Like me Ayak had worked in Social Care in the UK and is also a great animal lover like myself. She has now lived in Turkey for 15 years and during that time has moved 15 times! Her posts are scrupulously honest about the trials and tribulations of her life in a small Turkish village with her Turkish husband, and her personal approach to writing makes you feel that she is a friend you have known for years even if you have never met her.
Sometimes amusing, sometimes poignant but always honest her posts are a delight to read. I would highly recommend her Blog to anyone interested in an expat's life in rural Turkey. Take it away Ayak ..............
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| Ayak |
I was very happy to be asked by
Jacqui to do a guest post for her blog. I am going to cheat a little because
the following was a guest post I did some time ago for another blogger, Jack at
Perking the Pansies. Jack is fast becoming a celebrated author and his first
book Perking the Pansies was a great success. He recently published two eBooks
(you can find out more on his blog here http://perkingthepansies.com/
) My guest post appears in one of his books so I'm copying it here and bringing
it up to date (plus shamelessly plugging my friend Jack's books!)
Let me tell you a bit about me. I'm a retired Social Work Manager (in the mental health field) and I moved to Turkey from England in 1998 and married my Turkish husband in 1999. We have lived in different areas of Turkey. In fact we have moved 15 times to date.
My very first home almost 15 years ago was in Gümüslük. The peaceful village of Gümüslük is one of the oldest settlements on the Bodrum peninsula. It stands on the site of the ancient city of Myndos whose seafront sections slid into the sea in some long-forgotten earthquake. We rented the top floor of a two-storey house, which was really a holiday-let and because each room led out to an open terrace, was only really suitable for the summer months. We rented it during the winter because it was cheap and we didn't have a lot of money.
There was no hot water or heating and I had one saucepan and one gas bottle to cook with. It rained a great deal and poured in through the metal-framed windows, to the extent that one morning we got out of bed and were up to our ankles in water. We had no mod cons. In the absence of a washing-machine, I washed our clothes in a huge plastic bowl. No TV, telephone or internet. Just one very old rusty fridge.
The setting was wonderful...right in the middle of orange and olive groves, with no neighbours, and was very peaceful. It's hard to adapt to such a basic, primitive way of life from the one I had in England but looking back at that time, I realise I learned a lot about myself and how I am capable of far more than I give myself credit for.
We stayed in Gümüslük for 5 months then moved on to Turgutreis and so began my Turkey journey, to places as diverse as Side, Antalya and Cappadocia.
Let me tell you a bit about me. I'm a retired Social Work Manager (in the mental health field) and I moved to Turkey from England in 1998 and married my Turkish husband in 1999. We have lived in different areas of Turkey. In fact we have moved 15 times to date.
My very first home almost 15 years ago was in Gümüslük. The peaceful village of Gümüslük is one of the oldest settlements on the Bodrum peninsula. It stands on the site of the ancient city of Myndos whose seafront sections slid into the sea in some long-forgotten earthquake. We rented the top floor of a two-storey house, which was really a holiday-let and because each room led out to an open terrace, was only really suitable for the summer months. We rented it during the winter because it was cheap and we didn't have a lot of money.
There was no hot water or heating and I had one saucepan and one gas bottle to cook with. It rained a great deal and poured in through the metal-framed windows, to the extent that one morning we got out of bed and were up to our ankles in water. We had no mod cons. In the absence of a washing-machine, I washed our clothes in a huge plastic bowl. No TV, telephone or internet. Just one very old rusty fridge.
The setting was wonderful...right in the middle of orange and olive groves, with no neighbours, and was very peaceful. It's hard to adapt to such a basic, primitive way of life from the one I had in England but looking back at that time, I realise I learned a lot about myself and how I am capable of far more than I give myself credit for.
We stayed in Gümüslük for 5 months then moved on to Turgutreis and so began my Turkey journey, to places as diverse as Side, Antalya and Cappadocia.
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| The view from my current home |
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| Local shepherdess |
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| My neighbour with her calf |
I'm hooked on Ayak's blogs too.
ReplyDeleteObviously we agree with you - a great blog
DeleteThankyou for the opportunity to do a guest post Jacquie. I would love it if you could do one for mine. I'll email you xxx
ReplyDeleteThe pleasure is all ours Ayak, and I hope some of our readers will enjoy your blog as much as we do xxx
DeleteA good post deserves to have legs and get read again and again. Oh, and thanks for the plug!
ReplyDeleteAgreed Jack. Happy to publish the plug. Loved your blog and ironically I understand you moved to Norwich which is where we came from - near enough.
ReplyDelete