Back in Turkey...

This little kitty had a great spot on the radiator of my new school. Instantly reminded me of my father and his love of sitting on the heat to think. I am back in Turkey enjoying warm arms and famous Turkish hospitality. Today was my first experience at the Hamam(Turkish baths). Very stupid of me to had not gone before. My new friend and I who doesn't really speak English nor I Turkish wound through the streets of the old part of town and came upon a small door. We entered, payed a little and exchanged our shoes for plastic sandals. Initially the large room is lined with lockers and old women(It is men one day and women the next, never mixed). I didn't know how to dress, swimsuit? undies? top or no top? I followed my friends lead and headed into the baths. Big white marble rooms with water basins scattered around with their own spouts of hot, hot water. You sit, take in the steam and pour buckets of hot water on yourself or maybe a friend. For about five dollars or so you can get a massage. You lie down on the marble slate while this woman ex foliates you with a loofah. She thoroughly scrubs you. It was great. There is also a hot, hot, hot pool. I could only managed to go partially in. It was interesting the mix of ages small girls to really old women. The daughters would scrub their old mothers. Seem healthy for the culture this mixing of generations, grooming each other. You see how bodies age over the years. I heard that mothers used to or maybe still do search for daughter in laws at the baths? good times back in turkey...