Expats aren’t just Americans, but this post is definitely geared more towards our American readers who want to learn more about other American expats abroad. Maybe Turkey isn’t your fav (we are terribly saddened by this). YoungAmericanExpat website is the place to find out where other expats love to live and work!
I have mentioned before that an expat in another country means you have a unique perspective. Websites like YoungAmericanExpat help others gain knowledge about how other Americans live their expat life. Each country is different and each person’s story about how they got there is too. This website will be an eventually be an encyclopedia of expats bloggers and expat resources for all future expat!
Check out their short video explaining who they are:
Recently, we were asked to shared our website via a profile at YoungAmericanExpat website. Our interview for this website was less about the specific of Turkey and our life, and more general information about who we are, where we live, and how we work as expats. If you are more curious about our daily life and culture, definitely check out our FunkTravels Podcast. Episode032 and Episode033 we spent answering Q&As from our listeners.
Kina Gecesi and Gelin Alma are unique traditions for Turkish weddings. I not-so secretly wish we had the Gelin Alma ‘Fetching of the Bride’ tradition in the states! But alas, I am married and don’t really want to repeat any of that! Moving on to part 3 of our Turkish wedding series, we finally arrive at the actual marriage signing ceremony, also know as Nikah in Turkish, and the after party!
After the morning dancing and bride pick up, the bride and groom prepare for the wedding near/at the groom’s home, each in their own way as needed (meaning that the bride takes significantly more time to have her makeup and hair done). Then together the couple departs to take wedding pictures.
Since I was asked to be a witness in the wedding, I readied myself as well and was, needless to say, very on time for a not so on time cultural wedding. Turkish time tends to have more fluidity to it. I traveled with the photographer, his wife, and the other witnesses to watch them take pictures before heading to the wedding location.
My handsome groom
The Nikah or marriage agreement in Turkish weddings have 2 to 4 witnesses. Our friends had two witnesses each: two for the bride and two for the groom. I had never seen or attended a Turkish wedding before so I was slightly nervous. They told me what to do and even though it sounded easy, I was worried I would miss my part because it was all in Turkish!
In the states, the ceremony can be done in a billion different ways, but in Turkey it’s pretty straightforward and the Nikah takes all of 5 minutes. The bride says ‘Evet (Yes)!’ The groom says ‘Evet (Yes)!’ And then all the witnesses are asked if they agree to the marriage and we say ‘Evet (Yes)!’ Then everyone takes turns to sign their signature in their pre-designated spot in a large government book to record the wedding ceremony. Next, the government official will hand the marriage booklet over to the newly married couple. If you ever see pictures of a Turkish wedding, you will see the couple proudly holding up the red marriage booklet!
So that is exactly what happened! After everyone arrived to the wedding (a good 1.5 hours ‘late’), the bride and groom were presented walking together down a very long red carpet with perfectly timed pyrotechnics. The witnesses were called up to join the ceremony (which I actually understood). Everything went well and everyone did their part by saying ‘Yes!’
The couple celebrated with their first dance together followed by more dancing with friends and family, needless to say, there is a lot of dancing through it all. My favorite dances are the circle dances where everyone joins hands and does a type of line dance! The usual cutting of cake came later and everyone enjoyed a slice of ice cream cake.
While all that seems normal to us, the next and generally last part of the wedding starts. After the cake, everyone lines up to congratulate the couple on their marriage and pin their gift to a ribbon draped around their necks. Instead of gifts from a registry like we have in the states, Turks give money or gold coins (which are worth different amounts). Most guests tend to leave after this but a smaller group of family and friends will stay to dance well into the night.
If you listened in to our recent podcast episode033 about our top 10 favorite Turkish foods, then you know that food has been and always will be a big deal in Turkey. As new trends are opening up in Turkey, we are seeing more and more festivals dedicated to learning about specialty gourmet foods (example: Izmir Chocolate Festival and Organic Bazaar at MaviBahçe). The recent new GastronomIzmir Festival at MaviBahçe is not going to be left behind!
Photo from MaviBahçe
On May 13-17 Izmir held it’s first ever GastronomIzmir Festival at MaviBahçe Mall. No entrance fee was required to take part. The festival organized tents, stages, tables and chairs in the middle of the open air mall for guests to enjoy. Throughout the 5 day event, free workshops, presentations, awards, and music were scheduled for everyone to enjoy. Every few hours, sponsors passed out yummy mini size food to the attendees. If you wanted to explore further, participating restaurants within the MaviBahçe Mall contributed a special menu item you could enjoy that week.
Since we came to the start of the festival, most stations were still setting up, but we did enjoy a warm sandwich, music, part of the first workshop, and snapped some pictures. Hopefully next year will bring a 2nd annual GastronomIzmir Festival!
Enjoy a short video below!
Questions:
Did you go to this festival?
Would you got to something like this in the future?
Our 1 year mark is quickly approaching! We are somewhat surprised at how quickly it flew by. While my main goals are connecting with our neighbours and community and language learning, I have loved getting to know other expats as well. Part of our move over here was researching information about expat life via several expat website, one of them being ExpatArrivals.
Websites like ExpatArrivals help others gain knowledge about the community, cost of living, and even neighbourhoods. Some of the best advice is from first hand experience.
Being an expat in another country means you have a unique perspective. As we have transitioned to Izmir, I have enjoyed hearing other expat stories and how they moved from their native countries. Everyone has a story and no two are the same.You, too, have asked us questions about our expat lives, and in our FunkTravels Podcast Episode032 and Episode033 we answered most of them!
Recently, I shared via an interview at ExpatArrivals website to help others potential expats moving to Turkey in the future. The interview covers questions from hospitals, schooling, trailing spouses, and kids. If you have wondered about anything of these, then continue reading about here…
What question did you like? Did you learn anything new?
People in America think weddings are a lot of work, and probably that their way is the best way to get married. Yes, yes, I will agree that there is a lot of planning for the American wedding, but it’s only one event! But here in Turkey the weddings have way more too them. I mean, I am writing a 3 part series about our first Turkish wedding!
I wrote about how the Turkish wedding starts with the Kına Gecesi or Henna night. But now I will move on the the actual day of the wedding. The morning of the wedding day, we met the groom for a Turkish wedding tradition that I had not heard about before, the Gelin Alma or Fetching of the Bride.
The morning of the wedding the groom goes to receive his bride from her family so that they can start preparing for the wedding. This is mostly for family and close friends. We were honored to be invited. For this particular ‘Gelin Alma,’ the groom’s family hired a drummer and, along with his band, he played music outside the groom’s house. After a while, we all packed up in the car and caravanned over to the bride’s house, honking horns and having our emergency lights on. Upon arriving, the dancing started up again to let her family know we have arrived (because the car horns didn’t do enough…).
Eventually, the groom and his immediate family (mom, dad, and sister) went to get his bride. It tends to be a very emotional moment for the bride’s family, and it was, of course, true for this bride and her family as well. For many Turkish women, they do not move out of their family home until they are married. To make the moment lighter, the brother of the bride will joke with the groom about why he is here and pretend to not let him into the house! But eventually the groom gets his bride. The bride’s brother also places a red ribbon around his sister waist as a symbol of the ‘Maidenhood belt’ and bride.
Everyone cheered as the groom exited the building with his bride (still crying!) and the dancing started up again (yes, on the street in the middle of a neighborhood). The bride’s tears were ones of sadness but also happiness! It made me tear up as well! I remember how excited I was to marry Jason, but also knowing it could be difficult too!
After sufficient celebration, no more tears are seen and only happiness is left. Everyone is ready for the wedding celebration! The groom gathers his bride’s items for the day and their honeymoon and are now ready to prepare for the wedding.
I LOVED this tradition. It was such a beautiful way to start off the day of celebration! It allows for a time of grieving, of leaving your childhood home and family, and a time to start the celebration and excitement of marrying your groom! In America, there is a tradition (not always followed now) that the bride and groom will not see each other until they are fully ‘wedding’ ready. Everyone thinks that first sight is the most important. But I loved when the groom goes to take his bride to prepare for their wedding together.
