Turkish Time

          Sometimes when I'm talking with my friends here, I'll mention something about how busy I always was in the U.S. and I'll end up describing a normal day in the life of an average American teenager, or something like it. And as I go through my list -school, sports, dinner, homework, sleep- I realize just how structured my time always was and how little variety there was in my life. Monday through Friday, my days looked exactly the same and every weekend, I did basically the same thing. 

          But that is just how American culture is. So much emphasis is placed on doing tons of activities and always keeping busy, that my repetitive life suited me just fine. And I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I was perfectly content with my schedule, with always being able to count on what was going to happen and when. 

          But when I came to Turkey, my whole scheduled life went up in flames. Suddenly I was faced with days and days of free, empty space for me to do whatever I wanted with. I could go home after school and sleep. I could go to a cafe and spend a few hours there. I could go walk around my neighborhood for a few hours and take in the sunshine. I was given all this time to do whatever I wanted with. And sometimes I miss my schedules so much, because I had structure whereas now I often find myself just floating with no real purpose. 

          But I also think that's really beautiful. That I can go out and wander with no destination or time frame in mind. That I can sit a cafe for hours talking and not have to rush out to make it to the next place I need to be. I can just relax. And that's how Turkish time works. It says you don't need to plan out every minute of your day. You can just let life take you where it will with no time limits and no stress. 

          And my favorite part of Turkish time is the spontaneity in it. My plans were made days and weeks in advance at home but here they are made twenty minutes ahead and that's totally normal. My family can say, "Do you want to go the beach for the day?" and we will be on the road within minutes. It feels so nice to just go and do something without planning out every little detail. 

          While Turkish time can be a bit stressful as plans are made ten minutes ahead of time and I am left to fill hours of my time every day, it also gives me the ability to relax so much more than when I was in the U.S. And I truly love it. I wish we could be a little more spontaneous and a little less stressed in our daily lives at home. 

          Who knows if I will be able to retain some of my carefree attitude surrounding time after my return, but I hope it doesn't disappear completely. I have been able to relax so much because of this and I have figured out some of the things that make me truly happy when I was able to slow down and just look around. 

           I think we could all use a little more Turkish time in our lives. Try it sometime. I bet you will enjoy it.