#WeTravel - Dee

Dee, UK

“I live in England, but I am from Germany and my family is Turkish so I spent pretty much every summer of my childhood in Turkey.  People are much more open - or less reserved in Turkey, and very very social.  They’ll constantly go round each other’s houses.  It’s just so normal for people to visit others, which I quite like, and people come together around food.  All three meals are a big thing, and after breakfast you will usually have Turkish coffee, which is very thick – you actually cook it on the stove and make it with equal parts of sugar and coffee.  The coffee settles at the bottom of the espresso cup like sand, and some people who have never drunk it before make the mistake of downing it, which is disgusting.  What you’re supposed to do is put the coffee plate on top of the cup, swirl it around towards you whilst you make a wish and say something like ‘may all my wishes come true’, or, ‘whatever is meant to be should be’, and then turn the plate towards yourself and put it on the table. People claim they can see some pictures or patterns in the coffee grinds.  Usually in my family, it’s my grandma who does it.  It’s always about love, money and success in your career.  But it’s fun especially for her as she has 11 grandchildren.  One time she looked at my coffee cup and said that in eight instances I will have a career change.  Eight instances could mean eight years, or eight months, or just something to do with eight.  When I came back to England, I got a new job in August.  I thought it might have been a funny coincidence or there might have been something to it.”