Our Flemish class consists of a roster of 12 students with sporadic attendance by 8 students and consistent attendance by us and 3 others - Bernadette from Cameroon, Ari from Canary Islands, and Celal (pronounced Chill All) from Turkey.
Ari speaks some English, Bernadette speaks only French, and Celal speaks only Turkish. And we all speak "een beetje Nederlands" - a little Dutch.
I always have to consult a map when I meet someone new from a different country. I am geographically challenged to say the least. Cameroon is in central Africa and the Canary Islands are south of Spain near Morocco.
And Turkey . . . well, Turkey is in a somewhat unfortunate place geographically. At least for now.
The colorful part of this map is the EU. The grey is not. If you don't know where Turkey is . . . it's that long country in the "grey" area near the bottom right of this map. Note its neighbors - Iran, Iraq . . .
Turkey has over 75 million people - that's about the equivalent of California + Texas + New York. That's a lot of people.
Despite efforts to become part of the EU, Turkey is a huge country that may qualify for "wrong place, wrong time". You know what they say . . . location, location, location.
It's not a desert and they don't ride on camels. In fact it's quite metropolitan. This is the city of Istanbul, Turkey, a popular vacation destination for Belgians. It's a bargain and the climate is nice year-round.
Another view of Istanbul. You'll pay less than half the price for a night at the Ritz-Carlton Istanbul compared to the Ritz-Carlton Central Park.
This is the capital city of Ankara.
One night our class consisted of just us and Celal (Chill All). You know how things can get personal and the whole dynamics of a group can change when the group becomes smaller? Well, that's what happened.
Celal is quite a talker and he has no trouble speaking in Flemish despite it being near-impossible to understand him. I have no doubt he thinks the same when I do. The thing is, he has no choice because nobody speaks Turkish and he doesn't speak English. Flemish is his only option and he tries very hard.
Well, when you're only talking about conversations such as going to the market, trying on a shirt, or ordering fries, expressing yourself isn't so difficult. But when you're trying to express personal views on things such as politics, religion, or your patriotism, well, that's a whole different matter.
So that's sort of what happened.
Celal (Chill All) works at a sandwich shop and dreams of opening one of his own one day. He is a husband, a father, an immigrant, a hard-worker, he's educated . . .
and he likes us. He asked us if we could perhaps go for coffee some time after the class is over.
With the class size a little more intimate, in a gallant effort, Celal expressed a frustration over a world that judges him, judges all based on only a few, stereotypes him, maybe even fears him.
I ask myself . . . will I stereotype him? Maybe even judge him?
Why would I?
Do I think he deserves the same good life I have? The same freedoms and opportunities?
Why wouldn't I?
I know we aren't going to change the world, but I'm looking forward to that cup of coffee one of these days.
Oh, did I mention that he's Muslim?
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