I. I'm back. My skin is ten shades darker, I started and finished two books, I romped on various gorgeous beaches, hung out with kitties, and...I ate lung last night. On the way back from Antalya, we stopped for food, tea, and a stretch. I ordered some lentil soup, as did my uncle. He also ordered us some meat to share, which I assumed was döner, but thought it was kind of weird that it was a bit more expensive. I asked my uncle what it was, and, not knowing the word he said, somehow came up with the idea that it was lamb. Sure, lamb, lamb is good. After we had finished the plate and I was sipping on my tea, my uncle clarified that, oh you know, it (referring to the meat) is what hurts sometimes when you're sick. Hmm, I thought, my lamb doesn't usually hurt when I'm sick. All of a sudden it all clicked and I realized that I had just eaten lung, and that I had liked it. Then I thought about the texture of it, which I didn't even question when I thought it was lamb, and I just felt weird. And there you have it, my first time (that I know of?) eating lung. LUNG!!!
II. But sometimes I am down for communication errors. In my last "entry" I wrote that the drive was twelve hours, and it ends up that is how long it takes in a BUS. Driving (er, my uncle driving?) it took nine or ten hours, with a bunch of breaks for tea and other random things both directions. Also, we went both ways over night, which most certainly cut down on driving time. The sweet plus tight thing about driving in Turkey is that there are a milly a milly a milly huge shopping centers open with restaurants, stores, etc. so you can stop off and eat some lung when you get a craving. Or, you know, whatever.
On the negative side, sleeping in the car was tough! I maybe slept one or two hours max both directions. Once we left Istanbul the highways turn to (for the most part) one way roads that zigzag through the mountains with buses, trucks, and motorcycles cutting each other off and slamming on brakes and basically not providing a good environment for snoozing. Although my cousin just pulled the blanket over his head and passed out for the entirety both ways, the lucky jerk.
Re: driving in Turkey. I was raised with the notion of "defensive driving" and it is all too real here. One thing that I've noticed that is a nice change, however, is that drivers don't get angry in the same way as I've seen in the old country. Like, sure there's honking and some yelling, but it's mostly from buses/dolmuses...maybe it's because everyone sort of drives like a big asshole (real talk?) so there's not all that much yelling/cussing/flipping off because it's expected. "Road rage", if you will, just does not exist in the same form. This is a working theory and is open to critique.
II. The house we were staying at in Antalya is owned by a different family member and in a vacation/retirement community. Probably half of the houses were deserted, but in the summer it's apparently bumpin' (bar right by the pool, etc.). And, from what I could guess from all the signs around the community in Russian/German, the houses are probably owned or rented by a fair amount of foreigners. Also, there is a mosque located in an empty field adjacent to the houses. Thus, as opposed to where I'm currently staying in Istanbul (the mosque is a bit further away and the call to prayer is mostly trapped by the buildings), the call to prayer at the house in Antalya feels as if Allah is screaming into your ear. Indeed, no sound is lost there. I usually took the 5:20ish wake-up as an opportunity to go get some water, but one morning I was laying in bed thinking: oh man, I wonder how many Russians/Germans come here to party in the summer and have no idea about the holler from the mosque at 5 something in the morning? I'm sure the proximity to the mosque feels a little too real and heck of foreigners chant "Oh, God" for a different reason.
III. Mopeds were abundant in Antalya and the surrounding areas. I really liked the ones driven by adolescents with no helmets. But by far my favorite of the week was one we saw driven by a dude, with his wife on the back - neither wearing helmets and...his wife was holding their infant baby! Hello people!
Click to supersize flicks. Duh! (Bonus round of the first picture = the cow grazin' behind me at the pool)
