Sunday, July 15, 2007

7/13 - Salamis, Famagusta and the Turkish Britney Spears


Today was our first field trip in the North. As Stacey and Gerald went down to Nicosia to pick up Sarah and Mike, Houman was our tour guide. We went back to the Salamis ruins and explored the amphitheatre again plus the gymnasium and the ancient baths. The Olson in me wanted to get to the highest point so I started climbing – skirt, flip flops and all. The guards did come over and suggest that we might like to get down… oops.

Next we went back to the Old Town Famagusta area. I gave Nadia the tour that I had read up on the night before including a dungeon which once held an exiled Turkish poet for which our dorm is actually named (Namik Kemal). After a couple hours of intense heat we headed back to the Beach Club. Houman came along and Sharif met us for a drink and some American football on the beach. Nadia, Jordan and I floated out to sea for a little while.

Since we arrived on Monday we had been anticipating the arrival of Turkey’s biggest pop star: Demet Akalin. Sharif arranged for us to get tickets and we piled in a couple of cabs to the Lion’s Garden – a huge club/outdoor venue for concerts, dancing, weddings (one was actually going on as we entered), and other events. The show got off to a slow start, but we were able to secure a private area upstairs with enough seats for all of us. A Madonna impersonator kicked it off with hits like “Holiday” and “Like a Virgin”. Next was another female who did Shania, Shakira and maybe a couple other “Sh” artist renditions. Finally, the worst version of Elvis took the stage – who does “In the Ghetto” at a dance club?

When she took the stage in short black soccer shorts, a gold metallic bikini top and a flowing full length animal print robe I knew we were in for a treat. Of course we made our way right to the front and danced until we couldn’t dance any longer. We were instantly popular as all of the local girls on the floor stood stoic while the boys jumped and sang and screamed. When we finally left around 3:30am there were reports (and maybe photos) of dancing on tables but the cigarette smoke was so thick (more flashbacks of college in the mid-west) that those reports can not be confirmed.

Prom '07?

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