Tag #125317 - Interview #97653 (Rebeka Evgin)

One day I was at a friend’s house.  My friend took me to a room.  The room was full of sesame seeds.  She said that her father sold sesame seeds.  A room full of sesame seeds, it was a sight I had never seen before.  When I was finishing elementary school, we had a teacher named Mr. Ata.  I loved him a lot.  When I was going to take my final (for a while, in order to graduate from elementary school, you had to take the final for each subject separately.  The teachers would evaluate the students and give the diploma accordingly), Mr. Ata said to the other teachers: “Rebeka has a very pretty voice.  Let’s have her sing us a song”.  I was very embarrassed, my grades were very good.  I was not afraid at all, but I turned red.  I sang the folk song “Do birds land on the telegraph wires” (it is a very famous folk song).  All the teachers clapped and they did not ask me another question.   My involvement with music did not go further than being a good listener.  If I had grown up in Istanbul, rather than in the conditions of Adana, I would definitely be a student of conservatory.

Yet I could not find the same tolerance level from every teacher as I found with Mr. Ata who loved me, at the finals for elementary school.  One of our teachers often asked this question: “Tell me Rebeka, how many churches and temples are there in Adana?”.  And I always blushed even though I was not embarrassed while answering this question that was asked so unabashedly.  “There is one church in Adana.  There is one synagogue in Adana, my teacher”.  She would be content with the answer, and ask me the same question a couple of days later as if there would be some new development.  The children on the other hand would ask a question like “how many feet does the cat have?”  I have not grasped the meaning or the answer to this question even today.   I was only able to attend elementary school in Adana.   I was not able to continue my education after we came to Istanbul.  If it were possible, I would have liked to attend the conservatory.  I would have liked to develop my musical talents.