Today is a down day.
Everyone should be allowed sometime space to dwell in their own thoughts, to review their life, to review their plans for the future.
Near to the office/school every Tuesday and Friday, there is held a very large market or bazaar. I had not been to this place in all my visits, and I needed to clear my head, relax, to think about the future, which directions should I follow.
I love markets, for here, you see life of the locals living a natural life, going about their daily routines.
Near Cuscu and Lake Titicaca, we were taken to a small town off the tourist trail on the market day. All the women wore the traditional dress, selling food, fresh vegetables, cloth and general goods.
Our tour members had been “on the road” touring and visiting various places as we traveled from Lima in the north to The Nazca Lines in the south, and we wore typical Western tourist clothes, cameras at the ready, but we were told categorically not to take any photographs, as this was not in and against the culture of the people.
As we wondered through the market, it was us the tourists who were out of place, the aliens, the locals looked at us as we were the odd ones, as if they had never seen Western people before.
I found it exciting to reach out to the people, to communicate with them without the spoken language, and yet be understood, as they wanted contact with me.
Language has never been a barrier, it is just that we misunderstand.
I admire the translators I have worked with, as I have no other language other than English, how do they do the translation? I in my small world cannot comprehend how one can think and process information in another language. Oh the poor education system in the UK when I was at school.
I understand the structure of the English language, but do not ask me about verbs, adverbs etc, I speak English naturally I am a native speaker, the structure is unconscious, implicit. Other languages are structured differently, the word sequence is different, and there are many different meanings for an English word in a foreign language.
We often get a participant who “speaks” or has knowledge of English, say that the translation is wrong, when I know that it is not as I have worked with the translator many times and know their work.
I walked around the local Kadikoy/Istanbul market/bazaar, watching the shoppers, the sellers or stall holders, watch the interaction. I observed the reaction of all, as I walked amongst them, for I look different I am told, I look British, I listen to the stall holders trying to attract my attention, first in Turkish, but getting no reply, trying in English.
Do I look that British?
The fruit and vegetable stall holders take pride in their displays, polishing the apples until they shine, cutting off the dead leaves from the cabbage, stacking the oranges and lemons like the walls of the many palaces that abound in Turkey straight and regimented.
Clothes, dresses, knitwear hang from ropes strung between the stalls, very Turkish styles, perhaps Islamic, yes there is a style that can be seen, not seen in the large shopping centres which cater for the fashion conscious, and seem to be more very Western. Many shops you would find on the British High Street you will find here, Marks and Spencer, Next, Debenhams, Top Shop, all are here.
I lost myself in the market for an hour, with the strong wind playing and pulling at the sheets of plastic they had strung up above the market, it was about to rain, not spending any money, not emptying my mind, but filling it with new experiences which will be used I am sure in future courses.
I still have no resolve to my thoughts.