Today is checkout day. Our bill for six people was alarmingly small considering the amount of room service we had. I also got my passport back. They hold it in their office to probably keeping you from absconding. We leave around 1:00 pm to catch a 5:30 plane and the kids are catching a 9:30 plane. One night near the airport and then off to Munich in the morning. I am not looking forward to the three hour ride to Dalaman in the shuttle. Mary is off to the caba...

Today we took a boat trip around the Mediterranean. All day. The boat stopped three times so we could go swimming. Everyone jumped off a diving board from the upper deck of the boat. Beautiful! I had a wonderful time talking to a Welchman named "John" on the boat. He is a fellow English teacher at Andrea's school. He is a teacher, an actor, and a poet with a great sense of humor. We talked about englishmen, English food, ugly Americans, politics, and acting, wh...

The Wedding Day! Breakfast under the shade trees looking out over the Mediterranean. Mary and the girls off to Kas for a walk and sightseeing. I have apparently lost my money belt with $1000 cash in it. I am in a bit of a panic over that. I am hoping that I gave it to Mary for safe keeping. I'll know soon. Mary found the money belt in about 10 seconds. It was in plain sight on the dresser! Go figure! What a celebration. Pictures in the albums.

DInner last night was a hoot! Salih's father and I drank Raka, the Turkish equivalent of Pernod, an after dinner drink that tastes like licorice. Its mixed half and half with water and turns milky white when the water is added. At some point during the evening, he pointed at me and held up two fingers to indicate the number of Rakas I had consumed, then pointed to himself with pride and held up five fingers! Even though we had no understanding of each other's l...

A few simple observations about Turks: 1. Never ask a Turk if he is an Arab! They aren't Arabs. Actually they are decendants of Seljuk Turks who came to the Anatolia plains of Turkey from Mongolia to escape the wrath of Genghis Khan. They consider Arabs "dirty" people. 2. Don't ever drink Raka, the Turkish version of Pernod, with them. Stick to scotch - you'll feel better in the morning. 3. Don't bother to ask for ice. Ice must be a national treasure. An ice ...