Gobble Gobble

Our flight last night left at 10:30pm, direct to Antalya.  It got in at 4am local time and it took two hours to buy our visa, go through customs, get our luggage and drive to Bjørn’s house.  I didn’t sleep a wink the whole flight.  It was full of what appeared to be some kind of men’s club which could have passed for the classic “drunken sailor” type.  The floor of the plane was littered with empty alcohol bottles as we exited, and the aroma still hung in the air.  This charter flight was very relaxed in their expectations of passengers.  It seemed, the typically “sober” Norweigan façade got lost as soon as they left their motherland.  Interesting.

The sun was already starting to shine, but we all crashed in our beds at Bjørn’s house and we didn’t wake up until 10 this morning.  It put a weird twist on the day, but once we had our standard Norwegian breakfast, we were all in good shape.

I guess I was expecting Turkey to be like Athens, quite gritty with graffiti and litter everywhere but it’s not like that at all.  It’s much nicer than I anticipated.  I have yet to see any graffiti or litter and even though it’s a hot, dry climate, every empty lot is filled with tall green grass.  I guess we came at the right time – after the spring rains.  We are in the seaside community of Side, just east of Antalya.  There are many four story apartment complexes built just outside the ancient city of Side, which have been bought mostly by Norwegians and Germans for vacation homes.  Out of the 18 units in Bjørn’s complex, 12 are owned by Norwegians, so right now, it’s a pretty quiet place as we are here before the summer rush.  All the empty lots around us have two to three cows staked out in them.  Must be the cheapest way to cut the grass.  It looks pretty funny, mixing farm life in with hotels and condos.

We had plenty of sunshine and warm weather today, but I didn’t lie around the pool like Kory and Kaleb did.  They both enjoyed a dip and a little time to relax, but I opted for going for walks in the neighborhood just to see what there was to see, and to take photos, of course.  Lots of beautiful blooming flowers caught my attention, as did the many stray cats.  Greece is full of stray dogs, but here, the only ones I saw were on very short chains, and it broke my heart.

This morning, after taking care of business things like getting a few groceries, going to the bank machine to pull out Turkish lira and buying a mobile broadband internet stick, we went to a nearby restaurant for lunch.  Boy was that tasty.  It was pita bread pizza, all fresh and good.  Yum.   Afterward some of us went shopping in the neighborhood while others took naps.  I found out that turkish bath towels are sold by the kilo.  I thought that was funny.  I didn’t buy much, but the prices on some things here are half what they are in America, and insanely cheap for Norwegians.  Many of the name brand clothes are made here in Turkey so there are lots of shops selling them for pennies on the dollar.  It’s hard not to think they were stolen, they are so cheap.  Norwegians are really into name brands, but me, not so much.

The only thing I’ve seen that’s more expensive than in the U.S. is gasoline (it’s about the same as Norway at $12 a gallon right now) and electricity.  All the shops had their lights turned off until we showed up, then they flipped on the switch.

All the shopkeepers expect to barter.  I hate doing that so I’m sure I’m paying more than I should for even the smallest of things, but I always figure they need the money more than I do.  The average income in Turkey is only $10,000 a year.

Tonight, we headed into the old part of the city to visit a hair salon.  The twins wanted a fancy haircut ($6 each), Bjørn wanted a shave and a haircut ($8), Janne wanted a tint and new hair style ($60), Ingrid wanted a pedicure ($12) and both Kaleb and I needed a haircut ($6 & $10).  We were there for hours.  But the employees were so very kind and respectful and they played with the boys to keep them entertained and brought us tea, coffee and pop while we waited. They were very complimentary and they told me they thought I needed just a little dye on the gray streak in my hair, but when I told them I liked it just the way it was and they couldn’t have agreed with me more.  It almost reminds me of Japan.  Even at lunch, the greeter shook hands with everyone and welcomed us in.  He remembered Bjørn from last year and couldn’t have been happier that he had returned.  It may be all for show, but they do a good job of making people feel welcome around here.  It’s impressive, as it’s not too much or too forceful.

We are all talking Norwegian just to be safe as I’m not sure what the temperament is towards Americans right now.  Everyone here speaks a little English so I’m having Ingrid translate for me to the shop keepers because when she speaks English, it definitely sounds like she’s from Norway, but I can’t fake it.  So far, no one has suspected a thing.  It makes me feel a bit safer, but according to Bjørn, there’s not a lot of crime here anyway, so that’s good to know.

Kaleb fell asleep waiting for his haircut so I had to wake him up when it was his turn.  He was a bit sour and cried while the guy cut his hair, claiming it hurt.  The guy was so sweet and got a Kleenex and wiped his tears away. I bought him a Turkish style hat afterwards in the market, so he was pleased with that because it covered up his haircut.  He looked pretty cute either way.

We walked around a little in Antik Side (the really old part) after we were done with the salon. We didn’t buy much tonight, but it was good to check on prices.  We ended up down by the harbor, walking through the ruins of a temple to Apollo and Athena.  It’s hard to believe these structures are not protected but they are just open for kids to climb on and jump from one broken piece to the other.  Kaleb seemed to enjoy that part of the day best, especially since he’s read the Percy Jackson series all about the Greek gods, so it was a bit more alive for him than the rest of us.

Kaleb wanted to buy some Nintendo games and Turkish delight candy.  I bought a few flavors of candy tonight (similar to Aplets and Cotlets) so we tried them out before bedtime.  They are good and fresh and a bit more gummy than what we are used to with the Aplets and Cotlets, but still quite tasty. 

It’s been a long day as it’s now after midnight and we all need to sleep.  Tough life, but someone’s gotta live it.