istanbul...n our sapanca..3

The scorching heat...this high humidity.. this desire not go out of the flat coz even while u r in the house..u sweat a lot..ur body getting sticky...these reasons reminded us..halil n i as to why we were in Sapanca for a long long time...

Oh boy... the weather is hot.. The kids r getting restless as well. Ever since we came back to istanbul, the kids have this *space* shock..To move from the big space in sapanca to this small apartment house.. just imagine, the sapanca house garden is as big as our flat.. (yup..that is how small our home is...)..and ..NO ..i am not complaining.. alhamdulillah we have a place of our own we can call home..but the shock after getting used to the open space of sapanca...the green n the breeze as if u r in spring though everywhere else is in summer is a total contrast to where we r now...to be cooped inside the flat is somehow.....let us just say... not very preferable

There r also much too less activities in istanbul in comparison to sapanca.. no mıstık for me to bully n fight with..no pool for us to jump into....just the bath tub to soothe our sweaty bodies....Yes... home sweet home...Sapanca was good but home is what my heart desire most in the end..regardless what...

Sapanca 3..The achievements...?

Hatice
-She can now dive n touch the floor of the deepest end of the pool.
-She swims very fast for a girl her age.

Conclusion: Her swimming has improved a lot.

Baddin
-He has created his own styles of jumping n diving..like superman jump n his famous *dadanınanatına dive*.
-He has abandoned the arm float when he is swimming at the part where his feet touches the floor of the pool.
-He screamed less when we brought him to the deeper part of the pool to swim
-But he insisted on using the arm float whenever he planned to swim at leisure at the deep part -Next year he knows that arm float is prohibited.

Conclusion: Baddin can swim but he needs time to totally abandon his arm float.

There is one totally memorable n my one favourite activity in this trip (next to swimming that is)....

wild berries picking while doing the jungle tracking.

I think we went tracking 5 times so far..

-One with just us (halil, hatice, baddin n I) with Kerim only (small tour tracking)

-One with us, kerim, Meşe n Merve (small tour tracking)

-One with just us n Kerim (big tour tracking)

-Two with just us n no one else (big tour tracking)

The small tour jungle tracking (us, meşe, kerim,merve)

I cant remember the exact date but somehow it was almost the same exact date we went wild berries picking with anne 4 years ago. We even took almost the same route to our house...That one special route..that one very interesting n definitely 100% adventorous route *chuckles*..the route where in order to reach the garden of our sapanca house, we need to climb our next door neighbour's garden wall... Let the pictures tell the story hehehhe
p.s All the ladies were wearing slippers!!

And confidently they walked out of the Professör Sitesi towards the jungle tracking route

Halil while picking the wild berries.
Just look at that face n tell me not to fall in love with him.
He looks so boyish in this picture.

Yup.. They r berries picking.
Allah has created thorns with every part of that berry plant that i think all of us had cuts everywhere after each berry picking
Mother n daughter trying to avoid the thorns n what nots

Next! As halil beckoned somebody to start climbing the stairs
(we shouted at mıstık from there to lower us the stairs)
With Anne 4 years ago, hatice n baddin n meşen merve n safa..we all climbed that wall.
Can u imagine??
That goes to the garden of our next door neighbour garden

Another climb into our own garden

The big tour jungle tracking

1. Us n Kerim
We didnt plan this one tour. It never crossed our minds even to do this. In fact, i had not known of these 2 tracking routes until this summer. We collected wild berries while walking. We stopped a lot as well. The 5 of us were walking upwards the hill; not knowing where the road would lead. We were all puffing n sweaty. At one point we even decided to turn back but later decided against it n after 2 and a half hours, we reached our sapanca house safe n sound...n dead on our feet hehehehe

2. Just us..a private family jungle tracking
THis time we were better prepared. We went twice together like this. The first time we took 2 hours to finish the tour and the second time it was only 1 hour and 20 minutes...we did 3 stops for ice tea n berry picking..And frankly speaking... I AM PROUD OF HATİCE n BADDİN for being able to walk uphill like that all those times we did the jungle tracking. It was an effort even for me..i was puffing.. (hey!! i am fat!! I am no longer as fit as i used to)

MasyaAllah.. my kids r strong n fit.. maybe all those swimming proved to be useful after all.

I think that is all about it..

Before i forgot..a Special request from The Queen of the House n Shami for a translation of the poem halil had written for Anne. I am translating it almost directly... almost word by word..without looking at the style of poetry writing..

Kan dondu beynimizde
The blood in our minds r frozen
Yağmurlara yenildik
We lost against the rain
Boynumuz kıldan ince
Our neck is thinner than our body hair
(this is a turkish saying which means that we obey to the rules of the Qadar)
Mevlamiza yöneldik
We turn our faces to Allah

Son bir kez baktı bize
She looked at us that one last time
O gözler inci badem
With her almond shaped pearly eyes
Ateş düştü yüreğimize
And the fire falls into our hearts
Ağladı cümle alem
As the world cries

Gözyaşı karıştı sellere
And the tears have mixed with the flood
Benzerdin gonca güllere
And u look like the buds of roses
Bırakmazdık seni ellere
We wouldnt have left u to anybody
Emir büyük yerden gelmese
If the order had not come from the ABOVE

Çok sevildim şu dunyada
U r loved in this world
Bu ne hazin elveda
this is such a heart breaking goodbye
Ansizin gitmek var mıydı?
Why did u leave so suddenly??
Ayrılmak kolay mıydı?
Is it easy to be apart??