Cold Turkey

I’m not sure where this expression comes from, but I have to say that before departing for this trip Larry and I were somewhat obsessed about the weather. We got conflicting reports. One told us that Turkey in March would be freezing. We could expect blustery winds off the Black Sea and blizzards in Cappadoccia which is where we are now as I write this.

I couldn’t get the idea of “cold Turkey” out of my mind. (It was interesting trying to explain this expression to the desk clerk at our hotel). I made Larry who works in a newsroom print out daily weather updates until I realized that it was all speculative and nobody really knew. On a flight to Florida a flight attendant who told me he lived in Beirut and Amman and Bahraine and I can’t remember where else said Turkey was a miserable place and no one should ever go there before the month of May or after September.

I grew depressed. I didn’t want to go half way around the world to wind up in a New York blizzard. Packing grew difficult. How many bulky sweaters could I take? And what it suddenly it got warm. Of course I know how to pack. Layers. Layers. But I couldn’t help myself. It took both my husband and daughter to go through my waredrobe. “I don’t think you need that heavy black turtleneck, Mom,” my daughter said.

So here is the truth. It is lovely in Cappadoccia. We arrived to sunshine and spring. It is rainy today, but we will be visiting an underground city from the 8th century so what do I care. And what do i care anyway? We are in a land of fairy chimneys and elf-like dwellings. Yesterday a woman who lives in a cave served us tea (then tried to sell us slippers and scarves).

We walked through the hills. The cherry blossoms are in bloom. People are tilling the soil. The only “cold” is that I have a cold, but I don’t really mind. I drink the chai that keeps flowing and munch on the dried fruits and Turkish delights that are in bowls in our room. Or hang out in the hamam. It is spring in Cappadoccia – a word that in Hittite means “land of the pretty horses.” Horses are everywhere.
Perhaps hobbits too. And the fire in our room is cozy and warm.