Back to Work!

I have been busy getting started at my new job, which is why I haven't updated this site in a while. You know, busy playing with pre-schoolers computer games, researching ideas for great crafts and science activities for aforementioned pre-schoolers, before they arrive next week. Quite a difference from my last job!

In my research, I came across this great site: www.jacksonpollock.org - Check it out, but I'll warn you, you might become addicted!

I'll try to update some posts soon!

Oh, all of my photos from the summer are now here, feel free to look, and I'll update as soon as I can!

One of the best things about my family's visit is the fact that everyone found a little love...


Maryn was eyed by more Turkish men than defensless countries during the reign of the Ottoman Empire. She got her first marriage proposal from none other than Marco, our carpet seller in Selcuk.


He gave her a lovely bracelet to remember him by,










And even took her on a Magic Carpet Ride!
















I know this suitor seems a little old, and well, stiff. But I can assure you he had a GREAT personality!





After we finished our coastal travels and returned to Istanbul, Maryn (well, her father, if we're being technical about it) was offered many camels for her hand in marriage, by a few different men, including an apprentice of Huseyin's (see below) and a textile merchant about whom we haven't entirely made up our minds, but by far the most eligible bachelor was one Roger Stubbs, father of Peter, teller of great tales, and offerer of many, many camels!

Roger, Maryn or no Maryn, let's hang out again soon! 

Mom, still quite a looker at the ripe young age of 45, had many many gentleman callers of her own. Including, this guy:














This guy:














And our favorite, Amigo:

Not one to be outdone, dad found some "friends" of his own..
























This is the famous Huseyin, seller of many carpets to my parents, boss of one of Maryn's many suitors and all around good guy...







In the end, though, none of these suitors was fine enough for my father's taste, so he took his fake Louis bag, strolled away...




















... and said:
 

Here are a couple of pictures from our day on the boat.

This is us relaxing in one of the coves we stopped in for some swimming...





Maryn, Chris and I with our fearless Captain

Genuine Fakes! I'm still not sure exactly what it means...














Maryn shopping for some Genuine Fakes!

 

Bodrum

After we left Jesse's group and, the next day, Chris' parents, Chris and I took the next two days to get from Antalya, where we left the group, to go to Bodrum to meet my family. After a couple of days traveling on a bus, and excited to see my family, I was more than thrilled to find that the hotel I had booked us in, the Munahan, was as fabulous as it looked on their website. This is a photo of it from their roofdeck:
Unfortunately, one of the rooms we had reserved was double booked, so the put my parents in a suite at no extra cost...It was a rough day :)

The pool at the hotel was amazing, rather than being concrete, it looked as though it was a pond, with rocks as the edges. As we lay on the chaise lounges next to the pool, the people who worked at the hotel made sure we had constantly filled places of ice cold fruit (see, the fruit thing never ends!) and bottles of water. The Turkish breakfast is always a variation on the same theme: Bread, cheese, honey, butter, olives, tomatoes, and either coffee or tea. You wouldn't think it could vary too much, but at the Munahan, it was superb. The bread toasted just right, enough variety with the cheese, and the added touch of walnuts, which were great drizzled with honey.

Not to rave toooo much about the hotel, but the owners also were able to set us up with everything we needed, including a fish dinner literally ON the water. In the photo of us at the dinner table, our table and chairs are in the sand. The name of the restaurant was Balkci.com.tr, which I thought was odd, but the food was fantastic, and as the Munahan owner (a friend of the restaurant owner) called and requested, they treated us like royalty. The hotel owner also booked us on a sailing trip around Bodrum for the next day. Bodrum is a huge party town and there are tons of 'party boats' that will take you out, but you are like one of a pile of ants loaded onto these boats. Knowing my parents wouldn't be too fond of that, we were able to get onto this little (pretty run down looking) boat with our Captain (Osman, i think) which was also a music composer and gave us all cassette tapes of his music to take home. At the end of the trip, when I asked my parents and Maryn about their favorite experience, they all mentioned this day on the boat. Maryn was also a big fan of Bodrum because it seems as though the town specialty is knockoff bags and watches. She bought a Gucci fake the first night we were there, and a few more after that! I have a great picture of how they advertise these "genuine fakes" but I'll have to put it in the next post.

This sunset was seen from the roofdeck at the Munahan.











Below: The same evening...The same roofdeck.

This was our blue cruise boat. Where you can see everyone sitting on the back (the stern?) is where we would eat our meals, play cards, etc. At the bow, underneath the blue awning is where we slept. There were some individual cabins, but it ended up being so much nicer on deck that nearly everyone stayed up there. It was covered in the mattresses that you use on a chaise lounge, and they were all strapped down to the boat so they wouldn't fly away. The boat was nearly perfect. The only negative was that, although it looks like a sailboat, there were no sails and we motored to every place we visited. OH...the other negative was that, if you were in the bathroom (head) of one of these cabins, and the cabin door was open, you would get locked in the head. This happened to me. Twice. It was scary and just a little embarrassing...I'm on a boat with a bunch of people I barely know, and my boyfriend's parents. And I'm sticking, first my arm, and then managed to find a way to sneak my head out just the right way (yes, fearing it would get stuck), from the tiny window in the bathroom, trying desparately to get someone's attention to get me out. Ahhh, boats.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a lot of photographs on the boat, because there were so many people with cameras. The few photos I have are here. There is also this Shutterfly page on which all of the people on our trip posted their photos. The photos here aren't just of the blue cruise, because everyone was here for longer than that, but if you go toward the end of anyone's album, you'll see pictures from the amazing trip!