First week back in Turkey!

Posted on June 10, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

I’ve been back in Turkey for over a week now – it’s gone quick, yet somehow it still feels like I’ve been here forever. Weird! I failed at my plan to post daily updates, but I’ve decided to get my butt into gear and fully concentrate on my blog from now on, so as of tomorrow, I will hopefully be back on track and posting everyday.

Here’s what I got up to in my first week back in Turkey!

Tuesday.
Tuesdays are my favourite days, why? Because its Fethiye market day! I live in Calis, a 20 minute bus ride away from Fethiye, but Fethiye town really is my favourite place around here. I love walking around the markets, although it’s not so fun in summer when it’s absolutely boiling and the sweat just drips off you. On Tuesday we hopped on the bus to Fethiye in the morning as soon as Berkay had finished work, it was the first time I’d been there in 9 months, so it was really great to be back. Seeing the mosque opposite the bus stop and the street view as I walked around the corner was great, it felt like I was finally home!

We were really hungry so our first stop for breakfast was a tiny cafe opposite Is bank – I had Kiymali borek, which is basically mince in a puff pastry type pie – it might sound like a weird thing to have for breakfast but I love it, I love the potato ones too, mmmmm. Next we headed to the bank and then went for a little stroll along the seafront.

After doing some shopping for the boring stuff, tinned things and cleaning products, we went to the market. It was REALLY busy, which was surprising, as I hadn’t seen many people around until this point. There were coach load’s of tourists turning up for the market and wandering around, I guess the weather helped, it was raining so it wouldn’t be much fun sitting around a hotel pool trying to get a tan! 😉 We bought the essentials for our weekly shop – tomatoes, lettuce, melon, strawberries, blackberries, onions, peppers, potatoes, chicken and eggs. We never go to the supermarket for a weekly shop here – most things we eat are made from scratch. Walking around the market I really noticed the price of vegetables had gone up, last time I was here potatoes were 50krs – 75krs per kilo, now they’re 3tl/kg, what is that all about?!

After stocking up on it all, we went to Berkay’s friend’s little pancake van and shared a tomato, cheese and chili flake bazlama, yummy. I’ve previously written about all the other food you can find at the market if you’re interested, click HERE to read.
After all the shopping we got the bus home and went for a walk with Boncuk, she’s far too big to be cuddled like this nowadays!

Wednesday.
On Wednesday we went to the second hand market held on the first Wednesday of every month in the same area as the food section of the Tuesday weekly market. Our friend had a stall so we used her table and managed to sell some old clothes, shoes, bags, hats, nail varnish etc. It’s amazing what people will buy. Some of the stuff you see really is crap, teddies with missing eyes, clothes with holes in, used, dirty, holey shoes… but people are happy enough to buy as they only pay 50krs- 2tl for each item. Our clothes were all in good condition and we managed to make around 20tl – not much, but those things were just sitting in a cupboard taking up space at home, so it was better than nothing! We gave the bag of clothes that we didn’t sell to Berkay’s mum to take back to their village and hand out to the needy. The lady who’s table we were using is good friends of ours – Berkay works with her husband and last year we always used to go on picnic’s etc with them, they have a little boy, Cinar, who was only 9-10 months old last time I saw him, now he’s over 18months and going through the terrible 2’s! He didn’t remember me, wouldn’t come over to me or let me hold him without kicking and hitting me, what a nice welcome! Haha. He loves Berkay though. After the market had finished, we headed to the fish market and spent our profits on dinner, we picked out our fish and took them to one of the surrounding restaurants who cooked and served it for us – lovely. (:

Thursday.
On Thursday we had no plans to do anything as the weather was bad. I was woken up at 5am by huge cracks of thunder and lightening which led to the customary mad dash around the house unplugging all electricals before the power surge blows them up (I’ve learnt this from experience!!) Berkay slept in the morning, woke up at 3, and we planned to cook dinner and stay at home – that plan was altered a bit when we realised our gas bottle had ran out. Berkay’s friend works in the place that delivers the gas bottles on their little scooters, so a quick phonecall to him and the crisis was averted, however, the inevitable happened and we ended up being invited around to his friends house, so we went after dinner. Last August I posted about these friends and congratulated them on being pregnant with twins (click here to read), well these twins are now 3 months old so I met them for the first time, they are so, so, cute. One of them took a liking to me and found me hilarious! It’s funny how one has light, fine hair and the other a full mop of black, fluffy hair! Sweet. Their names are Emir and Emre but I’m not entirely sure which is which, so for now I know them as ‘hairy baby’ and ‘non hairy baby’!! Although incredibly cute, they were incredibly hard work, the mum didn’t have a minute to herself the whole time we were there, and both the grandparents were there helping non stop too! These are spoilt babies, never out of someones arms and they only slept on a blanket for 10 minutes the whole time we were there – life lesson = don’t have twins! At one point both babies were screaming so they laid each of them down on a white blanket, lifted up the edges and formed a kind of hammock and began swinging them back and forth. ”Turkish!” their grandad said to me with a big grin on his face. Crazy was my opinion on the matter, so I couldn’t help taking a photo. They were stood rocking them both for at least 30 minutes each, and this took 4 people… goodness knows what would happen if the mum was ever alone with them both!

Friday.
I woke up early Friday morning and headed off to the hotel Berkay works in as the boss needed me to help with something, an hour and a half and a free buffet breakfast later, we were still there. This was the first really sunny morning I’d had since I was there, it was really hot so the pool looked really tempting! Boncuk was really happy to see me at the hotel and came running up to me then proceeded to run around me in circles for 5minutes not letting any of us get her to put her back inside, she’s crazy! After we’d finished helping at the hotel, we went for a walk with Boncuk along the seafront where I managed to get sunburnt. It was really hot!

Berkay must have thought it was hot too, as when we were in the middle of walking Boncuk he turned around and said ‘Do you want to go for a swim?’ – Berkay NEVER says this, its always me bugging him to come to the beach with me! So off we went to get changed and have a dip in the sea. It’s so lovely now we live a 60 second walk away from the beach. The sea was a bit wavy, and kept knocking me over which I hate as it means I end up swallowing a mouthful of salty water, gag! It wasn’t too cold, just nice, we only stayed for 30 minutes or so but it was nice to cool off. When we came home we both had a sleep and woke up to another thunderstorm and heavy rain, it’s crazy to think that in the morning it was boiling and clear blue skies, then a few hours later, pouring with rain and stormy – in June! Madness.

Saturday.
On Saturday we had no plans so just caught the Dolmus to Fethiye for lunch – we had Doner. Mmmm. You can’t beat a good chicken doner, especially with chips inside and a side helping of tiny hot pickled chili peppers. Much better than the greasy kebabs back in England! I also got a slice of this amazing cake for my dinner – banana cake with cream and lots of layers. Mmmm. Are you sensing a food theme here on my blog?!

Sunday.
There are no photos from Sunday – at 11pm Thursday night Berkay came home from work to pick up some change of clothes for his brother who was rushed into hospital to have his appendix out. Berkay’s boss covered for him so he stayed all night at the hospital with his brother and didn’t come home til 4pm on Sunday. Then his Dad and Stepmum traveled from Denizli so that his brother wouldn’t be alone at the hospital. She popped into our house to say hi and bought us some goodies from their village – homemade butter and yogurt, a leg of lamb, chickpeas, lentils, corn kernels, onions… His brother is still in hospital at the moment recovering, hopefully he’ll be back to himself and at work in Hisaronu again soon!

Monday.
Today Berkay wasn’t home again until 5pm as he had to go and do a one day course to get his food hygiene certifcate. I had dinner waiting for him when he came home and then we went off for a stroll along the seafront – it was lovely and warm but very quiet. It seems like the season still isn’t in full swing yet. Hopefully when we get into July/August things will start to get busier!

As you can see, we had a pretty busy week. Berkay works night’s so he’s been having a couple of hours sleep in the hotel then either staying awake til 3-4pm so we get all morning and lunchtime together, or going to sleep when he comes home and waking up at 3pm so we get the afternoon and dinner together. I much prefer him working night’s to days, or I’d never see him.

Sorry for the long, photo heavy and overdue post. I WILL be back tomorrow with another! ❤

Back in Turkey!

Posted on June 6, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

So, I’ve been back in Turkey for 3 days now and still haven’t had a chance to post about it yet!

I got up at 6am on Monday morning, finished packing last minute things, said my goodbye’s and got in the car with Dad and Mum who took me to the airport. My flight was at 11.20am, and we arrived at the airport around 3 hours before. There was a huge queue of people waiting to check in, but I finally got to the check-in desk and waved my suitcase off down the baggage ramp, I was worried it was going to be too heavy and over my 20kg allowance, but luckily it was bang on 20kg, good judgment eh? (:

We went up the escalators to departures and that’s where I had to leave Mum and Dad and go through security. After faffing around having to unpack my entire hand luggage so they could scan my laptop, and take my shoes off, I eventually made it through and came out the other side where I looked back and saw Mum and Dad still waving at me ❤ Later on I realised she’d written a Facebook status about that moment : “Took Dan to airport this morning with her Dad…. waved her off (once again) as she heads back to Turkey & Berkay…..all smiles, I can see her smiley face as she waved to us at departures…..priceless….Love you BIG as the Sky” – sweet. (:

After getting through the maze that is Gatwick South’s duty free shop leading to the main departure hall, I had a look around, sat down and started to get excited. It took ages for the gate information to pop up on the screen, so I was getting rather impatient! Once the number showed up and I took the long walk to the departure gate, it all became rather real as I could see my plane outside the window, eeeek!

We didn’t have to wait very long after that, almost as soon as I got to the gate people began boarding. I was in row 14 so I was the second from last lot of passengers to board. I flew with Pegasus (for the first time!) so when I stepped on the plane all I could see were Turkish signs, and hear the stewards speaking Turkish amongst themselves. “Welcome” one air steward said to everyone else boarding, then he turned to me and said “hosgeldin!” (that’s Turkish for Welcome) – he must’ve thought I was Turkish, so that made me smile. I found my seat, sat down, got comfortable with my blanket out and my cow slippers on, and waited for take off.

We took off 40 minutes late, but the flight was only due to be 3hours and 30 minutes (instead of around 4) due to tail wind so I didn’t mind! One thing I really loved about Pegasus was the fact they had little tv screens on board showing exactly where we were in the air, the altitude, which countries we were flying over and how long left until arrival at our destination.

After a bumpy end to the flight which meant having our seat belts fastened for 40 minutes – we landed safe and sound at Dalaman. I went through passport control, who didn’t even look at my evisa (honestly, I’ve never been through immigration so quick!) and went downstairs to locate my baggage.. Around the carousel it came, and off I went to find my transfer bus. I wish Berkay was there to meet me but it would have been to expensive to hire or borrow a friends car as the petrol is just so expensive out here. Instead I booked the transfer bus which only cost me £8. It was ready waiting for me when I arrived and only took 45minutes to get to Calis. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I realised we were getting close. Around 7pm, the driver turned off down the road Berkay’s hotel is and stopped outside, where Berkay was waiting with Boncuk for me. Off I hopped and they both gave me a welcome hug!

After saying Hello to them both, we put Boncuk back in her kennel and headed off to my new house, which I was excited and nervous to see. I like the house, it’s in a much more convenient location than the last one, although that one will always be more special to me as it was my first house away from England. I’ll do a post about my new house in the next few days if anyone is interested to see it! (:

We quickly got the internet set up and eventually managed to get it working so that I could Facetime family and let them known I’d arrived. By the time all this was done it was around 8pm and Berkay had arranged to go into work an hour later than usual at 9pm – we had no food in the house at all, so decided to go out to a restaurant along the sea front for something to eat instead. We went to Letoon hotel, which I knew had a new rooftop restaurant which looked really good. The view from there was lovely. It was cold though. The weather has been so weird since I’ve been here, wet, cloudy and windy. Honestly it was warmer in England the day before I left! Crazy.

We ate our dinner in record time, and got back home just after 9pm. Berkay made sure I got home OK then went straight out to work. Might as well get used to those long working hours alone again!

I was tired but didn’t want to go to bed, so spent a couple of hours unpacking everything. The house has definitely been Danni-ed now. Nail varnish bottles now surround the bedroom mirror and my two favourite bears sit on the bed. (:

After all that travelling and packing, I went to bed around 2am, and knew I had to be up early ready to go to Fethiye market. A post about that will follow tomorrow! ❤

It’s good to be home, but it will take some getting used to again!

Passport arrived, flight is booked!…

Posted on May 29, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

After spending 40 minutes on hold to the passport office in Durham last week, at 04.30 Sunday morning I got an email from them saying my passport had been approved and sent for printing on 23rd May and that I should receive it in 4-5 working days.

At 1pm on Tuesday I heard a knock at the door, opened it and could have kissed the man! My passport had arrived! When I saw the red, shiny passport in my hand I realised it was all getting rather real!

I was starting to get worried, having left my job last week I won’t get anymore money after pay day on Friday so I was hoping I’d get my passport back and be able to go as soon as possible. I’ve earned my money, saved my money, and would rather spend it there where I’m happiest.

All along I planned to book my flight for 2nd June, but held off booking as I didn’t want to risk my passport not coming in time. It’s a good job I held off as last night when I finally did book it, it ended up being “£12 cheaper. It cost me £95, baggage included, and is with Pegasus, I’ve never flown with them before but Berkay has and says they were better than flythomascook and easyjet.

So that’s it, as of this Monday, 11am, I’ll be on that plane to Turkey (fingers crossed there’s no delays!) I’ll arrive at Dalaman at 17.30, be in Calis by 19:00 ish, and reunited with Berkay and Boncuk, well, temporarily for a few minutes until he goes to work at 8pm! Better get used to that again, an hour is always better than nothing 🙂

I’m not really organised at all, I’ve got most of the stuff I need, but haven’t started packing my case yet and I’m at my mums house for a few days. I’ll be back at dad’s on Saturday and will have just Saturday evening and Sunday to get packed and organised! I done some last minute shopping yesterday and got a hand luggage bag which is all ready to fill up, and my step mum got me a little wheely trolley bag to take to the markets out there and fill with our fruit and veg, which I thought was really sweet!

I’m really going to miss my little sister the most, we’re so close – we spent the whole day Tuesday having a pajama day watching Disney princess films, she’s always using someone else’s iPhone/iPad/iPod so I’ll be able to facetime her, no doubt she’ll be helping me by looking after all my bears and things in my bedroom while I’m away, haha!

Berkay has arranged for internet to be put in, so I should be connected within a few days and I’ll be able to keep you all updated on my blog – I’ll try my hardest to go back to posting everyday.

Thanks all for continuing to read, I’m just off to pay for and print my evisa and see what the fuss is all about! (Edit: DONE and it was a piece of cake!)

4 more sleeps and counting 🙂

xxx

Turkish goodies giveaway!

Posted on May 24, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

When I started my blog back in August 2013, 9 months ago, I never expected many people to read it, it was more of a personal thing for me to look back on, so when I reached 1,000 views I was amazed. Time went on, and it became more popular, more people read including some very loyal members who comment on every post, and then I got to 10,000 views… then 50,000….. then 100,000 and I really was flabbergasted.

I also created a Facebook page for my blog a few days ago, and have over 400 likes on that – which is also amazing! 🙂 Click HERE to go to the page and please like it if you haven’t already so that you won’t miss any blog updates!

Four months ago I done a little thank you giveaway to celebrate 70,000 views. Now I have almost double that, with 136,000+ so I think another giveaway is well overdue. It’s not much, just another little something to say THANK YOU to my readers. Although there will only be one winner, I’m so thankful to each and everyone of you for reading, liking, sharing and commenting on my posts – I really do feel like I’ve made some friends through doing this. The comments I get always make me smile, I read every single one. Just knowing people click onto my blog to read what little-old-me is saying is a weird feeling – but a good one. I feel like you’re all on a little journey with me, from when I first started and was living in Turkey, to the challenges and emotions I faced when moving back to England, the stress of visas and excitement when Berkay comes to visit me, the sadness when he goes home again, and now of course all the excitement of moving back to Turkey again for the summer. I hope to keep my blog posts up while I’m there, even if I don’t have internet access at home to enable me to post regularly, I’ll continue to write posts occasionally using a wifi spot elsewhere. I hope you’ll all carry on reading and carry on going on this little journey with me!

Enough of the soppy stuff – now for the details of the giveaway! I was struggling to think of something to give, but I wanted it to be Turkey-related. I decided to take a trip to the Turkish Food Centre to buy some goodies to put together a little package. Here’s what it will include:

Apple Tea – good hot or left to cool with ice cubes in – yum!
Turkish delight – rose and lemon flavour. This is really, really good. I took a box into work yesterday and it was all eaten! It’s better than the normal pre-packed boxes.
Cin biscuits – biscuits with orange jelly and chocolate sprinkles – a bit like Jaffa cakes.
Tutku biscuits – biscuits with chocolate cream in the middle.
Kombo biscuits – biscuits half dipped in chocolate and coconut- my favourites!
A sachet of Salep – just add hot milk, it’s a thick, milky drink with cinnamon. Mmmm.
A Turkish Eye keyring.

To enter, all you have to do is comment on THIS blog post – it has to be on here directly, not on a facebook comment – and say what your favourite thing to eat in Turkey is – it can be anything, even an English breakfast 😉 I’ll choose the winner at random using a random number/name generator. It’s only open for people in the UK/ROI I’m afraid, as I don’t know the customs rules for sending food to other countries. Winner will be chosen after 8pm on Monday 26th May and will be announced on here via a new post.

A little disclaimer, 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 little giveaway to say a huge thanks for helping me reach over 136,000 views, and 400+ on Facebook!

Thank you all so much once again, and good luck.

Last day at the office, passports & baby cows..

Posted on May 23, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

While the summer season may just be starting in Turkey – it appears the 4 days of summer we had here in London last week are well and truly over – we’ve had rain, hail stones, thunderstorms, buildings being hit by lightening and lots and lots of puddles today in the city!

I cannot believe that it is the 22nd of May today. Nor can I believe that I’ve been at my job for 3 and a half months, and that tomorrow is my last day at work in the office.

Come 17:00 tomorrow, I’ll be jobless, through choice of course. I was planning to go to Turkey as soon as possible after I leave, but I’m stuck here at the moment as I haven’t got my passport back yet! I applied 3 weeks ago, have chased them with an email and spent an hour in total on hold to the helpline today – all I got was a stupid robot telling me to hold, and then cutting me off! I guess now is the busy time for passport applications – people wanting to book their holidays and get their passports back in plenty of time. I’ve been dying to book my flight, especially as Monarch and FlyThomasCook have had amazing sales on this week – I saw the flight I wanted for 2nd June for £49,99 + baggage. Bargain! Unfortunately, even £50-70 is a lot to risk on a flight that I may not be able to get if my passport isn’t here in time, so I didn’t book it.

I’m hoping it’ll be back soon. It’s pointless being here not earning any money, I may as well be there! It still doesn’t feel real that I’m going back – I’ve got nothing organised really and it just hasn’t sunk in yet – perhaps it will once I have a flight booked!

In other news – Boncuk is still behaving in the hotel, everyone has fallen in love with her! Fingers crossed she keeps being good so that she can stay. Look how beautiful and elegant she is! ❤

Berkay has been busy at the hotel this week – not with guests, but with helping a cow give birth to a calf … how random. He was walking Boncuk outside the hotel when he saw the mummy cow in the field next door….”I helped born a little cow” he said – he now affectionately calls said calf his ‘daughter’. Haha…bless.

Hopefully the next time I do a post it’ll be say I’ve booked my flight! Hadi passport, HADI!

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.

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!

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.