4/14/98: Slept in a bit on a rainy morning. At breakfast Ruth and I talked more with Simon, as well as Leroy and Toni. We gave Toni a small pocket New Testament that we had with us, and she genuinely appreciated it. After we spent the day touring Saint John’s Basilica with friend Olcay (my friend from Izmir), we had the most delightful evening in the dining room at Homeros Pension.
4/14/23: Guests at the pensione include people from France, Holland, Turkey, and the US. About a dozen guests, and if you include Dervish, his sister and her children, there were at least 15 people present in a 20×20 room, with Turkish style dining. We all sat on pillows on the floor, clustered in small groups of 3-4 people. It was cozy enough that the conversation was not limited to each table, but was popping like corn between everyone in the room. After another delicious meal, Ruth and I were reminiscing with Olcay about our folk-dancing group back in Evanston. Dervish and Oye were especially interested when we talked about the Turkish dances we did in that group.
Before long, Dervish broke out singing some Turkish folk song, and Olcay joined in. When they were done, I suggested to the whole group that we each share a song from our own respective countries or cultures. One woman from France sang a lilting melody. Dervish and Olçay sang another tune. Ruth sang a beautiful rendition of Aloha ʻOe. And I even squeaked out a slightly mixed-up version of “Thigpen’s Wedding” by Kemper Crabb, the song that I sang to Ruth at our wedding.
Sharing songs together, or for each other, seemed to infuse the air we were breathing with friendship. Since it all started with talking about dancing, I suggested we all get up and learn some Turkish folk dances. Dervish had an ample supply of Turkish folk music on tape, and Oye was quite obliging when it came time to teach us some steps. Before we realized it, we had been singing and dancing for about five hours. Breaking bread, singing and dancing together must be the easiest way to make friends, regardless of language barriers, culture, politics or religion. I still like to do that whenever I have the chance!
As I wrote this post for today, I found myself wishing that I had a 2023 smart phone available to me in 1998 so that I could have captured that evening to share with others. As it is, I did record the singing from that evening on a cassette recorder that I had brought with us on the trip. You can listen to a brief clip below.