Trip to Turkey

There is so much to write again. I feel like on a Sunday afternoon at high school: I knew I had so much homework, but I just postponed it till now, and I know I will have to be awake till late to finish. At least that's what would have happened when I was a teenager. Now I will not feel guilty stopping and writing another day. No teacher to will be mad at me, only my own conscious...


Our last vacation in Turkey was great. What made it great was that the girls (especially F, A follows her anyway) decided that they could stay with their grand parents without me.

We left home on Friday the 13th - and we had no Friday the 13th horror - in a big limo. I love that part of the trip. The girls almost disappear in the huge car and they are so excited. In the plane, the girls watched their movies on the ipods and fell asleep for a long time. P was at the other side of the isle, so he slept too. I was the only one stuck between the two girls and totally stiff at the end of the journey.

We (P and I) managed to get a good jet lag this time. The 4 days that P spent at my parents, we slept till noon, spent the day half asleep and we watched TV till the morning. Yuck! The day I was taking P to the airport, F said she wanted to stay with my parents. A followed her sister. So I brought P to the airport, rushed back to see if the girls were sad, crying or torturing my parents. Of course everything was OK. After that I was having vacation, real vacation!

The first week-end, Ayse came from UK with her boyfriend. We met another friend of hers from university, Aylin, that I also knew and we went out. First dinner, after that to Alsancak. I found out that the new trend in UK is to drink champagne when you go out. I love champagne, but mixing it with wine and mojito is not a good idea. The nice thing about having a vacation is that you can wake up the next day and go to sleep again right after. Unfortunately, my vacation was not so ideal. I ended up suffering a bit, but it was so worthed. Who knows when I will see Ayse again, this was a great opportunity.

I went to the weekly bazaar with Pinar and with my aunt - you don't want to be there with kids. I went to have coffee with Pinar, I went to do shopping by myself, I went to Hesna for an evening, I had a dinner with Serkan, who I hadn't see for so many years. I am afraid his wife was very mad at me, because he was so late to pick her up from someones house she was visiting.

Of course we didn't celebrate only my vacation. We went to the playground with the girls, almost everyday. F started to speak quite some Turkish and she made friends each time we were at the playground. Yanki and Arya, my brother's kids were the best friends they had there. A was crazy about Arya and F was crazy about both. We went to my brother's house couple of times, to my aunt's, to Pinar's mother who baked cookies with the kids. She and the girls even made little clothes for Arya's doll. They love sewing, what a blast! (I heard my mother and aunt had to do most of the sewing, but well, maybe they needed some entertainment, too). My brother took me and the girls to a v-ball game. Not one of his, it was the final of the European Volleyball Challenge Cup. Arkas (Izmir) won the game. It was a great game to see, the sphere in the hall was amazing. The girls were at first a little reluctant, I even had to hold A's ears when it got super loud. But after a while, they were swinging with their little flags. So much fun!

We also had a real celebration: Arya's first birthday. Since we were leaving on the day of her b-day, the celebration was the week-end before. My mother somehow ended up making the b-day cake - good job to her! F and A bought their own little presents for Arya. It was so exciting for the girls.

I almost forgot the little celebration for P's b-day. It was quite hard to get Burak and my father to Alsancak for a cake, but we managed. We had little time unfortunately, Burak and Pinar had tickets to an opera. But it was nice to get together. It was also a little surprise for P that we had a cake and of course the girls are the ones that enjoy such things most. And Burak, if you read this, P still didn't get his present!!!!

One day, F decided to stay with Sakine abla, who works at my parents' house. A, my mother and I took the boat to Alsancak to visit the organization my mother volunteers. I think it was very nice for A, to have some time of her own with us. She doesn't get much of that. I have some very nice pictures of her on the boat, she looks so happy. F was very happy to stay home, too. She helped Sakine abla clean the house.

Of course we met Hesna and her family, Asli and her son and their new little baby cat. We also managed to arrange a little high school reunion. We went to a BBQ restaurant outside the city. It was nice weather so we could sit outside. Everyone came with their kids and I think that's very special. The kids got along well, they played for hours. Hesna's son Cem managed to fall in the pond and get wet and A was afraid of all the rabbits, chickens and other animals walking around on the grass yard.

We had so much rain actually, but somehow I cannot remember getting wet or getting annoyed. The last days of the vacation, though, the weather became very nice. We went to see the new zoo on one of the last and nicest days. The new zoo in Izmir (İzmir Doğal Yaşam Parkı, İzmir Wildlife Park) is very nice, I am impressed. The kids ran around from one exhibition to the other, from one animal to the other. When the tree will grow, it will be beautiful.

Then we left Izmir... That's what happens when you have nice time, time flies. I think my parents had a hard time saying good bye to the girls. After all, this was a special vacation. Finally the girls wanted to stay with them and do things with them alone. Our trip back had two stops: Istanbul and London. I was flying alone with the girls, so I decided to go to Istanbul one night before. I stayed at Pinar and Nadir's and finally met their kids. Their daughter is 12-13 years old. (sorry that I forgot it again). I didn't meet Pinar after university. Some people are friends for a lifetime. That's how it is with Pinar. After so many years, it was just like we've been seeing each other every other week. We had a long night full of conversation. Too bad it was just one night.

Since I was in Istanbul, Ayhos came all the way to Pinar's house to see the girls. That was a nice surprise, a bonus of the trip. Next time, I want to spend couple of days in Istanbul and see more people - or see the couple people I miss a little longer. Next time....I wonder when that will be.

2nd of April, we came back to US. Besides the London stop, everything went well. Once more, IPod is the best!!