Just a quick note

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Geo: 37.0391, 27.4302

We've had a very social 24 hours. Last night we had Amishay and his mom, grandmother and baby brother over for tea and cake and had a very nice time. We had to spend a fair amount of time consulting the dictionary, but we also played with the baby and looked at some of our Turkey travel photos together. The children also gave me some anniversary gifts. Kate negotiated for a salt and pepper set that says, "Bodrum" and Josh bought a family of five cats sitting on a straw mat. They scare me a little--the eyes are a little creepy. I'm a terrible person to buy gifts for. Luckily, Josh understands that this is my failing, not his. He laughs about it. I will, however, dutifully carry the creepy cats home to share with my husband and co-owner of the little spookies.

Today we headed down to the beach. Nanny snorkeled and saw some rays--kind of unusual I think. We were invited over to Eileen's house for tea at 4pm with her mother who is in town (and also speaks English). We had a very nice visit there. Eileen used to be in international finance and speaks both English and Russian, in addition to Turkish and her mother is an embryologist. They are both very pleasant and very interesting to talk with and we had a very nice time. Nanny was also able to get an answer to one of her questions: "'Why aren't the loaves of bread here like the ones she remembers from 50 years ago?" The answer appears to be big business. Most of the bread is now made in central bakeries and is no longer as large or as flavorful as it once was. It also is strangely similar from town to town.

Tomorrow we plan to wake up early for a long trip to Pamukkale, so we will probably not post for at least one day. We should have cool pictures though.

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