it feels so long since ive been at a computer. and an american one! its weird to use the i at the right place. this computer is at a hotel and its free but you have to stand up and we'll see how long i can last. we are in marmaris getting the long deserved break we have been pining for. we are staying at a cool resort right by the sea with a balcony. i was so excited to be here that yesterday morining i walked out on the balcony in my skivvies and just today a very sweet british woman told me she saw me. oops. fortunately even though she was older she seemed open minded and said she had her permission to do it again. she said she was not into girls this week....hmmm...those brits... you can never figure them out.
i'm talking about old british birds and there a million stories to tell. i wish i had more time. i am sooo loving the sea. i know i should be talking about all the amazing things i have seen but i am by the water and the sun and i am wearing my bathing suit so right now all is right with the world. we are at marmaris for the Rotary District Conference so there are tons of Rotarians here and we are reunited with our old friends. not bad food and did i mention the beach? we sat through 3 hours of turkish speeches the first day which almost killed some of us but i went to my quiet place and i was very proud to say i survived. tommorow we will tell all these people about our impressions of turkey and i know there is no way i can do this without shedding a tear. we are reunited with the michigan people and once again i am belly busting laughing and it is good. anyone who reads this knows how vital this is to my health.
so before we came here we were in gocke (pronounced go check) a beautiful seaside little town which specializes in yahting. their club is only about 16 people and really laid back. it is so beautiful. i cant even describe this little village. dustin hoffman has visited here along with sting and tina turner but it is the people in this rotary club that just rule. we had our little dinner party where two men are identical twins to my friend Mark McGee and Noel. scary. i think i wrote this already? the best part of the night was when we kinda crashed a party next door to the swanky hotel. it was a villager party and the people did not have a lot of money but it was a party for the wedding of a couple the next day. typically there is a bigger party the night before the wedding than right afterwards. it was dark and there was traditional music playing. young people were dancing a dance that was only danced in their region. after a little dancing (which i totally love by the way. it looks simple but it is very cool and almost sexy in a way. the women's dancing looks a little like belly dancing. then a woman brought out a tray with candles and at first i thought it was a birthday cake. i was told it was a big tray of henna. she danced around the seated couple who sat next to each other with a red scarf on their heads covering them. the music got more intense as they danced around withthe henna tray and then they stopped and put a glob of the henna in the palm of the man and woman in the shape of a cirlce and wrapped it in a red cloth. then they drew a circle of henna in everyone else's hand. Simey asked me if i wanted to have it done to me and i said heck yes! and they put a glob of dirt in my hand kinda like a circle and put a kleenex over it and told me to sleep with it like that. later when i returned to the dinner party someone duct taped my kleenex to my palm. one of the guys there said there would be no way they could have planned something like this and i felt very lucky to have seen this. it was sooo intense and cool. they gave me, kind of like a party favor, another glob of henna wrapped in foil for me to do this again to my palm a few weeks from now to continue the good energy for the couple. and other people have told me that this ritual will aid me in finding a husband of my own...whooo wee!! so i slept on it all night and now i have quite the conversational piece.
we have to write speeches for tommorow and it is almost 2am and i guess the oaks race is going on around now. i hope for a computer at my next home so i can really dig in and tell you everything. love you soooo much and i am thinking about you. turkey freaking rocks!!
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