Found a new house!

Posted on May 14, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

For the past 10 days we’ve been searching for a new house in Calis. We’ve looked all over the internet, websites, Facebook groups, friends, friends of friends, estate agents… Berkay even spent 3 afternoons walking around door to door trying to find somewhere. We found lots of places, but now that it’s the summer season they were all charging hundreds of lira daily, or weekly. We looked at some nice ones with pools, aircon and fancy kitchens, and some basic Turkish ones, prices varied between 700tl – 1500tl. Ridiculous. Knowing that we paid 350tl for our other 2 bedroom place with a huge balcony, paying anything more seemed silly, but with the change in exchange rate and general inflation – it was inevitable I guess. However, we refused to pay 700tl for a house – 700tl is Berkay’s entire winter wages!

After searching endlessly and getting more and more frustrated and on the verge of giving up, he visited the person who found us our old house on the off chance they might know something else – and they did! After taking a look around, Berkay went along with the rent money this morning and picked up the keys! How exciting!!

The new house is in Calis, less than a minute’s walk to the beach, something that excites me very much. It’s right opposite a little shop and the dolmus goes straight past the door. This excites me even more. Now, I LOVED our old house, and although it was pretty crappy, it was ours. It was along a main, busy road and was surrounded by fields and animals, and a good 10-15 minute walk to the bus station and shop, so getting the bus, going to the market and walking back home again with 20kgs of fruit and veg on a 40 oc day was not fun. This time, its right next to the bus route and easy access to everything. One thing we have sacrificed though is the amazing views our old one used to have – I loved staying up and watching the sun rise over the mountains at 5am from our balcony. This time all we can see is buildings and trees. Anyone who read my blogs back when I started will know my favourite thing to do was have a BBQ on our balcony – something we can’t do at this new place as the two balconies are tiny.

View from our new balconies.
I need to stop comparing the two , because I have realised nothing will compare to our old house. Our FIRST house together, where we shared a lot of memories over two and a half years. This one is a new start, even if it is only temporary!

The house has one bedroom, a separate lounge and kitchen, a bathroom (which is 10x the size of our old one!) and two little balconies. It looks basic, but is fully furnished – we even have a TV – something we never had before!

Inside the new house.
The price is 550tl a month, which is expensive to what we’re used to, but good for the location.

The real, major downside to this house is the fact there is only a tiny garden, which means Boncuk is not allowed to stay. However, no need to panic, as we do know somewhere she can stay – at a little cafe with her friend, Maxi the Alsatian dog. This means she’d have to be chained up as no way will I let her walk the streets, BUT she’ll be right opposite the hotel Berkay works in, where he’ll be able to keep an eye on her all night, and during the day we’ll go for walks and play on the beach. She’ll be a happy doggy, if I thought she wouldn’t be happy, we wouldn’t keep her. I am worried about her not being right next to our house, as she used to have a habit of getting loose and chasing chickens and rolling in mud … but she’ll still be literally around the corner – we’ll probably still hear her bark! I’d prefer if she was allowed to stay in the hotel, as she’s been there all winter and loves it, but the hotel manager is apprehensive as he thinks she’ll bark when she hears guests and that will put them off, which is probably true. At least we have options though.

Now that we have a house, poor Berkay can relax a bit, he’s been working NONSTOP since Saturday evening. He works nights as a receptionist in a hotel, and has been working all day in their partner hotel in Calis getting the pool and rooms ready for opening. He worked Saturday night, all day Sunday, Sunday night, all day Monday, Monday night, all day today, and he’s currently working right now. Why doesn’t he refuse, why doesn’t he leave to find a better job? Well, the answer is simply because this is what he knows, we know the boss is reliable and that he will always pay Berkay on time, give or take a few days. We know that he won’t turn around at the end of the month and say he can’t afford to pay him, we learnt the hard way that it really is true, ‘better the devil you know’.

Berkay has been having some help emptying, cleaning, and grouting the tiles in the pool, from his friend and colleague, Serkan. We became quite close to them over the last year and often went out for picnics with them, I will link some old blog posts at the end, if anyone wishes to look back on them! Boncuk is normally scared of strangers, but she took a liking to Serkan straight away, Berkay left them upstairs while he went to the toilet and came back to find Boncuk giving him a hug. Awww. I’m pleased that her vitamins seem to be working – look how much fatter she looks, we used to be able to see her ribs.

All in all, it’s going to be an exciting few weeks. 8 more days at work, 2-ish more weeks before I go. I’m just waiting on my passport to come back before I can book my flight!

Worry, worry, worry…

Posted on March 9, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

It’s Sunday evening, and I’m sat in my bedroom utterly depressed. Monday tomorrow, which I’m sure everyone else who works 9-5 Monday to Friday shall agree, sucks. Monday should be a swear word. In fact, from now on I shall star out the letters. Screw you, M****y.

I’ve been at this job a month, and still hate it as much as my first day.
Despite hating every second of it, I was relieved when I was told by my manager that as far as he was concerned, they would keep me on for longer than 3 months, which they have now said isn’t true as there isn’t enough funding for the new role. So it’s back to square one. Spending my days doing a job I hate, and evenings and weekends back looking for a permanent job earning £18k in London. I applied for 200+ between October – January, and only ever got a reply from one, which was a no. I’m hoping this 3 months experience I will now have will help, but in reality, I’m not so sure it will. I’m sick of it all. I’m not passionate about any career in particular, I never have been. When I was 18 I had an unconditional offer for a university place,achieved 2 A’s and a B at A Levels, and was a fully pledged geek. Instead of taking the opportunity to go to university to study psychology, what did I do? Give it all up and worked 20 hours a week at Sainsbury’s. Clearly I don’t have my head screwed on correctly, because who in their right mind would make that choice? It’s a no-brainer isn’t it? The truth is, I only even applied for university to keep other people happy, because that’s what I was supposed to be doing. I never really wanted to. I should have stuck to my guns this time, and never took an office job. The only job I’m passionate about doing, is working with young children, or animals, neither of which pays much money, and neither of which will get me earning enough to get Berkay to the UK, not in the foreseeable future anyway.

People have commented before about doing a TEFL course and being able to teach English in Turkey, possibly allowing me to get a work permit, it’s not as easy as that though, and from people who already have these jobs, most places require CELTA qualifications, which are much much more expensive, and I’m not even remotely confident enough in myself to teach at a foreign school. I do intend to do a TEFL course soon though.

I’ve had conversations with my family this week about the immigration rules requiring me to be earning £18,600. All they kept saying before I moved back here was ‘you’ll walk straight into a job earning that money’, 6 months and 3 jobs later, here I am, unsurprisingly not earning that.Through these conversations, what I have gathered is that they see nothing wrong with these rules at all. It frustrates me. I’m not saying the world and it’s mother should have free rights to jump on a plane to the UK and enter freely, not at all. I’m just saying that it should be assessed in a fairer way, back to the old rules of the spouse having to show an extra £100 a week after outgoings to show they can afford another person living with them. Someone earning £18,600 could have outgoings of £18,600 a year, or be seriously in debt, whilst someone earning £16,000 may have outgoings of £12,000 a year. Who is in the better position then? Who has the right to decide which people deserve to live with their partners and children, based on income alone? Hell, reports have shown 48% of the UK’s population don’t earn £18,600, are you really telling me those 48% don’t have the right to live with who they want?

Away from the job and visa side of things, I have a new worry constantly on my mind. Boncuk. She’s staying with Berkay in the hotel at the moment, as it’s closed for winter and she is able to roam freely around the grounds. In summer, the hotel owner wants her gone as she’ll disturb guests by barking when seeing the lights, people and hearing the noise, which I can’t really argue with because I know she would do exactly that. This leaves us not knowing where she can go. Berkay has always taken care of her and took her with him to the hotel when he had nothing, he fed her before himself, sharing the only fish he’d caught with her so she’d eat well. We love her to pieces, and the thought of having to give her to someone else breaks my heart. Berkay was considering putting her in the kennels at the local vet, until they said they wanted 600tl a month for the privilege. 600tl a month out of his wages would leave him just 150tl a month to live on. Our own rent was only 350tl! I have gone to bed in tears twice this week after looking at the photos of the three of us, me, Berkay and Boncuk, and wishing with all my heart I could go back to those days. Giving Boncuk to a stranger, if we could even find someone to have her, would mean I never saw her again. I just can’t deal with that. We do have a kind of last resort, our friends said she can stay in their garden, but they only rent their apartment, and I’m worried Boncuk will get settled and used to them and then the landlord kick her out. I wish she could come here, I wish I could just fly out and get her and bring her back, but realistically that’s not possible either. £750 to fly or drive her back, and then still the issue of finding her a home here. My parents won’t let her stay here, not a chance in hell, I’ve asked and begged several times. She’s an outside dog, hates being indoors and isn’t even toilet trained, so I’d need to be able to find, afford and rent a ground floor flat or house with a garden to keep her in. What are the chances of that? I need to put her first, but I’ve always been adamant we’ll do everything we can to keep her with us. She’s our dog, we found her, took her in and she trusts us. Never in a million years would I dump her on the street, and finding a new home would be heartbreaking for both her, and us. What do to?

Honestly, life at the moment is just one big mess. I don’t even have anything positive to say. I don’t know what to do, say, feel.

It’s 2.5 weeks until Berkay is here, but that too, is bittersweet. When I’ve published this post I’m off to book his flight back to Turkey for 19th April. He’s not even here yet and I’m already thinking about and dreading him going back.

For now, I’m taking it one day at a time. Making the most of this Sunday evening before the hell of M****y hits.
Have a good week everybody.

Calis changes, dog walks & the canal..

Posted on March 2, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

On his day off Berkay likes to go walking through Calis.

He took Boncuk with him and went for a long walk up a hill with a beautiful view from the top (click here to see my old post with photos of the view!) We used to take her for a walk everyday and more often than not ended up walking to the top of this hill, we always had it to ourselves which meant Boncuk could run free off the lead safely, with no cars, people or other animals nearby. She loves to sit up there and have cuddles, look down over Calis or just play fetch. It’s so peaceful there.

On the way back to the hotel they stay in, they took the road that goes past our old apartment (the top floor)… This apartment is nothing special, in fact it was pretty poor, and only 350tl a month, the equivalent of around £100 (which was still half of Berkay’s entire income!) .. but it was ours. It still makes me sad imagining other people in our house, cooking in our kitchen, sleeping in our room, sitting on our balcony… I try not to think about it too much, because when I do it just upsets me.
Click here for an old post with more photos of inside the apartment.

Anyway, after they got back to the hotel, Berkay left Boncuk and carried on walking to the investigate the new-look canal. I’ve mentioned in a previous post about the changes they are doing, but I really can’t believe how different it looks.
Here’s a photo of the canal (left) taken a year ago, and the new, wider, cleaner canal with no plants (right) taken last week, both photos taken in the exact same place.

The changes they’re making are all for the better, it’s going to look like a different place when I go back!

BERKAYS FAVOURITE PLACE – NANDOS

Posted on December 21, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

Nandos is most definitely Berkay’s favourite thing about England. He absolutely loves it.

After work on Friday, we had a spare couple of hours before we had to babysit my brother & sister, so we took a detour to spicy chicken heaven, Nandos.

Being a Turk, Berkay loves spicy stuff. Very spicy. Not content with the hot chicken he had, he tipped loads of extra hot sauce over his garlic bread, pitta, chicken and chips. How he eats it without smoke coming out of his ears I have no idea, good job you get free refills for the drinks!

Nandos is my favourite too. Red pepper dip, chicken in pitta, spicy chips… yummy.
Afterwards we got the bus home, but not before stopping to take a photo of this pretty tree.
3 days til Christmas 🙂
Writing this post is making me so hungry, Im going out with my friends for dinner tonight and table isn’t booked til 8pm… mmmmm, We’re spending the weekend back in Essex in mums house, we are celebrating Christmas tomorrow here, 3 days early, as we won’t see her, so lots of festive photos coming tomorrow!

🙂

Reunited!!

Posted on December 18, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

We picked Berkay up from the airport last night!! 🙂

His flight landed at 22.45 and about 45 minutes later he appeared! Me and Dad stood right by the arrivals door so we could see him coming around the corner, we were getting rather impatient but eventually he came wandering through, after apparently being stopped and having all his suitcase searched! He must have looked dodgy 😉

A quick hug, kiss and a photo later, we made our way to the car and Berkay got greeted by the lovely, typical British weather, it was peeing down with rain!

We got home at 1.30am, and went straight to sleep. At 7am this morning when my alarm went off, I really didn’t want to get up and go to work. Berkay was all nice and cosy in bed and I had to leave him to go to work all day. It’s usually the other way around! 😉

He stayed at home all day and was reunited with my little sister, who adores him. Apparently she had been crying when she realised Berkay was still asleep earlier in the day as she wanted to see him so badly, bless. As soon as he woke up she made up for lost time and had him straight on the floor doing puzzles, building megablock houses and doing some colouring. She’s like his little sheep at the moment, it’s cute. Before she went to bed tonight she said ‘night night Berkay, are you going back to Turkey?’… I think she just wanted to make sure he’d still be here in the morning when she wakes up!

We had a mini belated birthday celebration, as it was Berkay’s birthday on Friday. My sister and step-mum made little Mr Men fairy cakes and we stuck sparkly candles in them. He opened his presents and cards and we had a lovely Chinese for dinner.

Tomorrow I’m only working in the morning so we can spend the afternoon together, we’re all going to see Father Christmas, I wonder if he’ll think Berkay has been naughty or nice 😉

Adapting to life back in the UK- Reverse culture shock.

Posted on November 16, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

I recently read a quote somewhere saying ‘the hardest thing about living abroad is returning home’. There have never been words more true.

I may have been back ‘home’ for over 7 weeks now, but adapting to life back in the UK is not easy. After researching, I found out that what I am experiencing is not just me being silly, it’s something that is real, something that others experience too. Reverse culture shock.

We’ve all heard of culture shock, I sure experienced that too when I first moved to Turkey. Moving thousands of miles away and being thrown in at the deep end, oceans away from all my family and friends and the life I had known for 19 years. No more ready meals, no wearing shoes inside, the fact it’s not uncommon to meet someone in the bus stop, instantly learn where he’s from, how old he is, and be invited to some random family occassion they’re holding soon. Adapting to ‘Turkish time’ and accepting that nothing will ever be done quickly. Learning to sleep through the call to prayer at 5am. The infamous Turkish toilets, and not being able to put paper down the normal toilets. Haggling in every shop you come across. Not being able to walk down the street without being called over by everyone you might have met once upon a time. Not hearing any English conversations… none of these are bad things, just very different. I adapted quickly and ended up living 99% like a local ~~minus the village baggy flowery trousers.~~

Culture shock, you expect. But reverse culture shock is different. On return to your ‘home country’ you don’t expect to feel like a foreigner, which is exactly how I still feel. The two and a half years I lived in Turkey I lost my connections to ‘home’, I felt less and less like an English girl, whilst obviously not being Turkish either. It’s a strange feeling, one that I can’t explain. It hits me at the most random times, sat on a bus and hearing English conversations all around, seeing English sign posts, seeing all the food in the English supermarket, it’s all quite overwhelming.

I suppose one of the main things which is difficult to adapt to is the fact that the lives of the people I love and care about at ‘home’ have moved on. Family and friends have new lives, some have attended and graduated university, others are married and have children, my mum has found a boyfriend and is engaged and my little sister who was a 3 week old baby when I left, is now over two and a half years old. Whilst I was not naive enough to expect everything to remain the same, it’s still hard to cope with things being so different to when I left them. Everyone else has moved on, and I’m back starting from the beginning, having to find a new job, adapting to life back with my family, and trying to find time to see friends who are all busy with their own lives. I don’t feel as close to my friends or family anymore, I left my own ‘family’ back in Turkey. I do feel like a foreigner in my own ‘home’.

Living back with my family is hard, after living alone with Berkay for two years. I miss the peace. Quiet evenings without a moody teenager and excitable toddler running around. Selfishly, I miss not having to worry about anyone else and just doing my own thing, washing up when I want, eating when I want, having control of the tv 😉 I feel less independent. I love my family but it’s still such an odd feeling being back, I feel like I’m intruding, this is their home, and not mine.

Another thing hard to adjust and adapt to is the whole ‘want it-get it’ attitude that is common here (I’m not saying every English person lives this way, please no nasty comments!) If someone wants something, they go out and buy it. Food, clothes, a phone.. whatever. While in Turkey I lived on the bare necessities, I had no luxuries. My dad has been bugging me for weeks to go out and buy a coat, or a pair of tights without a hole in the toe. He took out a new phone contract for me last week, despite me telling him I was happy with my ancient LG phone with a black and white screen and no internet capability that belongs in the stone ages. To me, that’s not the normal thing to do, If I were back in Turkey I’d just deal with it and carry on, make do and focus on the more important things like paying bills. I find that people’s priorities here are so backwards. I am starting to fall into that trap now too, especially where food is concerned!

I’m much more judgmental of the UK now I have lived somewhere else, perhaps wrongly, perhaps not. I have seen a different side of life that some have not, people assume I lived like a tourist, had what I wanted when I wanted it and had a life of luxury and a two year holiday. That’s so wrong.

People can’t understand what’s so difficult about returning to their own culture, customs, and language, they say ‘just move on get over it’. It’s really not that easy. The ‘just move on’ attitude doesn’t help, it only makes me feel more isolated, more like I don’t fit in. People not understanding has led to arguments. I was reluctant to do this post as I know any family reading will still be annoyed and upset about the things I say. Having read fellow ex-expat’s blogs about this subject, I decided to post it anyway, it’s important to know these feelings are real and if just one person reads and feels less alone and isolated, then it’s done it’s job.

Man flu, sister duties & giant teddies..

Posted on October 8, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

Tuesday today, instead of our weekly trip to Fethiye market for lunch and coming home with bags of fruit, veg and meat, I spent the day job hunting online, writing cover letters and going to cooking class with my little sister.

It still feels like a holiday, I still can’t believe I’m here for good and won’t see my home, boyfriend or dog anytime soon..

I’m loving spending time with my little sister, although it is a little irritating when she won’t leave my side and always wants to sit on my bed doing her puzzles, haha. Dad and stepmum have been working the same shifts this week so I’ve been doing big sister duties, taking her to nursery, picking her up and going to the park. (: It sure is a big adjustment from living alone with Berkay to living with my dad, stepmum, moody teenage brother and slightly irritating (seriously, how many times can you sing ‘wheels on the bus’ in one day?), two year old little sister. I love them though 🙂 Just miss the peace and quiet sometimes!

I do really miss general everyday life in Turkey, Berkay has been telling me its cold there this week, if I were there we’d be sitting all wrapped up warm around a BBQ on the balcony.. ): I miss walking our dog, going to the Tuesday markets, just waking up next to someone other than my giant teddy bear.. (It’s bigger than me..don’t ask..) He has been FaceTiming me everyday though and sending me photos of Boncuk, I hope she hasn’t forgotten me!

As well as all of that, I’ve been ill since Saturday, cold, cough, sore throat, headache, earache… Man flu..

All in all, nothing has changed since last time I posted.. It still doesn’t feel like home here, and I still want to go back.. ):

Back in England..

Posted on September 28, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

Yes, I am now back in England.

Berkay and his friends took me to the airport on Thursday night and after a lot of tears, I got on the plane that bought me back to London Stansted at 5am Friday morning.

It was no doubt the hardest thing I’ve ever done, packing up my house was so sad, it was like I was removing all traces of myself from my home. Then it was time to say goodbye to my dog, Boncuk, and that’s when the tears really started. I went and gave her a big hug and kiss and I’m sure she could tell I was sad, instead of jumping up at me with a wagging tail as normal, she just jumped up and stood there, they do say animals can sense things… I hope she doesn’t forget me.

Next was the awful 45 minute car journey, we were both pretty much in tears the whole time. When we got to Dalaman airport we queued up together to check in, I am certain everyone else in the queue overhearing us must have just thought it was a typical holiday romance, English girl, Turkish boy, tears at the airport.. I was tempted to flash my residency permit in front of them and convince them otherwise, but was really too upset to be that bothered what they thought anyway.

An hour or so later, 2 hours before my flight left, we said our final goodbyes, hugged, kissed and shared plenty more tears. In the end I just had to go. I walked through security and passport control, looking back all the time and waving at him. The next 2 hours sitting alone in the food court was hell, thank God they had free wi-fi so I could distract myself with Facebook. I can’t even tell you how tempted I was to call Berkay and tell him to come back and get me and just not get on the flight…

Taking off was sad too, watching everything I love getting further and further away as we flew higher and higher. It was sad. But now it’s done. I’m back. Miles away from my home. My family are doing all they can to make we welcome, but the fact remains that my home is not here. I’m almost certain that instead of trying to get Berkay a visa, we’ll just settle in Turkey once I’ve worked and saved here for a few years. It’s going to take some adjusting living back here. We went to Asda today, it was so weird walking around and not seeing Turkish foods, not buying kilograms of fruit and vegetables. It was overwhelming and strange. On the plus side, I stocked up on pickled onion crisps and oreos.

Berkay is still telling to go back everytime we speak on FaceTime, he found a flight for £35 in a few weeks and is telling me to book it. I wish I could. ):

I will still be updating this blog, I’m unsure what about, but I do have a few posts about Bodrum planned and am open to suggestions about anything else you want to see. (:

Why am I moving back to England?

Posted on September 26, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

Lot of people have commented and messaged me asking why I’m going back to England, so I thought I’d explain.

The main reason is money. We live off one pretty poor Turkish wage. I cant find work here legally, I don’t have any qualifications or experience in teaching or in the travel/holiday rep area, I can’t speak Turkish and I bring nothing to the country that they don’t already have, businesses generally are not allowed to employ an English person to do a job a Turkish person could do. Living off Berkay’s wage is not so bad in the summer, but in the winter it’s nearly impossible. Each winter we get into debt and spend the summer paying it back, meaning we cant save for the following winter, its a vicious cycle. Coming back to the UK means we can both work and save for the future, albeit in different countries.

If we want to settle together in the UK one day, I need to be settled there with a good job earning £18.600 a year before we even apply for a visa for Berkay. Despite what everyone thinks, the UK makes it very difficult for non-European citizens to come to the UK, the new income requirement is a major set back, it has made things a lot more difficult for us. I’m not sure how many 21 year old’s earn 18.6k a year, but all people keep telling me is if I do not come back to the UK now, I will never earn enough as I will have been out of work for too long.

Berkay also hasn’t done his national service yet. All Turkish men are required by law to serve in the military at some point, Berkay is 22 and has not done it yet as he is studying at university. He hopes by completing his uni he will be able to find a better job later. If we can’t live together in the UK, I will be able to come back here with any money I have saved and live here so long as Berkay has a better job. I don’t know when he will go to the army, should he go now and get it out of the way, or should he wait, finish school and improve his chances of getting a better job later on?

Another question people ask is what is going to happen to our dog? Berkay is keeping her here in Turkey and will look after her, of course we wouldn’t just abandon her. I’m hoping one day to get her to the UK, if that is where we decide to and are able to settle, but it won’t be easy, none of my family want a dog so I will need to be living on my own first, then there is the fee to fly her to England and all the paperwork involved. I cannot see me ever earning enough for Berkay’s visa, saving enough for a place of my own and saving the £700+ to bring her to the UK. But that is all in the future, at least a year or two away, for now Berkay and Boncuk are staying together in Turkey and I’m returning to the UK alone, for how long I have no idea.

Perhaps I will be in England for 2 years saving money and then return to Turkey, perhaps I will find a job earning the required amount to get Berkay a visa and we shall live in the UK, perhaps we shall look into the European route and save to move to Ireland together. Friends and family ask our plans and pull nasty faces when we cannot answer, we do not have a crystal ball, hell I wish we did. There is no solid plan, I can’t say what is going to happen or what we hope to do, it is just impossible to plan ahead when visas are involved, the whole process is very long, very expensive and very uncertain.

All I am sure of right now, is that in less than 24 hours I shall be landing back in the UK. Alone. All I can think is how am I going to walk out of my front door for the last time and not look back knowing I will never step foot inside again? How am I going to say goodbye to my dog not knowing when I’ll see her again? How am I going to walk through security and leave Berkay behind at the airport? How am I going to get on that plane and leave my home, my dog and my boyfriend behind, sit on that plane and watch as I soar 30,000 feet in the air, leaving the past 2.5 years of my life and everything I’ve known down on the ground? How am I going to sit in a room full of people back in the UK, friends and family who are excited to see me, and all the time feel guilty for wishing I was somewhere else? It’s not that I don’t miss them, or that i’m not grateful that I have their support, it’s just that really, England is not my home anymore, it hasn’t been for 2.5 years, that’s a long time for someone who is only 21.

That plane is taking me away from my home tomorrow, not back to it.

Evim Güzel Evim…

Posted on August 21, 2013 by livingtheturkishdream

When I tell people I live in a holiday resort in Turkey, I’m 99% sure they assume I live in fancy apartment with a pool, air-con and all the other luxuries. They couldn’t be more wrong.

View from my house

We live on the 2nd floor of a typical Turkish building. Our landlord lives below us, and below him- his son, daughter in law and grandson. We live a good 20-30 minute walk from main Calis, and 10-15 mins to the nearest bus stop and corner shop. I actually enjoy being further out and more in the countryside, I have lovely views, hardly ever hear a sound (unless it’s coming from an animal) and can wander around on my balcony without worrying scores of people are going to see me.

The views from my balcony, I LOVE watching the sunrise behind the mountains in the mornings.

This is our living room, we never even use this room. In the two+ years we’ve lived here, we’ve only sat in it a handful of times. We did bring the balcony table in here last winter though, it was way too cold to eat outside! Note the lilo in the corner. Haha.

Our bedroom. Fan, bed, chest of drawers. Teddies. What more do you really need?

Spare bedroom. Also known as the ‘bed wardrobe’, it’s never normally as tidy as this, it has a tendency to get covered in clothes, hence the nickname. Note the slanted roof, I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve both hit our heads on that, d’oh!

Kitchen. I’m sure these are the standard cupboards in Turkish houses. I’m forever seeing photos of peoples kitchens and it’s always the same ones. This fridge is the most expensive and newest thing in the house. Funny story about that actually, when we first got it, all our Turkish neighbours invited themselves over to look at it, it was as if we’d had a baby and everyone wanted to get a peek. It was hilarious at the time, I’ve never known anyone get so excited over a fridge. Bless them!

Balcony. We do enjoy our BBQ’s out here.

Our bathroom is a tiny, cupboard sized wet room, tap and shower head opposite a toilet. We also have another toilet of the ‘hole in the floor’ variety.

We don’t have any luxuries, just the basics. No dishwasher, no tumble drier, no microwave, no electric hobs or oven (I do have a mini oven though), we don’t even have a TV (Thank God for laptops and internet!) Aircon is a luxury I only experience when we walk into a supermarket and we don’t have a pool. But what we do have is priceless. Lovely views, friendly neighbours, wildlife & animals everywhere and tons of fresh fruit and vegetable plants and trees in the garden. Pears, apples, grapes, lemons, peaches, plums, oranges, grapefruits, onions, potatoes, corn and pumpkin to name but a few.

Pears and grapes growing in our garden.

We practically live on a farm, surrounded by sheep, goats, chickens, horses, cows, camels..etc.

My landlord owns these chickens, sheep and goats. He sells the sheep during Bayram.

Our house is nothing special, far from it, and we only rent. But it’s been our home for the past two and a half years and I love it. I can’t imagine anyone else cooking their dinner in our kitchen, eating their dinner on our balcony, sleeping in our room.

It’s going to break my heart to leave next month.