Today was our last morning of staying in a hotel. We will be in tents for the rest of our stay in the earthquake area. We had a 2 1/2 hour drive from Gaziantep to Hatay. We will be staying in tents at the earthquake coordination center there. The forecast was calling for rain in the morning. And when I got out of bed in the hotel, we still expected rainfall for the day. I was concerned about the threat of rain. Our shows are outside. So if it were raining, it would be a severe issue. 

The drive was pleasant. Everyone in the van was resting and trying to collect as much of our energy as we could. We saw more signs of the earthquake as we drove closer to Hatay. The closer we got to the city, the more we would see damaged buildings. The landscape was populated with tents provided by support organizations. Many said AFAD, the Interior Disaster Emergency Branch of the Turkish government. We had seen many of these tents in the days earlier this week. However, now we see many more tent villages all over the city. These villages were filled with people who no longer had a place to live. The town had a lot of apartment buildings, some 20 or 25 stories high. No one was allowed to be in these buildings after the earthquake because of the concerns about the towers falling. Looking at all these buildings, I realize that each one would have to be checked to ensure it was safe enough to reenter, or it would have to be torn down. Usually, these buildings are filled with families living their lives. Now, however, all these people must live in these temporary tents. 

As we approached our first location in the city, the rain stopped. I was very grateful for this. The last thing we needed was rain to interrupt our shows. First, we drove to Hatay Stadyumu, a football stadium for a local team. The parking lot of the stadium was full of temporary tents. After a short stay there to get more information, we moved to do our shows.

The audience for our first show was enthusiastic. Sometimes the audience would crowd the stage area, making performing almost impossible. One of my favorite parts of the tour was the post-show activities. We would hang out, play music, dance, juggle and play with the crowd. 

Today, I did a few hat tricks and tossed my hat to the head of some audience members. Andreas played his washboard while Celine danced, and Josie juggled clubs with some of the kids. At one point, an older woman began playing one of our drums. She broke out into a steady beat. She was familiar with drumming. People started dancing and moving to the rhythm of her drumming as she played. I pulled out my spoons and began to play along. Then, she began to sing. Looking around, I realized I was the only man in this group. This group was all women, teenage girls, and smaller girls, all of them singing. The woman sang her song with conviction. As she played, she would share a glance with the other women sitting next to her, and they both would break out into a smile. 

These women had familiar faces to me. I saw faces that looked like many of the faces of the women in my youth. They reminded me of my mother and her sisters. My mother would play the piano. This woman was playing her drum, yet the sentiment was familiar. Playing this music reminded me of the times of would hear my mother sing. As the woman sang, the other women joined. The young people danced. The clowns began to dance to her music. The smiles and laughter echoed down the street and into the tent village.

And another show that day we found ourselves performing in a space with a partial roof. The area with the roof is a good location. The threat of rain remained with us throughout the day. When we arrived at this location, we knew we could perform in this ample open space that would protect us from the rain. The open space allowed us to do some of the routines we could not do with the other groups. Earlier in rehearsal, we created a version of the clown routine," dead or alive ." It is a classic routine many clowns know. It worked exceptionally well in this setting. The space was filled with many generations of people. The older folks sat on the sidelines and laughed and smiled. The young adults sat closer to the children to tend to their needs. The children paid close attention to the show and quickly interacted with us.

Later that day, we drove to the earthquake coordination center in Hatay. The center would be our home for the next two nights. This area felt like a military base; plenty of soldiers were there. That said, the center also had electricians, construction workers, healthcare workers, and other earthquake support workers. We had our dinner in a tent at the center next-door to the temporary masque. After a long day of travel and shows, the team finally got some rest in the tents.