Merhaba from the Culveys - Aug 2007

Phew!

Turkey is hot!! We’ve been basking in the sunshine for a few months now and we’ve decided.....we love it!!!  Even when it’s 48C!

So we left you last time celebrating India’s 3rd Birthday. India reaching 3 meant she could now join the local school as they have a nursery for under 6’s. Deniz College is a private Turkish school but most staff speak good English. India goes twice a week and seems to really enjoy it, her Turkish is also getting pretty good!

Escorted by me and two of my colleagues, Crazy Nana was our first visitor to Bademler at the end of February. Despite being a bit nervous, and not sure of what to expect Olive spent a couple of weeks with us and had a great time with the kids. She even paddled in the Aegean when we visited Cesme!!

It was clear to the odd local that had braved the chilly 18C that this bunch of foreigners were out of their minds and should be given a wide berth!

India really surprised us and was straight in the water despite it being really rather cold!

Just after Olive left our little man made the giant step from belly to knees and started crawling! He’s now as quick as Formula 1 car and into everything, ‘Kai no!’ is the most commonly used phrase in the house these days!!

Following hot on the heels of Crazy Nana was Nanny & Grumpy! To say they enjoyed Turkey is a bit of an understatement. They, like everyone that has visited, were bowled over by the very friendly and welcoming nature of the Turks. I guess this means we should expect many more visits!! But hey, it’s a big country, lots of places to send them (only joking Ma!!!)

The weather in March is still a bit hit and miss but it was certainly starting to warm up. Of course they were treated to a day in Cesme, complete with paddling too, plus they got to baby sit while we went out to celebrate my 39th birthday (yes it’s the big one next year!! Watch this space for party news!!).

Mum and Dad left after a week, heads full of idea’s for the next trip (already booked in October!). We settled back into normal life or so we thought....

Two things happened in the weeks that followed that we didn’t expect. Firstly Tan brought home a new man...Gunay, and showed us all that love can conquer language..they are living proof that you don’t need to talk to communicate!! At least not all the time. Both of them are hard at work trying to learn each others language, while we enjoy the sign language and Turkglish conversation..... ‘Tanya, Gunay, evet, taman’ and repeat until bored!!

The second unexpected event was the arrival of Izzy.... now Izzy is our new Mut! Despite telling ourselves many times we cannot have a dog whilst we are travelling around, fate had other idea’s. Izzy stumbled into our lives by collapsing at the roadside near our home and being spotted by Tanya. I rescued her and we took her to the vets to get her checked out. The vet gave her a few injections and some food, then told us that we had two choices, drop her back where we found her or take her home!! So now we have a fast growing, trouble making, crazy dog!!

Not to be out done, Grandad & Grandma arrived in April, and as usual Lyra and I disappeared for a few days back to the UK (I surprised they don’t get a complex about this!!) while they were here. Gunay passed the test when he met Michael, I think it was the Raki that won him over!! Then when we got back we took them on a cultural tour of Ephesus which is a truly amazing place, both for the history and the amount of Japanese tourists!

April is also birthday month in our house now with both Lyra and Kai celebrating!! Kai was one on the 8th and to mark his first birthday we had a party at the house for him and all his (and India’s) friends! It was also Easter  Sunday so we even managed to have an Easter egg hunt without the chocolate melting in the ever increasing heat!!

Kai and all the kids seemed to have a great afternoon, and  the lucky boy had a mountain of presents to open. We’ve said it already but thanks again to everyone, he had some wonderful gifts.

We all know that Lyra loves a birthday so it was only fair that she should get a party too! Again we had it at home and we were joined by the Kipa gang and some of our great friends we’ve made since arriving. It was a great night with great food, and lots of table football, (England were well and truly hammered by Turkey!).

 Before that though Ly and I took off for a weekend and drove up to Istanbul to check out the city and stay with some friends we had made in Izmir.

Asuman, Hayri, Iram, and Erman treated us to the very best introduction to one of the best cities we have ever visited. We stayed with them in their lovely apartments overlooking the Bosphorus, explored the Grand Bazaar with Asuman the master negotiator, ate in some great restaurants, and generally soaked up the fabulous atmosphere of the city. We will definitely be going back, and would recommend the city to everyone, it’s a gem.

By May the weather had really moved into summer, we had all been working hard on getting fit and healthy in preparation for a summer of swim suits and sunbathing, as well as our ‘fun run’ in Prague!

Before we could reveal our new healthy look though we needed to top up the tan, so we took full advantage of our location and took off on a boat for the day to visit Donkey Island and a few of the lovely bays along the coast. 

There was about 25 of us on the boat and the weather was perfect, we headed straight for Donkey island and by the time we got there the water was too inviting to resist so it was over the side for me! The water was crystal clear and beautifully refreshing. We adventured onto the island and fed the wild donkeys with bread. For one cheeky donkey though bread was not enough and he decided to have a nibble on Kai’s toe!! The poor little fella screamed the place down, but thankfully no real damage was done and a soak in the sea put him right!

Looking nicely tanned we were ready for Prague! Seeing everyone again was great, especially for the kids, India, Noa, and Christopher were so excited to see each other again it was a real magic moment! We all stayed at Anna and Harry’s, Chris and Les came over too, it was a busy house, 7 adults and 6 kids!!

We built up to the race by eating out and catching up on the Czech beer we’d missed since moving, so needless to say the race was harder than it should of been! Out of our crew, I came in first, followed by Harry and Jed, then came Lyra in her first ever 8k run, beating (much to her pleasure!) Chris, Anna, Tan and Les!!!

With all the calories consumed in the celebrations afterwards, we probably should of run a full marathon!!

Many of you sponsored us for the run and we are very grateful for the support you gave us.

The week in Prague flashed by and it seemed that all too soon we were heading back to the UK. First stop was to Crazy Nana’s for a few days of rushing around and then we headed South for Grumpy’s Birthday / Retirement party! All the kids were there along with Great Grannie too. But all too soon it was time to head to Gatwick and start the journey home.

Turkey was by this time baking in a serious heat wave, every day was above 35C and occasionally over 40C! The hottest was 48C.

Clearly this slows you down a bit, but it has certainly improved the kids swimming! Both India and Kai love the pool and spend hours bobbing around in the water.

Just what you need in all this heat is a Black Tie Summer Ball, outside!! But that is what we had, so we took off the swim suits and on went the Tux and cocktail dress, needless to say we lost a few pounds through the constant sweating but the beer kept us hydrated!!

Towards the end of July the alarm was raised when a large bush fire encircled the complex we live in, concern for the underground gas tanks forced everyone to evacuate as planes and helicopters dropped water to try to control the blaze. I missed the whole thing as I was at work but India told me it was a really big fire and that she was very brave!! Several times since she has suggested that we should get out her crayons and colour the hills green again!!

Meanwhile during all this action and heat, I have been training to compete in the Tesco Kipa Triathlon. It took place in Cesme and was due to be half the Olympic distance. On the day it was well over 40C so it was shortened further but was still pretty tough going in that heat.

Against all odds, and considering I was the oldest runner, there was a shock victory.....me!! All were stunned, but it was official, I had won the race!!

July brought us the hottest month of the year with the daily temperature regularly  40C+. It’s amazing how used to it you get, it really became the norm and after a while we only really noticed when we had guests! Which in July was fairly often, Stephi started the ball rolling with a chill out week and was joined by Abi and Kiera. Together we all celebrated Kayan’s 1st birthday who is our good friends Mel & Mentes’ son.

Stephi went on home and was replaced by the Pauses of Pruhonice!! India and Kai just loved the attention that Shane and Stephanie gave them! We had a great day out on the boat again (except I lost my wedding ring!) then they went off on a great adventure across Turkey to Capadoccia.

Soon after they left we flew back to the UK as it time for me to run again, this time in the Tesco Global Triathlon at Eton Rowing Centre. All 14 Countries were there and over 800 people took part. In my race I came thirteenth out of a hundred so I was pretty pleased. While we were enjoying our weekend of healthiness, India and Kai spent the weekend at Nanny & Grumpy’s, they had a great time and ever since India keeps asking if we are going away so she can go to Nanny’s!! Of course we spent a few days with Crazy Nana, Grandad and Grandma too in Sunny Northampton.

Once back in Turkey, Ly and I spent a few days on our own discovering some of Turkey, you can see some photos of our journey in the ‘This is us’ page of this site.

Towards the end of August Jane, Dean and the Boys came over for a week, they had a ball, Devon and Hamish loved the pool, Indi and Hamish got on like a house on fire!

That pretty much brings us up to date with one exception.... You will recall earlier in the update I mentioned that Tan had met a fella (Gunay), well, they’re engaged!!! Yep, the girl doesn’t waste her time or let the fact they don’t speak the same language get in the way, they are in for the long haul!! The wedding is planned for next Summer, and the blushing bride is working hard at becoming a Turk!! Watch this space for for more news in the next update!!!

Hopefully you’ve made it to the end of this mammoth update, we really have had a fun packed six months, I guess I’d better not leave it too long until the next one!!

As we leave you we are focused on getting our Kai to get off his butt and walking around, otherwise he risks being older than even I was when I started to walk!!

Love to you all, take care,

Dan & the clan!