Saying Goodbye

One of the best reasons I can think of right now, not to go anywhere, is that it gets you out of saying good bye.  An alternative plan is just to sneak out when nobody is looking and hope no one notices.  Unfortunately, I like to go places and I like parties, so neither of these plans is really tenable and I will have to put up with saying good bye.  In Turkey this means lots of the double cheek kiss; not my favorite.

Saying goodbye started with the students.  

I had been wondering how to tell my students that I was leaving.  The first class I told was my L10 advanced class when we were talking about the chemistry of cooking.  One student suggested that I have a cooking chemistry club next year and I figured that was as good a time as any to tell them that any club I participated in would be far far away.  They were heartwarmingly saddened by the news but after we talked about it for a few minutes we could get back to chemistry.  I expected the news to travel to the other classes quickly, but I guess I overestimated my value as gossip material and the news never got back to me.  I told one student in my L10 intro class a few weeks later and by the end of the period, the info had only made it to the end of her row.  The other classes, I finally told during the last week, one class, not even until the last day.  A few kids had heard about it, but one said she thought it was a vicious rumor so ignored it.  (-:

Finals were announced to be optional just before school let out on the last Thursday of instruction.  Pandemonium ensued.  I was worried that no one would come to school on Friday and I would miss my chance to say good bye and take pictures, but oddly enough, more kids came to school on Friday because there was no finals than would have if there had been.  That is just how things go here.

Goodbye to my teacher cohort

This is last year's picture, but if you imagine Jack as Shirin, we look about the same. (-:

It occurs to me now that we didn't take a picture when my cohort met on the second Tuesday of final exam week.  This picture is from last year at Jack's farewell.  Jack wasn't here this year but Shirin joined us, so we were still six.  We ordered Bodrum Manti and at at Konak.  I had made a carrot cake for the event, knowing that it was a favorite, but I was going to hike up the hill with other stuff and go to yoga earlier in the afternoon, so I sent Marshal a text to ask if would get something out of my fridge and bring it up.  He said sure and since he was going to take a taxi up, it would be no problem.  I get to Konak after yoga and I don't see the cake.  Where's the cake? I ask.  That's a funny story, Marshall replies.  He and Shirin had gotten a ride up the hill with the guards and stopped at the bridge to pick up what they assumed was a cake, but the bridge didn't know anything about a cake.  Frustrated, Marshall figures I must have meant the bottom gate guards rather than the bridge guards and goes back to check his phone for the text, just to find that he misread 'fridge' as 'bridge' and it was he who messed up, not me.  We tried talking the Konak kids into walking down and picking it up for us, Gaby even negotiated 3TL each instead of the offered 2TL, but once the parents were involved the plan was defenestrated and we ended up coming down the hill to eat cake and hangout at Shirin's for a little while.  As we reflected, it was brought up that we are all kind to each other and don't talk over each other when we are together.  I had noticed this before and was glad that others had too, it is really nice to be with a group of people who listen to each other and can have a conversation rather than just needing a warm body to absorb the sound waves you need to produce.

I quietly said goodbye at the last fish dinner.

There was nobody I wasn't going to see again at the last fish dinner, so there was no real good bye, except perhaps to Mike who was leaving for Italy with students over the weekend.  I did say good by to the idea of fish dinner.  How amazing is it to get 10-20 people together every week for a grill out potluck.  The food is always good thanks to Lisa picking it up fresh and Alex's grill skills.  There is always a variety of things to eat, although we tended to get into habits, Maura brings nibbly things, Tom brings potatoes, Jack/Celeste brings some non-green salad and I bring dessert.  The company is always superb and you can't beat the view.  For our last night, we even got serenaded by Mike and Darcy!

Darcy and Mike singing old standards.

Nobody told me there was a picture, and I was too busy talking to Milo to notice until it was too late.

Then I said goodbye to my department.

On the Thursday that ended the finals grading week we had a professional development day and after that day of joy, the science department met for our end of the year celebration under the trees in front of Cinar.  Everyone brought snacks or beverages and I brought a lemon cheesecake to celebrate Ipek's birthday, the last of the year.  After everyone was assembled, Alison had nice words to say about how I would be missed (and not just for my cakes) and Ipek presented me with a shiny box of presents.  The department had debated on what I would like, and did really well selecting a locum serving dish, a Turkish cookbook, a book on Turkish desserts and a page from an old Ottoman book with a picture of an astrologist.  I was very touched, and even more so when I read the card that everyone had signed.  I was moved to speak, which is something I usually avoid, but I had to let the folks know that I have really enjoyed working with them and that there wasn't a single person in the bunch that I didn't like talking to between classes or at coffee time, something I can't say about another science department I have worked in.

Alison is caught in a sun beam in this picture, so I made us move and take it again.

The science department.  Thanks Kudret for taking the picture.

Salt chicken wasn't really about good bye, but it had a bit of that vibe.

Salt chicken was originally scheduled for the first Saturday night of the protests, but it was canceled because all of the buses were canceled.  It was a bit of trouble to reschedule it, and unfortunately some folks got left out, but we did have a full servis bus and a very good time.  The restaurant specializes in baking chicken and lamb in a salt crust so it is extra juicy and delicious when you open it up.  The mezes were also amazing and make sure you leave room for dessert.

I got to 'help' open up the salt crust on the chicken at Akdeniz Hatay Sofrasi. 

No goodbyes were said here, but there was an arm wrestle over me, which was very touching.  (I don't know that anyone has ever fought over me before.)  Maria won, which is a good thing, because I have already quit this job and have a plane ticket home and it would have been awkward to suddenly change those plans had Erin won.

The arm wrestle to determine if I stay (Erin) or if I go (Maria).  Maria won, so I guess I go.  (-:

The hardest time was Wednesday night at the faculty dinner.

Graduation was nice, the parade of dresses was elegant, but the faculty dinner was what I was looking forward to and dreading the most of the week.  It is very elegant, with white table cloths, real plates and silverware and unlimited beverages.  There are nuts and vegetables set up on tables with couches to nibble on before dinner is served.  When we approached, Maria asked how many times a year was the staff treated to this.  Twice I said, three times if you count the trustees reception, but I guess if you count Christmas, you could get to four.  We chatted with the usual crowd for a while and I had a visne with white wine, which is pretty tasty.  Anthony invited us to start eating and we wondered to the buffet tables and then to a dining table.  There were particular people I wanted to sit with and by elbowing some kids out of the way, we managed it.  I sat between Darcy and Maria, which was a really nice, safe place to be.  When most people were finished eating, Anthony started calling people up to be recognized for leaving the school.  He started with folks who had been there for one year, then me (2 years) then up.  Not many folks were leaving, 6 or 7, if I remember correctly, but everyone gets a silver plated (?) plate with their name and years of service.  It looks really nice and comes in a purple velour box, but I have packed mine now so I can't take a picture of it.  I think I was on my third glass of wine with cherry juice when the ending began.  I just sat and people started to come up to say goodbye.  I don't think there was ever an actual line, but I can imagine that people had their eye out and were mentally in line.  I would have been if the situation had been reversed.  In retrospect, I wish I had asked Maria to take a picture of me with each person as they came up, it would have been nice to have a picture with everyone, but I could barely keep my wits about me and remember the basic social graces.  In fact I am sure that I neglected many of them.  I was very touched by everyone who took the time to seek me out to wish me well or tell me they would miss me.  It was even worth the hugs and double cheek kisses, which are not my favorite, to make that last connection.  I was particularly surprised by one good bye.  A person with whom I had had a good working, but a rocky social relationship, went out of their way to say good bye and  ask for a hug and kiss. Thanks.  As several people have told me this week, it isn't just about me, and if the hug and kiss is important to the person I am leaving, I shouldn't begrudge them that, regardless of how uncomfortable it makes me feel.  I think this must be true and it makes that last interaction more meaningful if so.

Profiterole are the standard 'fancy' dessert favored by Bilal, the head cook at RC.  These were a cut above his usual.

The night ended earlier than I expected, it wasn't even fully dark when Maria and I wondered home, via Tom's back yard to take a picture.  I was a bit tipsy, with the wine and the emotion and I was very glad that Maria was there to offer support.  I did feel a bit like a rock star as so many people came up to talk with me, but that high just makes the low lower afterwards and I was glad I didn't have to go home alone.

Followed shortly by saying ttfn to the cat and Maria. 

Holding hands while she naps. 

Maria came to collect the cat as she was fond of telling people she met all over Turkey.  She has now convinced all sorts of people that this must be one great cat, if she came all this way just to bring her home.  She is a very good cat and I miss her already, but I am very glad that she is in good hands at summer camp, having made the airplane journey safely.  I will see her (and Maria) at the end of July, which isn't so long to wait and there have been many other cats here (including some very cute kittens that can almost walk) to keep me from missing her too much.

Pekka's journeywas more complicated that we expected.  For those of you thinking about taking your beast home, not only do you need a rabies shot, and a health certificate, you also need a paper signed and stamped by the government saying that the cat has a rabies shot and a health certificate.  Many thanks to Cenk who took an extra long lunch to drive us around in search of said document.

Then it was Keeley.

Keeley, the bum, didn't show up to the faculty dinner, he wrote me an email saying good bye, as if that was going to be good enough.  Thursday afternoon, I hiked up the hill for an iced tea and three games of tavla (of which Keeley won all three).  It is always good to chat with Keeley, we have the most interesting conversations, whether about the difference between ermine, ferrets, weasels and stoats, or the digestion of glucose vs cellulose in your body.

Then Lisa.

Çok zor.

On the boat of the prep students farewell.

Then the Collins-Downs family.

Larry, Lisa, Alex, Maya, Milo, Elijah

Amazingly patient and infinitely innovative yoga instructor, absolutely delicious fish griller, tireless board gamers, reasonable, thoughtful, nice human beings with pretty good kids as far as kids go.  Their house was my home away from home, not to mention barber shop (-:

Then my stuff.

You can read more about my stuff in the wrapping up blog, previously posted.  Suffice it to say, I had a lot of stuff and it is now gone.

Finally all the hangers on.

I have been telling people that I really said good bye on Wednesday and everything after that has been just out for drinks or ice cream or a walk.  Not everyone believes me and they still try to say good bye again.  I have been mostly over it since Wednesday, although walking home from church this morning I did get a little meloncoly to be walking those streets for the last time.

I started this post with a good reason not to go anywhere or do anything, but the upside of meeting people, especially people who like to travel and are from around the world is now I have lots of people to visit.  I hope for most of these folks, it isn't really good bye, but 'see you later,' 'until we meet again' and 'in a while crocodile.'

Wrapping Up - my stuff and other stuff

The movers have come and gone and not without some consternation.  It turns out I had a lot of stuff.

Lizzy came over this afternoon, after the movers had left and she was startled by how much stuff is still here. It is true, my place isn't very empty, but most of what is left is the school's furniture and some things that I am selling to the next resident of my apartment. Also, there is what I am taking with me and what the school has loaned me to get by with before I leave.  Oh, and all the stuff I still haven't managed to give away, which will end up being thrown away.

Three suitcases and some other clothes.

Stuff wise leaving is awkward.  More than a month ago the school sent two companies to come and look at how much stuff I had and give an estimate of how much it would cost to ship home.  One company thought I had 3 cubic meters of stuff, the other thought I had so little it could go by air (~120kg).  I was amazed that these two companies could come and look and in ~10 minutes decide how much stuff I had, but with the cursory job they did, I am not all that surprised that they came up with such wildly disparate estimates.  I came here with about 1 m3 and 105kg.  I knew I had more stuff than that to go back, probably more than 120kg but not as much as 3 m3.  I told HR this immediately and continued to express my concern that the estimates were too different to be accurate.  The school chose to go with the air shipper as their quote was less and I was in the room when Aylin was on the phone with the company assuring her that it would be ok, there was no way I had more than 150kg.  I got Aylin's cell phone number then, so when the day came and it wasn't so easy, I could call her.

Today was the day and two guys showed up at noon with boxes and tape and packing paper.  I had packed my clothes and bedding into three suitcases and had already packed 1.5 boxes weeks ago.  I also put all of the stuff to be packed on the table and shelves in the living room so it would be easy to tell what should be packed and what shouldn't be.  The first box they filled was probably a meter by 60cm by 60cm, a big box, and they filled it with the rest of my clothes, shoes and the beginning of the book shelf, a few games.  This box alone was 80kg.  The next box they packed, which was for books and papers was 20kg, and my three suitcases together were 40kg.  I was already at 140kg, and half of my stuff (by volume) hadn't been packed yet.  I understoond that my limit is 150kg, but I didn't understand what the consequences of going over it was.  They wanted to stop, but I didn't think that was an option.  They called someone with more English, who told me what I already knew and wasn't very helpful.  I called Aylin, who was very reassuring and she talked to the packer, who then called his boss, who gave him the 'tamam' and we were back to work.  I still don't know what this means.  Will I be charged for the extra weight?  Can it go by sea instead of by air since it is more than expected?  Who is responsible for the fact that the quote was so far off?  The two guys were very nice, easy to (not) communicate with, very efficient and friendly.  They got it done by 2pm, 3 suitcases, 10 boxes and my picture frames, cleverly put into an un-assembled box and taped up.  I don't know what the total weight was, but my guess is 230kg and I dont know what the total volume was, but I guess 2m3.  I signed a paper that said 14 boxes.

My kitchen, ready to be packed up.  

Other parts of wrapping up have been less stressful.  There were all the good byes, but I am starting to think that should be its own blog, there was the final exams, which didn't happen, so that was an anticlimax (see the protest blog).  I cleaned out my desk, which was fine, took down all of my postcards, which was a little sad, but since those are the people I will get to see soon, not too sad.  I passed out postcards to the folks here to send to me, and that was cool.  I can't find my school keys, and I hoped they would show up in the packing, but they have not.  Either they are packed and on their way to a warehouse, or they really are lost.  oops.

Other parts of wrapping up the school that don't have to do with good byes or stuff:

Graduation was very nice.  The student speeches were good and the faculty speech was coherent and reasonable.  We wore gowns with hoods which provided their own sort of distraction, even though it was very hot dressed in an extra layer of black.

Faculty lined up to march in after the students in our hoods.

Last Istiklal Marşı with outgoing student body president holding the flag and incoming standing near by.

Traditional cap throwing at the end of the ceremony.  

Reception snacks.  I can recommend the brownie cubes and the chocolate cookies.

Tuesday was the parade of dresses.  It is a bit incongruous to get out of a servis bus at the palace, but uncouth or not, servis bus is still my favorite way to travel.  The color of the year seemed to be red, but all of the dresses were really quite stunning.  We found out that the graduates (families) have to pay 400TL to attend this event with dinner and dancing afterwards and that guests are 500TL.  It is astounding to me that some people brought their whole family, mom, dad, little sister, grandma... The cocktail is free for teachers and a good time was had by all.

Many of the lady teachers who attended the cocktail.

The first bridge from the patio

More teachers chatting

Lots of pictures taken.

The left half of the parade of dresses.

And the right half.

Waiting for our limo to take us home after the ball at the palace.

On Wednesday was the faculty dinner, but that goes in the category of good byes, so I will write about that one later.

Erin and Ethan and the faculty dinner.

The larger scene at Konak Terrace for the faculty dinner. 

I guess that is it, this adventure is pretty much wrapped up and it is on to the next one.

Good night Istanbul.

Dalyan

When I talked Maria into coming to Turkey to pick up Pekka, she took the opportunity to plan an amazing whirlwind tour of the country with stops in Istanbul (of course), Dalyan, Cappodoccia, Antalya and Ephesus.  I asked if I could go along to the Dalyan stop and she kindly put that on the weekend between my last day of classes and the start of final exams.  All of this was arranged before the protests started but that is another story.  At the time I bought the plane tickets, my biggest concern was when the chemistry final would be.  In my three data points it had never been on Monday (the first day of finals) so I made my reservation for Monday night with my fingers crossed.  By the time we left, the chemistry final was set for Tuesday and finals had been all but canceled anyway, so there was no problem.

We left after a short stop and the TGSO (thank goodness school's over) gathering at bizemtepe and then took the bus to Besiktas and the ferry to Kadikoy followed by the Havas to Sabiha Gocken Airport on 'the other side'. It took us forever to get there and when we did, we had about 30 minutes before our flight left.  Fortunately the self check in kiosk was working and printed our boarding passes and then we scurried down the hall (the wrong hall it turned out) to the last gate (twice) only to be held on the bus for 15 minutes, suggesting that we were not only not the penultimate passengers, but that the plane would leave late as a result of someone else, not us.

The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed after dark in Dalyan.  Maria had the Havas schedule and the fact that we were late didn't seem to matter.  There was a board listing taxi prices to various places and to Dalyan was to cost 80TL.  That seemed like a lot to us, so we got on the Havas and asked to be dropped off in Ortaca, from which we could supposedly take a dolmus to Dalyan, but in reality, we were too late for the dolmus and were dropped of at the side of the road where a taxi magically appeared.  I don't know if someone called the taxi to say we would be there, or if he lurks waiting for suckers who thought it would be cheaper to take the havas part of the way.  In any case, we were stuck, so we got in and went.  Maria had the address, but the guy didn't know it so he took us into town and asked someone before back tracking and getting it right the second time.  The meter said 70TL, which in addition to the 15TL each we paid for the 15 minute bus ride to Ortaca meant we would have paid 100TL instead of 80 if we had just gotten in the taxi from the airport.  I didn't have broken money, so we asked Kaya (the bartender/hotel guy) for change and when he came back the taxi driver took 50TL and gave us 50TL.  That was the first time I had ever been undercharged by a taxi driver, but I think he felt bad about getting lost, and I appreciated the gesture.  

Kaya turned out to be a very nice guy.  After showing us to our room, he sat us down for a very late dinner and then gave us lots of tips about where to go and how to get there.  His place is rated #1 on Trip Advisor in the B&B section of Dalyan.

This was the view from our room in the morning.  

Maria, showing off the egg shaped salt and pepper shakers in our sweet suite.

 The Brits we met there come back for a week twice a year, but sadly we had just one night.  The place was booked for the rest of the weekend, so we needed to move on.  Kaya gave us several suggestions for what to do and then drove us through town (so we knew where to go) and then to our next hotel.  What kind of crazy nice is that?

Central Dalyan, with a statue of sea turtles in the fountain.  

 As per Kaya's suggestion, we walked through the Saturday market and then took the Dolmus from the center of town to the turtle beach.  (I was looking for a new wallet to replace the one that was stolen on the bus last Wednesday, but no luck.)

A map of the area.

 The beach has two touristy ends, separated by about 5km of beach.  The end that the bus lets off at has the turtle hospital and Kaptan June's Hut as well as a snack shack and lounge chairs and umbrellas for rent.  (We learned later in the weekend that the best time to go to the beach is early in the morning before the wind comes up.  By mid day when we were there it was very windy and it was hard to walk with the sand blowing in our faces.)

Dalyan's Turtle beach, east end.

 There are still sea turtles in Dalyan thanks to the efforts of Kaptan June, a British woman who moved to Turkey back in the day, before there was much development going on at the beach.  The sea turtles would come to the beach, lay their eggs and depart.  A couple of months later, the eggs would hatch and the baby turtles would follow the moon back to the sea.  (This theory bothers me since, depending on what time of night the turtles hatch, and what phase the moon is in, the moon isn't necessarily over the sea.  It seems very unlikely to me that all sea turtles hatch during the right combination, but maybe since we are in the northern hemisphere and the beach is roughly east-west, the moon will almost always be over the water...)  The problem was, as development increased, there were more and more lights on the beach at night, confusing the baby turtles and causing them to walk the wrong way.  June campaigned to keep hotels from developing huge resorts on the beach and she was successful.  Every year all the sea turtles throw a big party in her honor (not really.)  We saw her driving her old VW bug in town and we visited her hut where we learned more about her story and how we could help support her plan.

Kaptan June - savior of the sea turtles.

 Near by was the sea turtle hospital, run by Pamukkale University.  There we met a very nice university student from England who is volunteering there, talking to tourists and taking care of the turtles while learning more about them himself.  He also goes out at night to find and mark the nests so they do not get disturbed by the tourists.

Sea turtle hospital.  

Turtles are brought to the hospital when they need time to recover from injury, some have lost a limb, others have damage to their shells.  Since turtles have very slow metabolisms, they live a long time, but heal very slowly. 

This turtle had a head injury.  Her head is covered with bees wax and then an ace bandage.  She mostly floats, which was a mystery to our young guide.  I wonder if she just wanted to save her self the effort of coming back up when she needed air.  

 We walked from the turtle hospital, along the beach, finding the wind bearable if we were close to the water.  Along the way we saw tracks made by mama turtles on their way back to the sea after laying and markers on the beach to show where the nests were and when the eggs were laid and when we sat to rest and eat cherries we saw sand crabs as well.

Turtle tracks

Nest marker.

Future turtle food.  

At the other end of the beach (accessible by boat rather than bus) there is another touristy place where I introduced Maria to the wonders of the magnum ice cream bar and we used the bathroom, notable for the following features: 

The stream of water doesn't reach the basin.

Lego people need to go too.

Very clear bathroom signs.

We took the boat dolmus back to town, which was very pleasant, relaxing and breezy.

Maria on the boat back to town.  

 Along the way up the Dalyan river we saw the Lycian rock tombs carved into the cliff face.

Due to vandalism, tourists are no longer allowed to climb up to these rock tombs.  

 That night and for the rest of our trip, we stayed at the Asena Motel on the other side of town.  When Kaya dropped us off, no one seemed too interested in our arrival and since we were early, our room wasn't ready.  They were kind enough to allow us to drop off our stuff so we didn't have to travel with it for the day.

The very pleasant bar area at the Asena Motel, and the view from our room's balcony.

After our day at the beach, we spent some time at the pool and then went to dinner and to sleep, still no one really took notice of us.  In the morning we met Walker, a Turk, but not my first guess by looking at him.  He was very helpful and suggested a plan for the day (Sunday).  He even walked with us to the river and helped negotiate our use of a paddle boat and gave us directions to the 'secret' mud baths across the way.  I am always skeptical of anything free and secret in a tourist place.  Either it is not as good as it is reported to be or it isn't legal, or else, why doesn't everyone else know about it/go there?  We had just met Walker, why would he give away his secret mud baths to us if they were any good?  

We pedaled across the river and towards the lake looking for the 'secret' entrance while watching another motor powered boat dock at a place directly across the river from our launch, clearly heading to the same place.  We saw lots of wild life along the way, fish of three different sizes, ducks, turtles, dragon flies and other small flying creatures.    

Wild life of the Dalyan river

Dragonfly voyeurism? or just waiting his turn?

 When we got to the pools the German tourists were just finishing up.  It ended up being very fortuitous that we overlapped with them because they gave us the heads up about where to find the mud and what to do with it.  Maria had more luck reaching under the rocks to find fresh stuff, but we both found some left over clumps that could be reconstituted (kind of like rubbing a bar of soap over your body, except it had the opposite effect) and we smeared ourselves with it, hung around until it was dry and the washed it (and 20 years) off our skin in the water.  The pool it self was interesting.  It was fed by several springs along the mountain side, but the water coming in wasn't very warm.  In fact, the water was quite pleasant, it was the bottom of the pool that was warm.  It is hard for me to believe that it was just heated by the sun, the rocks were too warm for that.  I wondered if there was geothermal activity underneath the pool.  In any case, we floated around and washed ourselves off at a leisurely pace before drying off and pedaling back to return the boat.

Maria and the pool.

Heather with a muddy face.

Our transport.  

After we returned the boat we sat for a while and at gozleme.  This Turkish snack food most closely resembles a quesadilla, but is by no means limited to containing cheese.  We had a cheese one (kasar rather than beyaz penir) a meat one and for dessert a seker ve limon one, which was crispy and sweet and delicious!  Maria practiced her Turkish by ordering bir bira and got just what she asked for (-: We enjoyed sitting by the river watching the fish and turtles swim by.  Several times the waitress offered us bread to feed the fish, but we declined, knowing that bread is not good fish food and that there was plenty to see without attracting more.

Two of the three sizes of fish we saw in the river.  

This is not the big sea turtle like at the hospital.  Perhaps it is a river turtle.

This is my best dragon fly picture.  He was resting on the under structure that held our table above the river.  

We still had some time after lunch and before dinner at the hotel, so we took the woman's cooperative row boat across the river on the other end of town (by the moskee) and walked from there to the ruins of Kaunos.  It was a nice road, well cobbled, along pomegranate orchards and old folks selling fresh orange and pomegranate juices.

Pomegranate orchard. 

Grasshopper on thistle in really nice light.

Thistle seeds

too fast to catch

My museum card would have worked to get into the ruin, but unfortunately it was in my wallet which was stolen, so I had to pay for admittance.  We wondered the ruin, saw the market place, the theater, the temple and the baths.  My favorite part was the animals.  We saw several large lizards and starting in the theater we saw tortoises as well.  (I am trying very hard to use turtle for water beasts and tortoises for land beasts, but other than the big sea turtles, they all pretty much looked the same to me.)  This little guy, Maria spotted in the theater.  I picked it up for the picture, but when I gave it to her, it peed on her.  Oops!

Got her revenge by peeing on Maria.

The view from the cheap seats.  Just 1500 years too late for the show.  

 More tortoises, held carefully to avoid accidents...











On our way back to town we bought a bottle of freshly squeezed orange and a bottle of frozen pomegranate juice.  We had to drink some straight to get enough space in the bottles to mix them, but once the sweet/tart ratio was right it was delicious and so cold on that hot day that they were delightful.  Back in town, but on the wrong side of the river, we sat on the dock and waited for the woman's cooperative to come get us.  It was the same woman who took us over, maybe they do that on purpose so everyone gets fair pay?

The woman's rowing cooperative.

 That night we had dinner at the hotel.  A friend of Walker's had caught some levrek and the hotel was grilling.  The mezes were good and the fish was pretty good, but no one beats how Alex can grill them.

Monday morning we thought we would go to the lake to see what we could see.  The boats in town offered a trip to the Monday bazaar on the lake for 20TL each, but we didn't really need to go to the bazaar so Walker suggested that we get someone to row us across and then we could walk from the other side.  We walked up the river but the only person we found willing to take us across wanted 10TL each and was in a motor boat.  Thinking we just hadn't gone far enough, we walked around a big pomegranate orchard to another resort, but still no crossing.  Giving up, we returned to our gozleme place and settled in for lunch, reading, relaxation, snack, reading, day dreaming, dessert and chilling.  It was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Again, we got two savory gozleme and then some sweet ones.  

Mostly we just relaxed in the shade along side the river.  

 My flight went out from Dalaman in the evening so I had to go, pack up and join a van that was going to the airport, which Walker organized for me.  Maria had one more day and two more nights and she got to spend the following day on (and off) a boat in the Mediterranean.  I was mighty jealous, especially since I had to go back to proctor and mark just five chemistry exams, but I should be grateful that I had the chance to get away, hang out with Maria and relax a little in the chaos that is the end of the school year.