...but we were actually sad to have to leave. On our last morning, we managed to get a harriette to take a few family photos. All us girls are wearing our new bracelets to scare away the Evil Eye. Had a great time in Turkey and hope to go back to discover more that it has to offer.
Months ago, Neptunus recruited me and the girls to help make a PowerPoint presentation to help promote Holland as a host for Eurohash in 2011. Veronica and Ashlynn did the initial work, then taught me how to use the program. Click here to see the finished product. Before the Red Dress Party began, it was time to make the bid. Neptunus wore his infamous Neptune costume and spoke about the details. Jimmy and the girls then got up and did a quick skit about beer. I was worried that the crowd might not appreciate the humor, but they loved it.
You can see Veronica in yellow as Holland won 90% of the votes to be the next host of Eurohash. Afterwards, we changed into our red dresses and danced, but failed to get any photos. Unfortunately, we had to skip the trail on Sunday as the time conflicted with our flight. Although we didn’t actually hash much, we had a great time.
Eurohash officially started on Friday evening with a party, which we skipped. The girls begged us to leave them behind at the resort while we went off to run the hash on Saturday. Being the responsible parents we are, we told them to stay out of the sea and not to eat too much ice cream. Jimmy left on an early bus to do the Ballbreaker trail through the hot rugged terrain of a national park about an hour away. I took a later bus to do the medium trail, which was basically a flat, shorter version through the same terrain. I was disappointed not to see any ruins, but was entertained by a discussion with a Belgian harriette that enlightened me about a San Diego harrier that attended our wedding. Good gossip always helps make the trail seem shorter.
The website for our hotel in Istanbul said we’d have a Turkish Bath in our bathroom. This meant nothing to us before we arrived, but we quickly became big fans and skipped showers for the rest of the week. Basically, we filled up a marble sink without a drain with hot water. We then used a bowl to pour the water on ourselves before and after soaping up. Once we got to the resort, there was a large public bath with heated slabs of marble and multiple sinks that we could use. While the family was in the sea, I had a foam and massage (sorry had to borrow these photos as I didn’t bring the camera in that steamy room). Wasn’t crazy about the loofah, which felt like sandpaper scraped across my skin, but loved the foam. Was surprised that the masseuse was male since I was topless, but when in Rome...
As soon as the girls saw the two pools at the resort, they couldn’t wait to start swimming. Unfortunately, the pools weren’t heated and it was still a little early in the season, so I thought they were too cold for anything other than a quick dip. That didn’t stop the girls from spending most of each day in them. We got in trouble when we all raced down the center yellow slide and screamed the whole way. They also went into the sea with Jimmy. Surprisingly, he was able to talk Ashlynn into diving off the pier twice, but Veronica stuck with going in feet first. I stuck with staying dry and reading my book.
After losing an informal couple’s game involving a pingpong ball between our foreheads and being tossed into the pool, Jimmy and I were recruited to be in a Best Couple competition on stage that evening. Another American hash couple joined us to compete against two Russian couples. We had to complete four tasks. I had to wrap up Jimmy in toilet paper, which I really stunk at. We had to pop four balloons using our body in a variety of positions including laying down on a mattress.
Our best task was when I had to talk a blindfolded Jimmy across the stage to put a straw into a bottle between my legs. He was much faster than the other contestants as he crawled rather than stumbled across the stage. By far, his favorite task was the last. Not only did I have to push a pingpong ball up one pant leg and down the other, but two of the other ladies used Jimmy as a stand-in husband as theirs were wearing shorts. We didn’t win, but we had a great time.
We weren’t the only hashers that arrived two days early for Eurohash 2009 to take advantage of hanging at the resort. We were outnumbered by the Russian guests until the event officially started on Friday night and 500 hashers invaded our resort. It was fun running into hashers that we’d met at nash hashes in Holland, Germany and Switzerland over the last few years.
After four nights in Istanbul, it was time to head to the Mediterranean coast near Antalya for four nights at a resort. Strangely enough, having the kids along actually benefitted us as we got a large corner room with views in two directions. The sofa bed was the worst I’ve ever seen in my life, but the girls hardly noticed they were so exhausted each night from all the fun. They’d never stayed in an all-inclusive before and could hardly contain themselves that everything was included. Neither could most of the Russian clientele from what we could tell by the huge plates of meat they piled up at every meal.
