No internet at home-- blog update

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Geo: 37.0391, 27.4302

There has been no internet at the house for the last several days. Luckily it has been timed with the arrival of a car at our house, but we've been out running around and haven't gone into town to blog for a couple of days.

Nanny and Grandpa arrived Monday night. We were hoping that they would manage to make it to the house before dark so that they wouldn't have as tough a time as we had finding the place, but no such luck. They relied upon the kindness of German strangers to help them get to the house. There was much rejoicing. I believe there was an entire suitcase filled with books, movies, peanut butter and other assorted gifts. We all stayed up until past 11pm talking and hearing about their adventures and sorting through the largesse. I read the first couple chapters of Harry Potter before I went to sleep. Excellent!

Tuesday was a kind of day off for Nanny and Grandpa. They spent time enjoying the view at the house and the beach and the pool. We chatted some more and made some tentative plans for the rest of the week that Grandpa is here. Also, Alex had his first chess game with Grandpa and we did a short trip into town to provision and get our first Turkish takeout. It is called "Paket Servis." We got some pide with ground meat on top and some others with cheese and egg. We ate them at home with the Kebap sauce that we really like. It is a kind of Turkish salsa and is very tasty.

Wednesday is market day in Gundogan. Nanny and I got up early and went down to town just as they were finishing the setup of the market and people were just beginning to arrive to do their shopping (about 7:30). Grapes have come into season here, so we bought some green and purple ones. We also bought: dried apricots, chicken spice, tomatoes, watercress, arugula, spinach, peaches, apricots, Turkish bananas, two kinds of melon and figs. Then we had to scoot home so that we could get ready to head to Bodrum to do a day trip on a head boat. We really enjoyed our day trip out of Gundogan when Lucy was here, so we thought the Bodrum trip would be really fun as well. The Gundogan experience was better overall, but it was a nice day. Kate and I spent a lot of our time on the boat cruising through Harry Potter. The boys had a great time at all of the snorkeling stops checking out fish and leaping off the top deck. We didn't find much in the way of shells; from what I understand there are almost no shellfish in this region. We did visit one place that had a large number of good stones for skipping. We also visited an island that has cave with a hot spring that is believed to have medicinal qualities and that the mud is excellent for your skin. According to local lore, Cleopatra bathed there many times during the three years she lived on the Aegean. Lots of people put the mud on their face and hands, but Kate wasn't up for that. Josh and Alex used it as war paint. There was a sign announcing that it was 3 YTL to use the spa, but no one really seemed to be collecting it.

Side note about Alex's chess games with Grandpa: the table talk is very entertaining. Alex has started announcing, "Smooth move, Captain Smooth!" They use Josh as the arbiter of chess arguments and points of order. The official time for chess is after breakfast each day.

Have I mentioned that the mosquitoes here don't buzz? Josh's bikini babes and their boy friends lolling about on the rafts remind me of the sea lions that hang out at one of the piers in San Francisco.

My dad brought a nice pair of binoculars with him and we have been enjoying using them to get a closer look at the various boats that cruise by beneath our house.

The boat yesterday got off to a late start and was larger and more crowded than the last one. There were more English speakers and fewer French speakers than on our last cruise. I enjoyed the small group of Turks who occasionally would start dancing to the music that was being played over the loudspeakers. Dad felt like Manuel Noriega: trapped and made to listen to loud music that didn't agree with him. Lunch was slightly different. Everyone got pasta, bread and salad. The salad had mint instead of the traditional lemon-based dressing. They also provided a choice between pan-fried chicken strips, fish or an omelet. I had also brought peanut butter, so no one starved.

Since our trip started late, we didn't get back in until about 7:30. This meant that we needed to score dinner ASAP. The kids were lobbying to go to a Chinese place that they had seen a couple times on our trips to Bodrum, but it was kind of pricey and we were too tired to really appreciate it, so we went to a pizza place called "Pizza Pizza" that smelled really good from the street. It was a good call. We polished off a couple of pizzas, some salad, some wings and some fries before heading home to bed. After I got the kids were put in bed, I finished Harry Potter and went to sleep. I won't comment on that since there may be a few people out there who haven't read it.

Kate woke up this morning and finished Harry Potter. We still can't talk about it since Josh and Alex are listening to it on the audio book. I'm sure we will enjoy listening to it at a more leisurely pace as well. It's fun hearing Jim Dale do all of his voices.

This morning we made plans for a trip to Ephesus tomorrow. Later today we will do some grocery shopping and hit the café so everyone can stay connected with home. I am also hoping to mix some of the many, many different kinds of juices that we have here with some of the rum that Nanny and Grandpa brought: at last it's umbrella drink time!

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