Breakfast with the Turks

Late last month we got some new neighbors, a Turkish policeman and his wife. This young couple just arrived to serve a one-year stint with the International Police. Suat serves with the police in a village outside of town and his mother and father were staying for a few days to check out their son’s new digs. On Wednesday they invited us for breakfast, which was a real treat. They sat us down to a table overflowing with eggs, sliced tomatoes, different varieties of olives, sausage, jam, and, of course, tea. They are a fairly traditional Turkish family and Suat’s wife and mother were both dressed traditionally with covered heads. What a sweet family.

It was fascinating to sit and talk about Kosova and all the commonalities between the Kosovo and Turkey. We sat around and drank tea served in the same type of cup, made in the same type of tea pot with the same kind of tea leaves. We ate breakfast at the traditional time in both countries and talked about words common in both languages. I am still amazed by the stamp the Ottoman empire left on this region. I’m still amazed how tightly the Albanians hold on to traditions brought to them by the Turks.

I thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast with my new neighbors. I love being reminded of the commonalities of all people. Parents are proud of their children, men and women fall in love and want to start families. Newlyweds think about their children’s future before they are even born. Regardless of our religions, our politics or ethnicity, God has built more similarity into us than dissimilarity. To a Christian, no one is really a foreigner, for they all bear God’s image as a creator, a builder and a protector.