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Sunday, June 01, 2008

Out in the parking lot...

Today we had a picnic at the park. This particular park has hundreds of tables and grills. We didn't arrive until 1 and by that time the tables were full. We had quite a few blankets so we just parked ourselves in a nice grassy area instead. We used some of the blankets and some rope to shade our spot. We had lots of fun, ate lots of food, and enjoyed the day! More on all that later. Here is the reason for this blog post.

As we were leaving the park we had to walk through this parking lot to get to the van.


Wait, what is that thing in the middle of the parking lot? It's smoking!


No...surely not. It couldn't be...


Yep...it is. This man set up his grill in the middle of the lot of cars.


Yeah...I'm taking your picture. You are grilling in the parking lot buddy. That gives me license to take your picture!

I must say that when I stopped to take the first picture there were some Turkish ladies who laughed at me and said something about me taking a picture. I turned and told them that I thought it was so strange that this man chose this spot to set up his grill. They said they did too. That's why they were standing there staring at him. They wished they had a camera to take a picture with! We had a good laugh together and went our separate ways.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round... seems your side it spinning a bit faster these days...

{grin}

Thanks for the wonderful update! Hope your trip is a good one!

Rhonda said...

So, did the man share or offer you any of his "fine" cuisine?

BTW- I am new to your blog and would love to know how and why you ended up in Turkey?

LiteralDan said...

That man is a tailgater out of his element.

I bet lots of people were freaking out that their cars were on fire, or something-- that looks like a lot of smoke.

The Over-Thinker said...

My first thought was a bomb and I got all panicky.

I think I need a nap.

Natalie said...

charlie girl - well i guess so. it was probably not the strangest thing i've seen in turkey, but it was quite hilarious to me that he parked his bbq pit behind our van.

rhonda - nope...he was just getting his coals started when we saw him. lots of smoke and not much else!

we had a friend who had a company here. he was looking for help so we decided to go for it. we had been looking to head somewhere overseas for awhile and this seemed like a good fit.

literaldan - i agree. it was quite strange! i think he probably moved his grill over closer to wherever his family was sitting. he must not have wanted to try to start it while close to them, because of how much they smoke. i can't imagine that he actually cooked his food there! who knows...

over-thinker - i never thought bomb. that man was too close to whatever was producing all that smoke, and he didn't seem scared at all. i think the smoke was the reason he didn't try to start the thing closer to where he was planning to cook his food. still...i have never seen anyone start the grill in the parking lot before.

Mike S said...

I'm with the tailgater idea. was there a futbol pitch nearby???

Natalie said...

mike - i don't think there was a futbol pitch. they had basketball courts and a sand volleyball court though. this park is mostly a picnic place. lots and lots of tables and grills. almost amusing how it is set up. i may need to find a picture.