Beachy Keen

At halfway through my stay here in Turkey, it has come to my attention that I may have led some of you to believe that my job could be what the proverbial they call a "cakewalk." You might think that living with a kind and generous family who let me frequently take naps, have visitors, and make me copious amounts of popcorn is too easy. That watching two adorable, well behaved kiddos and going on trips with them doesn't qualify as a stressful, deadly, or even dirty job.

Well, fine readers, prepare yourself. This is the post where I prove you wrong. 

This last weekend we set off for the coastal city of Alanya on a Saturday afternoon after my first solo (read: harrowing) trip to the farmers market. This is where the 'deadly' part comes in. As I was crossing the street to the market, something that can only be described as the love child of a bee, fly and steroid-infused mosquito decided it wanted some special privileges and flew down my shirt. This was complicated for several reasons:
     1) This was the first bug I had ever seen than looked like this. Anywhere. I think there's a quote about fear of the unknown being worse than fear of the known, and if there isn't a quote already then there should be. There was no way I was calmly waiting for it to fly away.
     2) I was standing on the divider in the middle of a fairly busy street. While rather distracted by my impending winged doom I stepped down into the street and was honked at and flashed some ungentlemanly hand signs by the driver of a classy Renault. My life flashed before my eyes...and that rusty bumper.
     3) In case I haven't mentioned it previously, Turkey is a very conservative country. Konya, the city I'm currently living in and the home of the aforementioned farmer's market, is widely regarded as the most conservative city in said conservative country. If I was already flirting with the decency line by going out in my semi V-neck T-shirt and jeans, then waving my shirt open and closed to try and get a winged monstrosity out of my cleavage probably wasn't the ideal way to handle the situation. My bad. Let he who has had a bug fly down his shirt and maintained a state of decorum cast the first stone (or maybe, in this case, a bug zapper).

Alas, I survived unscathed and was able to make it through the farmer's market. On an unrelated note, when I was waiting to buy some oranges a gentleman also waiting in line took one look at me and said "Excuse me, but I can tell you don't speak Turkish. What would you like to buy?" A part of me wished I could have had a witty retort available in Turkish, but since he was right the only reply I could come up with was "uh...oranges?" It turns out my new friend Yaz was born in Australia, and was staying in Konya for a while visiting some family. He was quite lovely, and insisted on escorting me around the market until I had all of my groceries because "the vendors will take advantage of you if you can't speak Turkish," even if it meant leaving his brother and elderly mother to fend for their own carrots and cucumbers. To be honest, I spent the same amount of money as usual at the market, but it was sweet that a random stranger was concerned for my well being. :)

Once I was finished up at the market it was off to Alanya! The drive is only about 3.5 hours, but during that time we drove through a desert (outside of Konya), up into and through snow covered mountains and then ended up at a temperate coastline. Of course, my camera was safely packed away in the back (blogger fail!), but I assure you it was one of the quickest geography changes I have ever experienced.

Now for anyone reading this who has toddlers, you know very well that there is a limit to how far you can drive without being driven crazy. Lucky for us, that limit was reached at the Grenada Hotel!

It turns out the Grenada had just reopened on March 1st for the tourist season, but because it wasn't quite in full swing we got a nice discount. I would have stayed regardless: the buffet had an coffee bar open 24-7. It was more like a resort than a hotel, complete with a gigantic, bridge covered pool:

spectacular ocean views:

scenic, greenery covered grounds:

and even a little aquarium. Be still my marine-biology-degree-holding heart!

We had a lovely time, and it was nice to get out of Konya for a bit. The next day we ventured into downtown Alanya, where we found this castle:

Once we got up close and personal, it was really cool. It had a pretty epic view of the town below, too. Just another dangerous part of my job description: leaning over castles on cliffs to take pictures.

 I don't know anything about the castle, but for all of the Game of Thrones fans out there, the Turkish word for castle is Khaleesi. The more you know...

 Now, after a long, strenuous day of eating at buffets and viewing castles, you can't go wrong with some time at the beach.

 This was Aliah's first ever beach adventure! She was a big fan of the sand, but not as much of the water.

There you have it. If you thought my job was too easy, I hope this discussion of the perils of farmer's market shopping, the fear of leaning out of castles and the dirtiness of clinging beach sand have shown you that my every day here is filled with dangerous and stressful jobs.

Well, maybe not. But I did change a diaper today, so at least the job can get a little dirty. ;)

Safe travels,
Adaline