Christmas Tree

When I arrived for my language lesson two weeks ago, my language helper pointed to the corner of her salon (living room). I had totally missed it. She had set up her Christmas tree and we were going to decorate it together. What a delightful surprise! “How long have you been putting up a Christmas tree?” I asked. “About 10 years”, was her reply. This Muslim woman must really like Christmas trees.

Only after asking my neighbors and friends about this, did I find out that my language helper didn’t have a Christmas tree….she had a Yıl başı tree, which is actually for celebrating the New Year. As I continued to ask around, my friends kept on insisting that many more people in the US celebrate New Year’s compared to here. It didn’t sound like it to me and I didn’t really understand where they were getting their information. Finally one of my friends said to me, “But everyone has New Year’s trees in America. I see them in the movies all the time.”

Right.

I corrected her, but conversations like this one remind me to continually ask questions so I can learn as much as possible about this culture. Before completely exiting my own culture, it was tough to see the full extent of its influence on my thinking. It’s becoming clearer now…I think.