A Walk in the Park

As I have mentioned, the park below our apartment is massive. It's this deep and long valley filled with an amphitheater, statues of Turks in traditional clothing, fountains, lights (at night, it's green and blue-reminds me of the light show at Epcot), some restaurants, an area that has a huge high wall of rocks that look like the Grand Canyon (upclose, you find they are not real rocks, but they are made to look like rocks made out of an egg carton-type material and chicken wire), a train track for a kiddie train, a mosque, a dog park, and fitness equipment.

At first I was little apprehensive about walking in the park by myself. I had heard there can be a lot of stray dogs in Turkey. I was afraid I might run into Kujo in the park. Everyone assured me it was safe. So, one day, I was watching the goings-on of the park from my balcony. My eyes scanned the park, taking in elderly couples out for a walk, teenagers goofing off, people throwing frisbees to their dogs, an then my eyes rested on something disturbing....a huge pack of large, wild dogs. I wanted to shout "Liar!!!" (a la Carol Kane as the witch in The Princess Bride). I couldn't believe my eyes and immediately had an "I told you so," self-righteous attitude. I knew the park wasn't safe, I knew that I was right in being cautious, I knew I had great intuition, I knew that...hmmm...those dogs hadn't moved a muscle in the last minute. Perhaps they were stalking a squirrel ever so carefully. Man, those dogs are good, I thought. I can't belive their control. And what breed is that? Is there a Turkish breed that has antlers and resembles a deer? Slowly, my self-righteousness and confidence in the existence of a "huge pack of large, wild dogs" faded because what I really saw before me was a large pack of... bronze deer statues .
Well, I'm off to go for a walk in the park- the very safe, wild dog-free park. I might even go up and pet the "deer." Or I might be adventurous and go visit the "sheep." They have some of them too. And let me tell you, a large pack of wild Turkish sheep is something to behold:)