July 9th- Anders

finishing a story i started in an earlier post:

Back in Istanbul-

on a tuesday, 2 days after meeting Emrullah we returned to him (a rug shop owner, aged 28 and a little chubby in the face, but not a chubby man, he was of average height, pigmented like a turk but he had a more round face, less like the sharp geometry that most turks utilize for facial design). We entered his small shop as he was finishing a sale with a Japanese woman he had met 6 years ago in a similar way that he met us, they have seen each other intermittently over the years and she has even stayed at his place for 5 months as a guest, she was buying several pillows that were thick with design. They concluded their time together, performed a turkish-japanese fusion farewell and she left as she smiled at us and said "good bye."

Emrullah softly clapped his hands, and looked at us pleased that he had recruited potential new friends, he had tea broght to us from someone that was with in hollering distance from his shops door step. After being served; rosehip for shelby, apple tea for me, and turkish tea for Emrullah, the door was closed and the air conditioning was blared, we sat down with Emrullahs eyes and smiling face fixated on us.

We spent an hour with Emrullah, we had come to get directions to where turkish people bought their textiles (we did go to this place later in the day but we were the only foreigners around and straight textiles were not to be found, with all the commotion and walking through these strange people filled alleys we left after winding down a couple of narrow blocks- i loved the out-of-place feeling and all the foreign sights and smells, but it was overwhelming for sure- we started to find our way out by taking a left somewhere, we sat down and had a snack while watching people watch us, we then took another left and ended up back in the grand bazaar where we knew the place to go to find good turkish textiles at a fair price, we bought about 12 meters for a price below what we would pay for regular cloth in the US), getting directions was not the only thing we were here for we ended up discovering, but time is nothing and Emrullahs friendliness was not empty or fake, later we were to learn it was at least one part strategic, yes he was to gain from us- monetarily, but cleanly, not in the dirty way that many turks used when intercepting us in our cobbled street walks, they sought our american made money, there is no shame in that but when they refuse to leave you alone it gets uncomfortable, but we got used to it after a couple of days and stopped resenting it and just played along in a friendly manner.

Many subjects were explored with Emrullah and a chronological recount of all topics is beyond me but there are some memorable subjects that i wish to recall.

There are blue, glass eyes that decorate turkey and they are sold all over, i once joked that i wouldnt put it past the turks to decorate their homes and shops with these eyes just so they can sell them to tourists. Emrullah said the glass eye is for good luck, some turks believe in the power of the glass eye, but Emrullah doesnt believe in luck from physical objects, he told us, only Allah has power. Emrullah was a good muslim- i say that people are good followers of organized religion if they follow the spiritual side of their religion and do not get too stuck on following any organization of thought. Emrullah spoke of spiritual principles and his adherence to them, he said "you too are obviously good followers of your religion," i had been waiting for this opportunity; here we have a muslim in his own culture and state, respectful of others and willing to speak openly, so i took this opportunity and said,"we are not christians, we have no religion, but we live as a religious person does, being dedicated to Love and sharing and caring for others, as you do," this surprised Emrullah but he approved and said "yes, you are good people, i can tell." I liked this surprise in Emrullah, and his acceptance of us, it was as if we were the first non-religious people he had met that care for others as he does, it may have even expanded his concept of what religion is, we even taught him a new word- "spirituality."

Emrullah wants to open a shop in Seattle and wants a wealthy life, a friend has already done this and come back showing his wealth humbly, Emrullah still seeks an honest and consciencious life, but for a country of non-wealthy people, money is something to seek with fervor. In talking about customers Emrullah tells us he likes the humble rich man, entering his store without pomp and still looking for the finest turkish rugs- each rug is a story, a persons life, each pixel on a rug is knot tied by two hands, no machine and all dedicated human intent, each rug is the doing of a person, taking weeks for smaller ones and months for larger more complex ones with the rug maker focusing on one rug to earn enough to live, marry, educate, or pay for a place to live (one turkish friend told us a couple of jokes- what do you call a turk sitting on a shithouse?: a home owner. 2nd joke- what do you call a turk sitting on two shithouses?: a real estate agent. (many turks live in small rooms or apartments and often they are located in the place they do business, many live in regular apartments too.))

Emrullah wants to sell an experience, a connection, a feeling and doesnt want to deal with "dead" purchasers, but he does and does so only in person as he refuses to sell on-line and in effect refusing easy money. When an unconscious pomp purchaser does walk into his store and they ask to be told or prices they hear 2 to 5 times the price that a humble rich man would hear, and Emrullah saya "what?, you can afford it, you say you are staying in the 4 seasons, this rug is the same as a couple of nights there," Emrullah laughs as he gets up from his stool and walks around his bedroom size shop holding his arms daintily, impersonating on such cocky customer, he prances around and says in a play voice "how much is this one?," "10,000 I say to them, but to another I sell for 2,000 (prices in turkish lira)."

The shop is decorated with his rugs, an earthly red dominates the room, large rugs hang on the wall, smaller ones are rolled up and are lined up, standing on their spiraled feet, stacks of pillow covers and smaller rugs too small to roll up follow the walls with the other rolled pieces, the floor is wooden, clean, and open in the middle taking up most of the shop for showing product.

The AC is still blaring 30 minutes after our arrival and i am not caring about time or anything outside, we continue talking of people and their ways in turkey and in the US, mean people here, mean people there, and nice people everywhere, character is the decision of the individual, no country has one sort of people, turks are not this and americans are not that, these are old ideas that we shatter with our daily conversations and experiences.

Our conversing is slow and comfortable, Emrullahs english is good but words like "environment" need to be explained to tell of the education I received in the US before traveling to Turkey, we trot along in my native language ambling through subjects, all 3 of us are happy to have met someone from a drastically different culture that is as nice as we individually strive to be.

After the tea is well past drank and Shelby and I have been shown on a map where the non-Grand Bazaar textiles can be bought Emrullah says nervously "ok, before you go, i take some of your money," he said it in an upbeat tone anxious for our response and nervous that it will not go over well with us, he was a nice man but a hungry turk nonetheless, i needed to buy something for my mom and after a moments hesitation i decided that this would be where that purchase would occur. "A rug maybe," says Emrullah but Shelby responds "no," for a rug is too expensive and she had just worked as a rug weaver for a year and a half, a fact that Emrullah was uninterested in. Emrullah then showed us some table adornments and pillow covers, we were not wanting pillow covers, we wanted something more original and the table cloths looked amazing, like the rugs flushed on his walls, i asked the price, "normally 150, but for you 110," "Dollars?" i asked, "no, Lira" (110 TL = 67 US dollars) said Emrullah and my eyes grew, this was a good price for a tourist and i was looking at pure turkish beauty at my feet. Shelby has the artistic eye and since no haggling was needed i let her examine and search and feel and look for something perfect to bring home for my mother. After looking at several pieces a vibrant red with a simple, elegant peacock feather design was chosen and i smiled as Emrullah packaged it up with movements well familiar to him.

I tried to hand Emrullah plastic as payment, he looked dejected as he saw his small profit margin for this purchase dissipate , he wanted us to pay with cash, and after an awkward minute i inquired into the problem with my card. After hearing that he wanted to avoid credit card fees i told him to just charge me 130TL for the piece, he said "120" (80 US dollars) and i smiled and he swiped and i signed.

We had a warm farewell with Emrullah and began sweating again as we walked toward our guided destination to buy Turkish textiles in the Turkish summer heat.