Word Count 1,285

Because I was new to Turkey, I had many questions.

When do I switch to informal tense?

Was that a dancing bear I saw chained to a tree across from the Dolmabahçe?

How do you say, “Stop following me?”

Now, I had another question. One I had never posed. I was in a café with Maria and the man I would ask. His name was Cengiz. I had spent time kissing him. He wanted to sleep with me. Cengiz was 19 years old. Too young, really.

Maria and I were in our mid-20s. We’d lived abroad. We were veteran language learners. And over the next three months, we would be learning a new language on its home turf. All the parts of speech. Including the invisible, unspoken parts. The rules that have nothing to do with verbs or nouns. We were learning these rules daily, over tea. Mostly, by making mistakes.