Benign Appreciation

 

Benign Appreciation
By: Dustin Sherman

To be one
With you.
To mask the apprehension
Would bring injustice to a
Mortal standstill.

Cessation would be the norm,
but to what cessation is a norm, an annual?
Or like a perennial that ideally brings rebirth;
life every full moon,
blooms alike?

Light has been brought to the
horizon.
The beams so bright,
blinding, but yet,
clarifying.

Clarification, an explanation of the seed
that lay dormant before budding.
Necessary? Words entangle the mind to halt the interpretation
sought.
Deeper.

Deeper you go.
Straying from your median.
A risk weighs on you,
for is this it? Your last goodbye,
or your next hello?

I digress.
Mortal standstill…
Is immortality a discussion for the inscrutable?
The benevolent?
The kindhearted?

Immortality of love and its
capability to cultivate startles the ones
previously broken from
anguish and misery by
love.

Does this give reason to hinder the
abundant
chances to be blissful and jovial?
To question life is to be mortal,
with immortal hopes of love.

Life has genius to send cessation or fulfillment
of the senses.
Your choice is like the road less taken.
To be or not to
be?

To have ecstasy in your heart, you deflate the
barriers;
barriers set up from previous battles amongst the
phenomenon we exclaim as
love.

Holler, beckon, shout, appeal to the ideal, while placing emphasis
on the entities that guide your gladness.
Walk steady with risk, that maybe,
this may become an immortal, heartfelt, deep
entity.

The closure or the prelude.

Thoughts Unwound (Poem)

Thoughts Unwound
By: Dustin Sherman

Lost in a dream, 
a nightmare, a fairytale. 
The dream is so uneven, 
bouncing forth and back. 

This piece of parchment lay, 
the dreams and arrangements 
you have lay out for me. 
Should I follow? 

Follow into pure struggle, 
Drip into pure and unexplainable love. 
For what is this, 
the love story we have? 

Emotions, they fly, 
they grasp and release. 
Why the waterfall of, 
one single event? 

Lyrics break with music, 
The tempo raging and then, 
slowing to its interlude, 
never to be a finale. 

For finale is not a word, 
in our language, 
there shall only be one word, 
evermore. 

Evermore, that smile that shines, 
Gradual frowns, with the return of hope. 
Passion seeps from every movement of our 
voices. 

Our declaration yet to be heard, 
for it is yet in its draft 
form. To be faultless, we shall 
stand solid. 

Pain we have created, 
we shall overcome, 
and we shall encompass 
contentment. 

Crazy, 
What a word to define, 
the time of reflection, 
the desire needed. 

The green grass on 
the other side? 
There is not such a thing, the grass 
it is unanimous. 

Clenching our hands, 
never to let 
go, we have educated these hands, 
they cannot go untaught. 

Dreams to inspire, 
the wishful people. 
Wishes, burning to come 
true. 

Let us dine in 
understanding. 
Where our thoughts and minds think, 
as one. 

Remember our past, 
exist in our future. 
Do not be fearful, we will pace this moment 
collectively.

You Know You're In America When:

• Everyone owns iPhone rather than blackberry
• The roads are wide and long
• You know your rights and use them extensively
• There are over 5 rows of books on weight loss and mental health, but people are still overweight and crazy
• There is next to no one walking on the sidewalks
• Everyone fights for the front row parking spot (Sometimes circling the parking lot several times)
• There is nothing open passed 9 on weekdays and 2 on weekends
• There are drive-thru restaurants at every corner
• America has 70% of the world’s lawyers/legal professions (There are law-suits for everything)
• On Memorial Day, 4^th of July, and Labor Day must be properly honored with a barbecue or grill-out. MUST!
• Students carry book bags and laptops to class
• You talk about international travel and they respond with "I'm part Irish, German and Italian."
• You enjoy house parties as much as going out
• Language embraces only the good feelings, a type of political correctness. (They are not fat, they are “Person of size”. They are not blind, they are “seeing-impaired”)
• People take with them the food that they did not eat in "To go bags"
• You go to a theme park and see fanny-packs galore (Typical American tourist identity)
• There are only self-service gas stations (Yes. You have to wash your own windows)
• There are water fountains everywhere (FREE drinkable water)
• There are police cars everywhere and are sneaky (They are experts at speed traps & writing tickets/fines)
• The commercials take as much time as the actual show
• You wake up far before 8AM for school
• To be a man, you must become an American football player or play some kind of "manly sport"
• Everyone in class bring their laptops
• Every licensed driver has at least 1 car
• People talk about their personal religion out loud
• There are yard decorations/ornaments (Deer. that make you slam on your brakes)
• Any noun can be turned into a verb and you can make up words daily
• Laws can change drastically between towns, cities, and states
• There are dollar stores everywhere (Everything in the store is $1 plus tax)
• Clubs/bars start getting busy around 11-12 and end at 2AM
• Only about 30% of the population owns passports
• Winning is the central idea to the American spirit
• Everything is thought of in terms of money. EVERYTHING!
• Anyone who is jobless is thought to be a non-person
• The Superbowl is the most important event in the universe (Millions of dollars spent on commercials, but yet we have economy problems)
• You can walk five minutes to your destination, but would rather drive to save time and energy
• The Americans think that the world would not survive without their existence.
• On St. Patrick’s everyone becomes Irish and wears green
• There is a tool/machine/gadget to do anything you want (God forbid doing anything manually)
• Everything comes with a warning label of some sort (Cups, gadgets, food, EVERYTHING)
• Children are raised to be independent
• It is considered rude to tell a joke that enables any social, ethnic, sexual, religious or racial stereotype
• Our most distinctive traits are –religious extremism, paranoia, greed, and boastfulness (Oops!)
• The typical quick breakfast is either cereal or pop-tarts
• People get confused using the metric system
• You know everything you put in your mouth will be bad for you, but that’s your only option. (Be prepared to gain weight. No one ever escapes it!)
• If it didn’t happen on the news, it didn’t happen at all
• There is reliable public transportation only in larger cities like New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles

This post was not meant to offend my any means. Just some observations I have taken note of since arriving from Turkey 2 months ago. Hope you enjoyed a good reality check of American culture. :-)

Note: I do not own the copyrights to these photos

101 Things I Will Miss About Turkey

I have been in Turkey for nearly one and a half years. Here is a shortened list of the things I will be missing!! I linked some of these with a few of my past posts, if you want to read/browse and learn some more! :D

1. Izmir
2. Turkish Coffee
3. Hadise
4. Turkish Airlines
5. Nargile (Hookah)
6. Skiing In Uludag
7. Bayram
8. Yaprak Sarmasi
9. Manti
10. Turkish Language
11. Taxi Dolmus
12. Recis
13. Alsancak Night life
14. Cheap Travel
15. Bios Rock Bar
16. Movie Nights
17. O Ses Turkiye
18. Bazaar
19. Sahika / / "Avrupa Yakisi"
20. Gulsen
21. School Friends
22. Bufe & Pastavilla (School Lunch Time)
23. Turkish Hand Gestures
24. Turkish Superstitions
25. Bar Street
26. Cesme (The sea has 4 tones of blue)
27. Foca
28. Raki Balik (Fish and Traditional Turkish Liquor)
29. Brick Roads
30. Crazy Turkish Drivers
31. Istanbul
32. Tavla (Backgammon)
33. Taksim
34. Ferry Boat
35. Simit (Turkish Bread)
36. Fresh Tomatoes
37. Delivery Service for every and any food vendor
38. Cheap Cell phone bill (15$/Month, unlimited everything)
39. Mesir Macunu Paste
40. Sushi Sundays
41. Late Night Cafes
42. Trivial Pursuit
43. Scrabble
44. Smoking Area at School (Everyone's hang out spot)
45. Last minute decisions
46. Trip to Istanbul for one night
47. Turkish Coffee Fortune
48. Throwing your arms up like you are flying and snapping during an oriental song
49. Team Hadise
50. Birthday Celebrations
51. Hidirellez
52. Soda Water
53. Karisik Ayvalik Tost
54. The Belief in the Turkish Eye
55. Twitter Parties! :P
56. The Eyzan (The call to prayer)
57. The Sunset from my home
58. The Turkish Barber Shop
59. Turkish Shave
60. Hospitality
61. The Sea
62. Water Sports in Marmaris
63. Sun Bathing
64. Turkish Tea
65. The Markets
66. Driving in Craziness
67. Showing Chest Hair! ;)
68. The Exchange Rate (More for your money)
69. English in a Turkish accent
70. Walking on the sea side on a bad day
71. Mavisehir (The district I live in)
72. Karsiyaka, Always better than Goztepe! ;)
73. Yasar University's International Office Staff (Love Them!)
74. Marmaris
75. Deciding to go out at 2AM
76. Efes (Turkey's Fresh Beer)
77. Taking off your shoes as entering the house
78. Kissing each other on the cheek
79. No Homework
80. The way a Turkish will tell you if you look tired, bad, or fat.
81. Karaoke Sessions in the Kitchen with Burak
82. Drinking Tomato Soup at Kircicegi after every clubbing night! (Tradition for Turks)
83. The Belief in Energies
84. Baklava
85. Open-Mindedness of my friends
86. The Love of Ataturk
87. The Confusing Mapping of the City Streets
88. Turkish Proverbs
89. Hanging your clothes to dry
90. Hamams (Turkish Baths)
91. Turkish Concerts
92. Learning something new every single day
93. Sunshine at least 300 days out of the year
94. The weekly cleaning lady
95. Turkish Rice
96. Our pet rabbit, Noel
97. Virgin Mary's home / Ephesus / Syrince "Wine Tasting Village" (All one tour)
98. My AMAZING host family
99. Iskender Kebab
100. Not drinking from the faucet but water dispensers
101. Turkish Flag and its Colors

Going To The Movie Theater In Turkey

What does everyone do when they are bored and not tired? What do you do when you want to go out, but also don't want to get to crazy, or spend too much money? What do you do for just enough entertainment? I say go to the movies! Yup. Go to the movies, grab your popcorn, choose the best seat and enjoy. How does the movie theaters differ in Turkey compared with America?

America:
You buy you ticket which is around $8.00, depending on where you go. Then comes the deal breaker, refreshments. You will spend a minimum of 5$ for a drink and 5$ for a popcorn. If you get the super size popcorn or drink, you can get a "free" refill (Sharing with friends is the best way if you want/need refreshments). Then you carry your super sized everything, trying not to drop even a cent worth of popcorn to the huge dark cinema. You find the seat appropriate enough to view the entire film with the most viewing pleasure. The movie ends, and you rush to the bathroom, after drinking your extra-large beverage.

Turkey:
To start off, Turkey is one of the quickest countries in Europe to offer an American/popular movie. They can usually offer the major movies on the same release date as its original. I must say that going to the movies is one of my favorite simple pleasures in Turkey. To be specific, going to midnight movies is the best pleasure. So after an evening at the cafe, playing backgammon and drinking Turkish Coffee, everyone gets in the car and drives to the nearest cinema.

Like America, they have matinee, student, and adult prices. For a student, at midnight, is 11TL (About 7$). A major difference in Turkey, is that you have to select your seats on the ticket before entering. Now while this is not a problem while going to a midnight movie it poses problems other times. For example, One time we were going to Harry Potter in Marmaris in the middle of the day. We chose our seats and were stuck by some younger kids that kept screaming for Harry Potter. Let it be known, we went again later to actually enjoy the film.

While America likes to rip every cent out of your pockets and the food and beverage stand, Turkey is quite reasonable. You can get a menu of different offerings or order single items.  My typical treat is a menu with a medium popcorn(small in America), a can of sprite, and a bottle of water; all for only 8TL(5-6$). When I first arrived in Turkey they did not have those huge buckets of popcorn, but within the past 6 months, Turkey has adopted some American style and started offering large buckets, but the downfall for you popcorn lovers, no refills, unless you can sweet talk the server.

They still offer 10-15 minutes of non-stop commercials in the beginning of the movies, then the standard trailers for other upcoming movies. So, like America, you can make it to the actual film even if you are 15 minutes late. Americans, you know that feeling, it's half way through the movie and you have to run to the bathroom; however, you never know when is a good time to make the race so as to not miss any good parts. Well in Turkey, they offer a nice treat called a "break." That's right, at some point in the middle of the film they will stop it for about 5-10 minutes so you can use the restroom or get more treats. If you are like us "midnighters," you can just tell them to continue the movie.

Many countries are different in this next subject, subtitles and/or dubbing(dublaj). In Turkey, American movies are shown as original, with subtitles in Turkish at the bottom of the screen. Very few movies, like Harry Potter are offered dubbed.

In the end, it is much more pleasurable on your wallet, bladder, and viewing to watch a movie in Turkey! If you make a trip to Turkey, I recommend taking a late evening trip to the local theater and experience even this simple foreign difference.