AUGUST PHOTO SERIES – DAY 19 – A FETHIYE PENINSULAR SUNSET

Posted on August 19, 2017 by livingtheturkishdream

Another sunset photo for today – but from a different viewpoint to the others! This was taken in February last year along the Fethiye peninsular. We had driven around and parked up on the cliff edge, climbed down a few rocks and sat waiting for the sun to go down. I have to say, I find the drive up there really traumatising, there are no barriers on the side of the cliff so as a passenger in the car, all I can see is the sheer drop and the sea below from the window, so I constantly tell Berkay to drive slowly which really annoys him! This particular day he was feeling over cautious too, as it was REALLY windy and really cold. We sat for about an hour watching the sun slowy disappear beyond the horizon and the colour of the sky change from blue, to orange, then to dark blue/purple before nightfall. You often see cars or motorbikes pulled up along the road, belonging to people who have climbed down the rocks for fishing or are just sitting relaxing with a bag of sunflower seeds and enjoying the view.
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Trees, sunsets and a hidden mine.

Posted on January 18, 2015 by livingtheturkishdream

While we were in the village of Beyağaç back in November, we drove up a mountain road to a forest area and explored a little whilst hunting for mushrooms.

While we were up there the sun began to set and the trees looked absolutely beautiful with the orange glow behind them and I couldn’t resist taking a few photos as they just looked so magical!

While we were wandering around we came across a mine, I’m not sure if it’s still in use but it was pretty creepy. I checked online and I believe its a chromite mine. I wandered down to the entrance and had a peek in, there were spider webs everywhere and it was really eerie, I don’t know how anyone manages to work in mines like this, it wasn’t very tall at all… it reminded me of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!

We also found a huge hole in the ground, all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures live up in the mountains I’m sure, any suggestions as to what might have been living in this? It was quite wide and very deep, I couldn’t see the bottom.

We could see all of Beyağaç from the mountain, the views were stunning… fields, trees and farm land in all directions as far as the eye could see. It was so peaceful up there, although a little scary with the mine and I had visions of whatever animal was hidden in that giant hole coming out and chasing us back to the car… What a story that would have been!

Village adventure – Day 2

Posted on December 1, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

When I woke up the morning after we arrived in the village and looked out of the window, I won’t lie, I definitely thought ‘what on earth am I doing here?’ – it was the first time I’d seen the place in daylight (at least since I’d visited 3 years ago..) and to someone not used to living this way, it was quite a shock to the system.

The room we were sleeping in was now freezing as the soba had been turned off all night, so as soon as we woke up we bundled into the living room with the rest of the household and sat around their recently lit soba, there’s something very cosy about the soba, it reminds me of Christmas with everyone sitting around the fire in their pajamas. We weren’t up for long when Berkay’s aunt walked in and started making breakfast right away, as I mentioned previously she’s kind of taken the role of housekeeper on now that Berkay’s mum is sick.

She came out with a tray of breakfast foods, spicy Turkish sausage (sucuk), tomatoes, olives, boiled eggs and some sort of lentil dish which was lovely to dip the bread in! Of course this was all washed down with a few glasses of Turkish tea. While we were eating Berkay’s brother had a phonecall that the daily village delivery of coal had arrived and said that he and Berkay could go an unload it all for some cash. I could have waited in the house with Berkay’s mum and aunt, but I knew that when Berkay said ‘we’ll only be gone 2 hours’ he was talking Turkish time, and I learnt a long time ago that Turkish time means add on at least 2 hours more to everything they say, so I decided to go with them. I had a quick shower, which was much like having a shower at our own house, no hot water from the solar panels and no electric shower meant it was a boiled water from the stove and a jug job – no complaints from me as I’m definitely used to that by now!

We drove to the village centre and as it was freezing cold outside and the boys had work to do, I sat in the warm car watching them and being nosey at the surroundings. I wanted to have a walk around the town, but I would undoubtedly be the only woman down there, so I thought I’d feel a little uncomfortable and decided against it. Instead I sat in the car with my laptop writing a couple of blog posts. I’d look up every so often and see Berkay pushing a heavy wheelbarrow full of sacks of coal into the warehouse while his brother and a friend were on the truck moving the thousands of sacks into his reach. It definitely looked like hard work, and the fact they were sweating when it was a mere 6 oc outside said it all. They briefly stopped for lunch and we all shared some pide, which was delicious. The boys stunk and were covered in black dust from the coal, but eventually 4 hours after they had started their ‘just two hours’ job (*cough*… Turkish time…) they unloaded the last sack and off the truck drove back to wherever it came from. Berkay got 60tl for his effort, which is very good money for just a few hours work, he’d been working here in Calis recently earning 20tl for a 12 hour day! It’s so typical of Berkay to be working during his little holiday, he hates sitting around doing nothing.

When we arrived back at the village house it was around 2pm and more of Berkay’s family had arrived to visit him, his uncle, aunt, cousins and even second cousins were all there to greet us. Berkay’s other aunt had once again been preparing a meal and came out with a huge tray of food for everyone present. We all gathered on the floor, sat around the tray and tucked in – this time it was salad, kuru fasulye, bulgur rice, dried meat and onion and a huge bowl of garlicky yogurt to dip bread into. After our pide we weren’t really hungry but know they get offended if you decline food, no matter how politely, so we ended up eating some anyway.

After an hour or two of more chatting and cay drinking, the guests left, Berkay’s mum had a nap, his dad was at work, his brother was busy with the animals and we had some time to ourselves. We had a quick look around their garden and farm area behind the family home, I’d been dying to see the animals ever since we arrived. I love animals and love the idea of having a farm, although I’d be rubbish at it as I’d never be able to bring myself to kill them for meat or sell them, I’d get far too attached. Berkay’s family has a lot of animals – sheep, cows, goats, chickens, turkeys and a dog. Berkay’s dad wakes up at 6am every morning to milk the cows and they use the milk for drinking and for making butter. They have a baby cow which is only a week or two old, they still feed it with a bottle! It was so cute and so fluffy, I stepped into the cow shed and managed to stroke it – I love this photo of it trying to lick my hand – what an action shot! They also have one lamb at the moment, just look how in love with it Berkay was.

While we were walking around I couldn’t help but think how beautiful and picturesque the scenery was – so much countryside, farms and green hills as far as the eye could see.

Since we had some time to ourselves, Berkay said he wanted to take me for a drive so that he could show me the house he has born in and a few other important places for him around the village. He kept pointing out things his Grandad had made and built, trees Berkay himself had planted as a child with his nan and telling me stories of the things he had done with them. He always speaks highly of his grandparents, they raised him as a baby as his mother and dad abandoned him when he was only 28 days old, he’s still not seen his mother since and knows nothing about her, and although he is on speaking terms with his dad, he definitely had a stronger bond with his grandparents, who have both now passed away, he showed me the cemetery they’re both in too.

He drove us up to Esentepe just as the sun started to go down and we got out to take a photo of the beautiful scenery – it was pretty to look at but it was freezing cold, I ended up wearing my hoodie and Berkay’s thick leather jacket on top! The sun was just starting to go down but before it did Berkay said he wanted to wander through the trees and try and find some çintar mushrooms – special wild mushrooms that are a seasonal delicacy here in the south west of Turkey. A few minutes after starting searching I heard him shout “Danni, come here, I found one!” he was so excited.

He’s definitely the expert at finding them, he knew how to spot them under a pile of twigs and I was just walking around aimlessly not really knowing what I was looking for… I found a lot of ‘normal’ mushrooms, but no çintar ones, until I spotted a giant orange thing sticking out of the ground.. “look how big this one is…” I said, and then Berkay informed me it was exactly what we were looking for. I was very proud of our little mushroom stash, you’ve heard of the saying “bringing home the bacon”, well we were definitely “bringing home the mushrooms” and we took them all back to Berkay’s family ready to eat on the BBQ the next day.

After all the mushroom picking, food eating and tea drinking, we were exhausted and settled back in the house for the evening. I decided to change my outfit to fit in a bit more and put on my comfy ‘village’ flowery baggy pants. We ended up going to Berkay’s aunts house with his brothers and played OKEY, ate more sunflower seeds and drunk more tea… I was starting to think I’d end up looking like a glass of tea if I drank anymore…

The day that Fethiye flooded…

Posted on November 25, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

On Thursday I had one of the most bizarre experiences I’ve had in all the years I’ve lived in or visited Turkey – we got caught up in a flood in the centre of Fethiye.

The morning started off grey, wet and gloomy. It was one of those ‘lets stay inside with a hot chocolate and all the lights on’ kind of days – but we had errands to run in preparation for our visit to the village (where I currently am writing this) so we had no choice but to brave the rain and go out. Just as we stepped out of the front door, it really started to rain heavily. Luckily we only had to cross the road to catch the Dolmus into Fethiye, and I remember we were both weaving in and out of the pathway to avoid stepping in puddles, which is ironic considering what we were about to experience!

As the Dolmus reached Fethiye, we realised we may have made a big mistake. The Migros turn off on the main road was flooded, there were cars broken down and the road resembled a giant swimming pool. The dolmus got through and carried on to the last bus stop, next to the mosque on the hill in the town centre…the rain kept falling, along with giant hail stones, and there was a man in the corner shop shouting ‘umbrellas – 10tl’ so we grabbed one. Something tells me he probably sold his entire umbrella stock that day!

We walked down the hill and realised it was flooded, cars were still going past and the water was only an inch deep, just covering our shoes. We carried on walking, as we were attempting to reach Is Bankasi, but the water was rising as we walked, it was pouring out of the school yard, coming up out of the drains and still falling from the sky. By the time we made it to the bank, it was closed for lunch, so Berkay had the idea of going to his friend’s hotel in the Dispanser area of Fethiye – Vizon hotel. This was the worst idea he’s had in a long time. We walked to the hotel, but the water was ever-rising, what started out as an inch deep ended up being knee-deep! We arrived at the hotel where they were struggling to keep the water from gushing through under the doors. We went in, sat down on the floor in our soaking wet clothes and watched as Fethiye town centre became a giant swimming pool right before our eyes. It just keep rising, and rising. The water got so high they could no longer stop it from pouring in under the doors, and after stuffing it with bags, newspaper, towels and attempting to push the water out with a broom, the hotel staff gave up and sat down resigned to the fact that the lobby would inevitably end up very wet. People were driving past in cars, even though it’s a pedestrianized area, which caused little waves to form in the water pushing it inside buildings even further. There was an inch of water covering the majority of the hotel lobby and we were all sat on tables, but they got off pretty lightly compared to the shop across the road (Citlembik, for those of you who know Fethiye) which had an awful lot of water inside.

It was so bizarre to witness, there were news agencies in cars driving past taking photographs, people carrying each other and street dogs, people cycling through the 2ft of water and even council men in wellies and wetsuits driving past in vans helping stranded people get to dry ground! The water rose to the height of the benches and up to the rim of the plant pots which are pretty high. People were standing on them to keep dry.

We were ‘stuck’ in the hotel for over an hour, we couldn’t open the door to get out because that would mean more water pouring in. Eventually, we had no choice as we had to get to the bank, so we braved it and stepped outside, it was pretty dangerous as we couldn’t see the kerbs or steps. The water was murky and dirty, bits of rubbish were floating past, bins, cigarette packets, bricks, even bits of carpets and mats… The weirdest part was the fact that a 30 second walk up the road was clear, with just a few puddles left behind. The rain had stopped and although the drains were still blocked in certain places, others were fine like nothing had happened. We had most definitely been in the wrong place at the wrong time, although it was an experience to say the least. I was documenting it on my Facebook blog page and the videos and photos I posted have been shared by hundreds and viewed over 80,000 times. Click HERE to see one of the videos.

The next day, we went back to Fethiye to get supplies for our journey to Denizli, and you’d never have known the events of the previous day. The sky was blue and the sun was out, there were no puddles, all the shops and businesses were open again and although there was probably water damage in some of them, everything looked ‘normal’ like nothing had happened.

Just another day in paradise!

A change in weather?

Posted on September 29, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

As soon as the calendar page turned to 1st September, it was like the weather just changed overnight.

The last week of August was the hottest of the year here, reaching 42oc in the shade during the day, and around 28 oc during the night. I was going to bed with an ice pack or hugging frozen bottles of water to cool down (I’m serious, the joys of having no air-conditioning). Then the 1st of September came and the weather changed quite dramatically, with temperatures dropping around 10 oc suddenly! Of course there were still very hot days, and daytime temperatures still averaged around 33 oc and 24oc at night, but those of us living here could definitely feel the change.

As the 2nd half of September came rolling in, so did the clouds, and the thunder! I was walking home along the beach one day and greeted with the following view – it was so dark. There was an almighty crack of thunder and people walking past me jumped about a foot in the air, it was very loud! I only felt 2 spots of rain, but boy did those 2 drops feel good!

Since then it’s been cloudy a lot, threatening to rain, but nothing really happened until Friday evening when the first real thunderstorm since the beginning of June arrived! I was sat in my house around 2 am on Saturday morning and saw flashes of lightening out of the corner of my eye. I went and sat on the balcony to investigate and the sky was lit up every few seconds from all directions, it was very pretty. I tried to capture it on camera, but failed! Oddly, there was very little thunder, but a lot of lightening and wind… After sitting on the balcony for 20 minutes I felt rain. A few spots, then a lot of spots, then it started pounding down on my head, I can’t tell you how good it felt! No rain for 4 months makes you go a little crazy, I felt like staying outside and dancing in it!

On Saturday, we had planned to go for a BBQ with two English guests staying in the hotel Berkay works in. It came to 3 pm and the skies were grey and cloudy and it was very cool. We decided to drive to Kayakoy and go to a restaurant there instead, Cin Bal. If you live in Fethiye, you’ve probably heard of it, it’s very popular. They sell meat by the kilogram, and have whole sheep and cows hanging up like a butchers shop! They cook the meat for you on their BBQ or bring one to your table to you can BBQ it yourself, it’s a cute idea! When we were on our way it started to rain, the windows on the car were steaming up so we opened them a little and it felt cold. It was the first time I’d felt cold, fresh air for months, it was amazing! When we got to the restaurant around 3.45pm it really started raining, we sat outside under a shelter but could see, and hear the rain coming down, our poor friends could be forgiven for thinking they were back in England! We had a lovely meal and a chat, and over 2 hours later, the rain was still pouring down. We got back in the car and headed to Fethiye and I was freezing. The drive was beautiful, somehow Fethiye manages to look just as charming, or even more so, in the rain. We drove down the hillside and the view over the whole of Fethiye was breathtaking, the clouds were low over the mountains and it made a lovely photo, unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to take one, I wish I had! It was so cloudy, so dark and all the car and shops lights lit up reminded me of Christmas!

We got home and I went for a shower. Part of the joy of living in Turkey is interesting shower experiences! I think every single house has solar panels on the roof which heat the water, great in summer when there are clear blue skies and bright sunshine, but in winter, when it’s cloudy all day, these solar panels are useless and we have no hot water. Some people have an electric shower (we do, but it is not safe to use due to dodgy wiring) or boilers, but a lot of people don’t. In order to have a hot shower, I had to first heat up some water in the saucepan and take this into the shower and wash with a jug! I actually don’t mind this at all, it makes it so much more satisfying in a weird way, especially when washing your hair! It makes me feel all cosy and homey aftewards, I think that’s because when I lived here for two previous winters, we had no electric shower again and this was a normal, everyday thing. In England you might have a hot bath to warm up and relax on a cold day, here, for me, it’s a hot water in a saucepan and jug thing! After the ‘shower’ I was freezing, I even put my warm, fluffy, dalmatian pajama bottoms on. This is my, ‘yay it’s cold enough to wear my fluffy pajamas’ face (:

It’s not all bad, today was sunny with only a few clouds and temperatures were around 25oc. Good enough to sunbathe, and although the pools are cooler now, the sea is still quite warm and pleasant to swim in. The cloudy skies and cooler temperatures make daily life and chores so much more pleasant, it’s lovely being able to walk out of the front door without breaking into a sweat! Berkay even asked me to iron his long sleeved shirts for work! That’s one bad thing about the weather, when I packed my case to come here, I seem to have neglected the fact I’d be here for some of the cooler weather and forgot to bring any warm clothes!! Short sleeved tops and denim shorts or dresses are all I seem to have in my wardrobe… Ooops.

Autumn and winter also mean beautiful sunsets, remember me saying on previous sunset posts (click HERE for one) that in winter the sun goes down next to the island in the middle of the sea, rather than behind the mountains on the right hand side? Well it’s nearly there! I took this beautiful photo this evening, with the sun setting just behind the island. Just gorgeous.

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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 ❤

Winter in Fethiye..

Posted on September 10, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

It’s starting to get dark at 7.30pm, it doesn’t get light until gone 6.30am and I no longer need the fan on to sleep at night! Winter is on it’s way.

As I mentioned in my worst things about living in Turkey post, winter is cold. Very cold. It always surprises people when I say that, some people assume the resorts are warm and sunny all year…Wrong! But I do love winter, it’s a totally different atmosphere.

When the scores of tourists have gone home and only the locals stay in resort, Calis Beach is like a ghost town. We get full reign of the beach and can let Boncuk off her lead for a big run around. Everyone wears layers, the rain pours down and its not unusual to be guided to the toilet by candlelight during a storm. These are some photos from last winter.

My grandparents bought me and Berkay onesies for Christmas, they were well used and well loved throughout January and February, the coldest months here in Fethiye. We often ate dinner inside wearing coats AND our onesies, no insulated walls or double glazing in my house!

5-6 months of bright, clear blue skies and then this happens.. rain and black clouds. It doesn’t rain here like it rains in England, it never just spits a little, when it rains, it rains, full on thunderstorms that shake the building. I LOVE it!

It gets icy too…

The weather may be colder, but the views are still as beautiful. I love seeing the snowy mountains in the distance, so pretty. When Babadağ (the mountain on the left, the one closest to Fethiye and where all the paragliders jump off during summer) gets dusted with snow, you know its really cold!

We drove through the mountains on the right in December to travel to Antalya airport…

The best thing about winter? The silent, peaceful, tourist free beaches. The perfect spot to watch the sunset. Winter sunsets are the best.

Worst things about living in Turkey…

Posted on September 5, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

Following on from my best things about living in Turkey post, here are a few of the not-so-good things. Life isn’t all rainbows and butterflies here.

1. Weather.
Sure, 5 months of the summer may be guaranteed sunshine, and we’re all grateful for the rain when it comes in November time, one thing that isn’t really prepared for the cold, wet weather though, is the houses. Turkish houses are designed for the summer, to keep the heat out, the walls are not insulated, the floors are often concrete or tiled, and the windows are not double glazed, it is extremely rare to find central heating too. Our house has real issues dealing with the rain, as you can see from the photo I will post below. When it rains, it really does rain, full of thunderstorms and bucket loads of the wet stuff, I think it’s impossible for it to just drizzle in Fethiye. The rain leaks through our roof and windows, and our windows and doors are all drafty so when it’s deep into winter, in January time, it really is freezing. Last January the thermometer on my balcony read -2 degrees on a few occasions, I remember walking along and finding frozen puddles and my dog’s water bowl iced over. We don’t have heating, some homes have a soba (a wood burner) which is fairly efficient at heating rooms, but all we have is an electric ‘UFO’ heater, this really uses a ton of electricity, so we only turn it on for a few minutes at a time to take the edge off (proud to say our electric bill has never been more than 60tl!) Honestly, I’m not a fan of it anyway, we just wear our coats inside, layers and blankets, it does the job and it feels so cosy. Last year my grandparents bought us a couple of onesies for Christmas, boy did they come in handy! (: It’s currently 01.25 and 29 degrees outside… -2 oC and snuggling up in a onesie sounds like heaven right now.

2. Electricity, water & plumbing.
This is probably one of the most irritating things about living here, but it has gotten a lot better over the years, at least in this area. There are often power cuts, during the infamous thunderstorms, a drop of rain and the electricity goes out in whole towns, always fun having to use a torch or iPod backlight to see what you’re doing! We learnt our lesson the hard way and always unplug electricals during storms now, once we left the internet modem plugged in and a power surge melted the whole thing. I don’t think electricity is the safest out here either. There are often times throughout both summer and winter where planned power cuts take place, as well as the water supply being turned off for maintenance work or because of reservoir issues. Nothing more irritating than having no water to flush the toilet or have a shower with for hours (or days) on end during the height of summer..stinky. The plumbing isn’t the best and it’s not advised to flush toilet paper as it causes blockages.

3. Not speaking the language.
I can understand a fair amount of Turkish, my issue is not being able to speak or write it. If I hear a word I can often recognise it but won’t be able to relay it back later, I think a lot of it has to do with confidence. My life here would be totally different if i could speak the language, because as I cant, I rely on Berkay for everything. When we’re with friends I’m sure I seem rude as I can’t join in conversation, I also feel isolated and left out when they’re all talking and often feel like I shouldn’t be there. This is my own fault though.

4. Driving.
Anyone who’s visited will know what I mean, no explanation needed. A lot of Turkish people drive like maniacs, even the transfer buses along the edge of huge mountain roads, taxi’s, dolmus drivers. They drive like lunatics, rarely, if ever, wearing seat-belts, and quite often with a cigarette in one hand and a phone in the other. These things are illegal but happen far too much.

5. No concept of health and safety.
Following on from the above… Turkish people seem to have no health and safety concerns, ever. Just a few of the gem’s I’ve seen.. People driving in cars with young babies on their laps, people putting their babies in carseats (rare!) yet not strapping the baby in to the seat, or the seat into the car. A whole 4 person family plus a giant water bottle and a watermelon all sat driving along on a moped, all with no helmets or bike gear on. People building houses with no safety equipment or hardhats. Here is a photo of my neighbour painting his house.. no comment.

6. Litter.
I don’t know about other areas but in Calis/Fethiye the litter is disgusting. We live on a main road and people must just drive along in their cars and throw rubbish out, cigarette packets, beer bottles, water bottles, food packets, nappies, everything. The bushes near my house are full of other people’s rubbish. It’s disgusting. If we wander down to the beach in winter on a Sunday after all the locals have been out for their weekly BBQ picnic, all we see are coals, bits of chicken bones, packets, smashed beer bottles and other things far too disgusting to mention. Of course my dog finds them all. I don’t know how people pride themselves in keeping their home’s clean yet have no respect for the environment.

7. Animal cruelty.
I don’t know whether it’s because they cannot afford pets, but a lot of Turkish people see dogs and cats as no more than a nuisance. We have a dog, but she isn’t allowed inside because our landlord thinks her fur is unclean…We had a rabbit but that wasn’t allowed inside for the same reasons. In general, a lot of Turkish people don’t respect cats and dogs at all. Often people will take in dogs when they are puppies and dump them back on the streets when they are no longer cute, or when they are no longer of any benefit (restaurants often take in dogs for the summer to attract tourists then ditch them when they close for winter). There are some good animal shelters around but the problem is far too large. I’m a huge animal lover and have bought canned food or given our leftovers to street dogs and cats before, at the beginning of the season we found three kittens, two of which were very poorly and took them to the vet. Sadly, there’s not much we can do, other than take a few into our own homes. I know several fellow expats who have 5+ dogs living in their homes as they just can’t bare to see them on the streets. I have heard far too many times that street dogs, or even people’s pets have been poisoned by pathetic excuses for human beings, who leave poison down. I have also known people, including my neighbour, shoot dogs on their land for fear they were going to eat their chickens. There really is no excuse for it.

8. Smoking.
I’m not against it, each to their own, but so many people smoke here it is impossible to walk down the street without walking into a cloud of smoke somewhere.

9. Running around.
The amount of running around it takes to do simple tasks is a real inconvenience. Doing anything official involves running around to several offices getting tons of papers signed and stamped by tons of people in offices miles apart from each other.. renewing residency, getting a new passport, starting a new job.. even going to the bank takes careful planning as they are only open for a few hours a day (oh how I wish Berkay worked in a bank!) On top of all this, the contradicting information you hear is ridiculous, very often the right hand really doesn’t know what the left is doing.

Reading this, I notice I have a few more negative points about living here than I do good (see best things about living here ) It’s always much easier to find negatives though, isn’t it? We take things for granted. These negative things are more just annoying inconveniences though. None of these things would make me want to move away from the country.. the only thing that is really a huge problem for us is the following:

10. Wages.
I’m sure people don’t realise, but a lot of Turkish people get paid pennies for very long hours at work. In big cities with people working professional jobs, I’m not so sure, but I do know that teachers are not all that well paid either. For those of us who work in, or who have partners who work in tourism, it really sucks. Berkay currently gets paid 1450tl in summer, this is the most he has ever earned (he got a pay rise this year, woo!) This is £483 a month, for 15 hour days, and no days off, roughly £1 an hour. This is ridiculous for the amount of work he does and the cost of living here. Despite what people think, the cost of living is not cheap (a post to come about that soon..) But he is lucky, some people only earn commission. In winter, Berkay does not have a guaranteed job, as most other people in the tourism industry, he has to walk around from door to door in winter asking if they need any new staff, the past two years he has been lucky and found work in hotels, both times only earning 750tl a month. £250. No days off, 18 hour days (how is it possible he works longer in winter than summer, I have no idea, but he does). I can tell you that it is almost impossible to live off £250 a month in Turkey, we don’t have any luxuries, besides internet (that’s where i draw the line!), yet cannot afford to live off that. Last winter his boss didn’t even pay him for two months, so we had nothing to live off, bosses take the p*ss in winter because they know their staff cannot afford to leave jobs that are very hard to find, they also know that as soon as someone walks out of the door, an equally as desperate person will walk straight in.
Last year we got ourselves into debt with friends and owed the local shop money as we bought food on a ‘pay-later’ promise. We spent the first few months of the summer paying back money owed from winter, and as a result have no money saved for this winter either. Vicious circle. Even if I were working here, illegally, for the same wages and same hours, we would never see each other, no days off, no holidays and still only have pennies to spare.

This is the one, big issue for us about living in Turkey, as long as we’re here we will never be able to move forward, never be able to save, marry, have kids. I think people moving here expect it to be like one big holiday , which it really is not. Once you’ve lived here for a few months, you really see the bigger picture and the real life problems that people face.

As always, I can only speak from my experience of living in Fethiye. I hope I don’t come across as too negative, I am just being honest. As mentioned in previous posts, I consider myself lucky to live here, there are many, many positives.

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