Getting ready for summer!

Posted on May 19, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Even though most hotels in Calis opened ready for the summer season on 1st May, the hotel Berkay works in has only just opened.

They’ve been working really hard to get it ready over the past week – I never understand why they leave it to the last minute and have a mad rush rather than doing it all over 2-3 weeks instead! Berkay has been working all night on reception at Vizon Hotel in Fethiye, and then all day in their sister hotel Grand Vizon Hotel in Calis. He’s been cleaning, tiling, grouting, washing, filling the pool, cementing the edges, cutting the grass, climbing ladders, cutting trees, painting… On Friday their hard work paid off and the hotel was finished all ready for summer. On Saturday morning the first coach of guests arrived.

Summer is the best time of year for Berkay as he earns nearly double his winter wages, but this year we were both a bit worried about the imminent arrival of summer as it meant that our dog Boncuk wouldn’t be able to stay in the hotel any longer. She’s been living there with Berkay during the winter as it’s closed and she could wander around free and safe behind the fence and gates. The boss said she couldn’t stay in summer, so we were worried about where to put her. As I said in my last post, we did have options, we had permission from the owner of a little pancake cafe opposite that would let her stay there, but she wouldn’t be fenced in which would mean she had to be chained up all day, and if she ever managed to get loose – she’d be free to roam the streets – something that terrifies me as not only would she most likely get lost but she also has no experience of fending for herself and would most likely get run-over, so obviously although we had options of where she could stay as a last resort, we’d prefer for her to stay put where she is – safely behind the hotel gates.

As it happens, Berkay’s boss has grown rather fond of Boncuk. He’s been helping them get the hotel ready and although Boncuk was scared of him at first, she started to like him, Berkay tells me that the boss has even playing with her, stroking her and feeding her treats – he’s a miserable thing, so this was quite surprising. He decided that she could stay at the hotel on a trial, as long as she doesn’t bark at and/or disturb the guests. This is all after he’s witnessed her at her worst… in the past few days she’s managed to walk through wet concrete and made them have to do it all again, she’s chewed through cables, made holes in the hose, and stole a sponge and chewed it up all over the newly cleaned restaurant. After all of that, he was still willing to give her a chance… she must’ve really won him over!

This has made me so happy, but so nervous she’s going to do something naughty and get herself kicked out. Everytime I speak to Berkay I ask him if Boncuk is behaving, I’m sure he’s sick of me asking! She’s been really good, when people are arriving she just lets out a little bark and then goes quiet – hopefully as the season goes on she’ll get more and more used to it and not bark at all. Today, the boss was in the hotel during breakfast and with permission from the small number of guests already there, they let Boncuk off her chain to walk around the garden grounds – they closed all the doors so she couldn’t get inside, but she was wandering around the poolside/restaurant area and made friends with a German couple who fed her some cheese and egg from their breakfast plate. How cute?! I’m actually quite jealous everyone is admiring the cuteness of my dog when I’m not there, I hope she hasn’t forgotten me with all these new, exciting people to meet! The boss also let Boncuk play with her daughter, and if anyone knows Turkish people they’ll know how afraid and wary most of them are about letting dogs near their children, so this is a big deal. I hope Boncuk carries on being good so that she’ll get to stay at the hotel for as long as possible, she’s much safer there.

Turkey isn’t the only place getting ready for summer – it’s been absolutely glorious sunshine here in London today! I’ve been playing out in the garden with my little sister all day (she’s a fellow minion fan – check out her bag in her little playhouse), and even done some sunbathing on the trampoline ! In fact, it was 22oc here today, although it felt even hotter,, according to weather reports, it was 22oc in Fethiye also – but cloudy! Can’t really complain can we? We all had a lovely BBQ in the garden which went down well with a ice cold glass of Strongbow cider. Mmmmm. What’s the betting that next weekend will be raining – it is Bank Holiday after all.

The price we pay for the decisions we make…

Posted on May 16, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

“You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”

A few weeks ago I saw this quote pop up on my Facebook news feed. I read it and got goosebumps. It manages to take all of my feelings and squish them into two little sentences.

I have never read words more true. I am never going to feel truely at home no matter where I am, because a part of me will always be elsewhere, always be missing someone, something, wondering what is going on in the other place.

Despite how I make it sound, the decision to go back to Turkey was not an easy one. Of course I’m happy there with Berkay and Boncuk, and everything there feels like ‘home’ to me – the food, the way of life, the weird little quirks, but no matter how happy I am there, I am always wondering what the people I leave behind back home are doing, wondering what my family and friends are doing, how they are etc etc, of course their lives move on while I’m not here, and when I do come back to visit, or to live, it’s always hard to fit back in because so much has changed. When I’m back here in England and trying to fit in, all I can think about is my life in Turkey, and what I’m missing there, how much things there are changing, what Berkay’s doing, worrying how my dog is, wanting to just go out and have a little BBQ with our Turkish friends. It’s a vicious circle. It’s almost like ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ – no matter where you are, there’s a part of you wanting something from ‘the other side’ as it’s inevitable there will always be something missing.

Some say it’s my own fault for choosing this life, for choosing to fall in love with a Turkish person instead of someone who lives around the corner from me. It’s true – this lifestyle is one that I have decided to follow, and I shall forever pay the price for that.

Do I regret it though? Absolutely not. I’m lucky to have two places I feel connected to, yet divided between. I just wish there was a way to merge them all into one cute, fluffy ball of happiness.

Turkish restaurant in London.

Posted on May 12, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

While Berkay was in England last month, we took a trip to a Turkish restaurant in London. It was amazing!

We went to the Efes restaurant on Commercial Road (click HERE for their website), which was recommended by my dad. Don’t get too excited by the name – they didn’t serve any alcohol at all.

It looked quite impressive from the outside, we thought it was going to be expensive, but we were pleasantly surprised! We had a table booked for 7pm, and it was a good job it was booked because when we walked in it was really very busy!

Berkay’s eyes lit up as soon as he walked in and saw the waiters rushing around serving plates full of all the Turkish food he knows and loves, meanwhile all I could concentrate on was the HUGE glass cabinet full of baklava that I could see staring at me! Mmmmm.

The waiters and waitresses were all Turkish and came over to us expecting us to be English – Berkay started talking Turkish to them and they ended up having a ten minute conversation as is customary when Turks meet, all the usual stuff, where are you from, what do you do, where do you work, how much do you weigh? (seriously!) I was just sat trying to chose from the menu.

When the chat was over and I’d heard the normal ‘wow you look Turkish’ that everyone feels the need to tell me, we both decided on getting the Adana Kebab. I’d never had it before, but it was a good choice, although seeing other people’s orders of Pide being bought out made me wish I had chose that instead – it’s my favourite!

While we were waiting for it to be served, we got the typical bowls of bread, salad and dips bought out to the table, this is something I love most about Turkish food – bread is ALWAYS on the table, it was all free too.

We also ordered Lahmacun as I’d never tried it and wanted to, I figured it was almost like Pide, and only cost £2.50 so it was a no-brainer! I suppose it’s like a really thin pizza, it was yummy.

Before we even had a chance to finish the Lahmacun, our main dinner was bought out – Adana kebab. It was a big portion, two long pieces of spicy minced meat grilled over charcoal, rice, grilled tomato & pepper, and of course the big bowl of salad, bread and dips that we had left over from earlier. It was only £10.50 each. It probably sounds weird to say, but it all tasted so …. Turkish. Even the salad tastes exactly as it does out there, how do they do that, what’s the secret?!

The food was gorgeous, and left us absolutely stuffed. After a while, a woman dressed in traditional belly dancer costume came to offer us Turkish tea and of course we couldn’t resist. I thought it was cute how everything was Turkish, even down to the bottles of water and sugar cubes…

Despite being stuffed, I knew that I couldn’t possible leave the restaurant without having some baklava. £4 for 3 pieces it said – I would have quite happily paid more. They bought it out on a little dish, two normal pieces, and one chocolate, but you really can’t beat the normal one, especially with a glass of cay.

Once we polished off the baklava, and Berkay had told his life story to another of the waiters, we asked for the bill, expecting it to be around £30-35 after having two kebabs, two cokes, water, two teas and baklava – but they had only charged us £22. I guess having long conversations and telling life stories to waiters sometimes pays off! We would have happily paid more, because it really was delicious. It made me miss Turkey all the more.

On our way home, we decided to take the long, scenic route as it was our last night together and neither of us could face going home to pack his suitcase yet. I put my GPS on my phone and used google maps to walk from the restaurant to London Bridge station and posed to take photos of Tower Bridge on the way. It took about 45 minutes. Funny story – on the way to the station we got stopped by some foreign tourists looking for a hotel, normally my shy-self would have just said ‘Sorry, don’t know’, but I was feeling especially happy after my Turkish good, so I got my phone GPS back out and typed in the name they wanted – as it happened it was only a 2 minute walk away and they were really grateful – it’s nice to be helpful. (:

We had a lovely last evening together and Berkay now says this restaurant is his new favourite – even better than Nandos! Anyone who knows how much he loves Nandos will know this is a big deal!

Now I just can’t wait to get back to Turkey and eat this food more often. Eeeeeek.

Moving back to Turkey!?

Posted on May 10, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Since the last post I wrote, a lot has changed. I had big decisions to make over bank holiday weekend, and now that I’ve made up my mind and informed everyone in ‘real life’, I can share here! So here it is…..

I’m moving back to Turkey!

… temporarily at least.

Since Berkay came here in April I realised how unhappy I really am here – I don’t know what it was but something just snapped and changed my mind. The plan was to stay here and save until after Berkay has finished his army service, which he’s supposed to be doing in February next year, but now I’ve decided to go out there for the summer to spend as much time with him as possible before he goes. I’m hoping to go at the beginning of June til November.

Last Monday I told my manager I was leaving. I have been working on a 3 month temporary contract, and she told me they were going to extend it, but I told her my plans and explained as I didn’t want her to think I was just giving up my job for a 6 month holiday or that I was unreliable. As it happens she said they were impressed with me and to keep in contact in case they have anything available when I come back – so here’s hoping!

There’s a lot to plan before I go – I haven’t even booked a flight yet but can’t because I’m waiting on my passport to arrive – my old one got ripped! We also need to find a house – Berkay has been living in the hotel and we can’t stay there so he’s been wandering the streets door to door to find one. He’s had no luck. Now it’s the summer season it’s proving really difficult to find a house that isn’t charging hundreds daily, we need one in Calis as that’s where Berkay will work, the other issue is that we need one that is furnished as we own nothing of our own, and not forgetting we need somewhere that has a garden so that Boncuk can stay. Our previous apartment was 350tl a month which was amazing, but we’re willing to pay up to 500-600tl now, if anyone knows of anywhere in Calis?! It’s proving difficult.

I’m having mixed emotions about going back- of course I’m really looking forward to it, I miss life there, and I can’t wait to see Berkay and Boncuk everyday, but at the same time, I know it’s not going to be like before, because I won’t be living there for long, I’ll know the days are numbered, and I won’t be in OUR house as it’s been rented to someone else. A part of me just wants back those old days – but I guess those are gone forever. Going back is going to be so strange!

I’m not feeling as excited as I should about going back because of the comments people have been making. Apparently going back for 6 months means I am ‘ruining’ my life and subjecting myself to an ‘existence not a life’. It’s always the people you least expect to make those hurtful comments. Apparently it’s also common knowledge that I am going only ‘to avoid working for a living’ because I think the world owes me something – also not true. I’ve worked, I saved, I’m going with the money I have. I’m not asking for help financially from anyone. Sure, I’ve given up my job which is a silly thing to do the way things are at the moment – but I didn’t do it just to get a holiday. It’s not going to be a holiday at all – I’m just going to spend time with Berkay, in the two and a half years I lived there I never lived like a tourist, and won’t, I don’t want to be judged as one of those girls who just goes for the season to party hard – that’s not me at all. When Berkay goes in the army, I won’t see him for a year unless he gets leave at a time when I’m able to visit for a week. The way I see it is if I don’t go now, I may spend that year regretting it and wishing I’d spent as much time with him as possible. Maybe in a year’s time I may regret going and giving up my job, but I have the rest of my life to do that, I only have one chance to go before he goes into the army, so that’s what I’m doing.

I’m not really sure why I feel like I have to defend my decision, because it is MY decision after all, I’ve made up my mind to go, I shall do my very best to enjoy every minute of my 6 months there and when I come back I shall have to face all the consequences of my decision, which I am absolutely fine with.

3-ish weeks to go!

Park, Bluebells and Marshmallow Icecream..

Posted on May 5, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

This post is way over due. In fact it was over 2 weeks ago that these photos were taken, but one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place was so that I could look back over time on what I was doing ‘this time last week’, ‘this time last month’, ‘this time a year ago’… so i’m still going to post them anyway.

These photos were taken on Good Friday, the day before Berkay flew back to Turkey. We spent the morning in the park, first in the playground then through the woods and ruins.

The play area was full of children (duh!) but that didn’t stop us having some fun, Berkay enjoyed himself far too much, can you tell? He nearly fell off the funny little swing and had me in fits of giggles.

After the play area we went through the woods at Lesnes Abbey, it was so beautiful. We were the only ones wandering around so it was so peaceful, there were bluebells everywhere, which although we later found out we’re not supposed to pick – Berkay did pick a bunch for me! Sorry bluebells. I love being outside and just walking through the trees and flowers – although the insects, especially wasps, are the not-so-good part. Ewww.

I love these photos of us – we just laid down in the bluebells to get a good photo – look at our happy big brown eyes, ahh. (:

Anyone who knows me knows I love the minions from despicable me, why not embrace your inner child every now and then? I bought this Minion bag a while ago but never use it for fear of looking a bit nuts, but when you’re walking through the woods with nobody else around, why the heck not eh? Hehe. We had some fun with it – sticking it on the wall next to the ‘please keep off the wall’ sign – what a naughty minion 😉

After we’d been at the park for a while, my dad, step mum, brother and sister came for a walk too, since it was good Friday and everyone was off work for the day. My sister had fun climbing the tree and posing for photos. She kept picking daisies for me and running up to give them to me, she’s so sweet.

On the way home we got some ice-cream from the ice-cream van – I chose the marshmallow one was literally what it looks like – a huge vanilla whippy icecream covered in marshmallows and strawberry sauce, it was the best icecream I’ve ever had!! Yum!

I can’t believe this was over 2 weeks ago now – it seems a lot longer. Oh how time flies.

3 years ago…

Posted on April 27, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

3 years ago yesterday, I had just made the biggest move of my life, and was now sitting in my new house, 2000 miles away from ‘home’.

On the 26th April 2011 I moved to Turkey, to live with Berkay, despite only having actually spent a total of 2 full weeks with him. What a crazy move. Do I regret it? Hell no.

I can’t even remember the day I got on that plane, not a single second of it. Perhaps it was over-excitment, worry, fear? I couldn’t tell you, because I honestly can’t remember a thing.

When I moved there, none of my family had met Berkay. My mum flew out with me, so she could meet him and judge him for herself… over the week that she was there, he proved himself, issues arised which left mum’s partner-at-the-time in hospital, and without Berkay to help, it would have been even more stressful for them. Although she was still worried about leaving me there, and the end of the week I think she felt much better knowing I was in safe hands with Berkay.

^^.Photos taken during my first few weeks living in Turkey.^^
Moving to Turkey wasn’t as I had expected it to be – I knew Berkay would be working all day everyday, but I hoped that sometimes I’d be allowed to go to the hotel he worked at and sit there for a few hours – even just to be nosey at the guests and do some people-watching. His boss didn’t let me – so I ended up home alone for most of the day. He worked from 7.30 in the morning til 10/11pm at night. He used to get 4 hour breaks in the day, so we’d go to a pool somewhere or eat lunch at home together. Thinking back on these days now makes me smile… even in just the 2.5 years that I was there things changed a lot.

I was at home alone most of the time, I talk to people who assume that because I was in a resort, I had a party lifestyle, met up with fellow expats or girls who were out there for the summer season, and spent all day on the beach or in bars. NOT TRUE. In the years that I was there, the most I spoke to fellow expats was when recognizing them from their Facebook photos as they were walking down the street and saying ‘Hi’. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not rude, and I don’t dislike these people, I’m just stupidly shy.

How did I deal with the loneliness? By buying a pet. I’d only been in Turkey for a couple of weeks when we went to the pet shop looking to buy a hamster, and Berkay persuaded me to get a rabbit instead. We named her Abbie. Sadly she died a year ago…we really loved her!

When I first moved to Turkey those 3 years ago, I honestly don’t think I really missed anything about England. I’m not someone who gets homesick, which is weird, because normally I really hate change. It took a lot of adjusting to living in the house – I’d never lived alone before and our house wasn’t a luxury holiday apartment, no central heating, air con, double-glazing windows or constant running hot water like I was used to at home! Of course I missed my friends and family, but I had 24/7 access to the internet, so was always able to contact them.

This is my favourite photo from my first few weeks in Turkey. I’ve mentioned it before. It was taken on a trip to Oludeniz, it’s like I’m looking out to sea, miles away from home. You really feel small when you stand beside the big, blue ocean. The world is a big old place, and there I was, 18 years old and exploring another part of it.

Although I’m no longer living there, (actually I moved back to England exactly 7 months ago today) the two and a half years I spent in Turkey were the best of my life so far – somehow I feel a stronger connection to there than I do to England. Some people can’t understand why I decided to move there in the first place, some don’t understand why I want to go back, others belittle the experience and assume it was easy because I was living in the sun and not working.

Whatever anyone thinks, I’m pretty proud of myself for getting on that plane 3 years ago, it was the best decision of my life so far, I don’t think I’d still be with Berkay today if I hadn’t.

click HERE to read a previous blog about the house I was living in, and HERE to read about how life in Turkey wasn’t just one big holiday.

London with Berkay – part 2

Posted on April 23, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

I posted part 1 of my birthday day out in London yesterday, and as promised, here is part 2.

On our way to Buckingham Palace, we found ourselves at St.James Park. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and it was absolutely gorgeous walking through the park at this time of the day. There were beautiful yellow daffodils, blossom on the trees, flowers growing, green grass- beautiful! The lake looked lovely with the water fountain and ‘duck island’ in the middle.

Anyone who knows me know’s I’m an animal lover – so seeing all the cute ducks, swans and pelicans was sweet, the pigeons not so much- I hate it when things fly near me! This duck was so funny, doesn’t it just look like he’s posing for the camera?! He turned around, looked at me, tilted his head then started walking towards me – I think he was hoping for food, but we had none… sorry Mr Duck.

Berkay was trying to get the pigeons to sit on his arm, ewwwww. A nearby man who was obviously a regular at the park spotted him and gave him a handful of bird seed from a huge sack he had, he told him to hold his hand down low and feed the birds… and he did! Look how happy he looks, he’s an animal lover too.

We spotted some squirrels who were surprisingly not shy at all – they were obviously used to being photographed as I held my camera literally an inch away from his face and he just sat there eating his nut…cute!

When we came to the end of the park, we could see Buckingham Palace, or ‘The Queen’s house’ as Berkay calls it. We made our way over and dont the typical touristy things, took a photo of the guard, took a photo of each other standing outside the gates.. thought about popping in to visit my old mukka Queenie for some tea and scones…

There’s something about London that makes you feel patriotic. I’m not the least bit patrotic normally, I’m normally moaning about the country, but standing outside Buckingham Palace and looking out accross The Mall, seeing all the Union Jack flags – it really made me feel..well… British.

We walked to St James Park station, again relying on my phone’s GPS to guide us, what a lifesaver that was – and got off at Leicester Square. It was really busy with street performers, people laying on the benches and grass, there was even a dog playing in the water fountain – sweet! One of the street performers was a magician, he had a little mouse with him… we missed most of the act, but at the end he put his little pet mouse on the floor and let everyone go and stroke it. ‘Please be careful with her’ he said … it melted my heart! Nothing cuter than a man and his pet mouse hehe!

The main reason we were at Leicester Square was for M&M’s world! I’ve been to the one in New York before while I was there on a school trip, but I’d never been to the London one. The smell when you walk in … oh.my.god. Chocolate heaven! After a while it all looks the same, and you get sick of seeing all the overpriced merchandise – but some of it is cute. I think I purchased the cheaperst thing in the shop – a £3.50 fluffy m&m purse. There are giant M&M statues all around the store – all 4 levels of it – making for some perfect photo opportunities..

The best part about the whole place are the walls with tubes stacked full of M&M’s in every single colour possible, chocolate ones, peanut ones, crispy ones… ahhh, I’ve just realised I still have some left over from the bag we made up – as soon as I finish this post I’m going to tuck into them!

After a good 45 minutes in chocolate heaven, we walked all the way to Oxford Street – and to the massive Primark. We didn’t get much, a few bits for our friends baby twins, and a pretty awesome pug duvet cover for me. What’s the point of having birthday money if you can’t spend it eh?

We met up with my dad, stepmum, brother and sister for dinner. We all went to a little Indian restaurant near Aldgate, in London. It was really yummy.. Berkay went for a hot dish and think he regretted it later!

How cute is my baby sister? ❤ She adores Berkay.. and me. She follows me around like a little sheep when I come home from work. Bless. She gave me lots of birthday cuddles, and helped me show off one of my birthday presents- a sweet picture for my wall made by my step mum. A photo of me, Berkay and Boncuk and the word ‘Happiness’ – that says it all.

London with Berkay – Part 1

Posted on April 22, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

This post is over a week late – there were so many photos to go through! I’ve had to split it into two parts as there were just so many good ones – so here is part 1 of our little adventure in London!

It was my birthday on Friday 11th April, I had booked the day off work so I could spend it with Berkay, and we decided to go to London.

After opening some presents from family at home, we headed off and got the train to the O2 at North Greenwich – where we got on a boat. It was a thamesclipper boat (information can be found by clicking here if you’re visiting London soon and interested) which only cost us £4.50 as we had a TFL travelcard for the day too, which makes the price cheaper. I’ve been on one before a few years ago but forgot what they were like inside – quite fancy! The chairs are leather and so comfortable, although unless you sit on the 6 seater ones facing each other, they are a little squished – like being on an aeroplane. Berkay was impressed – it was definitely different to the typical ‘boat tour’ ones he’s used to seeing in Turkey – and so much faster.

We sat inside for the first 15mins, then stood outside on the deck for the last 25mins to get a better view of everything, which provided plenty of photo opportunities. It would have been better if it were sunny, but the clouds went away later in the afternoon.
We had a good view of all the sites -Canary Wharf, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the Shard, the Globe, London Bridge, St Paul’s Cathedral, the London eye, Big Ben..

The trip down the river Thames lasted around 40 minutes, from the O2 to Embankment, where we got off.
We walked over the bridge at Embankment – stopping to pose for more photos – before finding somewhere to eat. The only place we could find along South Bank without a huge queue was ‘EAT’ – what a simple name for a restaurant, and how could we refuse 😉 We ate al fresco on a bench overlooking embankment and Big Ben – it was just starting to warm up so it was lovely!

After lunch we walked along South Bank past the street perfomers, some of which were really impressive – others just plain weird.
We stopped near the Southbank centre at the ‘Udderbelly’ festival – nothing was going on but it was free to walk around so we had a little look around – they had areas of grass and trees with little gazebos and benches, the trees all had fairy lights on and it was so cute – would be great to sit there with a drink in the evening, but I’m sure it gets really busy when the comedy, music and circus acts are on during the festival. The main part was an upside down cow – hence udderbelly- which I assume had a stage inside, but it was closed so I’m not sure. There were little stalls around the outside selling wraps, hot dogs, burgers and beer, but they looked expensive so we avoided them. The festival is on from April 10th – July apparently, but I’m not really sure what it’s all about, the upside down cow was enough to impress me!

Walking past the London eye I noticed the surrounding area of trees had carrots in. Weird – a special Easter thing I’m assuming! I thought I was seeing things for a while.

Next we headed across Westminster Bridge, posing for yet more photos, and carried on walking. We were hoping to arrive at St James’ Park – in order to find our way to Buckingham Palace. I used my phone GPS, which was a life saver that day, and we eventually arrived at our destination.. but those photos shall be in part 2! On route to St James’ Park, we stopped at this typical, London red telephone box. Berkay had no idea why I was asking him to pose for a photo with it, but he played along, pretending to make a phonecall and stepping inside – big mistake because it seems someone had been using it as a urinal. Lovely. Needless to say I avoided that one and posed for a photo in the next one we came across.

Part 2 will be coming up tomorrow 🙂

Goodbye all over again..

Posted on April 20, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

When I woke up yesterday morning I knew it was going to be a long, hard day.
The atmosphere for the past 3-4 days was different, reality set in for both of us that Berkay would be going back to Turkey soon – and everything just felt strange.

Berkay packing his suitcase
My alarm went off at 0930, and when I realised what day it was I just wanted to bury my head in my pillow and go back to sleep. We got up, got ready, had some toast, finished packing his suitcase and were out of the house and on the way to the airport by 11.30. Dad drove us and my brother and little sister came too.

saying bye to my sister… 😦
After getting a bit lost, we arrived at Luton at 13.15 and went straight to check-in. Seeing all the excited people going on their holidays just makes it all the more depressing. He checked in, dropped his bag off and then we all went and had Burger King…

Then it was time to say goodbye. We all walked up the stairs to departures, my dad, brother and little sister gave Berkay a hug, then went downstairs and left me and Berkay to hug it out… we both shed a little tear, said bye, and then he went through the departures door and the point of no return…

The goodbyes NEVER get easier. Nothing will compare to the goodbye I faced when leaving my house, dog and Berkay behind when moving back to the UK, that was the worst day of my life – but everytime we say goodbye it’s the same feelings all over again. Not knowing when I’ll see him again makes it worse – there’s nothing to look forward to or countdown to.

Having my little sister there this time made it a little better – she’s a good distraction. She kept saying ‘Bye Berkay…come on Dan come downstairs, you’re not going back to Turkey as well are you? I want you to stay here and play with me!’ – cute. Berkay isn’t planning on coming back to the UK for a few years – so the next time he sees her she’ll be a lot older 😦

The blog post I wrote about saying goodbye last time he went in January sums up my feelings again exactly. There is nothing more to add really. It’s just not fair.

I suppose the only good thing to come out of long distance relationships is that you do cherish every moment – you have to.

I do have some good posts about our last few days together which will all be posted over this Easter weekend.

Happy Easter everybody. ❤

Picnic in the park..

Posted on April 16, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Yesterday while I was at work Berkay text me and said we could go for a little picnic…I knew a cute little place a 15 min walk from dad’s house, so we decided to go there. I picked up some supplies from the shop after work and Berkay met me at the station when I got off the train.

We took a detour to a chip shop then walked up the hill to the park, which even though it’s literally around the corner to my house, I’d never been to before! It has ruins of an old Abbey on the grounds which makes it a really pretty looking place.

We found an empty bench, sat down and served up our picnic. Pasta, chips,crisps, bread, muffins..sunflower seeds 😉 By this time it was 6pm and everyone else in the park were just there to walk their dogs…they must’ve thought we were really strange. It reminded me of the good old days back in Turkey where we’d rock up to the beach fully clothed, pots and pans, cutlery, plates, food, blankets & salt pots in hand…while everyone else was sunbathing!

After we’d eaten we went for a wander around the park, through the ruins, which made for some good funny-photo opportunities 😉

I had no idea how old these ruins were before – but according to google, Lesnes Abbey was built in 1178 … That makes them pretty old!!

It was such a lovely place to just have a walk around – I think I’ll be going for a little wander around there myself once Berkay has gone back – so peaceful, yet popular with dog walkers and children on bikes. The weather was really good – Berkay has been lucky this time. Last April when we were both over, it snowed. He’s never seen England so sunny as it’s been these past 3 weeks, so we’ve been trying to make the most of it.

There were some really lovely trees and flowers around the park too – this being one very old tree – I can imagine it’s very popular with kids trying to climb it in summer, we just about resisted temptation to attempt to climb it ourselves, and instead settled for funny poses. Look at Berkay’s cool pose – all he’s missing is an Efes in hand ha!

We had a lovely 2 hours and it really made me feel like the whole day hadn’t been wasted at work as we’d had quality time together too. Only 3 more days before he goes back…