Aisling was hauled out of the water on Wednesday evening and our lifestyle has gone down several notches as we are living aboard her in the Yacht Marine yard. Our friend Tom and Liz call this "doing hard time", a term that describes it pretty well, in my opinion. (See their great blog about living on the hard at http://port.boatus.com/blogs/portal/blog_view.asp?BID=2703 )

Onboard Aisling, things are completely topsy-turvy as we simultaneously tackle the jobs of packing, stowing the things that we usually keep on deck and completing the multiple tasks on a very long to-do list. When we want to "go ashore" we have to climb down a steep wobbly ladder, which suddenly makes our usual dockside exit strategy of climbing down the anchor look like a breeze. For the most part, I don't mind it too much, as long as a bathroom trip in the middle of the night isn't necessary. It's funny how the number of times we need to go seems to increase exponentially as the difficulty of getting to the toilet increases. But any elderly person could tell you that. What's not so funny is that, since we moved to the yard, our boat seems to have become the favoured feeding ground for most of Turkey's mosquitoes.

It's always a strange feeling to see Aisling being pulled out for another season. I felt like she was saying "Guys, what's going on, aren't we going home soon?" For now, the best we can tell her is that we won't be taking her any further east. Well, maybe just a little bit further.

Last night, as we sat in the garden outside the marina restaurant enjoying the warm temperatures, we began to wish that we had decided to stay for a few more weeks. The weather is still beautiful and the anchorages will be quiet. In Marmaris yesterday, the streets were so empty that it almost seemed as though a plug had been pulled to drain all the tourists away. Next month, many of the restaurants and shops will close for the winter and waiters and shopkeepers will return to their homes and families in various parts of Turkey.

Aisling is now a second home for us. We'll feel sad, and a little bit uneasy, when we lock the hatches and leave her behind. But the truth is, I don't think I would enjoy what we are doing nearly as well if I didn't know that we were going back to our real home for a while. Although we will be returning to cooler temperatures, work and responsibilities, I get a little flutter of excitement when I realize that we'll be there in less than 48 hours. Back to our family and our friends, our dog, our mosquito-free bedroom, our nice comfy bed and our big bathtub. Autumn colours and morning runs in Point Pleasant Park. Strawberries and blueberries on cereal, salmon and asparagus, fresh milk, bacon and Nancy's antipasta. Thanksgiving turkey and a full-sized kitchen with a floor that doesn't move. Only 14 hours till we meet our taxi at the gate. I'll be ready.

Turkey 2009

Comments [1] | | More

There's an old joke about Canadians that goes something like this:

Question: How do you get a crowd of Canadians out of your pool on the hottest day of the summer?

Answer: Say "Could everyone please get out of the pool?"

This is meant to say that Canadians have a bit of a reputation for being tediously polite conformists. Some people have gone so far as to accuse us of being boring. While the Americans believe in "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and the French ascribe to "liberté, égalité, fraternité", we Canadians have taken "peace, order and good government" as our motto. It's a bit embarrassing, but there it is.

So, you can imagine my mortification yesterday, when a very angry man with a strong Germanic accent accused me of queue-jumping in the marina office. Which was ridiculous. Of course I wasn't queue-jumping. There are no queues here. The Yacht Marine office is a confusing place, with four desks manned by marina staff around the periphery of the room and several armchairs in the middle. If everyone is busy, you take a chair and wait. But how do you know who came in before whom? Any more than four people in the chairs and things deteriorate. My preferred strategy is to find a comfortable armchair, settle down with a good book and wait until someone decides that it's my turn. To improve my chances of eventually being helped, I look up and smile hopefully at a staff person from time to time. My strategy must have worked better than the angry man's, because I got called before him. He was certain that he had arrived before me, and he was furious. Even though both I and the marina agent instantly and simultaneously agreed to let him take my place, he would not be placated. Maybe he was just having a bad day. But by then, thanks to him, so was I.

After a long hot day of working on the boat, we cheered ourselves up with a nice swim in the marina pool and then took in the "end of summer" party in the marina restaurant. A huge buffet with lots of Turkish treats, complementary wine and beer, and a performance by traditional Turkish dancers... it was great! Except that just as we were starting to eat our dinner, another man (who would have gotten along famously with the angry guy in the office) came up and accused me of stealing his seat, while his wife berated their friends at the other end of the table for letting me "get away with it". Twice in one day!! So in the middle of our meal we had to pick up our plates and cutlery and find new seats. Fortunately, it all turned out well in the end, because we met some very friendly people and had a nice evening. Little did I know that my next faux-pas was just over the horizon.

With two very large bags of laundry to be washed, I decided to pay the extra to have the laundryroom staff do it for me. I couldn't believe my good fortune when the price they quoted me (25 TL) was actually less than I had paid to do two smaller loads in the self-service last week. I wondered why anyone ever used the self-service, but it all became clear when I returned to pick up my laundry. Was it my imagination, or did the staff person look a little annoyed with me? She passed me my bags, then motioned me over to a sign on the wall. "Washing of underwear is self-service only". Oops. I scurried back to the boat to look up "I'm sorry" in our Turkish phrasebook. Then I unpacked the laundry, and found that our underwear had been washed, but not dried, and separated into little "his and her" mesh bags.

It's funny how little experiences like these can make us feel like we are a very long way from home. And it got me thinking ...travelers, fairly or unfairly, become unwitting ambassadors of their countries. We need to be constantly aware that our behaviour can colour people's impressions of our home countries, and that cultural differences affect how people react in certain situations. Customs and actions that are usual and acceptable in one culture may be considered rude and unacceptable in another. In Turkey it's considered impolite to cross your legs, to show the soles of your feet and, apparently, to expect a stranger to wash your undies. So perhaps, in certain northern European countries, there is a strict and mysterious protocol for assigning places in queues and seats at parties.

In any case, I've vowed to be on my best behaviour for the rest of my stay. But when I go for my swim this afternoon, don't even think about asking me to get out of the pool!

Turkey 2009

Comments [1] | | More

We are always happy when we see comments on our blog. It was fun to realize that someone from "down under" was reading our postings; thanks David V and Marlie, your comments always seem to arrive just as we're wondering "is anyone actually reading this stuff??" If we ever make it to Australia (maybe some day, but probably not on Aisling...) we're coming to find you! We were also delighted to receive a comment from Bill Vasili in Maltezana last week. Thanks also to our friends and family who regularly give us comments and feedback, either by email or directly on the blog.

A few people have mentioned that they do not feel comfortable adding comments or asking questions in an open venue like a blog. So.....in case anyone has questions about sailing or traveling in the countries we have visited..practical stuff like can I get my propane tanks filled in Europe, how much does diesel cost, what are the visa requirements for Canadians, etc. etc. ...we have added an email link. But we hope that won't discourage anyone from leaving comments or questions directly on the blog!

Comments [0] | | More