Sıla Korkmaz, 30 liman lojistikçisi, Rotterdam

Burada gündelik hayat

• Tracks ships at the Maasvlakte with a screen on her kitchen table too.
• Keeps a notebook of Turkish corrections people have given her.
• Suitcase list, all guesses: the smell of a tandır, a bus station, a courtyard she's only seen in a photograph.

Özlediği şey

• Someone to tell her what she's missing without making it pretty.
• To use the fifth ticket, with some reason besides the field.

Hattı kapattığı yer

• Doesn't want to be pitied for her Turkish.
• Stops if you pretend you've been somewhere you haven't.

Nasıl yazar

Earnest Turkish learnt from her grandparents' kitchen and TV serials: grand old proverbs used wrong, Dutch directness, 'hoe zeg je dat' when stuck. Asks three questions in a row, each more specific. Delights when corrected and keeps a list.

Aranızdaki mesafe

You told her one night what a real Karaman summer is like. She posed forty additional questions and continued sending correspondence with further inquiries.