Somewhere below the clouds there is an island called the United Kingdom. In the south of this island there is a city called London. In the south of this city there is a small village. And in this village there lives an eleven year old boy called Adem.
No, no. His name is not Adam. It is ‘Adem’. That’s right, there is an ‘e’ instead of an ‘a’ just before the last letter ‘m’. Adem is a Turkish name. Both Adam and Adem mean ‘the first man in the world.’
Adem is a curious boy who loves reading. He reads all kinds of story books. He also reads The Guinness Book of World Records. This is his favourite.
The young boy loves to talk about the things he reads in his Book of Records. If Adem were here now, he would already be talking about Sultan Kosen of Turkey who is eight feet and one inch tall. Sultan Kosen is the tallest living man in the Guinness Book of World Records!
Hey look! Here is Adem coming out from school with his two best friends, Ben and Jonathan. Adem is the one with dark hair, olive skin and beautiful blue eyes. You cannot miss him because Ben and Jonathan are both blonde boys with fair skin.
Adem’s father is Turkish and his mother is English. He got his looks from his father, but his eyes are the same colour as his mother’s.
Adem hears someone say ‘Merhaba.’ He turns around and waves at his Turkish friend, Metin. Then Adem replies by saying, ‘Merhaba!’ This word means hello in Turkish. The first Turkish word Adem ever learnt to say was ‘Baba’. It means Dad.
One day, when Adem was a little boy, he asked his Baba, ‘Am I English or Turkish, or am I half of each?’
His Baba thought about this question for a moment, then answered, ‘You are not half of anything, my son. You are both full Turkish and full English.’
Adem liked this answer very much.
Sometime later, Adem got his face painted with an English flag while he was at the carnival. When his Baba saw Adem’s face he was really quite shocked, but Adem said, ‘It is okay, Baba. Don’t you remember, I am full English as well as full Turkish.’
Adem gives a high five to Ben and Jonathan and then approaches us and walks beside us along the pavement. He smiles up at us. ‘Did you know that in June 2003 a Turkish man called Muhammed Rashid entered the Guinness Book of World Records with his moustache that was over five feet long! That is a very long moustache,’ says Adem, his smile becoming even bigger. ‘My Baba has a big moustache too, and bushy eyebrows. But his moustache is not as big as five feet, thank Allah!’
Adem says ‘Allah’ instead of God, because Adem is a Muslim boy.
Adem notices a man walking in the street with a dark blue velvet Kippah. ‘A Kippah is a Jewish hat,’ says Adem, just so we know.
Then the young boy notices a Sikh man wearing a traditional Turban. Adem loves this variety of different cultures walking along the same street.
‘My Baba owns a restaurant,’ Adem tells us. He looks at us directly with his serious eyes, as if he is teaching us something very important. ‘It is not a kebab restaurant. In my Baba’s restaurant they make vegetarian stew and serve it with special bread called Pide bread. It is very tasty.’
Adem’s Baba has a favourite food. It is called Okra. Okra is a vegetable that tastes a bit like a pickle. Adem’s Baba puts lemon on the Okra because he says it makes the vegetable taste extra special!
‘I really like Kebab,’ Adem tells us. ‘I know it is not very healthy, but it tastes really good.’
Suddenly, the young boy looks a little uncomfortable, as if there is something he wants to tell us. He seems to concentrate, formulating the words inside his head. ‘Every Thursday,’ he says after a moment’s silence, ‘my Baba comes and picks me up. I don’t like Thursdays anymore. There is something about my Baba that embarrasses me. I want to talk to him about it, but I love him and don’t want to hurt his feelings.
It’s not always easy to talk to parents, you know. For example, last Saturday after we had been swimming, I bought a really nice chocolate cake and my friend Ben and my Baba were with me in a café. I was eating my cake when my Baba whispers in my ear that I have to give some of my cake to my friend Ben. Baba said that this is a custom in Turkish culture. It took me ages to whisper back and explain to my Baba that in English culture it is rude to offer my friend half eaten cake as I know he has some money in his pocket, and if he wanted to have some cake he would buy some for himself.’
Adem explains to us that his Baba has lived in England for a very long time, but he still does not have many English friends. The young boy says it is as if his father still lives as he used to live in Turkey. ‘That is okay,’ Adem tells us, ‘but it is sometimes difficult for me to understand some of the Turkish traditions, and there are so many of them to remember.’
