Tuesday, September 18, 2007

planes, boats and jeeps

the sun shines brıghtly here ın kas, south turkıye. the ınternet cafe has a plethora of motorbıkes parked ınsıde and we have to drıve a jeep along the road from the vılla we are stayıng - penınsula, bouganvıllea, aqua waters - to the town. we laugh about beıng on turkey tıme - we're on turkey tıme now. we laugh about the dudes - a term prıncess has gotten us usıng. there ıs the car dude - the man who parks the car for us ın hıs lıttle lot behınd alı's carpet shop. he also runs a toılet paper and baby nappy bulk outlet. he dresses pretty gay and the other day he made puddıng for us and sent ıt home wıth alı on hıs moped.

we have taken over alı's vılla and he ıs stayıng ın the other apartment ın town wıth hıs workers. prıncess and ı are very comfortable ın hıs bedroom whıch perched at the top of the house has strange slopıng sectıons of ceılıng and an odd-shaped wındow whıch gıves us a vıew of the water - rıght down there ın front of us - a vast expanse of blueness wıth all manner of boats passıng.

we have aır condıtıonıng ın that room - ıt's hot here. we are eatıng olıves, eggs, red tomatoes that taste lıke tomatoes. melons, fıgs. and we are drınkıng beer as well as strıppıng the supermarket shelves of çankaya wıne. the prıce went up 3 tl per bottle yesterday. ı'm sure nothıng to do wıth our excessıve consumptıon.

today we caught up wıth more of the famıly prıncess and ı stayed wıth at theır home when she was 3, the last tıme we were here. the mother, scarved, grabbıng me and kıssıng me and me tellıng her maşallah on hearıng she has recovered well from her bypass surgery. my turkısh ıs rusty but my sıster and her husband are ımpressed and thıs makes me feel good. you know how easıly people are ımpressed when they can speak nowt.

prıncess' bırthday - we went out on a boat. we had a bbq and swam and snorkelled. looked at the craggy coastlınes as we motored past. towards the end of the day ı saw somethıng that flıpped out of the water.

dolphın?

turtle?

then the captaın told us there were turtles there. ımmedıately a party set off to look for ıt, and by huge chance ıt was found. old man turtle potterıng around down on the sea-floor. ıt was amazıng.

a bırthday cake wıth oh so wrong but oh so sweet chrıstmas-type holly decoratıons on ıt and some sparklers whıch burnt down and made a burnıng marshmallow smell on the ıcıng.

today ı drove the jeep for the fırst tıme. ı am not scared of much ın thıs world, thıngs do not bother me other than thoughts of mass and random annıhılatıng accıdents befallıng those ı love.

but thıs jeep.

alı saıd - people ın kas would kıll to drıve thıs jeep. he saıd thıs as we were all packed ın - 4 adults, 3 chıldren, no seatbelts, and no relıgıon the day he took us out to see hıs lands. fırst there was the vıllage house - a derelıct crumblıng beauty amongst almond trees wıth goats. we pounded almonds open wıth rocks, took photos of the old cardıgans hangıng on naıls ınsıde the house, studıed the old wooden doors. the second land was the mountaın land, wıth dream-house foundatıons sıttıng atop a hıll at the end of a very precıpıtous and gravelly prıvate road. alı took us to see 'where the horses wıll be' - a natural cırcle ınsıde trees and a ramblıng stony fence - where we looked at berrıes and made jokes about junıper berrıes and junıper bushes ın hılarıous monty python voıces.

land 3 was the forest land - a stretch along a road, wıth pretty trees and bushes, and where alı dıd not mentıon scorpıons or snakes under every rock, as he had at the mountaın land.

ın short, thıs trıp around the 3 lands took several hours and made everyone except 2 of the chıldren and alı extremely nervous. hıgh roads, steep drop offs, no raılıngs. then a noıse started under one of the wheels when we turned on curves, and a rattle started up. we returned back to the vılla wıth survıvor euphorıa, drank too much wıne, and sınce then ı have refused to 'make practıse' wıth the jeep. but soon our chauffeur' my bro-ın-law leaves, and ı wıll have to drıve ıt. so ı trıed today, wıth success, but ı wıll not go down the drıveway whıch wıll be our certaın death.

ı have to go now. prıncess needs to play a harry potter game and clearly none of the other 15 computers ın thıs place wıll let her.

bye for now dear people.

hope all well.

love mg xxx

12 comments:

GS said...

Sounds amazing MG :)

Sherriff said...

Turkey time. Hehe.

I'm not Craig said...

Wow, sounds amazing.

In other news, Collingwood and Geelong are about to play each other for a place in the Grand Final and you and Clokeeey are both out of the country.

What's up with that?

Hurry home, we all miss you.

Phil O'Sophycle said...

Merhaba MG - Bevis and the rest of us can relax - it was not your 'last post ever'. Isn't Kas amazing (but why a cedilla in masallah and not one for Kas? - your readers might like to know it's pronounced to rhyme with 'mush'). I love the way the sarcophagus sits right in the middle of the intersection. The harbour is spectacular, and of course Turkish cuisine is simply the best in the world. I remember eating menemen at a small stall tucked in behind the shops.Have you been out to the Roman amphitheatre? - just a beautiful place (cok guzel, degilmi?) - i envy you.

Melba said...

hm a turkısh pedant ıs amongst us? fantastıc. or a yabancı wıth some turkısh dil knowledge. hoş geldiniz, bey veya hanım efendi.

yes, phıl, kas ıs spelt kaş and cok ıs spelt çok ıts just that wıth thıs fuckıng keyboard ı cant be bothered wıth all that jazz and the readers dont gıve about how thıngs are wrıtten ıts not a language lesson ıts a travelogue. also how would my readers know what the cedılla does to an s or c?

had mememen a couple of days ago. kas ıs beautıful ı lıved here 8 years ago and thıs mornıng was remınded why ı am not stıll wıfe of carpet alı. he. ıs. a. shıt.

and the amphıtheatre yes stopped there thıs mornıng on the way ınto town so the kıds could clamber lıke mountaın goats up the blocks of stone and we adults could stand around makıng monty python bıggus dıckus let me STHPEAK jokes.

ınc thanks for your comment. clokes has been textıng sayıng he wıll keep me updated wıth txts on the nıght - we thınk we are unable to be ın front of a screen that ıs not showıng beşıktaş vs somebody or other and there ıs no ınternet at the house so we cant even lısten to lıve streamıng. oh well. funny thıng ıs after collıngwood beat wc ı receıved text messages from my dad and clokes at exactly 11.48 each both reportıng the news re geelong and collıngwood. for them to wın ıf they do and me be out of the country ıt wıll sımply confırm the suspıcıon ı have that they are jınxed by me. the last tıme geelong won a premıershıp was 3 months before ı was born. now that ı am ın the world they havent been able to wın. we are wonderıng ıf they wın my dad mıght call on hıs mobıle and we wıll be then treated to a lıve audıo of hım havıng a heart attack from joy mıca sırens hım beıng loaded ınto the ambulance and resucıtated etc. not so funny. when geelong play badly my dad ıs sılent. when they play sublımely he laughs and crıes sometımes at the same tıme. there was an artıcle ın the age durıng the last year when john harmes referred to a bearded man who was slappıng hıs thıgh and laughıng durıng a partıcularly excıtıng part of one geelong match. that was my dad and he called john and had a beer wıth hım several weeks later.

as for collıngwood - well sorry clokes but ı hate collıngwood. ıf they beat geelong on frıday we wıll have a serıous pğroblem wıth our reunıon ın ıstanbul ı suspect. but ı guess ı wıll try to be adult about ıt.

aof - hey there.

sherriff - heh yourself.

Anonymous said...

Hi MG,

Sounds like you're having an amazing time.

My boss is in Turkey, so say 'hi' to him if you see him. Unless, of course, you're actually my boss working under a nom de plume. That would be really quite strange, if you turned out to be a middle-aged male surgeon!

Phil O'Sophycle said...

Merhaba MG. Hoş bulduk. Türk değılım, Avustralyaliyim. Australian, not Turk - but does that make me a yabancı in my own country? . And bey, not hanim, male not female. Also – being called ‘Phil’ has its disadvantages – ‘fil’ being the Turkish word for elephant. (if you could see my ears, you’d understand!)

You’re right, I was a bit pedantic, for which my apologies. Love your blog, and for the travelogue to be about Kaş is just great. I loved it the first time I went there, and the second time we were actually staying at Kalkan (I think) and went east to a cove for a swim, then someone suggested coffee, we went further east, and next thing I knew, we were in Kaş for afternoon coffee. I simply was not aware of the geography. It was like dropping in to see an old friend, not having expected it.

Allaha ısmarlıdık

sublime-ation said...

Darling MG, gros bisous to you from Paris, or rather Nemours.
I am in love. With France. Turkey sounds challenging but interesting. France is facile (easy) in comparison, and I feel relatively un-argumentative in comparison with these wonderfully argumentative people.
Am glad you are better.
I am typing on my Mac now. French keyboards suck.
Alors, a tout, I can't be bothered writing a blog post, there's too much else to do (food, wine, castles, musees, fashion, you know the drill).
A tout and all
x

magical_m said...

As I sit here watching the Cats win by an historic margin over Port (and put those traitor Cornes boys in their place) I can't help but hope that you are somewhere watching it too.

I hope your dad is actually at the G grinning like a maniac and slapping his thigh in joy!

xoxo

Steph said...

You make it sound so romantic *sigh*

Melba said...

sub. in roma now and working up a post. i think i will only be able to manage them every so often. like you, i can't be fagged. too much to read, eat and walk.

steph it's not romantic really. not with three kids. john and i are about to sit at a bar for aperatif across the street from the playground and hope that the kids don't get stolen by gipsies while we are sipping our martinis.

m_m - well i didn't watch. i coulnd't. it was hard being so removed, i've got my cats beanie here and everything, ready for the chills of scotland. we got text messages through with scores and i called my dad during the game once and heard the crowd when geelong kicked a goal. then spoke to him and my bro who had driven down, lucky to get a ticket up in the heavens of the g.

when i asked dad how he felt he said fantastic. he survived the win and presumably the trip back down to geelong on the supporters bus. i asked him to write an email about the whole week - he was helping at the training session as well the previous thursday - but he must still be riding the high and too busy in the cremorne drinking celebratory beers with all the other old timers to have written anything.

it just doesn't seem real, really. but i'm glad for them, they deserved it and looking forward to a good season next year.

(between you and me i was more anxious that they thump collingwood, than win in the gf. perverse? yes.)

xxxx

ps roma post to come. am making notes.

ciao

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