Brian's sick! He's all sneezy, feverish, and achy. Not fun for him or for us. He stayed in bed most of the day, but we did get him out for the archery contest this afternoon (more on that later...).
Today may have been just what the girls were wanting anyway: another day lounging about in our room and playing at the Pirate's Beach Club. I think they're kind of tired of ruins-walking, though they seem to have a great time once we get them out to the sites despite their protestations.
Of course we gave up our second room on Sunday morning when the bill turned to ours instead of Fulbright's, so we only have the one room today, when the two rooms could have been most useful. That's the way things work, right?
First off the kids and I walked outside the resort into the Tekirova shopping area to find a pharmacy for some Tylenol (paracetamol here, though, not even acetaminophen. This naming confusion is exactly why IUPAC exists, but I know that only a few know what the heck IUPAC is anyway...). You can buy just about everything over the counter here, but you have to go to a pharmacy for everything, there is no drug section in regular markets. The first woman I asked for directions pantomimed to go right at the traffic circle, so we did. But I asked some men out playing backgammon, and they motioned back the other way (left at the circle), so we went back. But we found the red E sign (pharmacy = Eczane in Turkish), the standardized sign you can see a few times every few blocks in many areas of Ankara. The signs are even complete with "Apotheke" in Greek in the coastal towns, too. I did some pantomiming to get paracetamol and expectorant, and then we continued our explorations.
The tourist community in Tekirova is heavily Russian, so many of the signs were in Russian, and some of the shopkeepers spoke only Russian and Turkish. I'm pretty sure that every single one of the other guests at Pirate's Beach Club were Russian as well--the night time entertainment was in Russian, the poolside DJ spoke Russian, the archery instructor reported scores in Russian. Finally some of the Russian words that pop into my head (from high school Russian) when I'm thinking of non-English words to use were useful!
I took some photos of Tekirova's sights (shopping strips, empty waterway, and a nice view of the mountain) and their Ataturk statue. Lacey or Maren asked if he really was that big, and I had to laugh since it seems he may have really been larger than life way he is revered here.
We visited "Ali Baba's Zoo" back at the resort on the way back in and said hello to the animals in their tiny cages. I'm sure the animals must love the nighttime dances complete with disco balls, directly in front of their cages. Aeden was asleep in his stroller, so we dropped him off with Brian, donned our bathing suits, and headed out to the water slides again.
I don't remember playing on the water slides being so much work, but after two runs I let the girls know we were only going to go 5 more times so none of us would get hurt or too sunburned. Climbing the stairs, grabbing the girls on their rafts, navigating my own way through the pools...tired me out! We went back to the room to get Aeden and wandered off to lunch and more wading and splashing in the kiddie pool.
Later on, we went back to the room to get dressed before going to watch the archery competition (the girls wanted to see archery in real life for the first time), and Brian was feeling better enough to come out with us and give the old bow and arrow a try again. After waiting while bodies of all shapes and sizes, often in bikinis, gave it their best shot (so to speak), Brian was up and we quietly rooted him on. He was frustrated with his score (even though it was a 46 out of 50!), but at least he wasn't in bed still!
The kids jumped in the trampoline for a bit, we showed Brian the "zoo", and then he headed back to bed and the kids and I went for afternoon snacks, photos of the pools and favorite spots at the resort, and then some time on the beach. I will admit that they had to drag me there (we were already dressed and I didn't want to have to deal with sand again before dinner), but it was nice. We stayed in the dry sand and Aeden played on the play structure while Lacey and Maren dug in the sand and buried their feet. Quiet beach time sure is nice. And Aeden sure is growing up--he was solo on the play structure, climbing up, sliding down the twisty slide with no reservations, and running from the other kids with their play guns. I just wish Brian had been feeling better to come and enjoy the time too.
There were no empty tables at dinner for us. So we moved one bar area over to the dining area (a full 3 feet over!). The waiter: "I'm sorry, friend, but this is not possible." Didn't he know not to say that to Brian after a day in bed not feeling well? It worked fine, and the waiter hovered until we were finished so that the table could be whisked back before anyone else had a chance to use it. Can you imagine the crazy American tourists that just drag their tables wherever they want? Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
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