Emre: Yup. IВ thinkВ so.
Me: How many years left do you have?
Emre: AВ year. But Erasmus will be longer than expected.
Me: As for me, I’ve got to study another 1.5 years. Don’t give up. Follow your dream.
Emre: I’ll do my best. To be honest, I’m a little bit embarrassed about all this because you do many things, but I don’t do anything. If I can do something for you, tell me, please. I’ll do my best for my friend and teacher.
Me: Okay. Could you tell me about life inВ Turkey? Its customs? Habits?
Emre: What? What do you want toВ know about? Habits?
Me: Yes. Haha.
Emre: Bad ones or good ones?
Me: Everything. IВ want toВ know more about it. Because IВ know just aВ minimum.
Emre: First of all, I’ve never smoked. I don’t like to stay somewhere if someone has smoked there before. It’s not for me.
What? A non-smoker? This boy doesn’t smoke? Emre, you’re a rarity!
Me: But what’s life in Turkey like?
Emre: There are many people. I’ve lived in the capital of our country, Ankara, and Istanbul. Actually, most people care about money. As for the girls, most of the population here doesn’t accept working women.
Me: Oh, whyВ so?
Emre: For example, if a driver drives poorly, they’ll probably say, «Maybe, it’s a woman who’s driving now.»
Me: How impolite ofВ them!
Emre: But, inВ fact, women are more successful thanВ men.
Me: IВ see.
Emre: And if a girl commits a sin, her parents won’t accept her back. So, she doesn’t know what to do because her parents don’t want to know her.
Me: And whyВ so?
Emre: Because many families are rather conservative. It’s the East, you know. You can also marry when you turn 14. Oke, see you tomorrow.
Me: SeeВ you!
14В DecemberВ 2017
Me: Merhaba!
Emre: Privet[9 - Both the words, «merhaba’ and «privet’, mean «hello’, the former being Turkish, the second being Russian.].
Me: Privet!
Emre: Perhaps, IВ should say something. Yesterday, IВ told you many bad things about Turkey.
Me: That’s okay, actually. There’re many bad things in Russia as well.
Emre: InВ Turkey, there are also lots ofВ kind people. And other things.
Me: IВ know.
Emre: IВ just wanna sayВ it.
Me: Turkey is aВ marvelous country.
Emre: Yup. I think so, but sometimes, I don’t wanna live in Turkey because of the Turkish people who aren’t that open-minded.
Me: I know. I want to know about young girls and boys most. How do they behave in different situations? It’s all interesting! And then, I might tell you about Russia.
Emre: Yup, you can. Tbh, I wonder… Well, you don’t have to be kind to me. We’re online friends, and you’re like my teacher.
Me: I like to be kind to anyone! Because it’s the guarantee of friendliness.
Emre: Thank you, it’s oke. I understand.
Me: So, people inВ Russia always grudge about something.
Emre:В Why?
Me: I don’t know. And sometimes, the temperature falls down to minus 30 degrees!
Emre: Same here.
Me: Really?
Emre: Yup. Last time, I felt cold to the core! So, what will you do on Christmas? In Turkey, we don’t celebrate it.
Me: Here, people celebrate New Year on January 1
. And Christmas – on January 7
. So, now, you know such facts about Christmas here.
Emre:В Yup.
Me: So, when do you celebrate these holidays?
Emre: The last day ofВ December. On January 1
, we have aВ one-day vacation.
Me: And then? Do you study again?
Emre:В Yup.
Me: Here, people have aВ 10-day vacation. Including January 7
. And when do you have Christmas?
Emre: We don’t have Christmas.
Me: Oh. I see. Because of the religion. I’ve forgotten.
Emre: Yup. But IВ wanna see the celebration ofВ Noel or Christmas.
Me: Noël is celebrated in France. Christmas – in the rest of Europe. The USA. Etc.
Emre: Noel – Japan as well!
Me: NoГ«l is aВ French word.
Emre: Wow. You know aВ lot ofВ things, but IВ have toВ search for them.
Me: Haha. French is also my majoring.
Emre: Omg. Really?
Me: IВ study both English and French. Evet. Haha. And aВ bit ofВ Greek and Turkish.
Emre: Jamapel Emre. Lol. Or something like this.
Me: Je m’appelle Emre (my name is Emre).
Emre:В Yup.
Me: Yes =В Oui.
19В DecemberВ 2017
Emre: Hey! How’re you?
Me: I’m fine, thanks! Wbu?
Emre: IВ found aВ photo from my childhood.
Me: Haha, oh, really? And what did you look like?
Emre sent me a photo of him when he was a baby, which I’ve been keeping up to today. Although Emre got angry when I showed him the photo now… I’ll try to fix the things, so that he’ll be happy when I do it again.
Me: What aВ cute baby! IВ love children!
Emre: Thank you, but I’m not cute now. I lost all my being cute when I stopped being a child.
Me: I was a chute child too, haha, but, in all this mess, I’m unable to find the photo.
Emre: It’s oke. Don’t’ worry. I understand how you feel. Anyway, what do you do in your free time? If you don’t wanna get bored?
Me: Ah, IВ usually watch some series online. IВ read. And IВ help my family.
Emre: You’re a great daughter, then.
Me: 10q. Haha.
Emre: Don’t you ever hang out with your friends? It’s interesting.
Me: Not really. IВ have nowhere toВ hang out with my friends in. Or there are places with aВ bad reputation.
Emre: What is the last book you’ve read?
Me: It’s «The Moon and Sixpence’. By Willian Somerset Maugham.
Emre: IВ wanna get our conversation toВ quite aВ different level, much more difficult than now. And use more complex grammar.
Me: Why actually not? Good idea!
Emre: If we talk about specific subjects, I’ll get experience in new things. So, what’s the genre of the book? I mean, fantasy? Crime? Horror?
Me: Realistic.
