Phillip and Rebecca Mefford

Vak Vak Vak You thought Old MacDonald had a busy farm—it turns out he has a fellow farming buddy in Turkey, the beloved Ali Baba. With a twist on the melody, the Turkish version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm plays out almost identically, introducing the farmer then ushering in the animals, then moo, neigh, or meowing your way through their respective animal sounds. In fact, the spouting of animal sounds is the most fun part—and the most linguistically intriguing. What we thought was the universal “quack” of a duck—after all, animal sounds are onomatopoeia’s right?—is actually a dialectal distinction! So while an American duck says “quack,” a Turkish duck says “vaak,” and where an American dog says “woof woof,” a Turkish dog says, “hav hav,” or take an American frog who says, “ribbit,” his Turkish counterpart says “virak.” Some animal sounds are more similar, others are different, but it’s all good fun when put in a children’s song. Ali Baba’nın bir çiftliği var Çiftliğinde hor

Our "salon," ready for hosting, dining, lounging, watching movies, or just gazing at our fish. The salon is the equivalent of ‘sitting rooms.’ In other words, that room that is the most spacious, the most elegantly decorated, and least utilized of the house, reserved for the most honorable guests and the most special of occasions. The oturma odasi, in contrast, is the living room where the family and friends hang out, watch t.v., and relax on comfortable if less presentable couches. Most Turkish families feel it is a very high priority to have both of these spaces, even if it means, say, an elementary school boy must share a room with his teenage sister. Most women take part in a group of other women who get together monthly for a g ün , literally a day, or tea party. The group usually has a common bond such as people who went to highschool together or women who attend the same Kuran-reading group. The g ün rotates, each woman having the opportunity to host. This is