My Beautiful Childhood

My only childhood pic!

Everybody has a story. This is the story of a boy from village who has been living alone in cities since 11 years old! 

I was born in a small village in Ordu  province 3.5 decades ago. It is a beautiful shore city where the sun rises and sets beautifully in Turkey. I can say that Nutella exists thanks to my city because we are the major hazelnut producer of the world.

I was a  naughty and rebellious kid, and they still tell me that it’s fascinating how I turned to the man who I am today. I was super energetic during the day and I sleep like a dead at night. I never remember my dreams. I spent my childhood shepherding cows, taking care of hazelnut fields, chopping woods, climbing trees and picking fruit, going to school, playing afterwards. I was not lucky to buy toys, so I made all my toys by myself and play with them outside in mud and coming home dirty. Soccer was my favorite and I do not remember how many windows and light bulbs I broke. I did not have a ball all the time, but I was making plastic bottles my balls. 

The days are always fast there, because there is always something to do. Until today, I never said  I got bored. I never feel bored. It is maybe because of how I grew up, and I have it as habit. Life did not spoil me! 

By the way, I have to talk about women in general, but remembering my mother. Women in my region are very strong mentally and physically. Winters are hard there, and it takes long. Therefore, we had to be ready for it. And most of the preparation are done by women and children. I will mention some of that. We had to do all agricultural work for corn, vegetable garden, taking care of hazelnut fields, carrying woods from mountain to stock for winter, making molasses and sun dried fruits and veggies from all the fruits and veggies like plums, pears, apples, rain cherries, mulberries, peppers, green beans, stock food for animals for winter,  etc. We prepare pickles from rain cherries, cabbages, eggplants, peppers, we do conserved foods in glass jars, so we can use it for winter. We pick some apples from trees softly without hitting anywhere before they get ripped, and we store them in a soft place in attic. We make dried cheese that you can eat months later. So, they get ripped there and children can eat there months later when they go to school. We do everything for long term, because we eat what Mother Nature gives us. There was no machinery to help, no refrigeration to store, there was no good roads that all the goods can come right in front of our home. We had to do so much carrying and little kids are best helpers of the mums. 

Most children of my age may not know their real birthday. My sister is in reality two years older than me, but on ID I am two years older then her. Most of the middle age people birthday is January 1st. They just put it like that. 

I had my dogs Timor, Dasty, but my favorites were my cats. Minnoş, Pamuk, Osman. I was taking my cats to my beds in secret. It was forbidden by Mum. I loved sleeping with them especially freezing winter nights. And I cried first time for somebody I lost. I cried for my cat a lot while burying her. My little hands made her little grave under the walnut tree. 

If I talk about my school in my village, I remember so many good memories. First, When I was 7, I went to school for admission, but Imdat teacher did not accept me, because I was so short. I was a tea cup human being, I am actually still like that. Maybe it’s a chubby tea cup. I was very upset and sad. He stole my one year, however he was still one of my favorite teacher. When I started school next year,  the first day did not start well. My hair cutter was my grandfather. He was amateur and he  cut my hair for school, and my head looks like a many railroads crossing. On top, he cut my ear. When I went to school, I removed my shoes like how I enter my home and I was laughed, but that’s all. I was so happy to learn and having new friends. I was walking to school everyday more than an hour. Our school was one classroom and and 1st-5th grades were studying all together. We had only one teacher. He was from city, but he had to live in the village, because there was no transportation to travel. His wife and kids were visiting once in a while, but he spent most of his time with us. I support my soccer team Besiktas thanks to him. We were following the matches from his radio even though it was a bad signal. We were very happy with small things. I was a bright student, I wanted to study more, however wishes did not use to go the way we wanted. It depended on  the conditions and necessities. 

Everything was all right until  I had to quit school for working after 5th grade because of hard conditions.I was ready to go to a far away city to start working in construction with my father. It's the most popular job there to bring bread home. Men leave the village for months for income and come back for winter season to stay with the family. Therefore, kids grow up with mothers most of the time. We did not move to big cities either. Because we don’t want to leave elders behind because they don’t want to leave the village. 

After a year of break , I had the chance to start school again. I was a bright student and I was asked if I wanted to go to the city for studying. We have a resident in village sending his son to study with daughter. He rented a place, elder sister was going to take care of him. I was so independent that I cried to stay in one room instead of going to a dormitory. I had a room very very old wooden building. My room did not have any window, but I was happy being in charge of my life. It was how I started living alone since then. I started cooking, washing my clothes and ironing them, organize my own life, selling donuts on the street and making some money, having a lot of friends as guests because I was the only kid living alone at 11. I witnessed so many stories. 

To be continued!