Going to the Movies

It was a rainy Sunday here in Gaziantep. My neighbor Judy and I had spent most of yesterday and this morning doing desk work. We definitely needed an outing. We'd heard that Valentine's Day was playing in a couple of the multiplexes here in town and that it was in English with Turkish subtitles. We checked the times and thought we'd better go the M1 (across town) because the only time it was playing in Sanko Park (the nearest cinema) was at 9:30 PM. This was the first time either of had been to the movies here in Turkey. Our weekend adventure.

The first challenge was buying the tickets. The title Valentine's Day was not listed on the board, but something called Romantik Komedi was. We figured that must be it. Avatar was also showing, and it seemed that was the favorite. When we finally got to the head of the line and asked for two tickets for that movie, we were told something in Turkish. The only word we recognized was "yok" -- no or none. We didn't understand why; maybe they were sold out. However, there were five or six showings that day so we thought that maybe we were in the wrong line. We decided to try at another counter and were also turned away. Finally, we saw a poster for the movie Romantik Komedi, and it was clearly a Turkish movie and not Valentine's Day. That gave us some hope. Then Judy found a flyer with little blurbs on each of the movies that were showing. This time they did have Valentine's Day along with its Turkish title. So back we went and asked for two tickets for that movie. Again she answered with a long explanation in Turkish, but at least we didn't hear the word "yok." Then we were shown a seating chart on a computer screen. Most of the seats were in red with about 6-7 or seven in gray with the letter "S" on them. We thought those were the only ones we could choose from and kept trying to select those seats; we were clearly having communication problems. Finally, someone who spoke some English came up and told us to pick from the red seats -- now we know you buy an assigned seat in a Turkish movie theater. We got our tickets and off we went.

After finding our seats, we went back and bought -- POPCORN! And sour cherry juice. Sort of American. So here we were, munching our popcorn and watching an all-star cast frolic in LA. Half way though the movie, it just stopped -- in fact, kind of ground to a halt. The lights went on. There were only about eight of us in the theater. Slowly the others filed out. Judy joked that maybe it was an intermission. I needed to use the restroom, so I thought I might as well take advantage of the break. Turned out that's where the others were heading, too. Sure enough, not long after I returned, the movie started up again. Later I learned from a Turkish friend that there are always intermissions at Turkish movie theaters. I told her they were missing an opportunity in not telling the audience to visit the snack bar during intermission. Room for a little entrepreneurial activity here in Gaziantep.

After the movie we both felt a little jolt as we exited the theater and realized we were in Turkey. Somehow we'd forgotten. The mall was packed; in fact, the parking lot was packed with people cruising around, looking for a parking spot. It'd been there twice before, once on a weekend. Both times it seemed almost empty. I guess the weekend plus rain sent everyone to the mall.

Valentine's Day

Martha, Judy and Ted having Valentine's brunch at Sahan's.

On Valentine’s Day eve we were informed that the power would be out in our neighborhood from 9 AM to 5 PM on Valentine’s Day, not that the holiday meant anything. Some Turks do celebrate about the same way American’s do – with gifts of flowers and/or candy and perhaps a meal out for mom. Anyhow, it became clear that we ought to find something to do away from Askon Residence. Ted, my neighbor Judy, and I decided we’d go to brunch at a fancy restaurant in the city center. It was the perfect decision.

First, as we were walking down to the bus, one of my students drove by and offered us a ride. He really didn’t know where it was but called another student – who happened to be on duty as an air traffic controller at the Gaziantep airport – for directions. In fact, he called several times. I hope there were no planes waiting to land.

We had been a bit concerned about going to this very well-known restaurant on a holiday like Valentine’s day, but we went early enough to get a table. In fact, only a few tables had “reserved” signs on them. The spread was amazing. We began with the soup. The woman ladling it out spoke some English. She determined we were from the US and was very effusive about how happy she was to have us there. No sooner had we returned to our table than a waiter appeared with a little stand flying Turkish and American flags. What a surprise. Then waiters kept coming, bringing us specialties. One was a liver kebab (we had passed a grill set up outside the front door as we entered the restaurant). Another were slices of lavash (actually the “sh” is an s with a little tail), which is nothing more than a white flour tortilla, with slightly sweetened cream poured over it and topped with fresh pistachios. Finally, someone appeared with an omelet fresh out of the pan. And we hadn’t even visited the real buffet yet!

Where to begin?! As is typical, the savory outweighed the sweet. There were all sorts of olives, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers as well as a huge assortment of cheeses. There were salads made from different grains or finely chopped vegetables, with or without nuts. Some were quite spicy. Of course, there were breads, some leavened, some unleavened and some made from philo dough. Some were filled with a mild cheese. Then there was the usual spread of jams and a huge platter of comb honey. Hard-boiled eggs and sausages could be found in covered steam trays. The dessert table had fruit, both fresh and dried, and cakes. One was a chocolate ice cream cake. We shared a piece of that.

On our walk home we passed this pistachio orchard and research center, which only a few years ago was probably well outside the city limits. Now it's surrounded by apartment buildings.

After breakfast, we spent several hours wandering home. It was about five miles but we stopped for tea and coffee in the mall. The nice thing about the walk is that we were in a park most of the way. And I need not tell you that the only other thing I ate that day was a yogurt.

Wonderful Discovery

I wrote in an earlier entry about the retail triumvirate of butcher-baker-green grocer that is common in all neighborhoods. In fact, there seems to be a green grocer on about every third corner. Our neighborhood is no different. The bakery is particularly attractive. There is a huge wood-fired oven. The bakery bakes and sells – fresh out of the oven – primarily pita and the flour tortillas called Lavash. The pita is really an oval flat bread. You can get the same dough baked as what we know as pocket bread – kupan, as it’s known here. Leavened loaves of bread are not baked at these establishments.

We’ve often noticed people coming and going with really yummy looking casserole dishes, usually prepared in round aluminum pans that are sold all over town. Many of the kitchens in the local apartment buildings don’t have ovens, so people “outsource” their baking. We’d been told that we could take one of those aluminum pans to the butcher and he’d put together a casserole for us. This weekend we decided to try it out.

I took our pan to the butcher and somehow communicated we wanted a lamb casserole for six people – dictionaries and pantomime helps. He walked with me over to the green grocer, and we picked out potatoes, onion, garlic, sweet red peppers, tomatoes and eggplant. I paid for the vegetables and handed them over to the butcher. We told him we’d like to pick up the casserole at 6:30 PM. That was it. At 6:30 we returned and picked up this fabulous meal, including hot bread right out of the oven. The butcher had seasoned the mean very well – a bit on the spicy side for lamb, but I loved it. We all agreed a repeat performance was in order.

The Grand Tour: Troy, Gallipoli and Ephesus

Pure Kitsch, but I couldn't resist taking this photo.

Our trip to Troy and Gallipoli took a little different shape than expected. In developing our itinerary, we decided to devote one of our “Istanbul days” to a tour of Gallipoli and Troy. We knew others who’d made the trip in a day. The first question we asked the hotel when we arrived was where we could find out about such a tour. They said they’d direct us to a tour agency first thing the next morning, Monday. They were good to their word and took us around the corner to an agency with the ironic name (you’ll see why later) of Hassle Free Travel. They specialize in providing tours to Australians and New Zealanders to the battlefields of Gallipoli. In fact, they operate a hostel in Çanakale (town closest to Troy and Gallipoli sites) called ANZAC (Australian New Zealand Army Corps) House. It’s also their office and a kind of waiting room for one of the bus lines. Anyhow, the travel agent there said there were no day tours as the trip down lasted five hours. We’d have to include an overnight. Not wanting to give up that much time from our Istanbul stay we agreed on a marathon itinerary: leave Istanbul on Wednesday night at about midnight and ride all night to Çanakale. After spending Thursday touring Troy and Gallipoli, we’d take another all night bus to Selçuk (town nearest Ephesus) and spend Friday touring Ephesus. Friday night we’d finally get a hotel room, and the fly back to Gaziantep from Izmir on Saturday – the plane ticket was already purchased.

Well, come Wednesday night we were packed and ready. We were supposed to be picked up at 11 PM, but no one came. Finally, the hotel clerk took a look at our papers all written in Turkish and said we weren’t due to be picked up until the next night. Everything was off by a day. That was a bit annoying, since we’d spent to much time looking at an actual calendar with the travel agent, but there wasn’t much we could do. We went back to our room and went to bed. The next morning we went to the travel agent. He was able to rebook us on a bus that morning. It meant that we’d tour Troy and Galipoli on Friday, take a midnight bus Friday night, tour Ephesus Saturday morning and make a dash of the airport after lunch. That didn’t give us as much time in Ephesus as we wanted but it was better than nothing. So that’s what we did. In the end, it turned out to be the better option as Ted was struggling with a cold or something. It helped that he didn’t have those two all-night bus rides at the beginning of the trip.

Impressions: Visiting Troy is a kind of pilgrimage. Most Americans read the Odyssey at some point, in high school or college; if not, they’ve probably seen some film version. Everyone knows about the Trojan horse and perhaps other images from the epic, such as sailors tied to the mast to avoid responding to the call of the sirens. Anyone, we just had to go. Troy is really an archeological dig. There are some sizable remnants of walls, so chunks of what had been friezes, a couple of intact altars, etc. However, most of what you see are foundations of what had been structures of some sort. The photo to the left shows sacrificial altars, with the Troy battlefield in the background.

The guide explains what sort of structures those had been (i.e., a Roman bath, a house, etc.) However, it is hard to develop an image in your head of what the city might have looked like in any of its eight or nine incarnations. Fortunately, there were several artistic renderings of what archeologists thought it have looked like. These were most helpful.


During out four-hour tour of Gallipoli we only visit the ANZAC sites, not the British or French areas. The trip was made all the more poignant as the only others on the tour were Australians: one a young doctor and the other a career army officer on leave from his posting in Afghanistan.

On the ferry across the Dardenelles to Gallipoli. On the hill in the background in the message: walkers beware. In these hills are the bones of soldiers who died for their country.

You don’t have to be from Australia or New Zealand to be moved by the site – and by the way, four times as many Turks died there two, defending their homeland. Anyone would find it wrenching to read gravestones with words like “my darling only son” etched below the name of some 17-year old who had fallen in that disaster.

An ANZAC cemetery with our two friends in the background.

After just a couple of days, the ANZAC troops were dug into trenches, with the Turkish soldiers in trenches facing them. That’s the way it stayed the entire time. However, the site does have special meaning for citizens of those countries. The young military officer also knew his military history well, and not just about Gallipoli. For example, he told us why they didn’t lose anyone during their retreat from Gallipoli. It turns out they figured out a way to rig their rifles to water that dripped into a container. When the weight of the water reached a certain point, the rifle fired and the Turks thought there were still soldiers in the trenches firing them. We also visited the Turkish cemetery. They only had names and hometowns on the gravestones. At first I was surprised to see soldiers from places like Aleppo and Damascus. Then I remembered that there wasn’t a “Turkey” yet, and that Aleppo and Damascus were cities in the old (nearly defunct) Ottoman Empire.

Click on this to read Ataturk's touching message to all those Australians and New Zealander's who lost family on Turkish soil.

After the tour, we returned to ANZAC house. They showed the Mel Gibson film Gallipoli (he starred in it, didn’t make it), which reinforced a lot of the impressions I had from seeing actual sites. I asked the Australian officer whether he thought it was stupidity and bad leadership that led to the disaster. He thought a lot of it had to do with bad communications. It was a tragedy nonetheless. Perhaps one good thing did come of it. Ataturk made his name there, and it was because of this leadership that he was able to mobilize the Turks to keep the occupying forces from dividing up Anatolia. If he hadn’t, the Turks might be speaking Russian today.

Not too bad -- after an all-night bus ride from Çanakale. This is the library in Ephesus.

Unlike Troy, you can clearly visualize what Ephesus must have been like. Actually, the Ephesus you visit today is only its Roman incarnation. It truly is an amazing site. Above is a photo of the weary travelers in front of the reconstructed facade of the library. The arch on the right takes you into the commercial agora. It once held 12,000 scrolls, all burned by invading Goths. Across the street from the library is the brothel. That location made for a lot of jokes: Honey, I'm just running down to the library. See you in a couple of hours.." Yeah, right. Below is a picture of Ted standing at the top of Curetes Street; you can see the library in the background.

A series of small stores would have lined the right side of the street. Curetes Street ended at the library where you make a right turned into a street variously named Marble Street or Sacred Way. This leads you to the theater. It seated 25,000 people. Hard to imagine.

From any seat in the theater you looked down Harbor Street into what at one time had been a harbor; it eventually silted up. There was a much small theater (Odeon) in the "government" area of the city, as well as a political agora (as opposed to the much larger commercial agora). Through out the city there are ruins of what much once have been impressive gates and temples. In fact, the place almost seems littered with slabs of ornately carved slabs of marble. Below is yours truly in front of a carving of Nike. (Had to work that in.)

Sadly, we had to leave after touring the city. There is lots more to see in the area but we had a plane to catch. Classes resumed Monday, February 1. The Grand Tour had come to an end.

The Grand Tour: Istanbul

Aya Sofia at dusk

The above image encapsulates our stay in Istanbul: magnificent sites, cold and blustery weather. The upside is that we weren't dealing with hordes of tourists. The downside is that you couldn't last outside as long as you might like.

When we left Ankara, we were cautioned that we were driving into a big snowstorm. As it turned out, the "big dump" had come the day before. The highways and all the main and secondary roads were basically clear. Only some of the little side streets, which probably didn't get much sun, still had snow. Our bus took us to Taxhim Square. We had good directions to our hotel, which involved taking two metros. The only hard part was finding our little street which was only about two blocks long. The hotel, more of a European-style pension, was only two blocks from Aya Sofia and Topkapi, very centrally located. By the time we checked in and grabbed a very late lunch it was nearly 4 PM. Sadly, Aya Sofia closes at 4 PM, so we wandered across the street to the Basilica Cistern, an unbelievable public works project building under Justinian in the 6th century AD. It's the size of two football fields, and the water was carried from its source 12 miles away via aqueducts and clay pipes. Now there are walkways the let you stroll over the water -- only about a foot deep -- among all the columns. The ceiling was vaulted, almost like an underground cathedral. Before the walkways were built the water was much deeper and you got around in a row board. If you saw From Russia with Love, you might remember a chase scene shot in the cistern.

By the time we emerged from the cistern, it was dark and significantly colder. My little $1.99 Bartell's gloves weren't doing the job. However, there were people on the street selling supposedly hand-knit gloves and hats. I bought a pair and pulled them over my Bartell's gloves. That arrangement kept me comfortable for the rest of the trip. After grabbing a bit of dessert (good excuse to get out of the cold) we trundled over to the Blue Mosque. The structure is truly amazing. However, since it was dark outside, you didn't get the effect of the light shining through the stained glass windows. I popped back in a couple of days later and WOW! Then you really understood why it was called the Blue Mosque.

View of the Blue Mosque from the Aya Sofia.

As the Aya Sofia is closed on Mondays, we decided to spent that day at the Topkapı Palace. But first we enjoyed a wonderful Turkish breakfast on the top floor of our hotel. On warmer days, breakfast is serve on a deck outside, but as you can see from the picture below, that wasn't happening that morning.

View of the Sea of Marmara from the top floor of our hotel.

It would take more than a day to see all of Topkapı. It's an unbelievable complex. When you enter through the gate in a rather formidable wall, you are in a large park -- the tree in the photo below is in that first courtyard -- I just love the shape of the branches. It's called a courtyard, but it's more than that. You have to pass through a second gate before entering the actual palace.

It's there you find both the harem and the Hall of Justice from where affairs of the Ottoman Empire were administered. The Hall of Justice is not that large. On the back wall at the second story level there is a window with a grate over it. Apparently the sultan observed the deliberations of his ministers from behind the grate. They he decided the proceedings should be over, he signaled and they ended. Given the size of the empire and even the size of Topkapı itself. I was surprised at the small size of the space that was devoted to actual government activities. But then, probably lots of government activities took place in other locations or were negotiated in other less official settings. It's possible that this building was the equivalent of the Ottoman Supreme Court. At some point, I'd like to find out more about the process. I have a couple of books on the Ottoman Empire that I haven't yet read. I guess I should.

The harem was really impressive -- and you have to pay an additional entrance fee to see it. It's the residential part of the palace. When many people hear the word harem, they think of a lot of women who are basically sex slaves, there for the sultan's enjoyment. That isn't really the case. Most of the women who lived in the harem were there as servants. The sultan had one (sometimes two) wife and perhaps three or four concubines he particularly favored. Earlier, the Sultan never married, because marriage brought the risk of divided loyalties -- the wife might betray him for her family. However, concubinage was considered a legitimate way to produce heirs. The person you really wanted to be was the sultan's mother. She was the one who decided who the sultan would sleep with and in what order. Careful records were kept. The whole purpose of the harem was to ensure that the sultanate remained in the family. She also played an important role in affairs of state. Security in the harem was provided by Black (Egyptian, Abbysinian or Sudanese) eunuchs.

One interesting architectural feature of the Harem was the ornamentation. We tend to paint our walls some nice neutral color as a background for hanging our works of art. Not so here. There wasn't a square inch of wall space -- or even ceiling space -- that wasn't covered with a mosaic, fresco or some sort of carved ornamentation. And somehow it all works. The effect is opulence, of course. To the left you also have some beautiful stained glass windows.

Ted in front of the Hall of Justice.

Of course, the palace housed all sorts of treasurers, relics considered holy in Islam, a library just the building), reception hall, and pavilions with views of the Sea of Marmora or the Golden Horn. Given the weather, we didn't go into the final courtyard to visit the pavilions. However, we saw the exhibits of palace treasurers and garments worn by the sultan or members of his family as well as many of the sacred relics.

We finally gave in to the need for warmth about three thirty in the afternoon. The next morning we visited the Aya Sofia, built in the 6th century AD by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. Books have been written about this structure and I don't have too much to add. Just one little fact. A guide book pointed out the the Statue of Liberty could do jumping jacks under the dome. That gives you an idea of it's height. After the Ottomans took over, the church was converted to a mosque. Now it's a museum, some part of which is constantly being renovated. Another observation. The area is full of stray cats. They aren't dumb. They discovered a great way to keep warm -- sit in front of the spotlights shining on the mosaics and other objects that glitter.

Click on this picture. You'll not cats behind the spot lights -- center left.

That afternoon we met a former colleague of Martha's for a stroll down Istiklal Street, a pedestrian way on the other side of the Golden Horn. Quite a change from the Byzantine-Ottoman world we'd been visiting for two days. Here all the young and hip gathered to shop, see and be seen. It was lots of fun. We ended up at the Galata Tower, from which we had a great view of Istanbul. Is was very windy and cold -- had a hard time holding my camera.

Looking across the water, the buildings on the left, with the sun shining on them, constitute Topkapı Palace. The first dome on the horizon is Aya Sofia, and the dome in the back on the right is the Blue Mosque.

The next morning we walked through the Grand Bazaar -- disappointing as it's really only geared to tourists -- to see the Sueleymaniye Mosque, designed by the great Ottoman architect Sinan for

Sueleyman the Magnificent. Closed for renovations until April. We then went back to see the Blue Mosque during the daylight hours. Entrance was restricted because of noon prayers. I got in; Ted didn't. But I can say that the light pouring in through all those stained glass windows is magical. We then returned to Istiklal Street for the Turkish version of a stuffed baked potato -- oh so good, especially in cold weather. We ended the day at the archeological museum, basically attached to the Topkapı. Sadly they close at 4:30 PM, so we didn't get so see the entire collection. One event of interest. While in the courtyard we heard some strange bird sounds coming from the tree. We could hardly believe what we were seeing -- green parrots. There were having it out with the crows. In fact, we saw a crow fly over with a squawking parrot in it's beak. When we came out of the museum, all was quiet and there were no parrots to be seen or heard.

That was the end of our stay. The next morning we departed for Troy and Galipoli.

The Grand Tour: Ankara

Our bus to Ankara was scheduled to leave from the Gaziantep bus terminal at 7:30 AM. The terminal is across town but easily accessible by public bus. The problem is I didn’t know how often the buses would be running at that time of the morning, so we aimed to be at our local bus stop by 6 AM. As we were walking downhill, a passing bus saw us coming with our suitcases and stopped. Given the absence of traffic at that time of the morning, we were at the bus terminal 45 minutes before departure. That was okay because the terminal itself, which is immaculately clean, was open for business.

I had brought along a knitting project and a book, thinking I’d need something to do during such a long bus ride. Not the case. We spend almost the whole time looking out the window. The final impression we got after the trip was how mountainous Turkey is. We even ran into some snow, which actually portended things to come. A few times I felt almost like I was looking at little alpine villages, in which all the houses had slopping rooms with very large overhangs; the minarets could have been church steeples. Somehow I had imagined we’d get north of the mountains and find Ankara situated on a wide, flat plain that ran to the Black Sea. Not the case. Ankara is hilly and surrounded by mountains. Actually, it has a lovely setting.

Equally magnificent with the reception we received from our host and hostess, Gloria and Yalchin Onyruru. My mother and daughter had met Gloria on a tour that traced Paul’s footsteps through Turkey. And there is another family member, Kotik, the cutest and smartest little terrier you’ve ever met. Not only were we treated royally, but it was so nice to touch base with a fellow church member and share thoughts and ideas. Also, staying with people who’ve lived for decades in a city gives you a perspective tourists don’t get. We tagged along on their Saturday afternoon errands, going to the open market then the supermarket Real. We ended up in a coffee shop in Real, drinking lattes while a pianist and violinist played traditional pop numbers. Somehow it didn’t feel like the Turkey I knew in Gaziantep. Of course, we have similar open markets in Gaziantep and I love to shop there, but they are definitely a bit rough around the edges compared to the one we visited in Ankara. However, Ankara is also criss-crossed with expressways that are jammed at commute hour. That’s one thing that’s nice not to have in Gaziantep.

We did make two very typical tourist stops. The first was the Ataturk mausoleum. It is, of course, the burial place of Kemal Ataturk. Part of it is very reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. We also knew there was a museum there. In fact, the evening before our visit our host spent a couple of hours explain recent (WW I to the present) Turkish history. It was a fascinating presentation, one he apparently gives to visiting businessmen and other guests who are interested in the roots and development of the Turkish Republic. We thought we’d drop by the mausoleum and then move on to other tourist site. We hadn’t expected the museum to be of the size and scope that it was. There were life-sized dioramas of battle sites in Galipoli, all sorts of personal artifacts from Ataturk’s life and oil paintings of events surrounding the founding of the republic. There also photographs and collections of items from day-to-day life documenting the changes brought about with the founding of the republic.

For me – the language teacher, I guess – one of the most moving artifacts was a small piece of lined paper with the first thing Ataturk wrote in Roman script. Prior to the founding of the republic, Turkish had been written from right to left in Arabic script. Most of the largely peasant population was illiterate, but Ataturk was highly educated. He’d spent his whole life reading and writing Turkish in Arabic script. At the time the republic was founded, he declared that henceforth Turkish would be written left to write using Roman letters. Of course, he himself had to comply and learn to write that way. It was touching to see his first attempts. It is also quite an accomplishment that in just a few generations Turkey has become a highly literate country.

My favorite place, however, was the Anatolian Museum of Civilizations. I’ve always been curious about ancient civilizations, and Anatolia – basically what’s now Turkey – has been home to such a variety of civilizations that I have a difficult time keeping them straight. The exhibition are of the museum is a restored bedestan or covered bazaar. It was formerly used as a place to market made from local angora wool. It had fallen into complete disrepair and the renovations took a long time. However, the result in fabulous. It won European Museum of the Year award in 1997 and I could easily see why. I liked just being in that space. The walls are all that off-white sandstone, and they made good use of wooden slats on the ceiling – sometimes parallel and sometimes fanned out beneath a domed space. The artifacts were arranged chronically beginning from the Paleolithic (hunter-gatherer, learning to use tools) period onward. The items on display were well chosen, well described and well lit. Also there were explanatory panels in Turkish and English at the beginning of each section. It was a real history lesson. You can take a video tour of the museum at the URL below.

http://www.kultur.gov.tr/en/SanalTour/Ankara-AMM/index.html

What I liked best were the stone slabs with carved reliefs from the late Hittite period. They were excavated at the site of the ancient Hittite city of Karkamish. I got all excited because the site is just south of Gaziantep. However, it turns out to be off limits. Not only does it literally straddle the Turkish-Syrian border but it is also heavily mined, as in you-step-on-it-and-it-explodes. Some of the reliefs narrated scenes from the epic of Gilgamesh. In fact, it is speculated the Karkamish might have been the site where the tale occurred. That’s kind of an exciting thought. Below is a link to a site about Karkamish.

http://hittitemonuments.com/karkamis/

We left Ankara by bus on a Sunday morning, heading to Ankara and supposedly into a snow storm. The saga continues.