Fethiye – sometimes it’s the simple things!

Posted on August 31, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

There are so many things to see in the Fethiye area, the whole area is so diverse and it’s easy to overlook the small things. My favourite place of all is Fethiye town centre, there’s no doubt about it. It’s busy all year around and it doesn’t become a ghost town when the summer season is over and the tourists have gone home, life continues as normal and businesses stay open.

There is so much to see and sometimes even just taking a walk the long way around while doing daily errands can provide you with beautiful sights and surroundings.

On Friday we needed to pop into town to go to the bank, change some money and pay some bills. We waited til the late afternoon, the bank was empty and we were in and out so quickly we had some time to spare. We took the back road to the exchange office and walked under the much photographed multicoloured umbrellas. I love this idea. Fethiye is a beautiful area, and you could easily get carried away taking photos of the amazing views, who would have thought a few coloured umbrellas tied to some string would be so popular? They look amazing, and it certainly brightened up our trip to the bank to pay bills!

There are also lovely water features and topiary around the town. One display being opposite the exchange office we use. It’s an old boat with fake sand, stepping stones and sea creatures made from bushes – it’s pretty, well kept and makes for an interesting photo.

In quite a contrast to the rest of this area of town, there is an ancient Lycian Sarcophagus just behind the marina area, next to the Nufus office/town hall. It looks like it doesn’t belong there, it’s very random. I’ve seen old photos of Fethiye from hundreds of years ago (1800’s!) and the sarcophagus can be seen surrounded by water, now obviously it is inland due to development – it’s interesting how things have changed and built around it while it just sits untouched. (Link to the old photo HERE)
We took the long route back to the bus station via the ‘new’ town square, which has actually been completed for nearly 2 years now! The most interesting and quirky parts of this area are the wonky buildings next to the main concrete square. They’ve been wonky for as long as I can remember, and after various earth tremors have become worse. The rows of houses on the other side of the road behind these are also slanted, they lean backwards. Apparently they have become more slanted in recent years after work to improve the pavements in the town took place – but I don’t know for sure about that. I can’t imagine they’re very safe to live in, I don’t think they’d meet the minimum safety requirements required for earthquake insurance etc..!
Aside from the wonky buildings, the park hosts a statue of Atarturk, (there are several of these in Fethiye and at least one in every town in the country) water fountains, flowers and pretty wooden benches. The fountains don’t seem to run on any kind of schedule, sometimes they’re on, sometimes they’re not, and sometimes it looks nicer than others, but it seems to be well-kept during the season and it is a lovely place to wander around and kill some time. There’s a playground for children which is often busy with passing tourists and locals, and yet more impressive topiary along the pathways. I love to watch the fountains here at night, they are all lit up and look beautiful. I’ve written a post about it previously – click HERE.

I love just walking through Fethiye, it has a real working town atmosphere. I love how there are elements of the old town mixed in amongst the new, modern, fit-for-tourism town – like the ancient sarcophagus sat surrounded by hotels and restaurants and the modest fishing boats sat in the harbour amongst the bigger daily tour boats which take hundreds of tourists out sunbathing and swimming around the islands everyday.

I think that’s what I love about Fethiye the most, it can be as quiet or as loud as you want – it’s so diverse with so many things to see, but sometimes it’s just the simple things that make your walk to pay the bills that little bit more fun, that are the best.

Calis from the hillside!

Posted on August 23, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Two days ago we went for a long walk up to the furthest point of Calış beach and back again.

We walked from our house all the way to Koca Çalış and up a hill at the far end of the beach – the views were lovely and I saw Calış/Fethiye from a whole new angle!

The walk from our house to the end of the beach was around 2.6 km, so we walked over 5 km together – not easy in the 40oc heat! We waited til 6pm to leave because we’d melt into a puddle on the floor otherwise. I’d never been so far into Koca Çalış before, the furthest we’d really been was Sunset Beach Club/Surf Cafe. I definitely wouldn’t want to live there as it’s too far from anything else. We came across some pretty multi-coloured holiday apartments though which looked lovely, it’d certainly be more peaceful there!

We took Boncuk too, we love taking her on long walks. The downside to taking her with us is that a lot of stray dogs approached us. At one point we walked past a restaurant with a dog roaming loose and it spotted Boncuk and started growling and barking at her, setting off a chorus of at least 4 other dogs – it’s quite scary, although most of the animals are harmless, you never know (we had a bad experience when she was a puppy, and I’ve been bitten by a street dog myself which meant I had to have rabies injections – not fun!) Having so many dogs roaming free is something that puts me off walking her on my own most of the time and we always have to plan our routes so as to avoid places where we know there are a lot of strays.

The Koca Çalış end of the beach appeared to be very popular with local people – there were lots of people swimming and having BBQ picnics which smelt amazing! When we reached the end of the beach we found a track leading up the hill and decided to climb it. It wasn’t too steep or difficult to climb, although there were a lot of sharp thorns and bushes which scratched our legs quite badly, but the view at the top was worth it. We let Boncuk off her lead while climbing up the hill and she loved it.

The sun was just starting to go down as it was around 7.30 by this time, so it was fairly cool (by cool I mean around 35oc!!) but we were dripping with sweat from the walk – we tried to take a ‘selfie’ together with the view in the background but we just looked ridiculous!

I think it would be lovely to come and sit up there with a drink and a snack to watch the sunset, or even to just sit down and watch the stars at night – quite romantic! Berkay was also eyeing it up as a potential fishing spot!

We couldn’t stay and admire the view for too long as Berkay had to get back for work, but it was nice to see Calış from an alternative view point, and lovely views across to the mountains too. Such beautiful scenery.

The cost of living in Turkey…

Posted on August 6, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

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I have been wanting to write this post since I started my blog last year, but I knew it would take a lot of research to get it right, and I also know a lot of people will disagree with me, but after discussing it with someone today, I was determined to post my view on this.

People think living in Turkey is cheap… It’s not. Unless you’re living off a British pension or have an income from other sources in the UK, it’s not cheap to live here at all. When I say to people it’s hard to live off a Turkish wage and that we always end up getting into debt, people tell me ‘you just need to budget better and not have a holiday lifestyle, it’s so cheap to live in Turkey’… I know for a fact that it’s not, and people just do not realise how local people really struggle.

Ok, now a little disclaimer, this is NOT about me. It’s not a pity party. I can get on the next flight home to England if it becomes too hard to live here. This is for the local people, the Turks, the thousands of people working in Turkey who do not have the luxury of choosing where to live or have many job opportunities.

I have always said that living in Turkey is actually more expensive than living in the UK. When you compare like for like, Turkey appears cheaper, but when you consider local wages, you realise it’s not. If you’re an expat in Turkey and have more than £250 a month in income from a pension or other means, you are financially better off than a lot of locals in Fethiye, and all over the country. The minimum wage here is 895tl a month after tax – that equals £255 a month or roughly £3068 a year. (For arguments sake throughout this article I’m using an exchange rate of 3.5tl/£1 as this is the rate being given in town as of today). This is minimum wage across the country. Compare this to minimum wage in the UK which is £6.31 an hour – for 40 hours a week this would be £11,380 a year AFTER tax, or £950 a month, roughly. This means that the minimum wage in Turkey is 3.7 x less than the UK, therefore, for Turkey to have a cheaper cost of living than the UK, the prices of everything would have to be 3.7 x lower than in the UK… let’s look into that and see if that is the case.

I have investigated the prices of many everyday items – I looked online at two main supermarkets – Migros for Turkey, and Tesco for the UK. These are pretty much the same thing, big supermarkets. Of course there are cheaper options for all of the foods listed, I could have looked at Aldi & Lidl compared to Turkey’s Bim & Sok for lesser known brands and cheaper choices, but for ease I’m looking at the two main supermarkets. The fruit and veg prices were compared using Tesco prices vs Fethiye market prices – the cheapest possible place to find them.

The photo below shows my findings.

As you can see, for most of the products, the price of these when converted into pounds is cheaper in Turkey, but not by very much, and certainly not 3.7 x cheaper. Things like bread, water and some fruits such as grapes and cherries are significantly cheaper here in Turkey, even with the difference in wages. For most things however, when considering the wage difference, are more expensive here in Turkey. For example, I did not find one single house product that was cheaper here, in comparison. Bleach, toothpaste, toilet paper, shampoo and deodorant are all more expensive, along with everyday food items such as pasta and milk.

Meat prices here in Turkey are ridiculous – as you can see from the table all red and white meat is significantly more expensive here when you factor in the wage differences.

Perhaps most shockingly, some of the everyday items are actually significantly more expensive in Turkey without even looking at the wage comparison – cheese, eggs, bananas, potatoes and pet food are all more expensive here in Turkey than it would be if we were shopping in Tesco. There’s also the fact that supermarkets in the UK often have “buy one get one free” deals which I rarely see in shops here.

I see where other expats are coming from – their pounds go further here than at home in England for the most part, but for people living here off a local wage life is very hard and a daily struggle. I have no idea how large families cope.

Groceries aren’t the only things that are more expensive in Turkey. I looked online and compared typical internet broadband prices, in the UK the average price worked out at £230 a year. Here in Turkey we pay around 90tl per month, or 1080tl (£308) per year. Again, that shows that the price of the internet luxury here is more expensive than the UK, without even considering wage differences.

I tried to compare electricity prices, but there are such vast differences in the amount that people pay each month it would be impossible to do a comparison, our electric bills every month are between 30-50tl, while I know others who pay 200tl a month, and I have no idea of the breakdown in prices either here or in the UK.

Petrol prices here in Turkey are far more expensive than the UK before even considering the wage difference. Car prices here are also ridiculous, a car that you would pay £1000 for in the UK is likely to sell for the equivalent of £5000 or more here in Turkey – no wonder I see so many ancient, non road-worthy cars around, nobody can afford models less than 20 years old.
White goods, fridges, washing machines etc and other general household goods here in Turkey are around the same price as in the UK – again when you consider wages are a lot less here, this makes them a lot more expensive in comparison.

Another significant thing here to remember is there is no free healthcare. For local people working their bosses should pay for their health insurance which enables cheaper treatment, and for those not working, the amount they pay for health insurance is means tested, but it’s not free. There are also very little income benefits. In order to be entitled they have to have worked and paid insurance for a certain amount of days in a period of time, Berkay was entitled to it last winter and got 300tl per month, who could ever live off that?

There are things that are cheaper here in Turkey, for example, council tax, road tax, insurance etc, but when everything else is considered, this is so small and insignificant.

Rent prices are a different story. Rent prices are undoubtedly a lot cheaper here in Turkey. From searching online, I found the price of a one bedroom flat in England varied considerably – from £400 in Northern areas, to over £700 in London. In comparison, prices for a one bedroom basic apartment here in Fethiye vary from 300 – 650tl (£85 – £170) – I can’t deny that they are much cheaper here.

You may be thinking to yourself, ‘why dont they work harder to earn more’ – it doesn’t work like that. I can only comment for people working in Tourism, as that is all I have knowledge of, but generally people working in this sector will be stuck in it for life. It doesn’t mean they’re lazy or unqualified (Berkay has a diploma in hotel management!) it just means they have no choice. It’s not like they can take on a second job to bump up their wages either – working days here are long with people working up to 12-15 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no time for another job.

All of the above isn’t even considering the fact that a lot of people in tourism don’t have work during winter, and those that do are more than likely working for less than minimum wage as their employer knows they are desperate and will work for any money they offer – some take total advantage and do not even pay them at the end of the month, they simply refuse, and because they have been working without insurance and for less than minimum wage they have no option but to accept it.

Im not suggesting the whole of Turkey is poor, there are of course people with very good jobs earning tens of thousands lira a year and people who would be rich even by English standards. But that doesn’t change the fact that for Turkish people, living here in Turkey IS more expensive than living in the UK. I know there will be people who disagree, but if you do the research you might be surprised at what you find.

Let me know if you agree, or disagree, I’m open to all comments. I’m really curious at people’s opinions of the cost of living here in Turkey. Before I moved here I had no idea, I didn’t care, I was ignorant, but it’s something that really fascinates me now and I can’t help but get into discussions about it when I see people saying the infamous words ‘it’s cheaper to live over there’.

Of course there are many positive things about living here, perhaps the quality of life here outweighs the increased cost of living? Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading, If you got this far, well done, what an essay this turned out to be!

Flying tomorrow!!!

Posted on June 2, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Last minute things bought. Case packed. Hand luggage ready. Clothes laid out on the bed for tomorrow – It can all only mean one thing…

I’m flying to Turkey tomorrow!! In less than 12 hours time I’ll be on the plane, a few thousand feet in the air, hopefully! My flight is due to take off at 11.20am and land around 17.15 Turkish time! I’ve been packing all day – as you can see I’ve only packed essentials – like this giant Olaf from Frozen 😉

I’m excited, but nervous, and it still doesn’t feel real! I’ll be on the transfer bus and in Calis around 1900 hopefully so I’ll see Berkay for a while before he goes to work – he’s not meeting me at the airport as to borrow his friends car and all the petrol he’d use would be too expensive. It’ll still be daylight when I arrive and hopefully not raining – so i’ll be able to see Boncuk and film her reaction – hope she recognizes me!!

The one part I’m dreading is the airport part – I hate airports – so bittersweet… leaving family and everything behind and flying to Berkay… and then leaving him behind to come back again later… airports are just too emotional! ):

I said bye to my little sister tonight – she’ll be in bed when I leave and I know she’ll really miss me. She’s been so clingy to me today, she screamed and cried and wouldn’t let me out of the front door just to go to the shop this morning, she’s been saying at random times “you’re going to go away for ageeeeeeeees aren’t you?” … “I’m going to be sad when you’re gone”… “I’m not going to miss you cos I don’t like it when I miss you” …. we’re so close so I’m really going to miss her. Thank God for Facetime and skype ❤

It’s going to be SO weird to step foot back in Turkey after 9 months away. I can’t believe it was that long ago since I was there.

I may not have internet access for a few days, but will try and gain access as soon as possible – one thing you can be sure of is that the next time I post here, I shall be in Turkey. Keep checking my instagram feed on the right hand side of my home page to see photo updates! ❤

I’m off to bed now to enjoy my last sleep in England – then it’s up bright and early at 6am to get ready to go.

Babies, hen party & THE countdown.

Posted on March 24, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

This week marked the start of a very busy month!

Yesterday was Mum’s hen night, she get’s married next Saturday! We all went out for an Indian and had a lovely time (:
Came home to find her husband-to-be passed out on the sofa… we woke him up when we came in which resulted in some funny jibberish ‘conversations’.. I think it’s safe to say he had a good stag day…. 😉

The big countdown to Berkay’s arrival is well under way, 3 days til he arrives… I’m not sure he’s really looking forward to it, I’ll be working a lot so he’ll be alone 9-5 during the week, and he always gets so bored because he’s not used to not doing anything and relaxing… when he’s back home he works 7 days a week 15-18 hours a day. It’s all a bit strange to him! Dad says he plans to keep him busy doing the garden and other random bits and pieces around the house so maybe he won’t have time to be bored!

I’ll be stocking up on Nandos sauce and sunflower seeds tomorrow, Berkay’s favourite things 😉 Just can’t wait to go and get him from the airport on Wednesday! It’s come around so quickly when I look back. My little sister will be coming to the airport to get him too, she adores him so can’t wait to see her reaction either (:

I’m off work on Friday so that we can help with some last minute wedding preparations. I have a doctors and opticians appointment in the morning, then off to get a Mother’s day present and wedding present and get Berkay a suit! Talk about leaving it to the last minute. There’s just no time to do anything working 9-5 everyday, I never even appreciated this before.

After the wedding on Saturday, we’re having a Mother’s day lunch with mum and her new husband on Sunday, then it’s back to work for me on Monday. Wednesday 2nd April is my little sister’s 3rd Birthday, and I’m hopefully off work for that, then my birthday is 11th April and I’m off for that… then I’m off on good Friday 18th April, before Berkay goes back to Turkey on Saturday 19th! I told you it’s a busy month! If my holiday days are approved, and what with Easter, I won’t have a full week at work until 28th April…. and then the following Monday is May bank holiday anyway! You have no idea how happy this makes me! (:

Today was busy too, me, mum and my aunt went out for afternoon tea at a nice hotel… who says Essex girls can’t be classy eh? The good was gorgeous and it was good to spend some girly time together before the madness of next weekend’s wedding! We had a selection of sandwiches, ham and mustard, egg and watercress mayonnaise, smoked salmon and cream cheese and cucumber, along with little mini quiches. Then we had jam and clotted cream scones, cream and raspberry horns, macaroons, and huge strawberries, followed by chocolate and raspberry cakes, carrot cakes and a mango moose, all accompanied by an endless supply of tea, I chose the cranberry tea, yum! I felt so stuffed afterwards, and definitely put on a few pounds, I best be on a strict diet this week or my bridesmaid dress won’t fit!

In other news… Last Tuesday our good friend’s baby twins were born. One of the first posts on this blog was about how we went to their house to celebrate, back when she was only 6 weeks pregnant (click HERE to read that post!). Oh how time flies. It made me a little sad really, to see how things are changing without me there. We went to their wedding last May, often went for bbq’s and picnics with them, celebrated with them in their home… and now the babies are here and I’m not there ! It really makes me realise how long I’ve been gone, how much things are changing and how I’m still stuck here in the same position while everyone else is moving on, it really bothers me. Berkay has visited the new babies a few times this week, once in the hospital, check out the hospital room with a sea view! Not bad eh? Lucky babies.

Congratulations to Ela & Samet – little Emre and Emir are adorable and I want lots of hugs when I come back to visit in July! (:

I hope to post daily on here when Berkay is here, time permitting! Look out for the next ‘reunited’ airport photo that will undoubtedly be uploaded here Wednesday night… EEEEEK!
❤

A little thankyou giveaway..

Posted on January 29, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

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As a little token of my appreciation, I have decided to do a little giveaway to celebrate hitting 70,000 views..

Don’t get too excited, it’s nothing amazing like a free flight to Turkey…. I wish!! While out shopping today I bought this little Turkish phrase book & audio CD. It’s worth £7.99, and one of you can win it totally for free. Great for learning phrases to impress friends, family or even just to make the locals smile when you surprise them with your Turkish while on your holidays. It is brand new, CD still sealed inside. I have only opened it to take photos, and am now actually wishing I got one for myself too!

All you need to do to be entered is comment on this blog post, by just scrolling down and clicking ”leave a reply’. Only people who comment on THIS post directly, and not via Facebook or anywhere else, will be entered. The giveaway will end on Saturday 1st February and a winner chosen using a random number generator. It’s only open to people in the UK and Ireland unfortunately, as postage costs would be too high with no guarantee of it reaching safely elsewhere, sorry.

A little disclaimer too, I paid for this with my own money, it was not given to me. I also earn no money at all from my blog, I do not get paid per view or receive any income from adverts, I blog entirely for fun, and just wanted to do a tiny giveaway to say a huge thanks for helping me reach 70,000 views, something I am very proud of.

Good luck and thank you all once again.
❤ ❤ ❤

Berkay & Boncuk settling in..

Posted on November 19, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

I can safely say Boncuk is LOVING being at the hotel 24/7 and being able to walk around the grounds with no danger of her getting out. The hotel is closed and Berkay is the only one there, apart from the security man, who happens to be Berkays best friend! (: Boncuk is being a good little guard dog, barking and waking them up to investigate when someone/something is there who shoudn’t be!

Berkay’s not having the best of times, he still hasn’t found a job for winter, although he has one promised starting in January. He has no money and if it wasn’t for his friend always inviting him to his house for dinner, he’d be starving. The hotel has no running hot water either, so everytime he wants a shower he has to boil water on the gas, oh i do not miss those days.

At least they have each other, Boncuk adores Berkay. Everytime he goes in his room, she sits outside the window looking in at him, bless her. They really are best buddies.

It just goes to show that dogs really do stick with you, no matter if they’re in a lovely, cosy house or a small, cold room underneath a hotel with bare minimum. Animals are so much nicer than most humans ❤

Bodrum Day 1. Hotel, beaches & food.

Posted on October 2, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

It seems like such a long time ago now, but it was only actually two weeks ago today we went to Bodrum. We had a great time and it was lovely to spend some time together, they were the first days Berkay had off work since April!
These posts may be photo-heavy, I get very snap-happy with the camera…

At 9.30 am, just after Berkay came home from work, we boarded the little bus to Bodrum. It cost 35tl each and I can’t say it was very comfortable.. it was tiny and full. Luckily, most of the people were going to Mugla and we had the bus to ourselves for the second half of the journey so we could spread out.

Four and a half hours later, we arrived at Bodrum otogar (bus station), we hopped on a Dolmus to Gumbet and found our hotel (The Best Life hotels) When we arrived at the hotel, they greeted us with this little non-alcoholic cocktail. Yummy.

The hotel was so, so quiet. Apparently it was half full, but since the guests were mainly party people, they literally slept all day, and went out to bar street all night. No complaints here, we had the pool to ourselves most of the time and only 1-2 other couples at dinner/breakfast with us!

We got settled in our room then went for a little swim.

The pool was freezing, so after a quick dip and a game of volleyball, we headed out for a walk.

I wasn’t impressed with Gumbet at all, the beach was packed, everyone crowded on sunbeds like sardines, barely an inch between the beds. It was so dirty too. The roads and sidewalks were filthy, definitely not a fan. Our hotel was right next to bar street, but compared to the rest of the town, I actually liked it there (surprisingly for me… I normally hate loud, obnoxious bars. haha) By this time it was really cloudy, which made the place look worse. It still made a nice change though.

After our walk we headed back to our hotel room. We sat and played Triominos for a bit (hello, old granny game!) and had showers then got ready to eat.

We booked our hotel half board as we thought it would be cheaper than eating out, it cost 100tl extra for the two of us over two days. It was well worth the money, the food was amazing! Tomato soup for starters, then Turkish mixed meze (a lot of it!), salad, bread, 2 bowls of manti (Turkish food), a bbq with a huge selection of chips, rice, steak, chicken and meatballs. There was desert too but we were far too full to eat it. I was really impressed, it was so tasty!

After dinner we took the dolmus to Ortakent. This was definitely a Turkish resort, I only saw 2 English people walking around in the 2-3 hours we were there. Berkay’s brothers work there so we had a catch up with them and a wander along the seafront, it was really pretty. It reminded me a lot of Calis Beach, only less British influenced.

After all that, we went back to our hotel in Gumbet, sat by the pool for a little while then went up to our room, after having no sleep the night before, we both fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow, despite the banging music we could hear coming from bar street!

Visas..

Posted on September 3, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

Visa’s are the bane of my life.

Honestly, one day they will be the death of me! There is not enough space on the whole internet for me to say quite how I feel, so I won’t bother (: But what really, really irritates me, is seeing British people complain about Turkey’s holiday visa rules, the length of the visa queue on arrival at the airport, the fact people can’t renew the visa every 90days by just hopping on a boat to Rhodes, or how much a rip off the £10 visa is. Honestly, if people realised the effort people went to to get a holiday to the UK, they’d never again complain about having to wait 30 minutes in a queue, or having to pay £10… I guarantee it.

It’s so frustrating seeing people break the rules too, choosing to deliberately overstay their visa or work on a tourist visa illegally. I don’t understand why people abuse the really very simple Turkish visa system. I wish people just stuck to the rules, people are ignorant and being on the other side and experiencing it from another angle is really frustrating.

Imagine if Turkey were as strict as the UK, just how many British people would still be able to come on holiday, the £80 each fee’s, the hundreds of pieces of paper detailing the life history of every person in the family, proof you have no debt and are rich or have friends in Turkey willing to support you? Tourism would dramatically decrease, I bet.

I thank my lucky stars Turkey’s rules are not as strict as the UK or we’d really be screwed.

Bunny..

Posted on September 1, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

I had no idea what to post today, this ‘bloggin’ everyday’ thing isn’t easy! Wasn’t in the mood to post something really meaningful and we done absolutely nothing other than walk the dog today, so I thought I’d just share some old photos (:

This was my bunny, Abbie. We got her from a pet shop in Fethiye in May 2011 when she was tiny. She was an Albino rabbit and I loved her to bits, she was so funny. She stayed on the balcony in a cage, but we often left the door open so she could hop around. Whenever we were outside eating dinner she’d come hopping over to us for a piece of bread or whatever we were eating, I’m sure she thought she was a dog. If we left our front door open for more than a few minutes she’d dart inside and hide behind the sofa, she knew she wasn’t allowed. She also enjoyed jumping from her cage into the bag of BBQ coals, which often resulted in patches of her white fur ending up black…

We visited the UK in April and Berkay came back to Turkey two weeks before me, a few days after he got back, she died.. ): A big bird took her from our balcony when her cage door was open and flew off with her somewhere. Berkay went out looking for her and took the dog to try and find her too, unsuccessfully though. I was so sad I didn’t get to say a proper goodbye to her, but at least Berkay had been with her for a few days and I got to see her on FaceTime too.

I remember Berkay saying he thought she might have gotten away from the bird and would come back, and the night after she went, he looked out of the kitchen window and saw something white wandering around near the chickens downstairs so he ran down thinking it was her… but it was just a cat. ):

I used to go out on the balcony every morning at sunrise, as I still do now, and sit and hug her. Poor bunny. I do miss her.

It has resulted in a few cute moments though, I explained to my two year old little sister what had happened (she always used to ask to see my bunny on FaceTime, she still does even now..bless) and this was her reply ”A birdie (H)eat it..poor Dan Dan’s wabbit’‘. I still listen to this video and smile, she did cheer me up!

Click HERE to see the video, it’s cute (:

This week marked the start of a very busy month!

I hope to post daily on here when Berkay is here, time permitting! Look out for the next ‘reunited’ airport photo that will undoubtedly be uploaded here Wednesday night… EEEEEK! ❤

Visa’s are the bane of my life.

I hope to post daily on here when Berkay is here, time permitting! Look out for the next ‘reunited’ airport photo that will undoubtedly be uploaded here Wednesday night… EEEEEK!
❤