I know I promised pictures from Ephesus. I am
experimenting with those in a new-ish software, so I want to play a bit first,
then will upload.
In the meantime, I leave you with a few funny
quotes/anecdotes/randomness from the summer.
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Taxi Drivers
I learned a lot from the
taxi drivers of Istanbul. I improved my Turkish, learned that not
everyone thinks politically, learned that a good taxi driver will go out of his
way for you, and I learned how to navigate the back roads of Istanbul - so well
that sometimes I could get around better than my native husband.
I also learned they are not often afraid to ask
questions...
Coming back from the Princess Islands one day we
decided to taxi the rest of the way home from the Asian side of the city.
My son fell asleep during the ferryboat ride, so we carried him to the
taxi. The first question upon entry, "Is that child yours?"
Kidnapping is no joke, but do we really look like the type that would
just pick up a random sleeping child? I don't think he meant that, but I
am not sure what he meant, if anything.
"Boy or girl". I'll give him this
one because my son does have a full head of hair and had not had a haircut for a
few weeks. The best inquiry was yet to come during the long ride to our destination across the Bosphorus.
We were with a good friend who is a cardiac surgeon. Since we all have a healthcare
background, we were talking shop. Once the taxi driver caught on that he
was a surgeon, he asked, "So is smoking bad for you? I gave up
drinking, but I still smoke." Note, this was not the occasional
social smoker. He smokes.
The Turkish anti-smoking campaign with pictures of
corpses, black lungs and the like on cigarette packs have not given it away
just yet. It seems like a question our friend gets a lot so rather than
reacting, he paused for a second and very calmly answered, "It's better if
you don't smoke".
My son, the party boy
While in Bodrum, we were fortunate enough to
be there to celebrate a good friend's 40th birthday with her. It was a
great party in the beautiful garden of her summer home. There were maybe 100 or so
people, live music, a DJ, lots and lots of dancing. Erin did not hold back and
much to my and everyone's surprise, danced most of the night. We left
very late and he did not want to go even though it was beyond late.
As we started to leave he asked, "Mommy, can I
have a party like this when I turn five?"
It left a lasting impression because the next night
as we were going to dinner he asked, "Are we going to another party?"
Fortunately, he was accepting of the quieter family
dinner.... for now.
Amateur Macro Lens User
That would be me, testing out my new macro lens.
I had these romantic visions of shooting lady bugs and bumblebees in the
sunflower fields of Sarkoy.
Erin and I did go on bug hunts. He found a
praying mantis once - unfortunately no macro on the camera at the time. Outside of that
it was pretty standard: ants and rocks.
One morning, I came across a small spider hanging
from a pomegranate tree in my mother-in-law's garden. I thought this
would be a great way to check out my new lens capabilities.
Apparently, he wanted to give me an extreme close
up. He jumped onto my camera! I shrieked in a very
embarrassing, girly way and moved away very quickly.
Translation: I did that girly bug dance. "I hate spiders, so
why am I trying to take their pictures?"
I did not seek out any more spiders. Chasing
the above butterfly in a friend's garden was very therapeutic (even without a
macro), but in general I just might prefer pictures of homemade baklava over of
insects.
After all, wouldn't you rather eat baklava
instead of bugs?
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| Homemade Baklava!!! |
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