Mommy & Me Adventure: Pepee at Panora Mall

Elias and I had a huge adventure yesterday just the two of us! We mentioned in a previous post that Elias likes watching a Turkish cartoon called Pepee. Well, Justin had seen advertisements that Pepee was going to be at one of the big malls this weekend, so he encouraged me to take Elias on Friday while he was at work. (He thought Friday would be the best day to go, since it was a workday and probably less crowded.) The advertisements weren't very detailed, so we had no idea what to expect this to look like, but we figured it would probably be fun, and if not we'd just come home. So I made my plans, screwed up my courage, and we set off on our adventure!

It's about a $10 taxi ride to get to this mall, so I decided to save us some money by taking the bus there. That involved two buses, since none go directly from our house to this mall. However, the Ankara bus system has an exceptional website that allowed me to plan our route, and it worked out perfectly!

Riding the bus together

Pepee's appearance didn't start until noon, but we arrived at the mall about 11 - I wanted to give us plenty of time in case of complications during travel, and I also thought it would be fun to eat lunch there! So when you're out with your 3-year-old having a big adventure and eating lunch at the mall, what else do you eat but McDonald's?!?!

A cheeseburger Happy Meal is the same in any language. Really.

We didn't come in the main mall entrance, so we didn't see what was set up in the atrium area when we first came in. Our first glimpse of it was from above, since the food court is on the top floor. When we finished our lunch and wandered out to the center, this is what we saw when we looked down!

Pepee's house and characters were being set up in the central lobby, and although this was about 20 minutes before it was supposed to start, people were already gathering! So we took a few minutes to walk around a little more and go down to the ground floor, but we joined the crowd. The closer it got to noon, more and more people were showing up with kids. I cracked up at how many people were coming out in the middle of the workday - I clearly underestimate how popular Pepee is among Turks! (He must be their equivalent of Elmo!) I know Elias sure was excited to see him, and he's only known about Pepee for a month!
So right at noon, a lady came out with a microphone and began the announcements. This is all in Turkish, of course, so I don't know what she's saying. After a few minutes, though, she dramatically gestured down the mall hallway, and we see Pepee walking toward us!

It was hilarious the way the people mobbed Pepee! Poor guy. He managed to make it into the enclosure, where he danced a little and walked around shaking kids' hands and giving high fives.

I was standing behind Elias to allow children to be up against the fence, so I couldn't get any good pictures of his face. But it was totally priceless! When Pepee walked by, he was smiling so big and shouting "HI, PEPEE!!! HI, PEPEE!!!!!" I feel confident he was the only one greeting Pepee in English.

Then the real fun began when they invited the kids to come in and play with Pepee!

Elias didn't want to go in right away, but once he saw that really it was just running around and getting to touch everything, he was all for it. I lifted him over the fence, and he went right in! He touched all the statues, and even walked up to Pepee to say hi a time or two!

He stayed in there 15 or 20 minutes, then he was ready to come out. We had a little bit of shopping to do before we went home, and Elias wanted to go back in and visit Pepee again before we left. Alas, I was tired and no way we were fighting that crowd again! So we just waved goodbye to Pepee from afar before we got a taxi home. I wasn't going to navigate the buses with shopping bags! That was an adventure for me too, though, since taking a taxi requires me to be able to tell the driver where I want to go! This was my first time doing that, and we made it home with only one detour because I told him the wrong direction!

All in all, it was a lot of fun, and I'm so glad Elias and I were able to have that fun adventure! May it be the first of many! :)