Living in Sweden, as I do, means that winters can be bleak (curious that the Swedish word "blek" means pale) Swedes don't say "En blek vinter" but perhaps this is a good way of describing this time of year. People are wan and skies often cloudy and pale - a short break in warmer climes is on lots of "to do" lists.
My wife and I try to get away for about a month in the first quarter of each year. This year, for the second time, we took a trip to Alanya on Turkey´s Mediterranean Coast. Our Turkish is extremely limited so communicating with some locals is non - verbal but most of the staff in restaurants and shops speak some English.
As business is slow in the winter months, owners of the small shops that make most of their income from summertime tourists try to entice visitors, often by calling "Where are you from?" as an opener. I've come to believe that this is the equivalent of "Lovely/Aweful weather isn't it" in Turkish. If you understand socio-cultural Turkish, perhaps you can correct me on this. Sometimes you´ll be invited to a cup (usually small glass) of Turkish/ apple tea - with no obligation to buy.
Compared with Swedish prices clothing is cheap - socks, shirts, pullovers etc. are at bargain prices and there is a large number of clothes stores both in the town centre and tourist areas. Prices are similar in most stores but in the "tourist" shops haggling is a common sport. Saving a little gives a feel-good effect and, maybe, the store keeper is happy to reduce stocks, creating space for this year´s summer collection. Hopefully both parties are happy with the outcome and shake hands.
I was brought up in a farming community where a handshake meant "we've reached agreement". In my world shaking hands comes after signing agreements or contracts, or when something is settled verbally. So the following experience has caused me some thought:
We decided to buy some items of clothing from a storekeeper that we'd dealt with earlier. His prices were among the best we'd seen, quality was good and, previously, we'd saved a little by haggling, so naturally, I expected to get a quantity discount. But, despite compromising from both sides we couldn't agree. After a few minutes the storekeeper mentioned what I took to be his lowest price and said "Give me your hand". I took this to mean -
let's agree at the price I've just mentioned and was reluctant to clinch the deal without haggling a bit more. But, why not? The price was very reasonable anyway. So I took his hand. I was quite surprised when he said "Not your price, not my price, but a price in between". This has lead me to believe that in some cultures shaking hands means "Now we've agreed to compromise. Let's go ahead and reach agreement". Does anyone have similar examples?
