Top of the Mountain (TOM)

First I want to say how cool my mom is because she surprised my bro this past weekend. Well, I'm sure she surprised the whole Brunetti family down there, but especially brother Joe. Why's that? Because of his BIRTHDAY!!! August 14th, month of the Leo, day of that magical, mystical number 5, and also day of the hairy man we know and love, brother Josepi. She arrived very late at night, just before the witching hour, and bro Joe and Sara had to do paper-rock-scissors to see which one would answer the door and which one would stand behind it with a weapon ready to strike. Things back to normal, all moms/grandmas back in place, and butcher knives safely locked away in the proper drawer, the family gets a short break before the Brunetti herd heads down for my nephew Joey's birthday in September.

On Saturday I got to play hookie from work because of the TOM-Summer version tour. Those that have been avid readers from the beginning before this blogger was even a nomadlifer, might vaguely remember TOM-Winter version during the MMF project. The summer version consists of camping, bbq-ing and a lot of lounging about. It started on Saturday with a city tour of some historic places in Bursa, the first capital of the Ottoman Empire, including a Turkish bath, hamam. Since most of the trainees were familiar with these famous sites, some of us met later in the afternoon to catch up with the group so we could head up the mountain together. The bus ride up to the campsite took about an hour on the winding mountain road.

The campsite is not chosen at random. The place is one of the first the Ottomans set up camp, so it is historical as well as beautiful-a small clearing surrounded on three sides by evergreen forest and leading out to the mountain road. The surrounding forest is not dense with brush like the woods I think most of us are used to, but the pine trees are so big and tall that there are only branches with needles up at the very top where they can actually get enough sun. The ground is entirely comprised of pine needles, and overall it's a very spacious area with a pine tree canopy providing spots of shade.

Once we arrived everyone scurried off the bus to say hellos and claim a spot on the blankets. I made a b-line directly toward the German shepard there named Ralf. He was a great dog and was as happy as I was to be playing fetch. Someone sparked the grill, others found out where all of the beverages (beer and non-alcoholic) were, and the bbq officially began. The night consisted of plentiful food, drink, and song around a campfire. The music provided was from two acoustics some folks had brought, and an international group of campers, who should all stick to their day jobs as none of us had what I would consider a particularly lovely voice. It still blows my mind to throw a bunch of people from different countries in a group, tell them to sing, and be totally surprised at the number of songs they actually can sing together. Most of them in English, though there was an attempt at La Bamba. Funny enough, none of the Latinos seemed to be around at that particular time, so there was a lot of, "shruchusasugue...LA BAMBA! suudsdfdusdfs...LA BAMBA!" After talking, laughing, and a short astronomy lesson (the stars were incredible), we attempted to sleep. A few people I think had a problem with the chilly night-mountain air, though I was grateful to finally be able to sleep with a blanket on, but I believe most people were being kept awake by Esteban's snoring! Thankfully, I've had years of practice building up a tolerance to the chain-saw symphony(brothers, dad, even my dog!) because I was sleeping right next to him.

On Sunday, as much as I wanted to just sleep in, most people who like to camp will agree that you tend to rise with the sun whether you like it or not. Well, I suppose I rose with the sun, but not all the way. I definitely spent all of the morning and a good portion of the afternoon lounging on a blanket, moving only to get back into the shade once that rascal of a sun found a way to peek through the trees. There was paintball for anyone not too worn out or hungover from the previous night's festivities, and most of those folks came away with various welts, bruises, and injuries from it.

After cleanup and packup, we hopped back on the bus to head back down the mountain. There was considerably much less excitement in the air on the way back as I think most people were passed out. Being one who could never really sleep in the car, I just looked out the window and began to think horrible, nasty thoughts about the bus driver every time he would turn off the precious little air vent and I thought that I would die. Now I truly believe I know how it feels to die from being locked in a hot vehicle, and I would never wish it upon anything.

That (Sunday) evening, I came home to Bensu hiding a present behind her back, and Berna cooking pudding! The present was a matching panda bear change purse and keychain made of sequins and beads, and the food was everything I could ask for after a weekend of bbq sandwiches. After stuffing myself with mushrooms, eggplant, and spicy rice type stuff called kısır, which I picked up at the store on the way home because it's one of my all-time favorite things here, I couldn't even make it to the pudding or the shower, and I passed out on the couch.