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Last full day for Dad
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Josh: Sorry we haven't blogged much in the last few days. We couldn't get an internet connection. Yesterday, my little brother, my Dad and I sneaked off to the beach while my Mom and Kate were asleep. We left a note that said we were beach bound. We played at the beach for a while. When we got back, Kate and Mom had just gotten ready to come after us--how ironic. These things just seem to happen, don't they? We hung out at the villa for a while, had a snack and went to the pool. We goofed around, played games, met a French girl and basically had a good time at the pool. When we left, we got lunch at home. We had cherry yogurt that mom made and some leftover chicken. Then we went to look for the marketplace in Yalikavak. After we were done at the market, we got to see dad get a shave. They shaved him twice, put lotion on his face, gave him a haircut and a massage for 15 lira. When he was done his face was soft as a baby's bottom. Then we looked for a place to watch the sun set. We found one called "sunset," but it was too early, so we went home to the beach. While we were at the beach, Mom made dinner. We came back, had dinner quickly and went to see the sun set. We went to Yalikavak because it was the far west of the penninsula. Alex and Dad and I made fun of some signs (see picture). We weren't the only ones who thought they looked like that.
We saw someone who drew lines on one of the signs. Mom and Dad tried to get all of us out of the pictures and so we started walking away, until they made us come back and we pretended we were dying. We claimed that an evil mad scientist kidnapped us and tried to kill us with his evil jumping kangaroo, but they didn't take the story though. Then we went back to the villa and to bed.
Mom: When we were at the pool, everyone was casting about for the French that they could remember. Josh came up with, "Oooo laaa laaa."
Some other random notes I've been thinking of:
There is no refrigerated milk at the grocery store. It all comes in aseptic packaging, probably a half liter in size and kind of expensive, so we're not drinking much milk. I would have thought there would be more fresh milk, given that we see cows every day here. Perhaps they are the "kofte" kind of cow. The eggs here are very fresh--it changes the consistency of the yolks.
There is no pancake mix or baking powder to be found. We did find crepe mix, so we have used that one morning. I figure I probably don't need to bake since I can get a nice loaf of bread for about $.35 and just about any market.
The bargaining culture is wearing me down. It was bad enough on the large purchases like the carpets, but even just buying food at what amounts to the farmer's market involves dickering and I frequently feel like I come out on the loosing end. I'm trying to console myself with the notion that I'm redistributing wealth to others with a lower standard of living. In the case of the carpet guy, I'm not sure that was true. I'm pretty sure I do better than the watermelon truck guy, though.
I've gotten kind of lazy with my Turkish recently. I haven't been studying as much because I now have enough to get me through day-to-day, but am far, far away from being able to have a decent conversation with anyone. The gulf seems pretty wide.
We got an hysterical email from Levent, our landlord, yesterday. We were trying to get some assistance with the "wild dog" problem. Here is a brief excerpt:
"Memis told me to call the Gundogan Municipality Government (Gundogan Belediyesi) where they come and take wild dogs. I called the Gundogan Municaplity and they told me that I need to contact the Bodrum branch as they were directed by a new European Union Law that requires that animals should be collected unless they are ill or disabled. Even if they are collected, they needed to be brought to an Animal Shelter in Bodrum. According to this new ordinance, dogs are to wander freely as they belong to the nature. (I would rather not make any comment on this new ordinance!)
I also called the Animal Shelter since they are the ones who collect. They said that their normal capacity is 500, but this year, they have collected over 1600 dogs and cats there. Once captured the ill and disables ones, they treat them, and if not nutured, they do it. The lady there told me that because of the new ordinance, they do not kill animals (even if they are wild dogs) as anyone is subjected to prison terms (the legislation was passed a few months ago as proposed by the Animal Rights Activists in Turkey). They cannot pick other dogs especially from developments where they are owned by others, unless they attack people. Then, this constitutes a right to file a petition to remove the dogs."
There is a huge amount of construction going on in this area. It seems like a high percentage of the villas that we can see are not yet occupied, but available for sale. It's very quiet here now, but I imagine that will change pretty dramatically in a few years.
Bodrum was pretty much a zoo. I think we'll avoid going back there, except perhaps to take the ferry to Kos (a Greek island) for the day or to visit one of the world's only underwater archeology museums. The museum is in a castle, so you kind of get a two-fer.
Alex: It was a really, really, really pretty sunset last night. That's 3 "reallys." I am itchy from mosquito bites and it's driving me nuts. We had a great breakfast and dad is going to leave today. That's all I can think of.
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