Kim and Ali's Wedding

After a rousing night of face paint fun, exfoliating creme I'm told. We started getting ready for the wedding.

It was a fun day for all except, which is often the case, the bride and groom. Kim and Ali were bustled this way and that to perform various rituals and tasks. First stop, the hair dresser. Everyone was getting there hair done...like it or not. There was choice of Ringlets or Ringlets. There girl next to Kim looked like she's having a wee of time...getting her RINGLETS. I'm no hair guru but I've been told there's more to hair than a hot iron and spring loaded curls. Here's Kim doing an impression of girls getting ringlets:
After some sweet glamor shots by Deb, at the local studio we all headed to the little bungalow by the beach to enjoy a traditional Turkish Wedding.

There we are getting ready in our room and the band strikes up an hour before the wedding is even supposed to start. There was sum suspicion as to whether or not they drunk and only got more so through the night. Here they are escorting the bride from the stockade...I mean "bungalow" to her wedding table. There Kim and Ali were forced for several hours to sit wave, dance, banter and pretty much do anything else you can think of BUT were not allow to eat or drink a thing.

Cruel an unusually punishment, I say. A wedding is a hard thing to handle in your native language, with alcohol. Without and in a foreign language, Kim you're a braver man than I. This from a guy who asks whether or not there will be alcohol at a wedding the moment I'm invited to one. "Oh no alcohol, pity. I've got to steam clean the lampshades that day. Oh yes, I've had it planed for months."
As the bride and groom sat and waited the DJ played some contemporary hits from his no-words, Karaoke collection. Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You," and Phil Collins, "Just Another Day in Paradise," were among the instrumental ballads we heard as we waited.

As the night drug on we did our best to sneak the poor couple a few drinks surreptitiously hidden in juice glasses, snifters, pie tins and a teddy bear. Then for our amusement Kim was made to dance, and surprised as they tried to light her dress on fire. Ahhh! Then the cake came out to a rousing Techno remix of the famous Mamas and the Papas Song "California Dreamin'". That part is not a joke, that happened.

After that the real fireworks began and I'm talking about that lounge singer lets-get-the-fireworks-started-between-this-happy-couple kinda fireworks. Real, honest to God explosions. It was quite a lot of fun. Then the lightning began and Rana was able to catch some on her camera. Check it out. The DJ had to put his equipment undercover so the music stopped for a bit. Did it stop the Turks from dancing, NO! They clapped in a circle and continued to dance well into the night.

Kim and Ali took a little rest from the action in the Wedding Loft that was provided near the bungalows. Rana and I had some drinks. Then they came back as many people were leaving and we caught some nice pics of them. It was really a great time. We talked with them late into the night and stumbled into bed unceremoniously. Thank god we had the next day to hang on the beach. Check out me in the background, the Buddha of rock tower building. The next morning we caught a flight from the brand spankin' new Sinop airport back to civilization. Whew! What a wonderful time. Congratulations Kim and Ali. We love you and really couldn't be any happier for you.

Izmir and the Wedding: told with other peoples' pictures

Yesterday Rana and I headed out on an adventure to the south of turkey. Our aim was to make for Bodrum, city of topless old European tourists. What fun? First we had to get there. Before Bodrum we wanted to go to a friend's wedding in Izmir. Rana's cousin Naz and her boyfriend Augusto joined us. We boarded a bus at 11:30 last night and headed over the Sea of Marmara in a ferry. Sorry I have to warn you ahead of time I took not real pictures today so these are filler.

To occupy our time we played telephone in 3 languages between 4 of us.


The simple phrase "I want cheese," came out something like " la petite mort." and so on. We ate muffins we had made and tried to sleep but generally that was impossible. At about 4 in the morning the bus stopped at a restaurant and we got a cup of soup. We sort of lost track of the time and the bus driver found us 45 minutes later saying "the bus is going to leave without you!" At least that is what I think he said but it could have been. "You know that belt really doesn't go with those shoes." The world will never know.


Then the bus bumbled and bumped for 4 more hours until we made it to Izmir. Waiting were Naz's parents with a fantastic breakfast for us! We ate our fill and I fell into one of those knock out slumbers after you're full. You know the kind that hit you like lead frying pan. A awoke an hour or two later and we went for a nice whirl wind tour of Izmir before the wedding. It was cool and we bought candy aphrodisiacs from a man wearing a hat advertising his product.

Turkish weddings are fascinating. I spent about 45 minutes showering, ironing my shirt and pants, and doing my best not to smell like I'd been on a bus for most of the morning. When we got to the public hall and the wedding began about ten minutes later. It was over and people were congratulating the bridal party about 15 minutes later. I'm not exaggerating.

I thought, "I ironed for this?" Shouldn't there be fireworks or and old lady playing a synth organ or something? Nope. Done and Done. My theory is that in a climate so hot you don't need electricity to make toast, one should do one's best to move things along that keep lots of people in heavy wool clothing in a confined space. I am happy to say there was no faintings though some people did come just in time to shake hands and then were gone.

Tomorrow we are headed for Çeşme, a lovely coastal beach town near Izmir and the next day Bodrum. I am not sure about the internet connection there so this may be my last post for a while. Take care.

The is the Errant Particle saying: "Try to break off from the Nucleus for a while."