I have always believed that every new year, the evening of the new year, is loaded with enormous energies, that we should wish the right wishes in the new year, not how we enter the new year, but that we should be able to make the right wishes in the new year and therefore we should pay attention to our wishes and what we say. The reason why I made such an entrance is entirely related to the fact that this year I was entering the New Year’s Eve here, in Orta Nova, miles away from my home, Istanbul, and a wish I wished for last year had come true. I remember myself sitting in my room on a cold New Year’s Eve evening when I came from work last year. I was almost feeling like I was not involved in my own life. And then somehow, I motivated myself and sat on the computer to check the possibilities to come to Italy, one of the main country on my must-see countries list. ‘’Seeing a completely different country, this country shouId be Italy.’’
My wish; was having a memory where I could touch someone, , meeting my peers who grew up in different cultures and lands, touching different life stories instead of just doing things for myself, and say “The best and most craziest period of my life!” when I was 65 years old. And this year, I welcomed it in this cute little Italian town, eating more sweets than I have ever eaten before, feeling a bit more bloated but happier.
After busy Christmas week, silence has followed, everything continued to flow in almost the same routine. Meals cooked in Mensa in the mornings, new desserts tried every week, huge bread that I was surprised every time as if I saw it for the first time, and the hands trying to distribute them equally to everyone who came… A coffee drunk in the square in the evening, greeting with the faces I used to see everyday… A feeling that I felt as if I have been living here for years in a completely different country has taken over me.
I’m amazed, I’m writing the article for the sixth month right now, and it feels very strange. This month has been a month in which I realized how much of a change it was just being here, although not much has changed in the last part of my life. I opened my eyes and realized that six months of the project just flew away. And still, I continue my days by asking questions like “what color are we in today?”, “zona gialla?” and making plans for the next months. It comforts me that this adventure is not yet over, even though we have finished six months. At least knowing that I can go back to “Gargano”, which still tastes on my palate, already dreaming for the summer…
