No one had it. I had to buy it on Trendyol, an online shopping site, and when I got it, I went on another adventures to find D3 batteries. It turns out that one can use two AA batteries instead. I was in the store and when the employees helped me with finding the batteries that worked, they seemed a bit disappointed for me that the fan was not going fast. I used Google translate to explain that this was not a fan to keep me cool but a fan to keep the flies off my food.

I don’t think they believed me.

A note about online shopping. The first couple of items that I bought online, the delivery person called to get the verification code, then hunted me down to hand deliver to me. A third item required me to go to the post office for retrieval. Now, Trendyol is growing accustomed to me and they just hand the items to my doorman. I am not endorsing Trendyol but if you use them through the internet, the site will get translated and that makes shopping easier. If you don’t speak Turkish.

Groseri Shopping in Adana

M's Adventures
Some people do load up their bikes when they shop.

Grocery shopping in Adana can be done at Groseri, a large chain. Easy to remember. Bu that is not the only place to shop. There are different levels of fanciness in grocery chains and the level of foreign food products also depends on how expensive and fancy the chain is… Here they are from highest in price to lowest.

Macrocenter and Kiosks is the fanciest and has the most Whole Foods or fancier vibe. There is one main store and lots of smaller kiosks. I find the kiosks are more like liquor stores with drunk food and drink. Owned by Migros.

Macrocenter has a Dean § DeLuca feel.

Metro is a Costco type store for restauranteurs. They have all that you need to open a sushi and maki place. Sushi is the rage in Turkiye. You have to sign up for a membership but it’s free and fairly easy to get the first time you go to the store. The store is a cavernous warehouse like most Costcos and you can buy glasses, furniture, etc. plus food.

Metro Center has a warehouse feel.

Groseri is probably my favorite chain. They have some interesting imported items, they make fresh food at the deli, and often there is a lady making fresh cig kofte which are vegetarian meat “balls”.

Carrefour is a French chain. The store in the M1 mall is huge while most of the neighborhood stores are average size. Imports from France include butter and other items that the Turks enjoy.

Migros is your average grocery store. They are a Swiss chain.

BIM is the largest retail grocery store chain in Turkiye. The stores are not always huge but they are like Aldi or Lidl in style. The middle aisle can have treasures or an air fryer.

BIM and most other places sell unmentionables.

A101 is a discount grocery store chain often found along with BIM in mixed income regions of town.

Migros Jet is also owned by Migros and is a discount chain.

Şok is also owned by Migros and is even more discount.

There are also open air markets and street vendors if you want to avoid grocery stores.

Tea Always

M's Adventures
The most common shape and size of teacup.

Every meal will end in tea, or “çay” (chai). It might even start with tea, if it’s breakfast, but it will always end with tea. Turkiye is the highest consumer of tea. It is customary to offer tea — always.

You can try to say no, but you will still get it. It’s like water in the United States. I have already grown accustomed to it. I still can’t hold the cup which is HOT. But, I do like the tea. I take it with one cube of sugar.

Tea is a serious shopping item.
As is sugar…

There is an art to tea. I’ll write more about that later as I learn more. But what I have learned is not to drink it straight up. Dilute with the hot water which is always part of the tea setup. I didn’t know this and was drinking tea that was darker than American coffee…

The double pot.

Learn from my mistake… dilute!

Bread Gives Life

M's Adventures

If you wander around Adana (probably elsewhere as well), you’ll notice bags of bread hanging places at convenient height. These are for the taking by those who need food. After all, bread is life.

But the shoes…

What to Wear in Adana

M's Adventures
Seen in Adana.

Whatever you want. This city is fairly relaxed about what people wear, be it shorts and tank tops, or fully covered.

I had heard that Adana was a “hot” city and maybe that’s why I see so many people in shorts and t-shirts.

This was a film crew down from Istanbul, but their clothes are typical of Adana.

Adana is sort of overlooked so people are left to do what they want and wear what they want.

And the locals are also warm and friendly like the weather. Except in traffic.

Melon Season

M's Adventures

There seem to be three types of melons here including watermelon. The other two look like honeydew or cantaloupe. That’s what they taste like too.

But the melons are enormous. Maybe because Adana sits in a fertile agricultural area. The melon season is September. Then the plums start arriving. And nectarines hard and crisp.

Turkish 101

M's Adventures

The first thing one has to get used to is the ‘c’ is a ‘j’ as in “Can” is “Jan” or “Jon” — or as in Jif. Then, there are those tails on some of the letters. That makes is an es sound.

The C sound make this product, “Jif”

Speaking of es sounds, the word for water is “su” but it’s a fast su and not “sooo” — that is broth or “suyu”… I think that’s what I was told. The soup in the photo below is a chicken soup, or “çorba” (say “shor-ba”) with spicy oil and lemon.

Rice and chicken soup with spicy oil.

Much of the food here involves lemon/lime so you can add a fresh zest to every bite. Another thing about the limes and lemons here is that they are a mix of the two but not as sour.

The Great Things About Living in Washington, DC

M's Adventures

I always try to share some of the great things about living wherever I live. This is my list of great things about life in the Washington, DC, area. (I will write about some of the “realities” of life in DC).

The historical sites: There is so much history here that one can visit for free. Most of the museums are free. There is a lot of history here even if it is not as old as in Rome.

Georgetown and Old Town Alexandria: These two small towns are part of the bigger town but they are old (for America) and were some of the first towns built in this area. They both retain that old time feel.

The national parks: So many of the parks are free.

The nature: So much greenery and nature available. There are trees everywhere.

Free things: Like the concerts at the Kennedy Center. There are many free events and that is a nice thing.

Transportation: Most cities in the United States do not have good public transportation. Washington has a metro system that is a combination of the subway and buses. It works (although slowly at times). Also, with Uber, Lyft, and Empower, it’s easy to get around without your own car. With three airports serving this city, it is easy to get a flight. National Airport is on the subway system (metro) and it is quite close to the downtown. Dulles is on the metro as well.

The immigrants: This area has some decent Ethiopian, Korean, Salvadoran, and Vietnamese food thanks to the immigrants from these countries.

The Internet: Decent speed and steady (most of the time).

Delivery: One can get almost anything delivered to one’s door.

The electricity: Same thing. Steady. Most of the time.

The water: It’s potable and most of it tastes okay.

The language: English is spoken by almost everyone.

“Say Jacques” It’s Hot!

M's Adventures
20 degrees above average?

When I told people I was moving to Adana, Turkiye, everyone told me that it’s hot in Adana. It was a 109 F (43 C) the other day. That is “sicak” in Turkish. Because the “c” in Turkish is a “je” sound like in “John” saying “it’s hot” sounds like “Say Jacques” (no es sound like in Jacques Pepin). So now I’ve learned that Turkish phrase.

My Turkish colleagues tell me that Adana is so hot that sometimes the locals will shoot at the sun… and in 2023 (when it was even hotter), some shopkeepers celebrated the inventor of the air conditioner. See the YouTube video here. Luckily, there is lots of air conditioning. But it makes exploring the city something that has to be done really early in the morning, or later in the year.

Chasing watermelons.

It is melon season so it is easy to keep up one’s electrolytes. Here they like to eat watermelon with white cheese, “beyaz peynir” (like feta but they don’t call it that here).

I had planned not to go outside for four months during the hot season, but with my linen scarf and sun hat, I actually do venture out. From air conditioning to air conditioning. After all, I lived in Dhaka, Rome, and Washington, DC, three other cities that get very hot. The difference is that Dhaka is hot for about ten months and it is humid.

Adana’s hot months are June-September. I arrived in the middle of the hellishly hot weather. It can only get cooler, right?

Free Shows at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

M's Adventures

Maybe it’s one of those things that everyone knows about, but it bears repeating. The Kennedy Center has free shows (reserve a ticket online) Wednesday through Saturday at 6 pm at their Millennium Stage. The schedule is at this link. That is the long area out in the waiting area by the giant head of John F. Kennedy.

The shows are also livestreamed.