Hooray! Like mothers everywhere I have finally breathed a sigh of relief as the children went back to school yesterday. Not that they really require much entertaining any more…Emre has been officially working in the hotel and Kaan has spent most of his time here enjoying the constant stream of friends and the pool.
For the boys, Poppy is home – the one place they have known all their lives. Sometimes we have lived in, sometimes (as now) out; when they were younger I didn’t spend so much time here and we would mainly visit to use the pool – even renting the hotel to somebody else to run for two years. But it has always been here and their childhood memories will focus around it.
They have both had accidents here, Emre falling and splitting his chin (first stitches – more traumatic for me than for him) and Kaan burning his hand on a motorbike exhaust, treading on glass (just last month). I knew Emre could swim when, not far off his third birthday, he fell in the pool and by the time I raced over was keeping himself up and heading for the edge. Kaan learned to swim in Poppy pool and though he was initially rather reluctant, once he got the hang of it he was like a little dolphin, spiralling as he swam down to the bottom to pick up coins we threw in for him.
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| Emre playing in the pool |
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| Kaan and his friend (watching the belly dancer!) |
Through Poppy, they meet knew people all the time and – one of the things I enjoy about the hotel – a whole range of people that it might be hard to come across in a normal life. This has also definitely helped with their English as they have listened to many different people and many different accents, rather than just me and the few English friends I have here. In these days of facebook, of course it is easier to keep in touch with these people and I often see that the boys are exchanging messages with guests old and new.
But it isn’t all play…Emre has worked the last two years during his summer holiday and even Kaan is willing to lend a hand when needed. We had one complaint on trip advisor this year from guests that they were ‘met by the owner’s son’ (only heard about this as I got so obsessed with trip advisor last year that I haven’t let myself look at it at all this year!). Now personally I don’t see the problem with this; he’s sixteen years old not six, he wasn’t wearing his pyjamas and he’s quite polite and helpful (as apparently another guest pointed out on the site – thankyou for that!) My mother ran a business while I was growing up and I helped out from a young age – willingly as I earned money, but also with a sense of pride. I think it teaches them responsibility, as well as a whole range of skills (from cooking to pool cleaning) which are bound to be useful to them one day.
And there are also perks of the job. They get to go horse riding, diving, on boat trips and to the Turkish bath with guests. So even if I have been pretty busy this summer and not had time to take them away as I usually do, they haven’t really had a bad summer.
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| Kaan diving |
Cem and I actually started in the hotel business running Camelia Apartments in 1996 especially because it would allow us to be together – and with Emre who turned one that summer – more than if he took job and I was at home. And at Poppy that is still true, even if I am a bit relieved now to have a few hours peace while they are at school!
