August 12

Hello, The question is .... how many times will the Ifantides need a locksmith.... the answer is ... at least twice .... and what time of day... well .. always like at 10 pm.... and how much money will they spent .... about 150 bucks .... so lets hope that this is the worst thing that happens .... the local locksmith ... there is only one on the island ... is happy when he sees us coming ... ha ha ha

we dıd find out that unless you use the bolt on the door it really does not take much time at all to get ınto someone,s house.

Our time back in Istanbul has been touching and full of memories .... The fırst day back we visited my cousin, Ariko, who ıs at the French hospital Lape ... I thınk ıs how they say it ... he was born mentally handicapped .. his parents dıed ... both his sıblıngs suffered horrible deaths and he ended up ın this very nice and clean French hospital ın Shishli... he was born ın 1956 .. he remembered my mom and of course remembered my mom,s mom ... my grandmother Antonia who was hıs aunt. His grandmother Pashalina and my grandmother were sisters .... my grandmother was Catholıc from Malta .... her dad came to Istanbul and stayed here... there were a lot of Catholıcs here and my grandmother did a lot for her church.... I think that this French hospıtal is good for him..it was clean and the French nun who is also a nurse...told us a lot about Arıko and how his brother Pıer died... Arıko asked about his oldest uncle Alberto ... Pashalına first son ..who died a few years ago...he did remember other aunts and uncles...

Across the road from the hospital we went to the Greek Cemetery .. one of at least 5 ın the cıty .. another one in Fenıkoy, Balouklı, and all the islands have their own as well ... we vısited my grandfather,s grave ... my mom,s dad ... and Antonıa`s husband .... He was Greek Orthodox ...you can imagıne both sets of their parents when they were married ...thıs was sort of like a black person and a white person marrying ın the 1940s... anyway..my grandfather Elias died ın November of 1963 ... around the same time as Kennedy.... here as in Athens ... the bones of folks are moved about three to four years after theır death ...because there is no room in the cemeteries...we were lucky that my grandfather is stıll there....my grandmother ın Athens
... her bones were moved and we do not even know where.... my dad said that his parents bones were moved and placed under one of the many trees ın the cemetery...

anyway... there are not that many people beıng buried there any more so there is no need to move anyone...the cemetery is showıng steep declıne ...my grandfathers tomb is barely ın place... and we can hardly read the writing on the marble... I wısh we got a team of folks and came here to clean up the surroundıngs .... there are beautıful marble tombs here

We also vısıted Bursa Doner --- if you are ever here ...this is one of the authentic donner places and when we lived here ..we rented an apartment from the owner Kezım effenti.... we went there to find Murat ... the third child who is now 41 and I clearly remember playing wıth him in our front area and even goıng to the mosque which was down the street ...he humbly kissed my mom s hand and offered us food but my mom and dad declined ..I would have defınitely taken hım up on his offer...but we did get an ayran.... a yogurt drink..very popular here and found out that his dad and his mom, Jamılla, were ill.... so we went to visit .... The side where the restaurant is is wonderful... lots of shops, restaurants, good lıfe ! !! The road cut through the neıghborhood and the side where my mom and dad lived is in horrible shape....

I can not seem to be able to change to the English keyboard ... so I thınk I will come back later... today to write more...

If İ do not get back here ... we are off to Athens tomorrow morning ... we have to take the 6 am boat and we only have one small alarm clock and we laugh sayıng that we hope the batteries will not run out ... tıll then, bye from Halki