13/10 (Fri)

13/10 (Fri)

I didn’t have class today. Senem, Franc, Carlos, I went to downtown for a kebab. Franc, who is a Spanish boy, found this shop first. When he told us on Tuesday, we decided to go to this shop. Senem is a smart and beautiful girl from Turkey. I saw a at first time in the coffee and cake time in summer. My first impression was she looks like a scholar and can speaks very fluent English. It can be proved that she really studies very hard, but unlike other hard-studying student, you can have a good chat with her. When you talk to her, you can feel very easy and just like talk to an old friend. You don’t feel any stress and try to find any topic because you always have something to talk, from study to cooking. Always have a good time. Actually she is the first Islamic girl I met, I was very surprised by her hospitable and talkative personality. That is not my stereotype for an Islamic people. (There is also a Turkish boy called Volkam. He is also friendly.) Maybe I know too few of Islamic culture, only the news from CNN or BBC, but they are all western media corporate. Maybe there is some bias from truly Islamic culture. Once Senem told me if I go to Istanbul, I can hear singers singing some recitation from different mosques at the early morning, and it is so peaceful and beautiful. You feel no nerves, no violence and no anxiety, only happiness and joy. What a beautiful thing it is! It is definitely not a violent, brutal, and human less culture. We have too many biases toward Islamic culture. We know it too less (only kebab I know in Taiwan). I want to know more about it if I have a chance. Another important culture shock today, Carlos, who is another kind Spanish boy, told me their black 13th, Friday is not on Friday but on 13th Tuesday, and he though all Latin people is on Tuesday, not Friday. It’s really funny to me because why they have different day. Someday I am going to find it.