Hangin' in Gundogan

---

Geo: 37.0391, 27.4302

Alex: The other day we went to the beach bright and early in the morning and had a little fun. On the way home we stopped by Kate' new Turkish friend's house. She was going to the beach and we asked if she would like to come up to our house to the pool in a little while. Then we organized the time for 2:00. We met her there and had more fun and then Kate and her Turkish friend and we came back to our house for chai and popcorn. She loves puppies, so we showed her the puppies in the bush. The neighbors feed them. I like to drink tea so I had 3 glasses of it. Mom didn't let me have a fourth, even though the tea pitcher was full to the brim because she was afraid I wouldn't go to sleep, but still, how cruel!

Then they left and mom made dinner and we watched Superman 4, played a couple hands of bridge and went to bed. And that's it.

Josh: Mom wants me to cut my hair. What kind of fiendish torture is this? I haven't cut my hair since I've been in Turkey. I am the supreme shaggy dog of the family. I might have fleas, I'm not sure. Maybe I should shower. Dogs bark all night and none of them are shaggier than me. Lots of them have big mouths. When you go to Turkey, the barber shops are cheaper and there are no chains or brand names, they are just there and they don't sell you cheesey merchandise while you are waiting.

Mom is teaching us to play bridge. Once I won all the tricks except for two. I was the declarer and Kate was the dummy: how true! Most of us are having lots of fun laying down cards and coming up with strategies. We haven't really been playing competitively. We have been helping each other. All our cards have hearts and numbers, but in the middle they have famous sites from Turkey like the Statue of Mary, the Obelisk in Istanbul and Bodrum castle and some others that we don't know. I know it's a round about way of saying it, but Turkey is a really good place to go on vacation if you have the time. We had two months and we still didn't see all of them. You could see them all in a year maybe. All you kids out there: if you beg your parents long enough, maybe they will you.

Kate: I have a new friend here named Bouchin. She came over to our house yesterday. We went to the pool and drank chai and ate figs. We talked about how cute Alex is and we showed her and her cousin some of our pictures and talked about our trip around Turkey. We also asked her if she knew the name of the flaming fish dish and showed her a video of it, but she didn't know. She was able to show us the proper way to use a Turkish teapot. We may bring one home with us. We gave them both ring pops and a post card. They liked the ring pops. They thought they were tasty and liked the way they were shaped. She had never seen one before--a crying shame. We are having fun in the house right now. We played "Baloney" and Bridge with our new deck of cards and have been acting nutso. Josh was waddling around with his arms inside his shirt and his hands poking out. We have also been watching the Superman series. Superman 4 is one of the cheesiest movies I've ever seen--Nuclear man? Come on!
Next we watch Superman Returns which is a newer movie and will hopefully be better.

Mom: Kate's friend is just lovely. She is a very sweet girl and we also like her cousin Gulia very much. They came and spent several hours with us yesterday and was great with the kids. I'd love to have her as an au pair if I actually needed one. I hope she finds a job that suits her. Gulia works in the Turkish Central Bank. I'm hoping to explore the peninsula here a little this week, but no more fabulous trips are planned. Still, you never know when there will be a flaming fish...

---