October 8-11

October 8th
Carpet Salesmen We Didn't Buy From

We were walking down the street when Mama stopped to look at a beautiful backgammon board and a guy came out and asked us if we wanted to look at some carpets. They showed us a lot of carpets and pillow cases but most of all they showed us how short their breaths between sentences could be so that we couldn't say something like, sorry we have to go, but finally we got away.
Escape.

Part II
Today we got ushered into a carpet shop and while he was showing us carpets somebody brought in a cup of nice apple tea. We saw a loom that they could've used to do a carpet. Finally, after a while (Turks like to show lots of carpets) we went to look for more carpets.

October 10th
Yesterday we saw some really cool ruins called Ephesus but it's too bad because it was jam packed. The library part was so packed that you could hardly get a picture. When we got out somebody told us that there were ELEVEN cruise ships that were supposed to go to Greece but the harbour in Greece was full so they had to go to Turkey!

October 11th
Today I played checkers with Jonas in our hotel. Jonas won.
Then we went to the bus station to get our bus tickets to Bodrum but the bus was so late because Ramadan was ending soon so we had to get another bus. That bus was packed so we had to go where the extra bus driver sleeps while the other one drives. It was kind of cozy too.

Lily the Carpet Seller
The first time we met Lily was at the hotel. She was going to give us a ride to Ephesus and she asked us if we wanted to look at her carpets. We said sure so when we were done at Ephesus we went to her shop. The way she sells carpets is she shows you a bunch of carpets then you say which ones you like and you keep eliminating until you have one or two carpets left. After we did that she told us the price including shipping. We said we'd think about it but when we were walking away, Mama said "I think we should buy it" so we ate supper then we went to her shop again and we gave her part of the money. I asked her how much much this

2 by 2 foot carpet was but she didn't tell me the price. All she said was, "A little gift." A GIFT! I was in so much shock I couldn't get the words 'Thank you thank you thank you' out. Neither could Mama or Papa, so Jonas had to do that for us!
And we didn't even have to pay shipping. I was very happy.

Matthew