Today was my first day of waking up at the earthquake coordination center in Hatay. I was groggy waking up in the morning. I woke up around 6 AM and could not get back to sleep, so I walked around the center. There wasn't much to see, just trucks coming in and out of the center. Lots of cigarette buds and other folks wondering about. I went to the cafeteria and got breakfast. We were handed a small aluminum tray with cheese and bread. Not my ideal breakfast, but better than nothing.

Today was our fifth day of doing shows here. In our time here, we've learned how to adjust to constant changes and adapt our material to best fit the audience's needs. We've also done a lot of parades.

One of the ways of drawing audiences into our show is by having a parade. We march through the area, juggling, and playing music, letting everyone in the tent village know we are here. At our first location, we had our longest parade of the week. The tent city was big. We marched up and down the rows of tents, encouraging children to join us. We waved at the adults and encouraged them to come along too. Our first show after the parade worked very well. The organizers at the camp manage to use barricades to block off an area for our stage. It made for a much better space for us. We could perform without constantly removing audience members from the stage area.

We had a day of rehearsal in Istanbul. That day we put together an excellent show. However, now that we are here we realize that sometimes, we need to improvise a completely different show. We did that several times today.

One of the day's highlights for me was after our third show. We performed for a community organization. This organization had a charming family vibe to it. Lots of multigenerational folks were there for the show. After the show, they offered us some chicken soup. It was good soup—an excellent midday meal when I needed it most.

I love it when the audience members interact and perform with us. That happened again today. When we arrived at one of our locations, an older gentleman saw my ukulele. He looked at it curiously and began to mime playing the ukulele as he walked beside me. Seeing this, I handed it to him. He didn't play it. However, he did continue to pretend to play it as he smiled. Eventually, he handed it back to me before we began the show. Afterward, as I played the ukulele during the show, the same gentleman walked up to me again. This time, he had a harmonica in his hand. He looked at me and gestured as if he was asking if it was OK for him to play. I said of course. After that, the two of us played music as the performance continued.

Photo Credit @zep_offline

Without a doubt, one of the highlights of today was performing in a small arena. The arena was in the middle of town, like a town square. When we first arrived, there were not that many people there. We said hi to the folks and interacted with those who seemed to be just passing by. For a brief second, I thought it best to move on to our next location, where we would likely find a bigger audience. However, we decided to stay and begin the show. Once the show started, more people arrived. Eventually, about 150 people in the space came and sat to watch our show. I counted the audience members as Andreas, Josie, Selin, and I performed. It was a great pleasure to serve in this space.

After another show today, a group of young girls began to crowd around me. Music was playing, so I took out my spoons and started playing them on my hand and leg. As the girls saw this, they began to step closer to me. I thought that I would get them more involved. I carefully approached one of the older girls and touched the spoons on her shoulder, keeping the beat of the music. She smiled. Then, another girl came; she wanted me to do the same on her shoulder. This pattern continued with me keeping the beat with the spoons on these girls' arms. Then some boys noticed and stepped closer, wanting to do the same. I had a circle of girls and boys around me, laughing and eager to allow me to turn their bodies into percussion instruments.

Tomorrow is our last day of performing here. I'm tired. We've had long days of shows. Today we did six performances.

CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS USA, TURKEY EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR TOUR DAY 5 OF SHOWS