And so it begins...

We made it.  Yesterday afternoon, we finally arrived to our new hometown:  Alanya.  Before dropping altitude, our plane circled out over Mediterranean and then flew north toward land for the downward approach to the tiny airport of Gazipasa.  Bryan and I shared the little oval window to see arid rolling hills dropping suddenly down into the turquoise waters of the sea.  Those reddish cliffs pushing into the ocean were far more breathtaking to me than the sandy stretch of beach we passed over just before landing.  The Gaziposa airport is just a couple years old, and is basically a landing strip next to a small building containing exactly one baggage carousel, five smart carts, and two bathrooms.  All our needs were met. 

The quick transfer of our group’s 50-plus suitcases onto the chartered bus was also seamless, thanks to our in-country coordinator Nese.  And with luck, the seams on our own motley collection of suitcases, long patched over with duct-tape, held tight as we hauled them up two flights to our apartment.

Our apartment is essentially a short-term beach rental for vacationers, suped-up with a gas cook top, washing machine, and our own freshly connected high-speed wifi modem.  It’s quite spare and we hope the kids don’t break what little furniture we have.  But two very short blocks away is the warmest sea I’ve ever waded into.  The boys have endless waves to jump.  We have other faculty and their families living in our building, with whom we’ll share this adventure.  And on a steamy Saturday night we can hear muffled conversations from the pedestrian boulevard below drift in through our balcony doors. 

Last night a not so muffled rendition of the chicken dance song drifted in.  From the balcony, I could just make out a two blond children, along with a few waitstaff, flapping their chicken wing arms and wiggling their tail feathers down to the ground while their parents filmed from the table. 

Da dadadada da da, da dadadada da da, da dadadada da da, clap clap, clap, clap.