Yılbaşı

Each New Years Eve for the past 3 years has been unimaginably great. Two years ago, my dear friend, Ro, came from Brazil and we spent New Years together at a classy party. Last year, I found myself in İzmir, Turkey with no plans and no friends in the area but ended up making some friends and going to a concert next to the sea. This New Years Eve was also very excellent.

The day started out with Robin cooking some incredible food. Actually, he did that everyday so it is hard to remember specifically what he made but I know it was good. We let the day pass playing scrabble and drinking some beer on the sunlit porch. Though the weather was colder, it was still nice for winter.

Our plans for the evening were to go into Manavgat to a dinner of Onur's trekkng club. At around 8pm we climbed into the car and rode there. The villages and the city all looked cleaner and in some ways more spectacular. We arrived at the place which had been decorated for the new year. There were instruments set up in one corner for the live music which was for later. Rumor had it that there would alos be male belly dancers (which is how it originally was in the days of old). The place was pretty full at that point, so we sat down at a table with a few other people. Robin and Misa were sitting to my left and a couple of Turkish guys were at my right. The waiter brought us drinks and appetizers.

I introduced myself to the guys at my right. They were Levent and Murat. Levent didn't speak English and Murat only knew a little but the Turkish I know is most useful at the introductory conversations stage, so everything was fine. Dinner arrived and more drinks arrived and eventually the musicians arrived, too. There was much dancing and merriment. I looked over to see that Misa and Robin were enjoying the evening, talking away with Onur and making positive remarks about the quality of the food and music. At around 2am, we decided to go, but Levent and Murat asked me if I would remain behind with them to go to a club somwhere else. I agreed and said goodbye to Misa and Robin for the evening.

Being the most fit to drive, I got behind the wheel of Murat's late-model sedan. Actually I was feeling quite alert and capable. The atmosphere was delightful. Empty streetlamp-lit winding roads toward the edge of the city with Turkish dance music playing through the radio and excited voices beside me and behind me telling jokes giving directions. It was at that moment that I was most thankful for setting my car's navigation system to Turkish.

We came to a place on the east side of the city where all the cars were. It was a nice looking club that was guarded by a police checkpoints and security guards at the door. Pulling up to the officer, I rolled down the window. From the back seat, Levent said something to the officer to which the officer laughed and waved. They knew each other. Levent is from the area of course, but he is also a soldier. I guess they know people. Without asking us anything such as to see my license or whatever, the officer waved us on. We parked the car, and as we walked to the club's entrance Murat thanked me for driving. I smiled and told him it was my pleasure, as I stored the keys in my pocket. When we came to the entrance to the club, Levent said something to the guards who laughed, shook his hand, and ushered us in.

There was something especially comforting about being in a small city in the south of Turkey in an excellent club with some new friends, out of reach of anybody. The music was great, the Efes I drank was like the others, and the atmosphere there was perfect. Some of the folks there were from the trekking club gathering from earlier. I danced some more with them. Later I relaxed in a comfortable chair and watched the others dance.

I was certainly the only foreigner there. I was lucky to have ever been invited or to get in to the place. I cannot really describe how comfortable it felt to be there, in that place, in that moment. After seeing my beloved Misa, Sir Robin, meeting some friends, and experiencing the start of a new year in this remote part of Turkey, it gave me a feeling of wanting to keep it all for myself and not share the memory with others. But here I am writing about it.

I drove back to Seki and said goodbye to Levent and Murat. We exchanged contact info and parted. I woke Robin with a knock on the door. When inside, I again wished Misa and Robin a happy new year and to me they wished the same. We took turns commenting on the evening. I was so glad that Misa and Robin got to experience a Turkish evening like that and that I got to be there was well. And of course I was glad to have continued the streak of amazing New Years Eves.