Christmas in Turkey

I was chatting with one of the folks here at work and they reminded me of a "interesting" experience I had when deployed to Turkey.

Turkey is a non-christian country, but I was there back during what we called the first Iraq war. During Christmas time, nonetheless. The trip I will save for another post, but suffice it to say, it involves a large bus and a cow.

We arrived at the ski resort (hey we need off time once in a while) on Christmas Eve, checked in and went to sleep. We woke the next morning (Christmas) to find a Christmas tree in the lobby, small, but there. We skied most of the day, an activity I had never done before nor have I done since (thoughts for another blog). But by the time we got back to hotel, the tree was gone. So the hotel in a non-christian country with american tourists set up a Christmas tree for one day for us to see, unlike most places in the states that start decorating before Halloween.

But that story wasn't the one I was reminded of while talking to my colleague. The hotel had both a hot tub and a swimming pool. Now most americans know that with a pool AND a hot tub you spend time in one then hop over to the other, especially during the winter. Unfortunately they were at opposite ends of the hotel.
So imagine the looks of the mostly non-christian patrons, when these americans went "running" through the hotel in swim apparel several times. Priceless.