Cuiture shock of Turkey

Addressing others in Turkey
In Turkey, women will always be addressed by their first names with a hanim (pronounced 'hanum', meaning lady) attached to it. It is not considered familiar or rude to use first names. For example, Jane Smith will be addressed as Jane hanim, rather than Mrs Smith. The male equivalent of hanim is bey (pronounced 'bay'). As such, John Smith will be addressed as John bey

Popular Turkish belief: a person should not give a knife directly to another person. The knife should be put over the table and the other person should get the knife. If by chance the person forgets and she gives the knife directly for the other person, the person that receives the knife should spit over the knife. This "spit over the knife" protects against a discord among themselves.

Restaurants usually expose their food. That is great for the foreigners so that they can see and choose what to eat! The foods are usually seasoned, with a lot of vegetables and not much meat. Turks eat a lot of fruits and sweets in Turkey.

Official marriage in Turkey is done at the notary and the religious one with a religious party. Turkey is a secular country, a man can marry only a woman in the notary, but a man can marry at most 4 women in the Islamic religion. The percentage of poligamic men is very small in Turkey and usually the population do not approve such marriages.