Home at last....

Well after 2 months of living out of a suitcase, I can happily say that we are home at last! Happy to see green green grass and cold weather. I guess if we had been in Canada for the last two months I'd be griping about the cold summer, but after burning day after day, seeing virtually no rain for two months and no green grass except on the odd little site that had sprinklers, I am loving our crappy Canadian weather. Here's a couple pictures of the typical Turkish landscape taken from our bus as we travelled from Didim to Ankara. Unfortunately we were travelling so often in places where there was no internet access, so I found it hard to update the blog. Maybe later I'll try to post a few pics from some of our favorite moments.

This one is from a roadside restaurant which is very typical especially in the South where the weather is warm year-round - completely outdoor, sitting on Ottoman style cushions around a low-lying table - with a vine for a roof...

Here's one of me and Mehmed (you can hardly see us) swimming at a little alcove that we went to by the side of the road as we were travelling through Marmaris.... no charge to park or swim here! The sea was so warm you could just walk in without hesitation....

One travel lesson I took for my self - don't bring a ton of suitcases... no matter where I'm going, I can't really count on having a closet and a drawer. And less to carry is way more valuable when travelling. Even if it means wearing the same 3 outfits over and washing frequently, it's far more convenient (just make sure you have access to laundry - don't get it from hotels they charge more...) And number two would be make a plan about where you want to travel and book ahead. We spent extra money in many ways because we hadn't booked ahead. One 5 star hotel which was beautiful, wanted 600 Euros for 2 nights just because it wasnt booked ahead (we didn't stay obviously) - but the same hotel only charges 50 Turkish lira per person ($38) per night when you book at least 6 months ahead. Next time I go to Turkey I would really love to stay there.... Third lesson would be stay in either Villas (where you can cook for yourself) or all-inclusive resorts, so you don't drop a ton of cash on restaurant meals.

Surprisingly I would have to say that overall Mehmed adapted really well to the hardships of travelling. For a kid who flips out if you don't give him an answer in the exact way he's imagined it in his head (verbatim), he adapted just fine to living in different places every few days. Sometimes he'd say "I really want to go home now" and I'd ask him where he meant (thinking maybe he was missing our home in Canada) and 99% of the time the answer was our hotel or my sister-in-laws house.

But there's nothing like coming home to your own house after 2 months away. Gives you a whole new appreciation for what you have.

Al Hamdu Lillah, we are home :)

Turkiye Komur Isletmeleri - TKI Didim

Orhan's sisters husband Sait (whom we call Said Eniste, since "Enishte" depicts his relationship to us as "Brother-in-law) has access to this vacation spot outside of Didim called Turkiye Komur Isletmeleri which is basically the headquarters for the Turkish Coal Workers, but it's a vacation village where your meals are all-inclusive. It's on the Sea about 10 km East of Didim. We stayed there from July 9th-19th with Orhan's sister (Kiymet Abla), her husband (Sait Eniste), her daughter Derya, Derya's husband Fatih Eniste and their son Efe (Mehmed's little cousin). Orhan's brother's family also joined us there, Uzeyir Abi, Gulsen Yenge, & their grown up kids Mikail & Ayse. It was nice to stay at the beach with family while we waited for Orhan to come back from his Army obligation.... here is a photo of the beach site from TKI and Mehmed on the dock enjoy the evening breeze....

Mehmed's favorite part was going to the "Disco" every night which is part of the TKI site, and dancing like crazy. Definately his cup of tea. He actually thinks he's a pretty good dancer but omg does he ever have 2 left feet. I wish I had it on video but unfortunately it was dark and I didn't bring the nightshot cam with us.

Mehmed loving his cousin Efe

Mehmed has been loving his little cousin Efe since we met him in Ankara - Efe is 2 & 1/2 and he calls Mehmed "Abi" - according to Turkish culture you have to address people older than you with some kind of a title which depicts your relationship to them - "Abi" means "Older Brother" (in Turkish, brother extends to more people than just your literal brother) - Mehmed LOVES that - he's like, I'm a big brother now, and he adores Efe.

I had a hard time snapping good pictures of them but they love each other so sweetly - give kisses & hugs & stuff - here's one that I caught...

And Mehmed can't wait to get back to Ankara to see his little "brother" Efe....

Beautiful Bodrum

Well I have barely had opportunities to have internet access but here I am now ın an ınternet cafe!
After Orhan left to the army on July 1st Mehmed and I were in Ankara with his family and Mehmed LOOOVES hıs lıttle cousın Efe. He calls hım hıs lıttle brother. He was rough wıth hım a couple of tımes and I remember one day he told me he wanted to put ALL the lıttle kıds ın jaıl so they wouldnt touch hıs toys. But they love more than they hate and rıght now Mehmed ıs mıssıng Efe more than anythıng.
We spent 10 days ın a lıttle Vacatıon vıllage where all meals were ıncluded and we spent all day on the beach - that was wıth hıs famıly. I thınk everyone realızed just how dıffıcult Mehmed can be sometımes especıally at mealtımes.
After my ınlaws all left the TKI Kamp on July 19th Mehmed and I stayed alone at a Bed & Breakfast untıl Orhan arrıved. Then we vısıted Altınkum & Dıdım and now we are ın Bodrum. Weve drıven all the hılly roads whıch ALL have gorgeous mountaın vıews. I cant even post any of our pıctures because I am not typıng from the laptop.

Here ıs a link to a map:
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/mapcenter/map.aspx?refid=701511219

Here ıs a lınk to google ımages - the WHOLE regıon ıs really breathtakıng. We are serıously thınkıng about buyıng some land here to buıld on later.
http://images.google.com.tr/images?hl=tr&q=bodrum&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

We have a rental car whıch ıs a bıg relief and the ferry boat to datça carries automobıles so we are savıng a lot of road tıme. The weather has been SO hot Mehmed sometımes crıes that he wıshes ıt was zero degrees. He gets great bıg beads of sweat on hıs face. But we stop a few tımes a day to swım. That ıs somethıng really nıce about Turkey there are a lot of places on the sıde of the road where you can stop and swım and every town seems to have a free beach too. Earlıer we had mantı (Turkısh ravioli ın Yogurt sauce) ın a restaurant by the seasıde. I just wısh I could post the pıctures but even they cant show how nıce ıt ıs. Anyways that ıs about all the tıme I have - I am startıng to mıss Canada sometımes * especıally my own bed dresser and closet * lıvıng out of a suıtcase can be a real pain. p.s. sorry about the punctuatıon turkısh keyboards are also a paın.

The night of Thursday June 25th we went to Orhan's niece's Henna night.

Her name is Sevgi & the groom's name is Erkan.

In Turkey, there are several stages to getting married. We missed the first stage, which was the engagement - first the boys' family comes to ask the girls' family for permission to marry her. In older times, they didn't use to date, they would just come and ask permission, and then the dating period would be during the engagement. Nowadays in Turkey though, usually the boys family only comes because the boy & girl have already known each other for a while and they want to get married. So anyways, we missed that part, last year. Shortly after both parties agree to a marriage, they bride and groom perform an Imam Nikah - this is an Islamically recognized marriage. The same day they go the the government and get their government recognized marriage. Then the engagement period follows.

In Sevgi's case (Orhan's niece) it was a year because they wanted to wait for their Canadian relatives to come. In Derya's case (Sevgi's older sister), she didn't want to wait, when she got engaged, they had their wedding 3 months later (in 2002). We missed that one unfortunately.

Anyways, after the engagement period there are two nights to the wedding - the Henna night - and then the wedding. The Henna night is maybe something like a bachelorette party. It used to be that the men and the women celebrated it separately, but now most families have it mixed.

Basically the bride's family gets together and dances a lot, and then the groom's family arrives to join the fun - then they do the Henna - they sing a song about how sad it is that the bride is no longer going to live with her family - usually there is crying but this time the bride made her family promise not to cry, or she would cry and her make up would smear. They kept their promise.

The grooms family wants to spread Henna in the hand of the bride, but they have to give her a gift first or she won't open her hand - they put in a piece of gold (the gold tokens are fairly standard here, worth about $80 Turkish Lira or $60 Canadian). Then she opens her hand to receive the Henna. The bride's family does the same for the groom. The Henna symbolizes the celebration and the fun that everyone is having. Mehmed desperately wanted the Henna in his hand, but unfortunately we missed it - the grooms family chose to hand out individual packets instead of spreading Henna, and we were not in the room when they did that.

But just like at the circumcision party, Mehmed had lots of fun running everywhere and pretending to dance. He was quite dirty by the end of the night. I made another video, again a little bit long, but to see the different types of dancing (the chain dance is very traditional here and is called Halay- pronounced ha-lie), the bride and groom (he wears traditional green and she wears traditional red) and the Henna ceremony. You can also see Mehmed poking his nose as close as possible to the middle of the action everywhere you turn....Enjoy...

Oh and P.S. I had my scarf styled at a hairdresser who also does scarves. It turned out pretty neat and only cost $30 Turkish Lira ($23 or so Cdn)...

In Ankara + Circumcision Party...

Well we left Armutlu Vacation Village and went by ferry back to Istanbul & spent the last night there at Orhan's friend's Mehmet's house. His parents were there too & the kids tried to play together but not very successfully - Mehmed wanted to use AbdulMejid's toys and Abdul Mejid didn't want to share. They were kind of fighting a few times and finally somebody hit him back! He didn't like that at all. Unfortunately it didn't teach him any lessons either - here in Ankara he kept on hitting the son of Orhan's cousin (aged 7 & 1/2) who wouldn't fight back and in fact went out to the store and bought Mehmed a lollipop even after he kept hitting him. He also took me "secretly" aside just to tell me that if I needed any help with my Turkish I should come and ask him & his mom. LOL, so sweet.

The next morning we got up at 7 & went by taxi to the bus station & took the bus to Ankara. Mehmed was mostly well behaved for the bus ride except when he randomly decided to flick the head of the man in front of us, and towards the end when he started to get really bored (it was about a 5 hr bus ride) and his crashing noises started to get way too loud - the bus host came back to see what he was doing. Oh and the head flick reminded me of when we were in Istanbul walking around the park of Sultan Ahmet (Blue Mosque) & Aya Sofia when he randomly decided to kick the dangling foot of a man who was sitting with his leg crossed on a park bench. Ummmm... can anyone say embarassing? I'm hoping some of that impulsive stuff really stops now that he's off the medication.

We arrived safely at Orhan's sister's place last Tuesday afternoon (June 23?) and the last 2 weeks have been hectic which is why I haven't had any time to open the computer until now. His niece's wedding was on Friday June 26th and there was a parade of guests constantly coming and going and she was always feeding them all. You should have seen the quantities of food they bought and prepared. Wow. Canadian Weddings are definately easier to host.

Mehmed is warming up to hearing Turkish all the time and he does make little efforts to speak. As long as he's in an agreeable mood he will copy what you prompt him to say as long as it's relatively short. If you try to make him say a long sentence he usually just screams and then cries that he can't speak Turkish yet. But when he's in a good mood he says he already knows Turkish but that he only speaks English to me because I don't know it yet. lol. Everybody tells me that my Turkish is getting a lot better but man does my tongue ever trip over words so easily. And Turkish words can be so similar to each other so sometimes I mean to say one thing and I say something completely different. I also have to be really careful not to use the word "Sick" out loud here because in Turkish it's the "F" word only with a vulgarity factor 10 times worse than the F word. So I either have to remember to whisper or use the word "ill" which kind of sucks because Mehmed really doesn't know that word. And the poor boy has been sick a lot so I'm sure people around here are wondering why on earth Orhan's wife & son have such foul mouths....

Anyways, on Wednesday night, Orhan's friend Nihat (who lives in Canada) called for us to come to his son's circumcision party. Islamically all men are obliged to be circumcised and over here they usually do it for boys who are around 6 years old - they are old enough to understand what is going on and also to appreciate the big fuss that is made over it. Nihat's son is only 2 & 1/2 so he is a bit young but I guess they did it because they probably don't know when they are coming back to Turkey and it is definately easier to do here than in Canada.

This is Nihat with his daughter Jayda & son Alper (the boy whose circumcision we were celebrating). Incidentally, Jayda is also the girl who Mehmed thinks he's going to marry when he grows up, even though she has already made it clear that she's going to be a Doctor and has no intentions of getting married. LOL.

Anyways the circumcision party was interesting. It was just in the middle of the street and they had speakers up with a DJ playing music. People were just dancing in the street and during the entire night I think only 1 or two cars wanted to pass by.

Mehmed LOVED it - once he got used to the loudness of the music (it was REALLY) loud, he was running all over the place trying to dance. I guess it is just his type of thing & a great way to get out his overabundant energy. He was also greatly amused by a man who was dancing and doing some little tricks - he danced with a watermelon on his head, a glass of water on his head, and they placed the glass of water on the ground & he got down and drank it without using his hands (except to hold himself in a push-up position). He was very entertaining.

They also fired off a gun into the air several times. I guess it's something people do at some parties. I am certain that not everyone does it because nobody did it at either the Henna night or the wedding for Orhan's niece. But the gun was definately real, here are the casings to prove it....

I also made a video of little clips from throughout the night. Most of it I already talked about - dancing in the street, Mehmed loving it, firing guns, etc. There is also the Henna - that is a tradition which is done when celebrating something. The Henna here was supposed to be first given to the little boy who was circumcised, although I have no idea if they actually got any onto him. Then they spread it on the hands of the guests to symbolize the celebration and having fun. The video is kind of long but might be interesting to see some traditional Turkish dancing (albeit not very crowded), the Henna tradition and Mehmed having tons of fun....

Armutlu Tatil Koyu (Armutlu Vacation Village)

So we are staying at a big vacation village, actually we are just waiting for the ferry to leave which is why I have the laptop with me at the internet cafe. This is the view from the balcony on our apartment.

It's been a lot of fun, today Mehmed spent the day playing in the arcade with his dad while I went to the Hamam. The hamam is like a huge hot tub but it comes from a natural hot spring. There are many all over turkey so they are very popular. They are supposed to be very healing for a lot of health conditions. The water is so hot you can't stay in it for very long. I think the most I stayed was 10 minutes sitting in it up to my waist, after that you get out and lounge on a chaise-longue, you can go into the steam room or sauna, and at the end you go to the Hamam room, which is made of marble - there are little marble sinks with copper bowls and you can turn on the taps for hot (spring) water or cold (refreshing!) water. The ladies usually clean themselves with a hard cloth to sluff of skin. After you feel so soft and smooth and clean. Very nice.

I cant show you any pics of that though its actually forbidden to take photos of course since most of the women are Muslim and cover themselves after leaving the hamam.

Some photos of the facilities here can be seen here:

http://www.ihlasarmutlu.com/eng/goruntuler.asp

Mehmed has been a bit cranky this week as I decided to take him off the medication.... I really noticed a huge jump in the hyperactivity and impulsiveness and I just couldn't handle it any more. Hoping that once he's done withdrawing it will be easier to reason him through his temper and whining....

Ok, well gotta go catch a ferry now....