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

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!

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.

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!

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.