I got home at the end of January just in time to see Herb Alpert, one of my all-time favorites, at Jazz Alley and then was on my way to Istanbul to spend a couple of weeks with Ozgur.
He has his own condominium now and it was fun to relax during the day and then meet up with him after work. He even asked me to ‘fix up’ his place to make it homier, which I love to do. We spent some time shopping for accessories for his home and I managed to frame some nice photos as a surprise for him. Going to the mall by myself, ordering frames and telling the man how to frame the photos without speaking Turkish was an interesting challenge.
I also visited with Erkan and his family. He was the other young man who came with Ozgur to Seattle in 1997 for the summer. He is married and they have a little girl, Nahir, and his wife Emil always reads our fortunes from the coffee grounds after dinner.
When Ozgur went to Barcelona on business I went to Pamukkale for a few days. It is an amazing site with hot springs and travertines or terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water cascading down the mountainside. These deposits come from thermal pools that over time build up enough deposits to cover the entire hillside. You can walk up on a dedicated pathway through the warm water but you have to take your shoes off to protect the deposits.
From there I went to Antalya on the Mediterranean to spend a week with Ozgur’s mom, dad and sister. I arrived the day after my birthday and they welcomed me with a birthday celebration. You can also see in the background that I was watching the Olympics as much as I could. In Turkey they were on all night because of the time difference.
I went back to Istanbul to meet Ozgur and my friend Kate joined us and the three of us flew to Gaziantep on the Turkish border and then took a taxi across the border into Syria where we spent five days together. It was amazing to visit places like the ancient city of Palmyra built by King Solomon of Judea which you hear about in the Bible. Built around an oasis it was an important center for trade caravans between the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia and an important link on the Old Silk Road.
In the city of Hama we saw ancient waterwheels from the 12th century some of which were up to 66 feet in diameter. Powered by the flow of the river, they were designed to collect water from the river and dump it into aqueducts that would then carry it to the fields for irrigation.
Our last stop was Damascus, considered by historians to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, being inhabited since the 2nd millennium BC. We enjoyed the color and energy of the Souq al Hamidiyya Bazaar which leads into the heart of the Old City.
Kate left us in Damascus and Ozgur and I continued again by taxi across the border into Jordan and on to Petra.
Petra was everything I thought it would be. The ancient city of the Nabataean civilization was constructed in the 5th century BC. The rock walls soar to a height of 200 ft above you as you enter the Siq. You can just imagine what it must have been like for weary caravan travelers to enter this magnificent city through the narrow passageway which eventually opens up to reveal The Treasury, an astonishing piece of craftsmanship carved out of sandstone and made famous in the Indian Jones Movie, The Last Crusade. Around every corner the rock formations and colors of the rocks take your breath away.
After spending two amazing days in Petra we hired a taxi to take us to Wadi Rum where we stayed in a Bedouin Camp in the middle of the desert. The landscape was awesome; the rocks seem to whisper their secrets from the past. Sleeping out under the stars at night was an experience we will never forget.
I was really excited for Ozgur to see the Dead Sea. I had been there before from the Israeli side. The intense blue water has a 31% salinity which is 9 times the ocean making it impossible to do anything but bob around in the water. When you try to stand up it is hard to get your feet under you again. Ozgur tried the therapeutic mud bath where you cover yourself with the black mud and then bake in the sun until it dries before ‘washing’ it off in the salty water.
Our next stop was Mt. Nebo where Moses is said to have seen the Promised Land. You look out over the ancient lands of Gilead, Judah, and Jericho and can hardly believe you are really there.
When Ozgur went back to Istanbul I spent another week on my own in Amman. I hired a driver (photo below) who took me on a day trip to the city of Jerash one day but I must say I was getting a bit overloaded on ruins, even though they are amazing. One of the really interesting things there was the re-enactment of a day in the life of a Roman Soldier complete with chariot races and gladiator fights. The Middle East is a fascinating place to visit and the cradle of civilization with some of its cities dating back to the dawn of civilization.
In April I decided to try my luck with gardening. I had a trellis built and spent a month or so trying to improve the soil. It certainly paid off as I had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with. You will also see in the photos that I gave up my Honda Prelude after 24 years and now have a Honda Accord.
I continue to work out and am having a lot of fun doing Zumba, which is aerobic dance to Latin music. I found an instructor who is terrific and I follow her wherever she goes.
In July Ozgur came to Seattle for a couple of weeks. We had a party when he first arrived so he could see some of his old friends. He visited lots of his other friends while he was here but unfortunately he broke his arm a couple of days before he left when he was riding my bicycle which meant six weeks in a cast when he got home. When he got home he also found out that his dad had suffered a shoulder injury so the two of them had right arm casts and Rahime, his mom, had to do everything for them.
In October I got together with my former roommates at Rosario, a resort on Orcas Island. We try to do something each fall to celebrate our move to Vancouver together when we were in our early 20s.
I continue to have fun with Robert & Ana Lilia, my friend Lilia Elena’s children. This year Robert played soccer for the first time and it was fun to go and watch him. Ana Lilia and I have had some play dates together and I take Robert to the Seattle Children’s Theatre which is always fun. Sometimes we do a sleepover so their mom and dad can do something fun.
My brother Jeff and his wife Rhonda are enjoying Caden, now three years old, and his twin sisters Anna & Brooke who just turned a year old. Krista is a busy mom and my niece Jamie has a full schedule acting in various plays in Calgary. Levi is playing hockey and volleyball and Mariah who was in a car accident this summer is gradually getting back to normal.
I have been back and forth to Winnipeg several times as my mom needed to move to a more assisted living environment in the same complex she is in, in August, and had an operation in September so many trips to Winnipeg. She is doing great now and enjoying her choir and all the other activities that keep them busy.
I will be heading to Winnipeg for Christmas so am breaking out my woolies and down coat. Going from 50 above to 50 below is not my idea of a vacation but it will be fun to be with family for the holidays.
I wish you all the best for the coming year and trust that you and your loved ones will enjoy the holiday season.
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