A moment of silence....

Today was yet another day of bureacracy, with me getting my residence permit at the police station. I waited a good three hours and finally paid my 135 lira and will pick up the packet tomorrow. Technically they are not supposed to charge people for residence permits (its an international fact), but the way they get around that is charging you 135 for the booklet that your residence permit comes in. Brillant! In any case i arrive back at the dorms a little tired and burnt out of being around people.

I'm sitting on the roof terrace listening to my ipod and playing around on my computer when a young Turkish student comes upstairs. I see him carrying the blind wand with him and he makes his way over towards me. Its deathly silent on the terrace excpet for the shrieking of gulls, the sound of ships horns, and the wind...its part of why i love the terrace. But i dont want to alarm the young man so i type loudly on my computer and clear my throat. He makes his way slowly over to my direction and i ask him if he would like a chair. He fumbles for the words and responds with repeating my word "chair". I jump up and pull one over for him, since the hordes of students passing through the terrace day to day tend to scatter the chairs. Anyway I pull one up for him and he sits in it. I sit across from him and start typing on my computer. He asks my name and i tell him, i ask his name and he replies. (names ommitted to protect the innocent). After a few awkward attempts at conversation we realize that i dont speak enough Turkish to communicate with him and he doesn't speak enough English to communicate with me.

At first i was stuck at this discovery, but it only worsened when i realized that since he was blind i couldn't even motion or use visual aid to him in order to get my point across. Even worse i had no internet access so i couldnt' directly translate on google! I didn't have my turkish english dictionary with me and he had nothing but his blind wand with him. We were suddenly two people stuck in a communication vaccuum.

What commenced was perhaps the best moment i have had in Turkey to date. The young man asked what i was studying and i tried to tell him "international studies" he didn't understand. "politics" he didn't understand. I started listing the European countries, "France, Germany, Spain" He understood "European studies?" I smiled and patted his hand so he could acknowledge my smile. I continued naming countries from around the world "Japan, America, Mexico." He smiled and nodded and patted my hand back, "World studies?" I said yes. I then proceeded to ask him about his studies but couldn't understand what he said other then "law".

He asked my age and i answerd "21". He gestured to himself, "me also." i asked him what year he was in school and he shook his head, not understanding. I drew four lines in his palm and retraced the fourth line, saying "fourth year." then i tapped his knee with two fingers "you?" He nodded and drew one line in my palm, "one year". I understood and let silence drift back over us.

The best connection came when i asked him about music. He immidiately understood what i meant and started listing off hip hop Turkish artists he liked. He lit up like a 100 watt bulb talking about music and how he played the organ and another Turkish instrument that i cannot pronounce. When he asked me what music i liked, he couldn't understand "Country music" so i turned on my itunes and started playing a few songs. We listened in silence for a few minutes and i tapped his hand since that signal had become synonymous with me smiling. He tapped my hand back and we continued to just listen to the music and all the little sounds. I noticed the traffic buzzing by on the busy streets below and the soft barking of dogs in far off neighborhoods, and i even noticed the sound of someone shaking the dust out of a rug on a balcony.

He tapped my leg, "i am leaving now, it was nice to have met you Jessi." Our hands akwardly bumped and he grasped my one in his two pressing our palms together in a friendly gesture. I used one of my few words of Turkish "gurusuruz." It means bye bye.

it was such a simple conversation but such a huge feat. Without technology, or a translator or even the benefit of a simple dictionary we were able to communicate in a language beyond words. There was nothing deep and meaningful said and we didn't discuss politics or come to an agreement on how best to solve the worlds most pressing issues but we communicated. and all without having very much in common at all, at least nothing in common that would help us communicate. I knew how to use sign language but he cannot see, he knew how to type in Turkish but i cannot read it.

Why cannot the world leaders be blindfolded, and others be muted and still others made to be deaf. Then they can be put in a room together and made to appreciate each other for their differences and learn to use those differences to build bridges. When you have to communicate but do not know how, you use your compassion, and you are more willing to compromise to reach the mutual goal. When that goal is something as simple as a conversation the effects still resonant in each individual...when that goal is something like World Hunger imagine the effects that could have!

That might be a little heavy, and a little bit of a dreamers perspective...but you have to start somewhere~

Ciao

Jessi