Baptiste's birthday

As you know, February is a busy month for the birthdays in our family. On the 20th, Baptiste turned 2 and we celebrated it with Anne and Vincent, french friends we have just met here.
Maelle and Paul had spent the evening before at their house to bake each a birthday cake for their little brother.

Baptiste was very happy to be the center of all attentions. He loved the birthday song, the round of applause, the presents and most of all the chocolate cake.

Did you ever ride a camel?

Maelle and Paul did.
Close to our appartment, there is a waterfall, which seems to be well-known attraction in Antalya. Many tourists come there to see it.
One of the other attractions was the camels stationned on a parking lot nearby.
Maelle and Paul were very brave and enjoyed a little ride. On the way back, the camel refused to sit down to let them down. So we had to hop them down to avoid any fall.

Miscallenous

A few more pictures from the view we have. The first photo shows the view from the front of the appartment. The sencond one shows the view from the back. In the back of this second picture, you could see Maelle and Paul's school.


Our living room. We still haven't got our furniture and it's not likely to happen anytime soon.
So we enjoy the "ZEN" way of life !!!



Painted ceramics are very famous in Turkey. Here is one example we particularly liked.
Some of you might remember seeing such pieces in Tucson.

Maelle turned 7

This year, no Birthday party for Maelle as there were no friends available close by. But, we had a great familly time. Cookie time together (with turkish pastries) before Bruno left for Germany and at night, dinner with birthday cake with 2 french friends newly met in Antalya (no picture as the photographer was away).

And to make this birthday very special for Maelle, she had a very special day the following week-end with huge breakfast, ice-skating and telepherique.

Snow time on Tahtali 2365 m (7760 FT)

The beauty of Antalya relies not only in the sea but also in the surrounding nature. Supposedly, we can go ski ing and swimming in the sea within 1 hour (OK you have to like cold water and Saklikent-the nearest ski resort- is not Salt Lake City).

So, in honor of Maelle's birthday, we took the telepherique. Quite impressive! It's the 2nd longest one in the world : you go from sea level to 2365m in 10 minutes. We can tell you it is not recommended for people suffering from Elevation fear.

Once arrived, the view is wonderful. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the snow.We're looking forward to hiking and getting to the top by ourselves...

First weeks in Antalya

Sorry for being silent for a few days but internet was down ! Now, everything is fixed and we can update our blog.
We now have been in Antalya for 3 weeks and today we are moving to our apartment.
We spend the first 20 days discovering the Turkish way of live and its wonders.
Of course, there are some challenges for us like communication. It will take a lot of time to be able to speak and understand turkish. Everything sounds so different. There are a few and unexpected words that are similar to the french ones. Overall, people do speak a little english or german and we get by with gesture language.

We haven't started turkish classes yet. It's our objective for the next weeks. But the kids have a very nice babysitter that is teaching the whole family some basics. We're sure it won't take long before Paul & Maelle can teach us turkish. One more week of vacation for them before the BIG school start!

Among the turkish wonders, we will place probably in first position people and how friendly and welcoming they are. But, we are also amazed by the food and the quality of the restaurants. A lot of fresh vegetables, fish and meat. It's a paradise for us !!!

We haven't got time yet to visit historical sites, we just enjoyed sea related activities.


The marina and its impressive boats. Some sailing boats are for rent and we're looking forward to renting one. We plan to go sailing for a week during summer, volunteers are more than welcome to join us!!!










Of course, we also enjoyed relaxing time on the beach. We can't swim yet but we can still have fun with the sand, the waves and nice sunsets.















Bruno did his first trip. It was quite special as it was in the Ankara region, Ibo's native region (Ibo, Bruno really thought a lot about you). He drove to the carrot region of Beypazari : old city with otoman ruins and very nice scenic views.


The rest of the time has been used to find a new apartment and buy the survival kit to wait until we get our furniture from Tucson.The service is excellent. Stores deliver and install everything at your house within 24 hours and you don't even have to be present. The security guard is taking care of that for you. Quite a strange and new sensation.

Big Storm in Antalya

OK, it was nothing in comparison with the one in the South West of France but the sea was impressive. A lot of wind, rain and in consequence, power outbreaks (something new for us, we understand now better why most of the residences have generators). The big boats were really pitching.


Unfortunately, the furnished apartment we live in until today has no generator and we had to live 10 days with several power outbreaks (between few hours to half day almost everyday ). It's part of the fun to live with candlelight, to get (EXCELLENT) food delivered and as the temperatures are warm there is no big issue with having no heating system.