A Slice of Turkey

QUOTE FOR TODAY

2008-10-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Afternoon

2008-10-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, not blogged for a long time as Im back it seems in UK mode now which is really saddened. It makes me remember now why I moved to Turkey, why I loved living there and why I cant wait to get back there as to stay.

I find it harder to make friends here, I dunno maybe it was because like me the other English and foreign girls living in Alanya just found themselves drawn to each other and friendships were quicker and easier to form, maybe its because there was more chance to meeting these girls. Here I seem to have fallen into the go to work go home and go to bed cycle of living that I had way back in 1997 when I lived in the Uk before. After work theres nothing to do! At home in Alanya I could go for a walk in the harbour area or town centre, walk along the beach, or sit in a friends cafe, drinking, chatting and watching the world and its mother walking past.

Work in Turkey now is hard, Ive had a few e mails from people who have kindly read my blog asking advice, but after spending a year back here in the UK because work was dring up in Alanya and Turkey in general I dont feel that I am the right one to give advice at the moment so Ill post a link to other sites who have more up to date information. But please bear in mind that I have a Turkish passport and was still struggling to find employment so for those of you moving there without visaa or Turk passport then it will be hard if not impossible to find legal work paying enough to get by on.

Im disillusioned here, Im enjoying my work more now Ive learnt it more and feel more confident and my wages are probably slightly above normal, but I do work very mixed up shift patterns and these are over 24 hours a day seven days a week.

I miss the hot weather, the pace of life, the freedom I had there. But for now I have to make the most of what I have. Fikret is still working hard and my sone Alsan has started work and has recived his first wage this week. Im very proud of him, hes only 16 and will be earning a good wage working along side Fikret, and hes currently looking at joining the Army, hes already been for tests and the next thing will be his fitness test.. so fingers crossed. Im 100% behind him, a lot of my family have been soldiers and I think it will be good for him. I was a single parent for a long time and both my kids lost out on discipline and got as bit wild so it will help him to grow into a great guy. He would have to do Turkish National Service anyway if he doesnt join the British Army so he might as well be receiving training and a decent wage if he want to be in the Army here rather than getting nothing to do his National Service.

Ive decided to attempt to write another book.... lol dont laugh Im not trying to catch JK Rowling with here 3 million a week pay packet, but I do believe I have a book inside me so I plan to try. In between Ill blog occassionally although I dont have the fun life I had when I was in Turkey and therefore not so much to say for myself!!!!!!!!

Bye for now, I'll be baccckkkk

2008-08-19T17:52:00.001-07:00

A childs View

2008-07-02T15:48:00.001-07:00

Both my children are currently here with me in the UK, I miss them so much but they are both grown enough to realise that our future lies in creating a life here in the Uk and a business once visas have been sorted.

But the reason for the post is that it hadnt struck me before how things can seem from a youngsters eyes.

My youngest son who is normally very confident and outgoing in Turkey has suddenly become a home bird. Never leaving the house on his own, not even to venture to the local shop. I asked him about this and he said he was scared! Never occurred to me at all, he speaks English and Turkish like a native and still has his Yorkshire accent. But he said he was scared, when I asked him why, he said he didnt know how things were done here and didnt like to ask people as they would think him stupid. He said if he didnt know English very well and they knew hed been in another country for a long time then it would be ok, as they would know he was new here! It makes sense now, so I will spend a long time now explaining things to him and showing him how things are done here when shopping, visiting the post office, using buses and anything else I can think of to help him. Starting my buying him a bike for his upcoming birthday then training how to use it on the raods here so he can become a little more independent and at least get to know the local area.

The eldest is a little more comfortable with the way things are done, but even he has become more of a home bird, so I think that secretly he is having the same problems but doesnt want to admit it.

My plan... well I will pump my husband for information as to what he found the strangest things to be when he came here and then I will very quietly and without their knowing introduce them to these things so their fear is gone.

Its taught me one thing though, holding two passports and having two languages is only the first step to help these two young guys become comfortable travelling, working and living between two countries...

My husband.... the Turkish wheeler dealer

2008-06-22T00:40:00.001-07:00

Fikret is having a wonderful time here at the moment. One of his passions, apart from me of course! is cars. Although he is not a mechanic, he can sit in a car, drive it for a couple of 100 meters and he instinctively knows whats wrong if anything with the car.

Last year when we arrived here he just didnt believe how cheap second hand cars are here in the UK. In Turkey I paid a small fortune for my car.
Once we were sorted in our accomodation here in the Uk we bought a second hand VW Jetta. It was 18 years old, but had ten months MOT and 5 months tax on it, and we only paid £200 !!!! Fikret was thrilled with it, it never let us down once, never cost us any parts and we sold it this year before the MOT ran out for £150 !! This car in Turkey would have cost in the region of £2000 yes Im serious.... so now Fikret has the bug.. He bought me a small Metro car as I needed it for work. The day after I left for Turkey in May he bought another car!! a Corsa so he sold the jetta and almost cried lol Now hes taken to visiting the local car scrappies and yesterday while I was at work he bought another car.. a Honda lol

Ive decided that I wont travel back to Turkey without him or work Saturdays again so he wont buy another ...

But now we are heading towards the second hand car business ....Hes planning to "do" the Corsa and Honda up and sell them on at a profit and then he will keep searching for deals to buy and sell, so watch this space!

Its only a hobby and hes very happy doing this so I will step back, help with the paperwork and phone calls and wait till he becomes a second hand car millionaire ......

Toys for boys ahhhhhhh. Gotta love him

Sivas Kangal

2008-06-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

OK Tina.. whats this I hear you asking.. well its a dog, a particlarly special type of dog that has been bred in Turkey formany many years and has only just started to appear in the UK. Its the kind of dog that Fikret and I would love to buy but at the moment the selling price here is close to £1000 and in Turkey at the moment we dont have the type of accomodation to be fair to keep one. However in the hopefully near future we will buy one.

Now Ive added a link for a great site I found when we were looking for information on Kangals http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/kangaldog.htm

Although this dog was originally bred and used as a shepard dog in the Sivas region of Turkey, a lot of Turks consider this amazing dog to be the National dog of Turkey.

Fikrets family come from the sentral of Turkey originally and many have stories relating to the bravery and amazing intelligence of these dogs. One being the story of a family who had three of these dogs, it was during the winter and they were rounding herds of animals up and when they returned home they released they were an animal missing and most importantly a kangal. Now the goat or sheep although it was "cash" wasnt so important, however the kangal was incredibly important both to the livihood of its owner and that it was important to the family. A search was launched for this dog and as it was winter the snow could well have been up to a metre deep in places. It took the family a couple of days to find this missing dog. The dog had discovered a goat that had become incapacitated in some way, injury or it was stuck somewhere Im not sure, but it couldnt move. The dog had stayed by the side of the goat and had seemingly been eating grass to stay alive while someone found it and the goat.

I met a kangal once and it was the biggest dog I have ever seen but it had a small child riding round on its back and seemed so gentle, but its owner informed me that had someone unknown approached him or his family then that would have been a different matter. Now I know in this day and age there are many breds who have a bad reputation for being vicious but I firmly believe there are no bad dogs just bad owners.

One day we will buy a kangal, it will be trained properly and it will live outside our house as it should be, not a soft house dog, but a keen guard dog, an intellegent companion and a deterent for all the cats that visit to use my garden as a toilet..!

If anyone knows a Uk breeder of Kangals then I would be pleased to hear from you. If I stay in the Uk the I would like to consider breeding these animals to encourage the growth of their popularity in this country and to help maintain their pedigree.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SUNA_enGB264GB264&q=sivas+kangal&um=1&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

Turkish Names....and Irish people

2008-06-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

When conversation turn to names here I very often tell people a story of when I was a holiday rep, so I think I should share it with you guys too. I know there are many people who regularly read my blog who have Turks as partners or who travel to Turkey regularly and love it as much as I do, you guys will probably have heard this name before and others which for european people seem strange..

I worked for a couple of years as a transfer rep which entailed accompanying holiday makers to and from the airport and hotel. The guests were Irish and great fun most of the time unless as on occassion you had a malicious drunk or a manic depressive who had stopped talking their meds, but thats another couple of posts lol.

There were as many as eight coaches most weeks waiting to collect our guests and they all stayed in the same hotel so all the reps were friends and the drivers were mainly regular so we got to know them really well over the seasonm. Some reps never asked for tips for the drivers, some did but shared and some like me asked and never expected a share unless the driver had done particularly well. So some drivers liked particular reps and one driver seemed to take a shine for working with me as he always did well with tips.. Now I didnt mind this as most of the drivers were pleasant enough and as I can speak Turkish we could fill the trips with a little chatter.

So? I hear you all asking where is this leading? Well imagine this and as youve probably all been on a package holiday it should be easy. As the coach pulls away from the airport carpark you listen to the rep introducing herself, welcoming you to Turkey and introducing the driver, well imagine introducing your driver to a coach full of 40 Irish holiday makers, many who had been drinking on the plane journey across to Turkey and many who were in high spirits when your drivers name was Ufuk!!!!!

Yes it was fun.... the guests would repeat his name. AH UFUKKK, oh fuk, hey ufuk, and it would continue for several minutes until they calmed down and got it out of their system.

On many occassions Ufuk would say to me that they all liked his name didnt they? yes they did I would reply and on a couple of occassions he asked me why they laughed and smiled so much when I told them his name, what could I say? well I politely explained that the Irish were just like that and very friendly people.. well what would you have said?!

Apologies for not posting

2008-06-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hello from a cold and rain swept Newmarket, Im sorry I havent posted for a while but since I got back to the Uk I got a virus in my PC and didnt have it for a few weeks and Ive been busy training into a new job. Shifts are all very strange but while Im here at night as I am now, its 3.30am right now, I have internet access so Ill try and catch up with some blogging.

My husband Fikret has just passed his Skills for Life test and I know there must be loads of you girls out there who know what Im talking about and understand the strain it puts on a relationship, as if there wasnt enough strain as it is. Fikret is a good studier thank goodness. Last year he paid for and started attending ESOL classes, this in itself was a pain and an annoyance as it seemed that lots of other countries didnt have to pay to attend but of course the Turks do. Anyway he paid and started attending and was doing ok for the five or six weeks he went, but then the powers that be decided that there was not enough people attending so they cancelled! That was round about Christmas and we are still waiting for a refund of his money, despite several e mails, and to think they wouldnt let him through the door until he had paid for the full course. Nevertheless he decided to book his Skills for Life Test and then for three days before he attended it he booked holidays from work and spent every waking hour studying both on his own and with me helping him and explaining and translating things he didnt understand. But you know I dont think I could get through this test, how many of us, us being born and bred English, how many of us know everything about proportional representation, first passed the post politics? The English, Welsh and Scottish parliaments and weird statistics! Anyway hes wonderful and passed first time, which is secretly great but his head is now the size of a weather balloon as he passed his driving theory test his practical test and now this test first time. But as any of you going through this will know its just as well as the cost of all these things is becoming crazy. Now Ive started looking at his Indefinite Leave to Remain visa and that another £750.00 off I say offfff...

I know this is clearly one of my "serious" posts but have to get this off my chest as the British Government really do seem to make it as hard and as expensive as they can for the Turks to enter and stay in the UK when it seems to willingly open its doors to many many other nationalities.

Now Im back to posting hopefully on a regular basis Ill tell you some of the funny things Ive encountered here amongst the small Turkish community and the funny things I see in general at my new job. Im working in the control room of a vehicle breakdown recovery company and its one of the hardest if not THE hardest job Ive ever had. SO watch this spot for the mistakes Im bound to make which I will honestly report back to you.

Sorry to moan but Im sure there are a lot of girls out there going through the same thing with their husbands as Fikret and I and I wish us all the luck.. Nite nite

Im moving again then shouting FİREEEEEE

2008-05-08T01:28:00.001-07:00

Hi... This time Im moving to Houston in the states and when I arrive there I will set my home on fire!!

This was sent to me in an email my a good friend and I loved it.. Thanks Lynda x

Quote for the Day

2008-05-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

As I try with this blog to vent my feelings, hopefully to entertain and even more hopefully pass on some useful tipbits about Turkey this quote inspires me ....

'Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm'

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

WATCH OUT FOR BİG HAİR IN TURKEY

2008-05-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

Living in Turkey for as long as I did, you have to make do with all things Turkish and hairdressers here are a law unto themselves! As I think most women living here will tell you, its hard work to find a hairdresser who will listen and do what you want and not just plod on regardless doing what he thinks is 'best'

There are few female hairdressers here as it seems to be a predominantly male profession and at several hairdresssers over the years I have found myself surrounded by numerous guys of varying ages, all set to send me out of the hairdressers with seemingly more hair then I entereed with! Now how does that work I hear you ask? Well I'll tell you.. read on...

If you can find a good hairdresser here then stick with him and tell everyone.... Ive been to the hairdressers today and Im very pleased with the result. But first the torture... it was worse than a trip to the dentist last week... I had my eyebrows plucked and shaped and it ALWAYS makes me cry lol. The girls that do this use cotten to remove all unwanted hiar on your forehead and between your eyebrows and if you have heavy growth(lol) then they remove some of your eyebrows using this method too. It looks great when its done and your eyebrows seem to stay like that for ages but BUGGER ME IT HURTS!!! Ive tried over the years to look super cool and just clench my fists, bit my lip, think of England but now I just give up and I .. ouch ohhh and auuuchhh my way threw several of the longest minutes ever while its done. I always promise myself to go back quicker and have them redone so its not so painful but Ive never done that! I feel sure that Turkish woman dont make the noises I do, it also makes me sneeze for some reason and they have to stop while I clench everything in to sneeze! I compose myself and they resume but this can go on for many sneezes! I always warn the girls that I belive Im paying to be tortured and that I have sensitive eyes that will water and that I may sneeze but they never seem to believe me and clearly think Im just exaggerating(is that spelt right? lol). but soon after they start they realise I dont lie....

Anyways the torture is over and I sit and explain what I want... then the hairdresser tells me what he will do! dahh but at least I tried... Its done and Im sat with wet hair waiting for the final dressiıng of the hair stage and this is where things can sometimes go odd....

Here it takes about three people to blow dry my hair... yep... three. Once to hold the hairdryer, one to hold my hair and the other the brush and no Im not exaggerating here. its true and anyone whose been to a Turkish hairdresser has probably experienced this too. They can do things to a ladies hair that will probably never be seen again, but they give you big hair... you know theyve cut off hair. sometimes long hair but even so your hair is bigger when you leave the salon! Its a strange phenomonon (jeez whats with the long words tonite?) but its true.

Im happy with my new hair however, I now have a nice brown bob with blonde stripes! Tomorrow when I 'do ' it myself however I dont think Ill have quite as much hair as I have now but ıt should still be nice.

Now for all the girls who dont believe this phen o thingy well I suggest that next time youre in Turkey just call in for a wash and blow and see how much hair you leave with!

Nite nite lol

I tend to stay away from conversations about politics... BUT

2008-05-05T03:05:00.000-07:00

Fikret is always watching the news, both for the Uk and for Turkey as any changes can clearly affect the businesses we will hopefully start in both countries. I on the other hand tend to avoid all political conversations as I just dont always understand... Im not thick or at least Id like to think Im not.. I just dont always get it... and watching the selection of a new Mayor of London it seems Im right not to understand it..

A famous quote from Napoleon Bonaparte seems very fitting in the British political scene lately.

'In politics, adsurdity is not a handicap'

Im not saying any more and this is MY personal opinion!

TURKEY OR THE UK İS THERE A CHOİCE?

2008-05-04T08:30:00.001-07:00

Many people over the years, English Turkish and other nationalities have asked me why.. under the circumstances of being a single parent here in Turkey and really struggling for many years.. why did I stay?

Well heres one of the reasons...

This second pic is the view from the little house we rent in the UK. This day was believe it or not Easter Sunday 2008

The first pic is the view from the balcony outside my office. The balcony we can sit on and admire the view in all seasons. We can watch the lightening from here, we watched the three mini tornadoes that hit the news a couple of years ago from here, we can watch the boats in the distance from here and we can always view the castle pearched high on the mountain.. Daytimes like this and nighttimes all lit up and very impressive as you sip your wine, chink your beer glass or dunk your biscuit in a cup of coffee.

See the choice is a hard one to make.....I dont think lol

YİLDİZ RESTAURANT ALANYA To Work or Not to work?

2008-05-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

My eldest son is almost 16. Hes had a rough time in his short life I guess. We moved from England when he was only six, his father and I divored a couple of years later. He saw his mother worry and struggle as a single parent for many years. He saw his Grandmother taken very ill and nearly die and then he lost his dearly loved Grandfather to cancer a couple of years ago. Then to top this off I remarried and we had some hard times with the readjustment to having another man in the house. These are all behind us now thank goodness and Aslan is turning into a straight, honest young guy... But he lost so much time at school.. As every single Mum knows and in Turkey with no social security or really any help at all it was harder to keep a track of him. He started missing school while I was working and even though I almost begged the schools here to help me they wouldnt and never did. They complained a lot about his attendance on the rare occassions they spoke to me but they never helped me. I asked if they could phone if he never arrived but no they dont do that. I asked if they could send me a mail but nope. I asked if they would do anything other than tell me I should have more control over him, or that maybe I should remarry to give him a man to discipline him!!!! But they never helped. Its mostly my fault however and Im not going down that route apart to say that I had a choice to feed my kids and pay the rent or stay at home and walk Aslan to school every day collect him at lunch and take him back afterwards. I decided food and rent at the time was the better alternative and although I tried taking him to school for several weeks I later found out he was walking in the front gate and out of the back! Kids that dont want to go to school will do anywthing I guess to get out of it.

Aslan is now almost at the age where he can legally leave school although I doubt if any of the teachers actually know him anyway. So what to do?? well he said he wanted to go to Tourism Lise a kind of highschool teahcing tourism but hes taken me in like this before... hed have me buy the uniform and pay anything that needs payşng, just to not go again. So I have decided its time he joined the real work so hes working...

I know lots of people will frown on this, and youre probably right but hes got a job with a freind of mine with a nice restaurant across the road from Cleopatra Beach in Alanya. Hes working long hours and six days a week which cant be easy but so far hes stuck at it. In the summer hes going to the Uk and I think we have an offer of a job for him in a factory there where he can earn a reasonable amount of cash and then when Fikret starts his business there hopefully late this year or early next year then Aslan and he can work together.

The thing is that here once hes out of the education system then hes out altogther... But in the Uk he made well come to realise in time that hes loosing uot by not being educated well enough and he can go to FE or courses or open university, at least there he will have that option.

I love him dearly as all parents love their kids and if youre in Alanya before mid Summer pop in and say Hello to him and leave him a nice fat tip!!!!

PS hes the tall very good looking Turk with the Yorkshire accent!!

I just bought a diamond

2008-04-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

When Fikret asked me to marry him and Id agreed I was very very lucky enough to be bought a fantastic solitaire diamond ring, nicer than the picture and to me THE nicest ring in the world.

Living in the Uk for the few months I have Id forgotten however how much fun it can be to buy gold and jewellery here so today it was nice to be reminded. However most if the jewellery shop keepers in the centre of Alanya now have headaches as my Mum and I decended on them. Mum to purchase a new watch for 'special ocassions' and me to purchase 'hopefully' another diamond or three to add to my engagement ring!

Now as I always tell tourısts or people who ask me about shopping in Turkey it is best to go somewhere you are known or by recommendation from friend, but I have been out of Alanya for several months and I was shocked by the number f shops which had changed ownership or closed completely. Anyway not to be put off we decided to be tourists and go for a wander around the bazaar in Alanya. Also armed with some old gold that we had both decided to trade in, we were confident that we would find what we both wanted! I always explained to my customers when I was a rep for an English holiday compnay that gold here can be bought and sold with no worries or stigma and most women have broken bits and pieces of jewellery in there possession. Its surprising how much its worth here in Turkey when youre part exchanging it for something new.

Anyways Mum and I hit the town centre where most of the gold shops are located. Id already tried a shop where I bought a nice ring when I was in Alanya late last year but the price between my gold and the price of the ring Id selected was a little more than I wanted to pay so decided before I made my decision to have a look and compare. Then when I explained to Mum she said she wanted a new watch so we would go together and help get each other a better deal!

The first shop we went into was the shop my engagement ring was from, the guy in there was patient and gave us a good deal according to Fikret but unfortantely he wasnt there and there was very little in the shop, it looked like they were just getting ready to restock and open up so we moved on. For anyone whose been to Alanya or Turkey in general for that matter youll know we didnt have to move far, only a few feet before we were inside the next shop and the next and the next.... we looked in many. Some had rings but no watches and viseversa some Mum and I just didnt like the guy in the shop! A couple showed us everything above the budgets we had and they knew they were doing this so how they expected a sale is beyond me. Maybe Mum looks rich lol I know for sure I dont .

We eventually returned to a shop where the two guys had been patient, Mum had seen a very nice watch in there and we had just seen the same watch offered much more expensive so we knew the first price was good. In the same shop he had the ring I liked but it needed a little work to make it exactly what I wanted so we went to talk.

First thing was the price of the gold we had to trade in. I was happy with my price, Mum was a bit disappointed but it still covered the price of her watch so said ok. I told him how I wanted the ring. It is a three stone ring and the middle stone stuck up slightly and I didnt want that, I wanted them all the same height. Ok they said can do. we negotiated with the cost of the two items saying that we did plan to purchase both and we would recommend people if our price was right and they brought the prices down a little more... So we shook on the deal.

Mum took her watch away with her, and its a very nice watch indeed, we went back a couple of days later to collect my altered ring and Im very very happy with the end result. Whilst we were in the shop they offered to clean our exisiting jewellery for us and my engagement ring is now as shiny and sparkly as the day it was placed on my finger.

Im not telling the price I paid for my ring but it was a very very good price and with the trade in of my gold I had a relatively small amount of cach to pay.. So small in fact that I doubt that Fikret will believe how little!!

So ladies if youre planning a visit to Turkey and like jewellery, rake through your old gold first, we all have broken chains, odd earring or things we just dont wear anymore and it will go along way to get you something new and shiny!! Most Turkish gold is 14ct or 18ct where English is normally 9ct but it can still add up to more than you think..

If anyone wants the name of the jeweller I visited in Alanya I would be more than pleased to recommend him so mail me or add a comment on here and Ill get back to you.

Happy shopping

Oh its good to be back

2008-04-29T04:33:00.000-07:00

Seems that being back in the place I love more than anywhere has given me the kick up the bum I needed to come back to my blog. Cant promise I will keep it up when I get home unless you want it to become A slice of Turkey and a Yorkshire pudding!!! so I can add a yorkshıre womans adventures in the UK!! lol

Anyway to all the pratts who has upset me using my blog to argue, to the pratt who accused me of stealing material and to anyone else who I generally dont like ... and that includes the english lady who was recently overheard to say that Id married a younger guy and run off leaving my kids to run wild!!!!!! then you can all go blow it out of your ass! Im bacckkkkkkkk.............

FOR TYLER JAMES

2008-04-29T04:30:00.001-07:00

I dont have a pic of the real Tyler James but this was the cutest pic of a baby I could find for now.

Tyler James is the first grandson of a dear freind of mine Lynda who has lived in Alanya for longer than I have. See appears and helps on many of the forums online and I love her dearly.
CONGRATULATIONS NANA!! and I will be popping in to see you.. xx

How disappointed I am!!!

2008-04-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

IM VERY DISAPPOİNTED!

I opened my life to you guys.. This blog was started firstly as I was bored, but then it became fun to while away my time with you guys.. passing on things I saw in my day to day life in Turkey. Things to make you laugh, things to help. I was open to any comments, good bad or indifferent so never stopped free postings, in fact I have always encouraged it as not everyone will agree with me and its good to have the right to reply isnt it??

However following the posting of a subject that would clearly touch a few raw nerves Ive received a mail stating that as the 'owner' of the blog. I may become embroiled in a legal wrangle between pratts who anonymously posted comments on here.

Well pratts, who ever you may be. I dont care about your arguments, they have nothing to do with me or my blog and I am disappointed that something designed to help and entertain should be used in such a way. SHAME ON YOU. all that has happended now is that I have deleted the post with the comments in question which were rambling and I dont think could be understood by anyone except the poeple involved. I have also put a filter on comments so I have to OK them before they are published. This to me is the saddest thing.

2008-04-29T03:49:00.001-07:00

THE NEWEST PROFESSION?????

Now this post will probably receive a few comments.. But following a few online arguments in various forums on the net I have decided to put down my thoughts on the newest profession for turkish guys..Feel free to post your comments or thoughts, and I know Im not totally 100% right but trust me I am close. Ive lived in Turkey long enough, Ive stood outside the terminal building at the airport and heard comments.. Trust me...This newest profession is to find a lonely lady, woe her, con her, lie and cheat to her, rob her blind in cases and then if youre really good at your job then obtain a visa and go live off her in her own country... If youre great at your job then live off the government too.Wooooo I just heard a great intake of breath, and a few mutters off how can she say this... well I can say it as I have been married to two different Turkish men, Ive lived in Turkey almost ten years and I see and hear it daily, but Ive always kept my opinions to my self and tried never to hurt anyone, but after talking to a particularly stupid woman today in a chat room I have decided that seeing as this is my blog... that I would let go for once. If you dont like what I say, thats ok, if you dont agree with what I say, thats Ok, we are afterall all allowed our own opinions and all I can go on is personal knowledge.This new breed of gigolos for this is surely what they are... hang around in bars and cafes and nightclubs, but you will very rarely see them with a drink, they just sort of drift around, they always wear the same clothing but they are always well turned out. Various ages, shapes and sizes but still they are clearly recognisable when you live here..Now this is the part some women will spit at me for, and I am sorry but it is true. and I can write it as I myself am over 40 and overweight... but these guys zoom in on lonely older women who they flatter. they zoom in on the fatties, the ugly chicks, the older chicks and the generally the lonely sad looking women... rarely do they zoom in on the nicer looking out going women.. and once again Im sorry but my freinds and I have seen this 10000000 times.These guys do things that really go against there upbringing and way of life. They wander the streets with barely dressed overweight women, holding hands and generally argeeing with absolutely everything these women say... come on.. if youre in a new relationship and never disagreee about anything, I think thats a bit strange. They sit in restaurants and feed tip bits into the ladies mouths, and they in return sit there like baby birds waiting to be fed. Ladies this is not normal behaviour for a Turkish man.These ladies return home and then they start to send gifts, money, a phone, his mother needs an operation, his fathers home needs a new roof. His brother needs medication, his sister is getting married and needs money. Ive heard them all and I hear more everyday.Have to tell you I know certain guys here in Alanya who are married to Turkish women and their wives encourage them to take on as many foreign girlfreinds as they can manage! Yes its true.One guy has a small book so he can remember which woman likes what and what she sent him as a gift...and he has a lot of money in the ban k nowadays because of this book..Ive stood behind guys waiting for women coming off the plane... they wait outside the terminal building bragging to the other guys what he will get while shes here.. Everything paid for for a start... the waiters now automatically put the bill down in front of the foreign lady when there is a foreign lady and a turk... doesnt that in itself make you think? Thats not normal for a Turk..They put these ladies in poor accomodation, they take them for lots of money and then move on to the next one.I know this sounds harsh but Ive seen it so many times now.. and Ive been on so many sites where these ladies are so in love today... they start to distrust everything next week when the requests for money start or the sms messages stop. Then in a few months they are telling everyone to be careful of the Turkish men.. I doubt its just Turks.. I would imagine that wherever there is no work and a vast amount of lone ladies that it happens.. But its sad.Holiday romances are one thing, casual sex with precautions is another, but the games these guys play is something totally life shattering. I have met ladies who have lost everything... EVERYTHİNG.. their homes in the UK, property here, all money, work and almost all hope of ever being ok.This post is just to say be careful.... Yes I know there are many many happy endings, I was married and it went wrong, but after 14 years... then I remarried and Im older than my husband so I know age gaps dont mean anything. But please please dont leavee youre brains on the aircraft seat.. Being flattered and being made to feel good about yourself is one thing but please be sensible and keep your brain in gear...For anyone who has been following my blog you will realise that this is a post I made some time ago. However and you may have seen the comments that followed it. My blog waas then used for an online argument between anon and anon how brave!!! Followed up by me receiving a mail stating that as the writer of the blog then İ may be called up into legal proceedings!! Ladies ladies.... this is my personal opinion of Turkey, its supposed to be lighthearted, fun and in some cases helpful... so KEEP YOUR ARGUMENTS OFF MY BLOG!

GOING ON A SUMMER HOLIDAY

2008-04-03T14:36:00.001-07:00

So im packing my cases already and collecting up the things I need... Now bearing in mind that Im going home to Turkey where I have lived for ten years, what would you think Im packing?

Clothes to wear whilst Im there? nope I have a wardrobe full of clothes, items for my apartment? nope I have a wonderful apartment that is finished and needs nothing to add to it. Presents for my Mum, yes .. presents for my kids, yesssssssssssss

But i bet you a large sum of money that you cant guess what they have asked for? Well I may probably be the only lady on my plane who is struggling under the weight of brown sauce, salad cream, branston pickle, noodles, corned beef, you getting the picture now?

I recently rang home and spoke to my youngest son, he said Hi Mum how are you? great I said what about you? Im good Mum but when you coming home? Ah I gulped and said ah son do you miss me I wont be long and Ill be there.

Yes Mum course I love you he says but..... we are just about out of brown sauce!!!

That put me in my place... kids!!!

Flights to Turkey

2008-03-11T10:19:00.001-07:00

Im stunned. There used to be so many ways to get to Turkey from the Uk. I myself used the new Sun express flight last year was was really good, economical' comfortable and great service. This aapparently isnt running this year. Thats such a shame. Ive just spent more than an hour trying to find a reasonable flight into Antalya from Stansted in April and can only find Turkish Cyprus airlines which I booked as I was frightened that if I didnt book it that I might not be able to get out there to see my family.

However, if and I know there will be some of you girls who travel regularly to Turkey from the UK. Are there any alternatives. I know about Thomas Cook and Thompsons but am looking fort something where they wont jump on me for baggage and meals etc. Thats why I liked the Sun Express flight. I had 27 kgs of baggage and they never batted an eye and my meal was included and I got extra leg room without paying extra.

Im planning to bring my kids and Mum over here again in the Summer and would be interested in any flights you guys know about.

Cheers peeps..

Hello from a wet and soon to be stormy UK

2008-03-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

Its Sunday afternoon, and Im bored out of my head. I remember most days why I love to live in Turkey. Alanya where I live, and yes Im in the Uk but I still count Turkey as my home and think now that I probably always will do.

If I were in Alanya now I would have a choice, I could go down to the harbour and watch my boys fishing. Chatting and enjoying the general hustle and bustle of the harbour. The weather will be warming up now. Still cold during the night. The mountains that back up to Alanya will still have snow capped peaks and it brings down the cold during the night.

I could take my Mum and go to a wonderful place call the fishermans cafe that has been in Alanya for years. It used to be a shabby little place but a couple of years ago it changed ownership and was extended and refurbished. Its a great place to spend a wonderful couple of hours on a Sunday. During the winter months they put up a temporary cover so you can sit sipping Turkish tea or a cold beer and watch the world go by. For a people watcher as I am and my Mum is the same this is a wonderful place.

Watch the fishermen on the boats, fixing lines and tinkering with their boats. Watch the kids fishing from the harbour side. Watch the people coming and going. The young Turkish couples so much in love but who clearly dont have much cash as they spend a long time just sipping tea. The families with small children who are desperate to get near the waterside, and for their parents no chance to sit and chat or have a hot drink. Theyre too busy shadowing their offspring and keeping them safe.

The groups of tourists of groups of tourists who dont know the 'routine' do they sit and wait for service? is it self service? they figure out its waiter service and join in the people watching...

I could drive up the side of the mountain and sit near the castle at the top in a small shabby cafe eating a yufka(type of pancakse filled with cheese of meat). From up here the views are tremendous and I would be able to clearly see the snowcapped peaks of the mountains in the distance.

I could go for a walk along the beaches in Alanya. There are two.. the east beach where in the summer there are the noisier attractions, the banana boat rides the para sailing. but in the winter its quiet apart from the huge waves crashing up onto the beach. The beach is a little scruffy at this time of the year as all the rubbish that is thrown up onto the sand from the sea. The council clear the beaches before the tourist season starts and its kept spotless all season.. But now its wild and lonely.

Cleopatra beach is my favourite. There is a promenade to walk along now but years ago it was just the sea and again a little turkish cafe covered with vines and old tables and chairs to choose from.

I could if I chose to just sit out on one of my balconies in my apartment. Take in the breathtaking views of the castle. I sit looking from my window now and I see cars cars and cars, everyone is clearly sitting in their lounges watching Sky TV or adding to their own blogs complaining about being bored or the weather.

Theres a storm brewing according to the TV.. but at least it breaks the monotomy.

Uffffff I love and miss Turkey.

Whatever youre doing this Sunday afternoon I hope youre well and happy.. talk soon

Food Glorious FoooOooOoOd

2008-03-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

I never realised when I spent all my years out in Turkey how much I had become 'used to' the way of life out there. Styles of bread being limited' very little ready made food. Even tinned beans were hard to find on a regular basis. In the season as there were more tourists and foreigners around in was a little easier but in the winter things just vanished.

I learned how to make typical Turkish meals as a lot of the time there was quite honestly no alternative. What a culture shock I had when I arrived back in the UK. In the ten years Id lived in Turkey Id only really been back once and that was with my husband when we were arranging to come back here.. that was all hotels and eating out so I still wasnt used to the uk.

WOW when I moved here I was so shocked when I went in a supermarket. I wandered around for what seemed like hours just looking at the vast range of products. How many breakfast cereals are there??? Turkey when I first moved out there was nothinbg and even now there are really only cornflakes, coco pops and museili, here wow thousands of them. How many different brands of sauces and mixes. The choice!!! After many months wandering around these shops at the weekend Id almost settled back into the English way of life again and wam my kids arrived for a stay at Christmas. They were three and six when we moved to Turkey so they cant remember anything. I took them into the Asda the second day they were here and it took me hours to get out again! So if you live here dont take things for granted and if youre planning to move across to Turkey then make sure you are armed with brown sauce, salad cream ( these are the two things my children can now not live without!) and all your favourite things which you will have little chance to find over there. Things are changing but slowly slowly.....

When I call my children on a weekend now they dont ask how I am anymore they add things to the list of 'things I have to bring' when I go out on holiday in April to see everyone..

Ive booked my ticket and my bag is already half full of tinned beans, brown sauce, salad cream, noodles etc etc etc.... I dont think any of my clothes will be travellin gwith me this time.. Theres no room my bag will be full of necessities!

The Snowdrops are out

2008-03-07T13:43:00.001-08:00

Well I'm in the UK. Have been for a few months now but its only a temporary arrangement whilst my husband gets his business up and running. Then I will split my time between my beloved Turkey and here. His English was very sketchy when we came here but its going great now. He paid to go to a weekly course but unfortunately due to the continuing decrease in the amount of people attending, the course was finished.

Now this is where I start my moan. Im married to a foreigner, my ex husband who is the father of my wonderful kids was also Turkish and my kids are half foreign so I am the furthest thing from being racist however I have a major problem with the way Turks are dealt with here in comparison with the Eastern block new europeans such as the Russians and Polish.

Take a look at most of the Turks who are here in the UK. Many have worked very hard under extremely hard cirumstances and for long hours to start their own businesses with their own staff and paid taxes. Everything as it should be legal. They contribute to the Uk by tax paying and providing employment. They follow the rules, well most of them anyways. And generally they settle into Uk life learning the language, living within the Uk population. Although the single guys generally stay within personnel accomodation with their employment many many have normal family homes and live life to the best here. The new europeans however and I know this as at present I am working with many of them.. They are here to save money. and send it home for their families. Now Im not against this. Im sending money home too. But they live three or four families in one house here. Or in rooms within a larger house. They dont contribute to the the country very much at all. they are here for a short term and then they leave for home. its been reported thats some are even claiming for their children back home in their native countries, kids that have never been here and probably never will. I have kids back in Turkey and they are English passport holders but I wouldnt dream of claiming child supoort for them.. But should I?

However, if youre a New European then you can claim free English courses here, help with housing, government funds etc etc .. you getting the picture? Its been ten years since I left the Uk and now things have changed so much. I think the Uk has now realised that they have opened the door to so many New Europeans and they cant cope. So instead of limiting the number they allow in', as I believe other countries have done.. No they make it harder for other non european countries residents to get in now. Im here, my husband is here but I still find this so unfair.

My husband is working, he didnt want to continue within a fast food environment as he thought that by having other employment that it would be easier for him to learn English. However this isnt happening. But his Russian, Polish and even his Portugeuse is coming on great! On the other hand however, many of these New Europeans have absolutely no intention of learning English, why should they? They dont intend to stay here afterall. Yet he and thousands of other hard working straight Turks have to take a test to prove they are settling into the Uk, a test that I would struggle to pass myself...

Things have changed here. I dont particularly like living here, and Im sure as well as chatting on here about Turkey that youll find out what my other maons and groans are. #

Sorry to restart my blog with a moan but I feel a lot better now...lol

Im still alive

2008-02-26T05:23:00.000-08:00

For anyone who is crazy enough to be following my blog. First i say thankyou and sorry for my long absence. Im in the UK still with Fikret and things are going ok. but due to work and lack of a PC and horror or horrors no Internet Cafes here I have been totally unable until now to add to my blog. Hower I now have a laptop and an awaiting the installation of broadband this week and I will once again add as often as I can to my blog. Checking through it this morning I have to say thanks for the comments apart from the Anon prat who says Im a fake! I write about things as I see them. post pics I find as I wade through the net and ALWAYS ask permission if I am using narrative from someone else and I ALWAYS add a link to their site. Now with the serious stuff aside I will be back hopefully at the weekend adding whenever I have a spare few minutes. Its nice to be back.....

Too much to handle

2007-06-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

I know how these sweeties feel.....

Busy in Alanya

2007-06-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

Had some really busy days lately so not posting as much as Id like to.. But along the way Im collecting a few funny stories which I will post up over the next few days.

The weather here in Alanya is so very weird and mixed just lately but the sun seems to have pushed its way past the rain and clouds so Im hoping that I can get on the beach tomorrow for an hour. Will be the first time this year and Im bound to collect a few funny tales there too.

More tomorrow when Ive caught up with my sleep....

Suffering with my allergies in Turkey

2007-06-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

I have terrible hay fever and at the moment Im dying with it... sneezing, runny nose and sore eyes.. I take daily meds but if anyone has a cure.. then share it with me pleasseeeeeeeee

Salvar aka Turkish baggy trousers

2007-05-31T11:58:00.000-07:00

Have to post this one as Ive had so many comments from tourists and customers over the past few years.

They laugh and ponder at the use of the 'old style' turkish trousers worn a lot byt the men in this part of Turkey.. Im in Alanya on the south coast.... These trousers are normally black and are more like a skirt that is sewn from the knee down to make baggy trousers.

They have been worn in Turkey for thousands of years and in this part of Turkey will probably be worn for a thousand more. I guess with the heat and humidity here in the south of Turkey that they are comfortable. The ladies wear their own version of these.. normally colourful flowery ones. But people, please dont laugh or poke fun until you see the fat german tourist walking through the market in his swimming trunks, or the danish youth with more piercings than anyone can imagine or the dutch kid with green spikey hair, or the brit with a hanky tied in the four corners on his head or the chinese lady using an umberella and causing havoc in the market.... yes it really does happen.....

No nation is without strange clothes or habits.. and just imagine if Turks holidayed in Scotland!!!

Can you beat these pet pics??????

2007-05-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

I posted these as I think this croc and cat are pretty amazing....

Turkish Translations can be hard at times.....

2007-05-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

Ive heard over the years some very funny and sometimes very rude translations from English to Turkish...and viseversa... Sometimes Ive heard them personally, like when a friend explained that her Turkish husband called his toes Feet Fingers !! and then I heard my 11 year old son do the same today! and hes half English !!!! Yikes I must work on his English now....

Well today I tried to explain dandelion to a turk... nnow I know there must have been a literate translation of it as Ive seen the weed growing here in Turkey, but without a translation book or my moonstar dictionary.. well I struggled..... just imagine..... the weed you blow to tellt he time??? or as my Grandfather used to say, wee the bed weed!! hahah well how would you have gone about explaining it??????

Id love it if you added your own funny translation as a comment.. Ill try and find some appropriate pics for them...

Whats at the end of your rainbow??

2007-05-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well I know theres no pot of gold at the end of mine..!

Who needs U:F:O's

2007-05-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

WHEN YOU CAN HAVE TEDDY BEARS !!

More about Goldtrail and Onur Air !!

2007-05-27T05:01:00.000-07:00

Following the experience we had buying and arranging a ticket for my Mum to go back to the UK.. I was sort of calming down. Still determined to challenge the owner of Goldtrail to do what we did wiht less hassle but nevertheless calming down. Until I spoke to both my Mum and Mandy late last night.

Seems the flight was awful, they hit bad turbulence as well which is no one fault.. but that the meal and service were also poor..

Shame on you Onur Air and Goldtrail.... Ive been getting a few private e mails as well from people who didnt want to post on here... SHAME ON YOU BİG TİME

Now Im off to exercise

2007-05-26T08:35:00.001-07:00

And if you believe that you will believe anything.... Ill be back later when my batteries are recharged and I have something to say.....x

Best Position in Bed....

2007-05-26T08:25:00.001-07:00

And you thought this was going to be dirty!!! Tut tut tut

Ufffffffffffff Cleaning apartments in Turkey in Summer

2007-05-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

For anyone who has been reading my blog regularly you will know that I look after a few apartments for mainly Irish people.. I check everything is ok once or twice a month when they go home to Ireland. Pay bills for them, arrange things for them basically whatever they want to pay me to do Ill do.. http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-consultancy-service.html

Today I cleaned an apartment for a nice lady who like most of my customers has become a freind. But thats not the reason for posting... The reason for posting is that I am still.... after nine years of living here, I am still amazed that Turkish people think that foreigners can't or wont clean....! Im sure they have this crazy idea that 'back home' we all have people who 'do' for us... maybe a cook a cleaner a garderner and someone to do the shopping...of is it me.. was I the only one who did it myself!!?? The caretakers wife in the building Ive just been in was amazing astounded and probably traumatised that I was planning to clean the apartment myself. Solo. Unaided. ON MY OWN whoooooa.... http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/cleaning-house-in-turkey.html

Id like to hear from all you ladies who have people to 'do' for you... tell me where you find them and how much they charge......

a further moan about Goldtrail in Turkey

2007-05-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well I took my Mum and Mandy to the airport today. We did as all good travellers should do and we followed instructions and as we were told when we booked the ticket yesterday we went 30 minutes early. We were told there would be a Gold Trail rep in the airport to write out my Mums ticket. Sounds fair. We followed instructions and as we arrived at the airport, Mandy asked if I'd come into the terminal with them incase they had problems.

Ha.. no probs said I its all sorted but Ill come in.. just in case.

Well the check in desks were already open and people were checking in in a steady stream but no rep to be seen, I asked the guy behind the check in desk and he said he could do nothing without the rep as they neeeded to write out the ticket but they would turn up!. Waited, waited and waited some more and now the queues were deeper and more people checking in. Eventually I asked Mandy if there was a Turkish contact number on her ticket ( she was afterall here on a return ticket) there was.. An Antalya No. so I phoned. The young girl wanted to give me several other telephone numbers but after a little conversation took my number and said she would get someone to phone me back. Dont forget this was all in Turkish. A few minutes later a lady phoned me back, started speaking in english and asked what my problem was, I started to tell her but after a couple of sentances she asked if I...... could.........talk..........a..........little.......slower.............I said no and started to talk in Turkish. ( this is something else that p's me off... people should either speak english or speak there native tongue if they cant understand without people speaking so slowly its painful.. and you cant say anything as I have learned another language and never once expected people to talk to me like I was a moran to learn it) The out come was that we appeared to be waiting for Mr Ergin.....but he was still 20 minutes away from the aiport. Being as I was rather niffed now after 20 minutes I ophone again and was told he was in the airport and to wait at the desks... after a further ten minutes I rang back to check he was indeed at the same airport, she was getting ratty with me now!! hahaha welllll... by now we had been waiting almost an hour, were seeing everyone check in and were begining to think that there was either no ticket for Mum or when they did indeed check in they would be split up on the plane. I admit Ive checked in before and seen people like us waiting and always felt sorry for them.. and trust me its not nice.

Mr Engin arrived shortly after, and explained my Mum wasnt on the manifest and he had to make phone calls.... he did, she was and he started to write a ticket.

His explanation after I explained we had been told to come 30 minutes early and we had been waiting an hour..... well if you live in Turkey you should have known better than that!!! so it seems that being lazy, rude or just not being arsed to do your job properly can all be explained away by being in Turkey. Well Goldtrail Im sorry, Ive worked in the tourism industry in many different ways since living in Turkey and it was a disgrace. . It was 90 minutes after we arrived that I left the airport. Had I not gone into the terminal then my Mum and Mandy would have panicked as there were no English speakers around to explain their situation to and my Mum being almost 71 would have certainly become really upset.

You should at least co ordinate with the Goldtrail(aka calcutta call centre) and explain that they shouldnt tell people to go early to get there tickets... rather to go late and just look for the 'can't be arsed cos this is Turkey' rep!

I havent finished with this... A dear freind of mine knows the owner of Goldtrail personally and I will ask for his e mail and challenge him to book a ticket in English as if he is living in Turkey... He should employ me a 'secret shoppper' and Id let him know that his company is using being Turkish as a way to deliver sloppy service to customers.....seeing as he is a Turk himself and has clearly worked very hard to start and continue this company, I hope he takes offence as we did.

Now I really would appreciate any more comments about Goldtrail.

Will keep you informed............

A moan about Gold Trail and Onur Air - Turkey

2007-05-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Now people that know me will tell you Im not a natural moaner... Im more a get on and cope with it sort of person. But earlier today I had the most fustrating time. My best freind Mandy has been staying with us here in Turkey for the past couple of weeks and earlier this afternoon my Mum decided to fly back to the Uk with Mandy tomorrow to sort out a few problems with the banks... could I get her on the same flight?

Well yes I said thats easy.. but little did I know that Onur Air and Goldtrail seem to be the most unprofessional, un organised companies Ive ever had the misfortunre to encounter.

First of all on the net we were given the run around with poorly designed web sites that don't work and that the 401 Page Not found page reappeared over and over... We know there is a plane leaving Antalya tomorrow to Manchester, we know its an Onur air flight and we know that seats were booked on it through Goldtrail.. WE KNOW THAT because Mandy came on it and will fly back on it.....

But finding it, finding any information about it or just getting past the 401 Page Not found was a nightmare. Every page we found was a total dead end...

In the end I phoned the Uk direct to the Gold Trail people... they had afterall sold Mandy her original ticket, so they would know if there were any empty seats to sell wouldnt they... hahahahahahahaha nooooooo the poor Indian guy really didnt have a clue. I felt as if I had reached the Goldtrail desk re routed through Calcutta!!! İt took ages. He asked for lots of irrelevant information, he eventually confirmed that there was a plane!! well for F..... sake we already knew that... he eventually confirmed that there was a seat and then he became traumatised when he realised that he couldnt fill in his little boxes as we didnt have a UK address or a UK phone Number or a UK issued credit card... Maybe thats because and I did tell him at least 9 times......... we live in Turkey!

I told him to make one up as it was pointless but at this point the poor guy was already looking for the escape the mad english woman button on his phone. I eventually buckled under the pressure of his sobbing for helpo to fill in his boxes and gave him Mandy's address with a firm warning that her Mum was not to be bombarded with junk mail or phone calls!

Eventually, and it did take a looooooonnnnngggggg time, I booked a ticket for my Mum and shes off to the Uk for 10 days tomorrow... but I have decided to throw down the gauntlet and I plan to mail the owner of Goldtrail tomorrow and challenge him to book a ticket quicker and easier than we did if he pretends to be booking it from here using his own website... Ill keep you informed of my challenge results. The ticket was quite cheap at £105 but it's probably cost us in the region of £300 on phone calls to the Gold trail Calcutta call centre.

But in the meantime... if you have any Goldtrail or Onur Air horror stories I would be very interested to hear them..

Nite nite peeps xx

Have you ever had one of THOSE days??

2007-05-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

Damn I remember that feeling!

2007-05-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

How I feel

2007-05-22T02:47:00.000-07:00

Alanya Bazaar 19th May

2007-05-22T02:12:00.000-07:00

So. I told you I would report back and I am a woman of my word..

Have to say I was surprised when I found out that the womans groups were holding a bazaar in May as there seemd no apparent reason for it. Christmas and Easter are clearly better times. but who am I to argue as I had toys and bits and pieces left from the Antalya Christmas bazaar, so it was a good opportunity to try and swll off more of my unsold stock.

Paid for my table for my soft toys, then decided to take a second table as I had an idea last year to start up a clothes shop here selling new and used large sizes ladies clothing as its very hard to find decent stuff here. Anyways that went by the board as we have been so busy with Fikrets visa and his temporary relocation to the UK.

Saturday morning packed the car, Fikret said he'd drop us off then come back.. he'd had a bad experience at the Christmas bazaar and I think its scarred him for life! Mandy my friend was still here and she said shed help as did my Mum and my youngest son Kaan never misses anything so we all piled into the car and off we went.

The Grand Zaman Hotel where the bazaar was to be held is a nice place. I had my sons Sunnet party there many years ago.( but thats another story)

Pulled up behind a guy unloading his van of boutique stock and went in carrying all my stuff in one go between us. Fikret had a look round, and left. We started to set up our tables. Ive done this 10000 times so its not difficult.. but this morning was slightly annoying as I had been placed next door to moaning minnie..... the guy we had pulled up behind outside. For at least an hour he did nothing but complain. He complianed that the table he had rented should be 2m long and his table was 170cm long... however he had brought a clothes rail with him that was maybe 250cum long so he actually got a good deal as thick head here had paid for two tables and had less room!!! He complained about his space, he was constantly pushing his rail into my space... the bloody nerve.. so we ultimately spent all day pushing his rail back from our tables.... all very childish and unnecessary, we were all there to make money and to help raise money for the schools in the villages with nothing...anyways

he complained about his location although he and I were in the best place just in the entrance as people came in.. we couldnt be missed.. he complained that there wasnt enough light, he complained when people didnt follow the route like cattle and he constantly ran after people shouting very cheap, I have other colours and come look come look.. ufffff it was like being in the boutique area of Alanya again...

The day progressed but the number of visitors was disapointing, it was a Bayram(Holiday) in Turkey and the turks probably had plans weeks ago. There was no advertising out side the hotel or in the newspapers of TV so we had just a steady stream of guests from the hotel and a few people that word of mouth had reached. I did very well. My stuff isnt expensive, I like to keep busy in the winter and knitting and making toys is a good way. Anyone who does this know that you never get paid for your time when you sell hand made stuff so if I end up in profit then Im happy. My large sized clothes went well, even though I had a group of Turkish woman who thought I was a charity and that I should be giving everything away free.

The raffle was to be drawn at the end of the afternoon so I waited until it was almost time and bought a strip of five numbers. The only thing I wanted was a luggage case designed to carry suits in as I knew it would come in handy for Fikret at some point in time..

I joked with the lady selling tickets and asked her to put my name on it.. and haaaaaaaa much to my surprise as I never win anything my number came out quite early on in the proceedings and you just had to pick what you wanted so I got what I wanted...

Mandy also won but towards the end and for some strange reason she won two pairs of childrens sized woolly gloves. Just right for Alanya in May! I had another stroke of luck and a second number was drawn but there were only three things left so I took what loooked the best and won a cat pin which is really quite nice.

We collected all our unsold stock, I had done quite well even for the low amount of visitors, I called Fikret, he arrived and we packed up, leaving moaning minnie at our side, still complaining about something or other... Probably about me then I guess.

Im now looking forward to the Annual Chrsitmas Bazaar in Antalya. After the season is over I guess I will have to start knitting again......any unusual knitting toys patterns you have would be greatly accepted!

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/christmas-bazaar-turkey-style.html

Turkish Transport... aka wheres my wheel??

2007-05-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

Ok so.. today isnt the best day Ive ever had, although Ive just spoken to Fikret and hes back safe and well after an uneventful journey back to the UK.

Although today wasnt the best, and I had a hard morning... after I took Fikret to the airport, well he drove... I had to drive back. collect customers then return to the airport to drop them off as well.. It wasnt difficult as they have become great friends over the years but even so I was tired and upset when I got home. Neverthe less, I did see a few dangerous and bizarre things being done on the road... one of which I will breifly explain.

I'd left the airport this morning after saying a teary bye to Fikret and for anyone that knows that road I had just passed through serik and was on a long straight stretch of road, it was about 5 30 am and there was lots of market trader traffic clearly heading for the Monday market in Manavgat.

The sun was up and it was a nice morning and I could see away in the distance a beat up transit van that was clearly loaded up bye the way is was low at the back... The driver pulled onto the hard shoulder.... I wondered what he was doing and it enetered by head he was taking a toilet stop as the previous day on the way to the airport Fikret and I had passed an old man who had just stopped on the side of the road pulled his trousers down and was peeing into the field.....

But no this guy just jumped out of the drivers seat, looked at his van then got back in.... I was getting nearer now and as he pulled off,and he hadnt moved more than a metre, his back LHS wheel came off !!!!!!! it bounced down the back of the car and hopped the ditch and bounced to a stop in the field. I was very close now and the guy jumped back out, clearly puzzled as to where his wheel was. There was no point me stopping as I could do little of nothing to help so being the good samaritan I am I used slowed down and waved out of the window that his wheel had bounced into the field..

Not often I get the chance to do that....

Poor guy... when I returned three hours later, was still there trying to sort his transit and lost wheel out, but there were other guys with him helping. ...but much to my relief as I returned for the second time from the airport he had gone... the only signs he had ever been there where bits of rusty metal and oil on the floor....

Its a hard place to earn a living here at the best of times... so I felt really sorry for him... but it was bizarre and its not often you get the chance to tell someone where his wheel is... is it??

http://www.funny-games.biz/pictures

Should maybe get into daily training???

2007-05-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

I think maybe to keep fit I should start training here????? My sort of stairs....

Bazaar results.....

2007-05-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today the bazaar was for me quite a sucessful day. Im home, Im very very tired and foot weary and have airport transfers tomorrow but I will enlighten you as to the outcome of the bazaar and my raffle wins tomorrow... so stay tuned to this channel.... Im off for my beauty sleep!!

Craft Bazaar.. Alanya Saturday 19th May

2007-05-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

Oh Im a glutton for punishment.... tomorrow at the Grand Zaman Hotel in Alanya the International Ladies Group are holding a fayre.... I will be taking my knitted dolls along that I have left from Christmas..http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/christmas-bazaar-turkey-style.html

Ill take some photos and post once its all over.. Hopefully with a few funny stories thrown in.

It starts at about 10.30 so if youre about.. call in and say Hello

Turkish Jacuzzi??

2007-05-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

Quote for today....

2007-05-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

I have great hopes that we shall love each other all our lives as much as if we had never married at all.

Lord Byron

Manavgat Water Falls - Turkey

2007-05-17T03:35:00.000-07:00

After we left Side, all hot bothered and in various shades of reds and browns we decided as we were so close to pay a trip to Manavgat Water Falls as Ersoy and Mandy had never been there either.

Its only a few minutes drive from Side, has ample car parking, costs only 2YTL to get in and is a nice place to cool down, to have a drink or lunch along side the river.

A few Side pics

2007-05-17T03:29:00.000-07:00

I can't think of a better way to spend the day, then with freinds and my Mum.. My kids were at school !! It was a secret day out!

SİDE a really nice place to visit

2007-05-17T03:19:00.000-07:00

Having a busy time at the moment. My husband Fikret is home from the UK for a couple of weeks holiday and it coincided with a stay from my best freind Mandy. Fikrets freind, Ersoy also came to visit so we have a full house. But its nice to see everyone again.

Yesterday is was a bit overcast in Alanya so we decided to pay a visit to Side and Manavgat. Ive been many times when I was a holiday rep. My husband and Mum have been a few times but Mandy and Ersoy have never seen either place so it was nice to get the chance to show them around.

When we arrived there the sun had decided to come out afterall and we all returned home with foreheads and necks of various shades from pink.. that was Mandy to dark brown that was Ersoy...

Side is a great place for a day trip. Drive into the old part of Side and its like driving back in time. As you enter the old city itself through vespasians arch you will already have travelled along a road that is history itself. where the 'smiths' worked in years gone by, past the roman baths that is now a museum and under the arch way round the corner to see the amazing theatre. One of a few of its kind I might add, as it was built on flat ground, not on a hillside as was more normal.

Park the car in the car park across the road from the theatre and walk down into the town itself. down a steady hill with shops, restaurants and bars on both sides.

Reach the bottom and the harbour area to find great harbour side restaurants and more shops. Turn left at the waters edge and walk along for the few minutes until you reach Apollos temple (the photo above)

I recommmend Side for a nice day out, shopping lunch and viewing the history. well worth the visit.

Allergies

2007-05-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

I love animals, , unfortunaely I suffer from many allergies, including an allergy to dogs, cats, in fact anything with hair and feathers. and also flowers.. this allergy has troubled me all my life and I am still looking for a cure.. so if anyone knows one. Id be happy to hear from you..

If ever I could find a cure... I'm not sure which dog I would buy, but it would be something like these..

A mothers day thought...

2007-05-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

I know Im early, but Im working tonight again. Have to return some of my customers to the airport. But this is for Mothers Day

Property Finding in Turkey

2007-05-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

After a small amount of pushing from several customers and freinds, I have decided to move into property finding.....

If anyone wants property in Turkey, particularly in the Alanya, Oba and Mahmutlar areas then please contact me. If you have 40 000 euros if you have 140 000 euros... I can help you find property to suit your budget.

http://turkishhomesandhelp.blogspot.com/

The Wheels of Life

2007-05-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Airport Transfer

2007-05-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

AS PART OF MY WORK, I COLLECT PEOPLE FROM ANTALYA AİRPORT WHEN THEY COME ON HOLİDAY...... GREAT TONİGHT AS FİKRET MY HUSBAND İS HOME ON HOLİDAY AND HE WİLL COME WİTH ME.........HAVE ANOTHER FUNNY STORY TO TELL YOU... BUT İT WİLL HAVE TO WAİT TİLL TOMORROW..

Soooooo right

2007-05-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

Need I say more..................................

Bad Parenting

2007-05-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

You know I think we all have days when we feel that maybe we could have been a better parent........

Need I say more?????

A funny thing happened on the way to..........

2007-05-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

And it did... really I was on my way out of the bank earlier today and I saw what has to be the funniest thing, for a long time... well.. since I saw the strutter fall down...http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/05/electric-sand-and-broken-ankle.html

I was busy working today and had just finished my business in the bank, had left and was standing near the doorway checking the papers Id been given and putting them into files as they belonged to customers who I had been working for.

I dont know what made me turn round but Im glad I did. Theres a lady that owns a small cafe near the bank, and on more than one occassion I have seen her being rude to the Turkish staff she has. Indeed my Mum and I went in just a couple of days after she opened as it looked really inviting with its tea and scones... we saw the way she treated her staff and have never been back since. We now go to the one which is only two shops away..so we regularly see her tearing into her staff and treating them like crap.

Anyways...I had the great honour today to see her leave her cafe doorway, walk the several meters to the kerb side, lean over and talk to someone in a car, then turn around and walk back toward her cafe, bark at a member of staff and then walk back inside..... she never reappeared and I know its because at that point she probably realised she had somehow managed to tuck the hem of her skirt into the top of her knickers,( and very ample knickers they looked). and she had wandered around showing everyone tomorrows washing.....

Now, this is my worst nightmare, but if ever I was unfortunate enough to do this, I would hope that one of the dozens of people who had witnessed it would have said something to me or at least pulled the skirt from my knickers!!!! But you know, I treat everyone the same, and if I was ever lucky enough to have staff I would treat them with the respect they deserve... then maybe they would save me any embarrassment.

There is a lesson to be learned from this and hope youve all got it.....

Mothers Day Reminder

2007-05-09T04:40:00.000-07:00

Ok peeps .. dont forget that Mother's Day is Sunday 13th May. Lets remember some of the opressed women in the world hope they get to celebrate it also....

Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.Lin Yutang (Chinese writer)

Check what day your Mothers Day is at this site....

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:-96QauIlCrMJ:mothersday.indiangiftsportal.com/when-is-mothers-day.html+Turkey+Mothers+Day+date&hl=tr&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=tr

Electric, sand and a broken ankle???

2007-05-09T04:08:00.000-07:00

Im on a roll here with the theme of electric.. So I'm going with the flow. I love Turkey, anyone who knows me will tell you that. Ive lived here a long time, I have become used to the ways of this country, sometimes the funny, sometimes the bizarre, sometimes the down right dangerous.

But pleaseeee why cant the councils dig the roads up when there no one here in the Winter? Does it take a rocket scientist to think that maybe the best time to move the electric from ugly cables in the sky to beneath the pavements and roads (and this is a great thing and will improve the look of Alanya no end) would be in the winter when the roads are quieter and there are few tourists wandering around?

During the past few weeks, Alanya has become a building site, one day the road is open the next day its not. Today the traffic lights on an incredibly dangerous corner work, tomorrow, its every man for himself, the biggest and the bravest going first as the lights arent working!

Yesterday, and its not the first time. My husband and I were sitting in the car stuck in traffic. I like to watch people as you do. And I watched a couple of young women walking along the pavement. well I use the term pavement loosly as its now just a dirt track as they have dug the pavments up, there are piles of sand, block paving bricks and general chaos where the pavements once were

Now these two ladies where clearly tourists, easy to tell from their clothing and general appearance, and Im not being rude but they did seem to like them selves an awful lot. This too was easy to see from the way they were 'strutting' down the road.and dont tut tut at me.. we have all watched people and have made snap judgements about them.

Anyways I watched these ladies 'strutting there stuff' but then all of a sudden one of them lost her footing, they were both wearing high heels.....the only way to describe it, and Im sure you have all seen people do this.. but the best way to describe it, was she sort of lurched forward in a brave effort to both save herself from falling and to save her street cred, and she sort of ran several paces... it was a very brave attempt and I applaud her for her efforts... but after several rather ungainly definitely not elegant running lurching steps, she fell into a pile of sand..... Now on this point I have to say had she gone the other way she would have smashed her face in on a pile of bricks.. so once again I have to applaud her for her great sense of direction and quick thinking... but there again maybe it was just luck on her part. Anyways she went head over tit into the sand. Her freind was helping her up as we pulled away in the car.

My husband who had been fiddling with the cassette in the car during this, couldnt understand why I had burst into almost uncontrollable laughter, and I have to admit had I not been sitting I might have lost control of my bladder as it was incredibly funny, but it all happened so fast.

I do hope she wasnt hurt, but she had a soft if not elegant landing.. and I do hope she stops wearing high heels until the roads are finished otherwise she may well be visiting one of the hospitals here with a broken ankle. Head injuries or just a bad case of loss of 'strutting cred'

Water, Electric and a Nervous Breakdown??

2007-05-09T03:48:00.000-07:00

While I still have my serious 'head' on I want to further explain something to you. Many of my customers werent aware this had to happen. Many werent aware of the costs involved and its spoiled a couple of customers holidays as they had no water and electric when they arrived here.

After you have received the Tapu (deeds) for your property, unless your Estate Agent has stated he will do it for you, and he has your power of attorney to enable him to do it for you.. Then as soon as you can you need to change the subscription(Abone) for water and electric into your name. Up until you do this then any water and electric you have been using has probably been paid for by the builder or estate agents.

This country is really no different to any other! lots of people seriously dont think about whos been paying for the water and electric they have used while they have been here on holiday before they received their Tapu. Builders, previous owner and indeed some estate agents will pay these bills beofre you get your Tapu, but rarely will afterwards as for all purposes the property is no longer there responsibility. I have on many occassions in the past two years been called in the middle of the night by people arriving and finding they have no water and no electric... why? because they received the tapu(deeds) the year before or sometimes two years before, but they havent changed the name on the water or electric or they have but took no steps to pay these bills in there absence.

Its not so easy to change the names for the water and electric, and yes while I am looking for business, I am also looking to help people. Its not something you can do yourself. If you have a good estate agent, then ask him to go with you. If someone asks you a set amount of cash and offers to do it for you, please be careful. I have helped upwards of 30 people to do this and in many different areas. Alanya Oba and Mahmutlar, the cost is NEVER the same twice. Indeed two apartments in the same building are sometimes different. So many things seem to be taken into account, the floor your apartment is on, if the building has a lift, the size, room count... and many many more it seems. Also you need to sign many forms to obtain the water and electric supply in your name, so if someone offers to do it without you being there, they MUST have your power of attorney otherwise they cant do it. My way is to take customers with me so they pay themsleves, I explain every step to them so they know what they are paying for, and of course they pay me, but they can see what a lengthy and sometimes drawn out process it can be. I can only speak for this area.. especially property in Mahmutlar where most of my customers are, but here this is roughly the process.. and belive me I have made this as simple as I can.

First step is to read meters, electric and water, also the manufacturers name of the meter, also serial numbers. Passports and Tapu photocpies are required and you have to purchase your own folders for the water board and the elctric board to use for you. You will need your tax number, and Turkish Lira as this is the only acceptable currancy, unless you pay by credit card. Council office in Mahmutlar, in the water board section, many forms need to be completed, them upstairs to Fen Isleri (this is where records are kept). More papers. Downstairs to water board again then pay for the Iskan. ( this is a builders permit and without two copies of this you cannot obtain the water and electric in your name) also to pay for the pipework to your building, building tax and there may be some outstanding from previous years, and any interest thats accrued.

Then Tax office in Alanya. more signatures, stamps and another payment, this time Tax. Take the proof you have paid this amount and the signed papers back to the water board. Collect the Iskan.. 2 copies stamped and signed by the council then back to the water board. Use one Iskan to obtain the water in your name, another payment, then you will recieve 2 small metal plates, your Abone Number.... one to be fastened above your door frame the other to be fastened on your water meter. The water bill will then be your total responsibilty. If you dont pay they will remove your meter and it is complicated and expensive to get it put back in.

Then off to Alanya again to the Tedas office (Electric Board) more paperwork, more offices, stamps ,signatures and another payment and you then receive your metal plate for your electric supply. The electric supply is then your responsibiliy. This however could be paid by standing order through a bank account. Now the sounds complicated enough.... but inbetween all this, twice you need the Mayors signature before you can proceed.. If he isnt in the building you have to stop and wait.. so sometimes this procedure can take up to a week to complete.

You MUST do this once the Tapu is in your name. Take or employ someone who knows this procedure with you. Turkish speaker is a must to cope with this. and never pay people a set amount and leave it to them as without your power of attorney they can do nothing, and there is no way to know the cost before they start dealing with your property. ıf you Tapu is in mor ethan one name then only one person needs to sign and then the bill will be in their name.

Alternatively employ me ! Youre with me every step of the way so you see where your money is going. You pay yourself but I am there to help you . My fees normally work out at 3 days which is 150 euros, but on occassion with luck and the availability of the mayor is has been done much quicker.
http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-consultancy-service.html

http://turkishhomesandhelp.blogspot.com/

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/water-electric-and-smear-test.html

Serious Info for Home Owners in Turkey

2007-05-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

I know its not normal for me to be completely serious, but following some recent developments with my customers I feel this is information I should be passing along to people who own properties here in Turkey.

The general feeling here is that the Estate Agents do not pass on enough information regarding items which need to be dealt with following completion of a sale. These are Water, Electric and Iskan costs( I will explain these in a further post) and annual building tax.

Here in Alanya and I would imagine the same to be true everywhere in Turkey. Building tax is due every year in May and in October on any property that you own and for which you hold the Tapu (deeds). 99% of my customers where not aware of this. They had never heard of it, didn't know when or where or how to pay it. Normally this has come to light when I am employed by them to obtain the water and electric subscription (Abone) in their names when any outstanding building tax has to be paid before they can do this.

So I will explain....

Once you have the Tapu you are responsible to pay tax on your property this is called Bina Vergi (Building tax) it is due May and October every year. İn my personal opinion, the best way to deal with this is, one your first visit to your apartment every year, when you pay your water bill at the local council office, pay the whole year's building tax. Its quite straightforward, the cost is decided from the purchase price on your tapu. The apartments here in Alanya that I have been dealing with are generally paying in the region of 50 euros for the year. But if it isnt paid or is paid late then interest is added and if it is not paid for a year of more then this cost could be quite substanstial.

If on the last working day of your holiday you read your water meter, take that reading along with your Abone number (which is on a little metal plate fastened onto your water meter and one on your door). ask to pay your building tax at the same time and pay for the whole year. Easy! not to expesnive. You have paid for your water before you leave so you have a smaller chance of ever being cut off...and here they take your pipe and meter away if you have a lot of outstanding water bills, and that takes days and money to get back on again.

Keep all paperwork for anything you pay here as proof, I keep mine following Fikrets instructions and will for years as it is hard to prove anything here if you have no written receipt.

Hope this clears up a small problem with people not knowing! And for people reading this who have recieved a tapu and dont have little metal plates on their apartment dorr frames and electric and water meters.. This means you have to arrange that! Read on. In further posts I will explain whats involved there.....

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-consultancy-service.html

Sorry for not posting....but what to do with your old PC

2007-05-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

Havent posted for a few days, and I know from comments left that a few dear people check into my blog every few days.

My husband whom I havent seen for three months came home on Thursday so I havent had a lot of free time.

However I found these pics which I find funny and wish to share them with you guys..

The Golden Years

2007-05-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

TURKISH PROPERTY SELLS

2007-05-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

Have to just post and say that due to a couple of my posts on here. One of my customers has been put in contact with someone who read my blog and there is the possiblity that the property will be purchased. Im thrilled to have helped... Hope everything goes to plan ..

Check out the archives to previous property posts for apartments and a villa for sale..

http://turkishhomesandhelp.blogspot.com/

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-consultancy-service.html

Problem with my post list

2007-05-02T06:13:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone..

I am new to this.. and I am having problems with my archives list on the right hand side of the page.

I posted lots in April and am trying to understand how I can continue to list each post seperately, until then if you click on April.. it will bring up all the posts and you can just scroll through them.

Will sort this as soon as I can to make reading the blog easy.

Holiday Reps fault.. every time !!

2007-05-02T05:50:00.000-07:00

During my stay in Turkey I have as a way of keeping the wolf from the door done many things.. One of them was transfer repping. Basically this means that you are employed solely to get the guests of your company safely from the airport to their hotel and then a week or two later safely back from the hotel to the airport.
Sounds easy doesnt it? Thats what I thought until I tried it for several summer seasons
There are so many things I could tell you, I could make lots of seperate posts but Id rather tell you about a couple of particular transfers that stand out in my mind.. and throw in a few of the other events.
Just to put you in the right frame of mind, I have to tell you that on these transfers we started work at midnight on Saturday when we were collected on the main road in town and taken to the hote l( where 8 coach loads of Irish holiday makers were waiting to go home. Now I found over the years that I love the Irish people, they are incredibly freindly, very hospitable, very genuine and on occassions very funny, but many also swear a lot so that was my first shocker.) we would take them to the airport and then have to wait till 7am and notification that the plane had taken off. then we were shipped back to Aanya, two hours at least on the bus, dropped off near home but then wew had to be in the office which was off a bus route and needed a fair walk to get to it at 1pm to get paperwork ready ( you were lucky if you got 3 hours sleep) then when all ready we would be taken back to the airport to await the arrival of the guest, normally late. Then back to the hotel. Something to eat and then wait for a ride home.. Normally getting home around midnight Sunday. So almost 24 hours straight..... so a transfer reps job isnt easy.
This one particular night we were all collected as normal and the chief rep would go through anything that we needed to know... Notorious drunks, badly sun burned people who needed special care, any pre booked seats etc etc... but if she told you you had someone 'special' on your coach it normally meant you had upset her the week before and that you had a problem!
This night I was told I had a special on my bus. A lady who it seemed was manic depressive and who it was found had stopped taking her meds the week before she cae on holiday, and she had been here for two weeks and was not a well lady. Given her name and details I was ready!!!
First problem.. everyone of my guests was on the bus except her. Found her in the bar and escorted her to the bus. Luggage left in the reception proved to be hers.. she asked me to 'go get it' but I told I wasnt a porter could she please go get it herself or hire a porter. Luggage on board now. I ask if everyone has passports and tickets. The other guests sitting near her are worried she cant find hers in her bag. I take control as all the other buses have now left and ask the other guest to watch as I check her bag with her. Tickets and passport located, she threatens to call the police as Im a pick pocket! so I confiscate the aforementioned ticket and passport till she arrives at the checkin desk. Ok so underway now.. Shes calling me names now and asking for someones phone to call the police on me.
Stop at a service station and catch the other coashes up briefly. The other reps arent having agood time. One woman has drunks on her bus. Another has a woman who hasnt stopped puking into plastic bags that are being passed back to the rep.. Shes dealing with it well.. she opens the door with the blessing of the driver and lobs these puke filled bags into the fields! oh what a night.. they are depart and I round up my guests with the exception of my special guest. I find her in the service station kitchen. Not quite sure what she was offering to do but she had a crowd! ok back on the bus.. still wants a phone, still wants me arrested...
Arrive at the airport.. oh thank goodness nearly over. all guests exit the bus and walk off. Luggage left on the kerbside. Check the ticket.. ahh its my special guests. On this occasiion I have no choice but to drag the bloody thing into the terminal. I find her going through the x rays and tell her to keep the case with her till she checks in as its not my responsibility. shes asking the security staff and police who have no english whatsoever if they can arrest me.
Check in desk time... 5 desks open but my bus was the last to arrive so all the guests dispurse into several queues. I keep my eye on my sepcial guest and then take her passport and ticket to the rep at the check in desk she will be using. I return to help my own queue but several minutes later I hear her shouting and telling everyone her ticket and passport have been stolen! The rep who was a nurse in a past life calmed her down and explained she had them.. ahhh then she should be arrested too. Our special guest despite being asked to calm down by the head rep, my other guests and airport staff continued to shout and generally cause a nuisance till she got to the front of the queue where the check in desk staff refused to check her in as she was drunk! oh noooooo no she cant come back with us noo nooooo.
Thanksfully due to the kindness of a family behind her who volunteered to make sure she boarded the plane. and with explanations about her mental health and lack of meds she was checked in..
The reps after everyone had checked in.. collapsed in a big heap that night!!! so not easy so give a thought for your transfer rep next holiday:

Quote of the Day

2007-05-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.

Oscar Wilde

Sometimes......

2007-05-02T05:36:00.000-07:00

Quote for the day..

2007-04-30T05:52:00.000-07:00

Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.

Michael Caine....

Water, Electric and a Smear Test???????

2007-04-30T04:26:00.000-07:00

I know.. I can hear you thinking... this is another strange title.. well Im sorry but I cant help it...and this wont be a short post!!

For anyone who has bought property here or who plans to this is a tale of obtaining your water and electric subscription.

For you guys its not an easy thing as there is a lot of 'running around' involved and a great deal of red tape. But for me its Ok as this is how I earn my living. As part of what I do I charge people a daily rate and I help out with whatever is required, whether its shopping for furniture, or in many cases now obtaining water and electric supplies in your own names.

Anyways thats the boring stuff!! The tale I will tell is of two dear friends. They're English girls who have a really nice apartment here which they rent out to holiday makers, but they also enjoy it by having as many holidays each year there as they can. These girls are pretty cool as they like to have a good time, even if that includes wearing white and drinking so much that they end up rolling on the floor in the gutter... but hey most good holidays have a night like that dont they?

Theyd had a few problems with their Turkish Estate Agent and he wasn't really proving to be very unhelpful, but they had to get their water and electric sorted so they hired me. Now this was a few years ago and they proved to be the first to have to pay for their Iskan, which everyone does now.. but because they were the first, it was new to me of course.

The Iskan is a builders permit of sorts and before you can have the water and electric put into your name for properites you own here you have to buy the İskan.. This is what I have since found out and I do this almost weekly now with people.

Anyways this day we set out to the council office, unfortunately Oba council has decided that for some obscure reason, they should have their council offices in the most strange place, maybe to make it harder for people to find and save work! Im not sure. But we set off down this road, where I had been given instructions to get to the office. However during the instructions they failed to tell me, we would be so far into the mountains that we needed oxygen and that I should maybe take a spare canister of petrol with me. Needless to say we eventually found the offices and headed in. On past occassions I was ready for what would happen, lots of paperwork to sign, money to be paid and then youre given the little metal numbers to fasten above your apartment door frames. But on this occassion that never happened, I left the girls sitting drinking tea and chatting while I was given the run around and was sent into at least four different office to have papers signed and stamped, I did decide after that, that a good business here would be to open a shop selling these little stamps that they love so much. In one office in particular, no one would deal with me, one lady was busy chatting on hotmail messenger and the other who should have been printing something off for me to get signed by the major.. had jammed up her printer and was sitting blankly staring at it, as if it would suddenly unjam itself. Im afraid after about two hours of the run around I kind of lost it and my voice must have become raised... as a guy came in to intervene but he did get the women working again. I later found out that he was the major of Oba.

After getting my papers, I was sent next door and he was there behind his grand desk in his Air condiditoned office. He treid to explain to me what this Iskan was and why we were being run about but Im afraid to say that by now I was hot, bothered and getting annoyed. he signed, I went to yet another office. Then I was sentt back to the original office. From there we were told we needed to go the the tax office which is in the center of Alanya, pay something, get lots more stamps and signatures, then return.. but not straight away as it was now lunch time. uffffffff

So we drive back into Alanya and start the procedures at the tax office again, desk sign stamp, another desk, sign stamp, the orginal desk, sign stamp then pay the tax. Had lunch, filled the car back up with petrol in readiness for the long trip back to the council office.

Now this is where is gets weird, this is also the first time I did what we had to do next and the last time, so I think the council were just winding us up. They sent us to the Saglik Hoca... what is that I here you all wonder.. well its a kind of clinic.. I know... I know I have no idea why they sent us to a clinic either when all we wanted was water and electric!! but they did. with surprise surprise another piece of paper to be signed and yesss stamped...

We got to the clinic, and we sat waiting for the chap who was the only authorised stamper and signer of papers, and we got the giggles....sitting as we were in the middle of lots of turks with various illnesses, breaks and with very odd looks on there faces as they watched these three English woman collapse into fits of uncontrollable laughter... you know the type.. the one where the more you try to stop, the more you cant help but laugh harder. well we had decided that while we were there we would have a smear, a mamogram and whatever else was on offer..... it was so weird... so very very funny.. Anyways the chief signer come stamper arrived and whilst trying to be professional I asked him what this paper was for. He said it was something to do with having a clean water supply to the apartment! More bizarre.. I asked him who he was and how he would know if the water was clean or not and he just shrugged, grinned when he asked for payment for his stamp and signature, was handed the money, signed stamped and we left. Still in a state of shock, still laughing and with me trying to understand what had just happened. To this day I have never had to do that again even though I have helpsed over 50 people to obtain their water and electric. I expected someone to jump out from behind a bush and say we had been caught on some badly made poorly produced show that like to make fools of people!!

Back to the very first office now, a few stamps signatures and payment later we could do what we actually went in for and we came away with the little metal plate for the door, and the girls were the proud owner of a water supply.

Then to Alanya to the Tedas office, where they deal with your electric supply. Fortunately the people in there especailly one really nice guy are extremely helpful, and its just as well as the office is a maze of tiny office, each containing a stamp on a desk. and you have to visit almost every office and pay homage to every stamp. while I was running around doing this, the girls were seated, offered teas and the staff were practising their English on them ! This part, as always went smoothly and relatively cheaply, no one tried to send up for a check up or a smear!!! However I do go in that office a lot and the guy helps me a lot more than maybe he would with turks as he wants me to find him a nice english lady to chat with online to practise his English. So if there are any nice ladies out there who will help him and make my life easier as I have promised him, then mail me !!

The girls were deposited back at home, the proud owners of metal numbers for both their water and electric. They came close to havign a smear test to get them but we did it.....

And the moral.... if you have property and need the water and electric in your name.. Make sure you have someone with you to help.. Its not easy!!!

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-consultancy-service.html

http://turkishhomesandhelp.blogspot.com/

http://www.sxc.hu/home

The Camel Conspiracy.......

2007-04-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

Normally on my posts, I like to provide a little fact, a little information and a little light entertainment. However with this post I added a few links so if you really want to learn about camels you can read up. There is even camel wrestling held here in Turkey which I have also posted a link for..
This post is different, due to my feelings about camels. I am a great animal lover, even though I have major allergies to dogs cats and anything with feathers, which is of great trouble to me.. but I admire from a distance and I truly love animals.
However, I firmly believe that camels arent animals.. they were created and put on Gods earth just to hate me. I think that in some camel training school somewhere in Turkey where there is a photograph of me, a bad photograph as I never take good photos.. and the camels train with this pictuıre.. They train how to spit!!
I have had many incidents concerning camels since Ive lived here, even though I would walk 1000m out of my way or risk getting run over crossing a street rather than walk near one nowadays.. They find me out.. I think its a conspiracy.. maybe I will write a best seller called the Camel Conspiracy and uncover all this subterfuge one day.. and maybe not as then I might have to purposely go near one of them. Its not that I have a phobia or anything, its just that camels and I hate each other.. We will never attend a peace conference, or sit round a table to negotiate a cease fire of hostilities, this is to death ....There are many incidents, but the camels that stay in my mind as being the most hateful and hated are the ones Ill tell you about.
A couple of years ago when I worked for an English holiday company as a rep , I could call them by name but they treated me badly at the end of my employment so Im not giving then a free mention.. anyways when I worked for them I also worked as a guide and every Tuesday, I would take a minibus of my nice guests to a wonderful waterfall called Duden.(Ill post about Antalya and the sites later in my blog) Across the road from the gates of the waterfall entrance every time we visited were at least four maybe five camels parked up. or whatever you do with camels..They waited for tourists and charged for pictures to be taken and for rides. The minibus had no choice but to park behind them, several metres I might add, but behind them in the car park as there was no safe place to let the guests out of the bus. and believe me I looked for alternatives. I would jump out of the front of the bus, open the door and help guests out, as I was a great guide!.. then close the door and follow them past these devils in fur costs and across the road to the waterfall entrance where my guests were waiting for me. On hundreds of ocassions my guests would walk past the hideous smelly beasts without any problems. Sometimes to my horror they would stop and 'pet' them or say how sweet they were. uffffffff
But you know every time I was within 3m of these creatures of lucifer, they would start to shuffle about, make terrible noises and sort of blow raspberries at me. It has been known for them to actually try and nip me as I walked past!! The guys who handled them, laughed. hhahah yeah what fun!! but they told me it was just me. No one else was ever bothered!! Every time the trip round the waterfalls was over the guests would dash back across the road to take pictures and ride these dentistry challenged, halitosis riddled monsters and every time everyone would laugh as these devil worshipping ships of the desert tried to physically attack me.
I tried over the years this happened various tactics, I changed my clothes, maybe the hideous reps outfit offended them.. I changed my perfume, maybe it was sending out the wrong signal, but I couldnt find any eau d camel.... I changed my attitude and tried to get nearer and show no fear. But nothing changed.. One one occassion a baby camel, and thats a laugh as it was almost as tall as me when it stood up... but a baby camel that was just parked up behind its mother without being tied or anything, stood up and lunged for me.. Me.. no one else just me!
So I have just come to terms that I will never have any camel freinds now. So when youre in Turkey or anywhere where they have these slaves of satan for tourists give a thought for me.. Those camels learned to spit using my picture!!!

http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:mOM31L1w07sJ:www.cankan.com/gturkishfolks/33deve_camel_wrestling.htm+Turkish+camels&hl=tr&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=tr

http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Animals/Camel&image=DSC_2804w2.jpg&img=18&tt=

strange things.... the day after I write this post I find information about a camel beauty pagent !!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070427/od_nm/saudi_camels_beauty_odd_dc

ufffffffffff

HOW TO LEAVE A COMMENT

2007-04-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hi, had an email asking how to leave a comment on my blog. I know.. its in Turkish and I cannot find a way to put it into English. However I hope you would feel inclined to leave a comment. Good Bad or indifferent. As sometimes I wonder if my ideas are shitty!

At the bottom of the page youre reading you will see Yorum Gonder, that means leave a comment... click on that and then all is clear.

Many thanks..

Your House.. or How house prices differ Part 5 Final Part

2007-04-27T11:15:00.001-07:00

Your house as seen by the Tax Assessor

Your House.. or How house prices differ Part 4

2007-04-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

Your house as seen by your appraiser

Your House.. or How house prices differ Part 3

2007-04-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

Your house as seen by your Lender

Your House.. or How house prices differ Part 2

2007-04-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

Your house as seen by THE BUYER

Your House.. or How house prices differ Part 1

2007-04-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

Your house as seen my YOURSELF

The Seven Dwarves of Menopause

2007-04-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

Ok so my blog got a big heavy with all this Estate Agency info so time for a bit of light relief.

Buying Property?... New or old ?

2007-04-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

Again for the moment sticking with the property theme. I would like to discuss the decision between buying old or new properties here in Turkey.

There are some wonderful opportunities to buy cheaper apartments and renovate(labour is cheap here). To find the older properites employ a property finder, normally ex pats who work with, or for estate agents, will look for property on your behalf. Or if you are here visiting look for the word SATİLİK in windows which means FOR SALE but have a turkish speaker with you when you go ask about it.

Renovations can be done quickly and easily eg replacing windows and doors, interior building works new kitchens bathrooms tiling etc. You can do it to your own budget as and when you have the cash and it would be done to your own taste. Many of these older apartments may not be on a holiday complex so you would have no annual property maintanince to pay. The downside is that they probably wont have a pool but you will be living within a block with Turkish people so will have a completely different lifestyle while you are here.

The many new apartments under construction are being built to ever and more sophisicated european standards. A point to note is that all new buildings have to undergo an inspection by the council and receive an ISKAN (building permit) Without this İskan you cannot obtain water and electric suppliers. Thus if you are buying 'do it yourself' ask if the building has an Iskan before you purchase. You may find however with many new buildings that you have to pay for this Iskan prior to having the water and electric in your name and it can cost as much as 1000 euros for the Iskan, tax and water and electric subscriptions.

The obvious advantage to new buidings is that no one has lived there. There will be less maintenance other than the inevitable small snages, but it will be new and brash and will not have developed its own character yet. This would come over the forthcoming years.

Whatever you decide there are lots of options at your disposal from Estate Agents. But at present bear in mind there are few laws governing Estate Agents here in turkey. The only advice I can offer here is to take advantage of recommendations and look at Estate Agents in your own country first? Remember these agents are paid by results and are being paid by the seller to move his property. If you do not sign the contract they dont get paid., so the interests of the estate agents may not necassarily be the same as your best interests.

However they normally have good local knowledge and most offer good practical information. Always bear in mind his first interest is for you to sign, he may not be concerned if the property is right for you, so have a look at serveral properties and with different estate agents if you can, to compare both price and services offered.

Purchasing 'do it yourself' is possible and many ex pats will help you for a reasonable commission.

Whatever you do and whatever you decide, I must say that Turkey is a wonderful place to holiday and to live in so enjoy.

And remember this... Some people come here to retire and die but when they get here they forget why they came.. they are far too busy living!

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/apartments-and-villa-for-sale.html

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/turkish-property-for-sale.html

http://turkishhomesandhelp.blogspot.com/

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-consultancy-service.html

Apartment or Villa.. how to choose?

2007-04-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

Going with the temporary theme of Estate Agency, which Im afraid is something its not easy to get away from living in Alanya at the moment, and staying with the previous post. I decided to give my own Personal opinions on property.

If you are lucky enough to be in a position to consider buying property here I hope this might help,

When dreaming of somewhere to live overseas, either for holidays of retirement, most British people have inmind a cosy house with its own garden, most european or continental people would probably dream about an apartment. Apartments can have many advantages, let me explain..

Apartments in my opinion are perfrect for holiday property, to be used a few times a year. When you leave them you can quite literally lock them and leave them till next time you visit(provided you have made arrangemts for you water and electric bills to be paid). The advantage of an apartment is that normally they are on a holiday complex or site. This means you will have annual property maintainance fee to pay which includes cleaning and maintenance all year. The pool will be kept clean and healthy. Normally on the site there will be a security man/caretaker who may live within the complex itself in a purpose built apartment or in a ground floor apartment near the main entrance door.

If the building itself needs work, then the cost of this is shared between all the tenants. Apartments are cheaper and easier to furnish, as are general day to day running costs than individual houses or villas.

However apartments do have some drawbacks worth noting,

1. very close neighbours, but they may be the same as you and only use the property a few times each year

2. storage space has always been a concern for people in apartments but many of the newer apartments have storage rooms. storage beds can also aid this problem

3. no garden may be an issue to some but how many people want to mow the lawn or pull weeds out in the summer heat here? You do? well I am sure the caretaker won't argue if you offer to help him!

Still not convinced apartments are right for you? Ok well think about a villa.... Ok so you have more space in some villas, but there are penthouse apartments that offer the same space as villas.

You have your own garden and pool.. nice.. but what happens when you leave after your holiday? who will keep your pool clean? What will it cost and will you be worrying all the time that everything is OK? If building work is required there will be no one to share costs with.

You may be wuite a distance from your neighbour, that is great isnt it? No one is watching you, but in your absence no one keeping a freindly eye on your home away from home either.

For holiday homes, and again this is my personal opinion, apartments are the first choice. If after a few years you decide to retire here then upgrade to a villa. After deciding it only takes a day to finish legal issues here. To transfer the tapu(title deeds) into your name is the longest wait and can be up to several months however.

Having made up your mind now all you need do consider is whether you will purchase old or new property and thats another post!!

Please bear in mind Im not professional, this is just my personal opinion based on many years lving and working with foreigners who have bought property here.

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/turkish-property-for-sale.html

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/apartments-and-villa-for-sale.html

http://turkishhomesandhelp.blogspot.com/

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-consultancy-service.html

Apartments and Villa for sale in Turkey

2007-04-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

Since starting this blog several of my past customers have asked if I would list there properties. Not one to miss an opportunity I agreed. But I dont wish to turn my blog into an estate agency so have only listed the basics. If anyone is interested then I will mail pictures and futher details and also the owners details so you can deal direct.

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/turkish-property-for-sale.html

Two BedRoomed Detached Villa for Sale 190,000 euro,
Kargicak, Alanya, Turkey

Fully furnished
Two Bedroomed apartment for sale 90,000 euro
Mahmutlar. Turkey
Partly furnished

Two Bedroomed apartment for sale 110,000 euro
Mahmutlar. Turkey
Fully furnished

Two bedroomed apartment for sale 70,000 euro
Mahmutlar. Turkey

Two bedroomed apartment for sale 65.000 euro
Oba. Turkey

If you are seriously interested in finding and purchasing property here I can find properties for you, to suit your budget.. Just let me know.

Turkeys Tasty Real Estate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20070426/bs_bw/apr2007gb20070425341562

http://turkishhomesandhelp.blogspot.com/

http://realestate.netscape.com/story/2007/04/12/turkey-is-among-the-5-most-attractive-countries-for-real-estate

http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:i6IxUF2n0uEJ:www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Middle_East/Turkey/Antalya_Ili/Mahmutlar-1830085/TravelGuide-Mahmutlar.html+Mahmutlar+Turkey&hl=tr&amp;amp;amp;ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=tr

Flights from Turkey to the UK

2007-04-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

İf anyone is following my posts. You will be aware that my husband is coming home for a holiday this month. yipppeeee

But I made this post as I have spent many many hours on the net loking for flights for him as he has no internet access at the moment.

From Stansted to Antalya...the best flight I could find was a new service Sun Express have started in February. And a return flight cost £135. which I thought was a great deal.

Ive added a link here for Sun Express. But if anyone else has any cheap flight info I would love to post it on here to help others.

http://www.sunexpress.com.tr/english/sunexpress-goes-london_100126_0.html

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-consultancy-service.html

http://www.theclipartsite.com this isnt a direct link. copy and paste into your browser

http:/www.FreeFoto.com

Eye trick

2007-04-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

Posting this just because I think its neat!

Stare at the grey dot in the middle then move your head forwards and backwards..

check out the site.... http://www.eyetricks.dk/brainteasers/pictures/opticalillusions9.php

Turkey Tour...my choice

2007-04-26T05:01:00.000-07:00

Several years ago along with my then partner, who was both a personal and business partner I opened a street side tour agency. (http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/working-here-in-turkey-truth.html) I had this rather nieve idea of trying to provide tourists with something more than the normal Boat trips, Jeep Safaris, Pammukale trips etc.

Ive travelled to some unusual places during my time here in Turkey and my favourite place so far has to be Hatay or Antakya as it is sometimes known.

I travelled there many times with my business partner as his home is close by and its real... its not spoiled by tourism yet, the people are very different too, I suppose more like Turks were before the ivasion of tourists changed them.

Unfortunately luck and timing were not on my side when I opened the tour agency but I had this dream of taking people to see this 'real Turkey'.. where everything is so much cheaper, where you can visit sites of historical interest free, as they have no fences or gates and no one asking admission.

This was my intinery for my dream trip.

Day One. Early start. Travel through the wonderful scenery of Gazipasa, Anamur and Mersin to arrive at Osmaniye at approximately 5pm. Stopping along the way for several comfort stops.
Stay at Kale Hotel

Day Two After early breakfast, spend the morning visiting Aslantas open air museum. Then on to Iskenderun for lunch. free time for shopping and sightseeing. Then on to Hatay. Stay at the Ozcihan Hotel

Day Three Spend morning sightseeing. Harbiye waterfall. St Pierre Church(first church in the world) Museum and then into Hatay itself. spend the afternoon in the old part of Hatay which is a wonderful authentic bazaar with bargains galore. Once again stay at the Ozcihan Hotel.

Day Four Spend the morning once again shopping in Hatay. Then leave after lunch to arrive at Mersin for afternoon shopping and sightseeing. Stay at Nobel Hotel

Day Five Early start back to Alanya, stopping at Cennet Cehennem(Heaven and Hell). Once again comfort stops along the way.

Ive stayed in all the hotels I had planned and visited all these places myself. It would have been so nice to share these experiences with other people.

If anyone wants to experiences any of these places with or without me.. I would be happy to send information and advice wherever I could. If there was a group opf people wishing to undertake this tour I would also be happy to talk and see if anything can be arranged..

I plan a series of short posts with some of these and other places in Turkey so keep popping in to check.

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-consultancy-service.html

CHANGED MY FORMAT

2007-04-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

For anyone who has visited my blog before you will of course see that I have changed the colour and format to make it easier to read and browse as I add extra pages. Any comments on this would be appreciated and any comments as to how to improve as welcome...

Turkey Map.. but Im really showing off

2007-04-25T06:06:00.000-07:00

One of my hobbies when I first came to Turkey was cross stiching..

I found that I couldnt find the same fabric or cotten here but eventually found an alternative. Link this to the fact that I never have a lot of spare cash and one Christmas a few years ago I decided to make my parents a map of the Uk as a present. Unfortunately even though I spend as many as eight hours a day working on it some days and I started it in September.. it wasnt finished until March. I admired it so much everytime I went to visit my parents apartment that I made myself one. Shown here with my youngest son. He's there just so you can see the scale of this work. But I loved every minute of finishing these, and they are amazing.

The following year I decided to create my own map of Turkey.. the England one had been done from a chart. But I couldnt find a chart of Turkey... so I designed my own. made my parents one, then made myself one. one for a good freind and another is half completed.

I used to sit in a cafe in the harbour here and work as I watched my kids fishing so everytime I look at it, it brings back happy memories. I always get short of charts as they are hard to find here and very expensive, so if anyone wants to help out with charts then contact me please on tina_keles@hotmail.com

added a link for one of my favourite magazines.. http://www.crossstitchermagazine.co.uk

Hi Tech Turkey??

2007-04-25T05:45:00.000-07:00

Could this happen in Turkey??? yessssssss course it could....thats why I love this place so much

For more stories try http://www.traveljournals.net

Turkish Worry Beads.. Tespih

2007-04-25T05:17:00.000-07:00

When I was a holiday rep I was asked a lot about the strings of beads sold in many shops, and seen in the hands of many turkish men.
These are called tespih and come in a multitude of colours, sizes and are made from many things including glass, ceramic and plastic.
The word tespih means prayer beads or rosary . Strings of tespih with ninety nine beads signify the ninety nine names of God in Islam. Most tespih however have 33 beads. There are three prayers which are said while turning these beads over in your fingers. The first is praise be to God. the second Glory be to God and the third God is most great. to complete the full prayer. each stage of the prayer is to be done on 33 beads so the believer will use his tespih three times. After this is complete a final prayer is said bringing the total to 100 as dictated in the koran.
Each part of the tespih has its own meaning and even if you arent Muslim and dont understand Islam there are some really nice tespihs that just make great ornaments.

I have many on the walls of my apartment.

Update currently selling a few of worry beads through E bay so if youre interested take a look http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/05/worry-beads-for-sale.html

Raki aka Lions milk... and the yukka plant?? is there a connection?

2007-04-25T02:09:00.000-07:00

Now heres a very odd combination of topics I hear you thinking.. but trust me. read to the end and the connection will be made very clear.

Raki is the national drink here. It is a clear liquid than smells like aniseed but when water is added, and thats how it is taken.. then the colour changes to a milky colour and it is known as Aslan sut or lions milk.

Raki started back in the second half of the 1800’s. It began to replace wine in the pubs and it is normally only drunk by clever people when accompanied by mezes.. the traditional turkish starters.. salads, cheese or fruits and nibbles of cucumber or carrots..

The songs that are sung at the raki tables are sometimes sad, sometimes happy, and sometimes about nothing at all; the purpose is to just drink raki and talk.

In the old days, drinking raki is seen as the first step into manhood. It’s a proud day for a father when his son can drink raki; afterall it means that his son is a man now. Noone was used to seeing women or young people drink raki.

But, as time passes by, it also keeps up with the times and even the ladies take their place at these tables.

Whatever happens, however much the times change, raki stays as an indispensable part of Turkish culture. Along with the songs and the conversation…

Now I have lived here many years and only on a very few occasions have I taken a glass or three of raki. The first few were with my ex business partner who was a big 'fan' of the raki culture and we would sit in dark smokey bars after work, while he sang, danced and enjoyed raki.. I of course was obliged to join in !! but after a couple of these sessions I volunteered to drive his mercedes car home which seemed like a better deal. One of the reasons for this was that no one told me that if you drink water the morning after drinking raki, you become drunk again!

However my raki drinking days were not over.. yet....

A few years ago, before I was a married woman I hasten to add.. I was asked out by a few freinds. Nothing special just a girlie night out. Ok Im up for that. It was still early in the season and fairly quiet so even better, not crowds or drunken tourists....ha just the drunken locals.. namely us!

Now I have to skip a lot of that night, as to be honest I cant remember it ! But I was drinking raki.. it started as a joke with a freind and became a challenge.. and I love a challenge.

Anyways I have to skip the evening itself. and I cant even say I used a Beer Scooter to get home as will become clear.(http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/beer-scooter.html)

The next morning, I woke up and opened my eyes.. İt took a while for the room to come into focus, but eventually it slowed down and stopped spinning. It was then I realised I was still totally dressed. Ufffff dont you just hate that? I climbed out of bed and my legs hurt. Damn what had I been doing? I opened the bedroom door, still only half awake and almost and I mean almost took my eye out on the biggest yukka plant you have ever seen in your life. Parked right outside my bedroom door!! What the hell??? I pushed past the bastard thing, it was as sharp as needles and stabbed as I pushed it out of the way. As I made it to the bathroom I noticed that my black stockings were full of holes? what the hell?

I showered and sort of came round. I left the bathroom and then I saw the mess in my hallway, clearly caused from dragging this and Im sorry for the swearing but clearly caused by dragging this Motha Fukka Yukka aka MFY plant across my hall way. there was soil and mess everywhere.

In the shower I had discovered why my stockings were in shreds... as my legs were too. The otherwise known as MFY plant had scratched me everywhere.

I was astounded... what had I done?

Shortly after I had taken a few cups of coffee and a small amount of breakfast, I cleaned the mess up in my hallway and dragged the plant, still stabbing me into the corner out of the way. and almost instantly as Id done this my door bell rang. I answered the door nursing my stab wounds, this time my arms. It was the landlords wife.. She only ever came to tell me off for something or to collect money, and on this occasion I was broke and hoped it was a telling off...

She said a polite Good Morning, then asked me if I knew anything about the mess in the stair well? Mess I asked? yes... seemed there was soil and earth all the way up the stairs, and I lived on a high third floor in those days! NOOO says I.. sorry I dont know anything..

She left my door with a knowing look, both of us knowing I did know as the soil abruptly stopped outside my door! oops

Nothing else happened, the stairs were cleaned and the MFY smirked silently from its corner.

Over the next few days I started to get flash backs and it seems that as all the girls split up to go their own ways home I had taken a shine to this MFY which was outside a hotel that had closed for the winter... I had dragged the MFY which must have kicked and scratched me all the way home. The hotel was a fair distance from my apartment and I can only hope that because it was probably near to 4am in the morning when this theft took place that no one saw this overweight, but very classy dressed english woman, dragging a 5'5'' MFY up the street!

For days the guilt weighed heavy on me(well that sounds good!) wondering what I could do with this monsterous killer plant. Could I maybe just launch it off my balcony one night in the dark? Hardly, it would have taken my eye with it ! So in the end I did the only thing I could.. several weeks later during the early hours of the morning. I placed the plant on a sheet and dragged it kicking and scratching back downstairs and back down the street to its home. I was horrified and exhausted as clearly this was a job that should have only been undertaken under the influence of Lions milk.

I placed the plant back, but me being me I had purchased a small plastic bucket and spade, you know the type that kids use on the beach.. I placed the bucket and spade in the MFY's pot along with a note saying... 'Sorry I couldnt take the pressure anymore, had to get away for a few weeks but its good to be home'

I often wonder what the people in the hotel thought when the plant vanished, but I really would like to know what they thought when it turned back up again.

Me? well I still nurse the scars from my encounter with Raki and the MFY plant. My guilt sometimes gets the better of me..( hahahahaha sorry )

The moral.... well if you want to drink Raki... dont wear stockings!! and take gloves with you just in case you meet a MFY plant of your own.

http://www.eferaki.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raki_%28alcoholic_beverage%29

MY CONSULTANCY SERVICE

2007-04-25T01:39:00.000-07:00

If you have read many of my posts, you will see I have lived here a long time and done many many things in order to continue to live here.

Part of my work now involves working with foreigners who have bought properites here and who need help with banks, water electric, insurance. Basically whatever they need. I offer a daily service for this. so if there is anyone in the Alanya area who needs my help. then please contact me on tina_keles@hotmail.com

I also hold keys and regularly check properties for customers and having a key enables them to get their properties cleaned before they arrive or hampers put into fridges...

After starting this blog I has recently been contacted by a reader to ask if I could give out advise online so have decided to start up an online consultancy service as well for anyone interested.

I will charge 20 euros, payable before the consultation by Pay Pal, as you pay, mail me with the information you are seeking or a general outline so that I can research anything before hand. It can be about any subject, not just property. Then I will discuss your advice online for up to 30 minutes with you. Again if anyone is interested mail me at tina_keles@hotmail.com

http://turkishhomesandhelp.blogspot.com/

www.paypal.com

Turkish Tea and God damn it explained !!!

2007-04-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

If you have ever visited Turkey you will be aware that drinking tea is a way of life here. Black tea can be drunk at any time of the day or night.

If you visit a Turkish shop, business or home , you will surely be offered a cup of tea whether before or after a meal. It is so much a part of the way of life here , it is worthwhile to know a little about the real way to drink Turkish tea.

The Turks always drink their tea black. It is served in small tulip shaped glasses not in the familiar cup or beaker. You can see the colour of the tea through the glass. The tea should be crystal clear and of a deep mahogany colour. Sugar or sugar cubes may be added but milk is a strict no-no. You will also notice that the majority of Turks use a lot of sugar in their tea.

Turkish tea is normally very strong, so it is wiser to drink it from the small tea glasses. Very strong tea is poured into the glasses and it is then topped up by cutting it with water to make it as strong or light as you choose, so you can ask for weaker tea if you prefer and they will add less tea and more water . You can have ‘acik cay’ weaker tea or ‘koyu cay,’ which is the stronger more normally served tea. The tea is always very hot, so be careful.

If you wish to make Turkish tea yourself.. You need a special kettle that is in two parts. One on top of the other. The boiling water is placed in the bottom kettle and the tea is spooned into the top kettle. One spoon for each person and an extra amount 'for the pot' I personally always overmake my tea as visitors especially make take three or four glasses each. Once the water in the bottom kettle is boiling then pour it into the top kettle and turn the heat down under the kettle and let the tea brew. Pour it into the glasses and a good tip here is to make sure their is a spoon in the glass to avoid the heat shattering your glass! No one told me this for a long time and I shattered many tea glasses when I first started making tea ! Pour in the tea first, then top the glass up with the boiling water from the bottom kettle. You have to experiment until you find the correct 'balance' for your taste or the taste of your family.

Although Black teas is the most popular here.. There is also Ada Cay which you may be served, this is yellow in colour and normally has a piece of sage in it.. This sage tea is very good if you have a stomach upset.. Other teas include fruit tea.. When I first came here it was just apple tea which is very sweet and great in the hot weather and can be made and drunk cold like fruit juice. But this is VERY high in sugar, so if youre vary of this ask for unsweetened... Now over the years and with the tourist industry it seems possible to get fruit teas in every flavour from Pomegranite to Pineapple.

But whatever you choose, as people will say to you here in Turkey Affiyet Olsun.. This is said to you everytime you are given anything to eat or drink and it means Bon Appetite or enjoy your meal.

Most tourists here for the first time take tea and glasses back home with them.. And I have done this.. But its just not the same back home.. Is it??

Now the tale to go with the tea? as there must surely be one...

Well there is..and I will tell you..... When we first moved here to Turkey from the Uk, my two small children who were then 6 and 3 spoke no Turkish whatsoever, like me! It was hard and we learned together to start with, but they almost instantly overtook me and in three months could speak very very good Turkish. but in the first few months we paid to get them into a private school as the eldest had already undertaken several years in English schools... They had lunch in a canteen at school and they would be full of tales and stories when I collected them every afternoon.

One afternoon they were telling my ex husband and I stories and my eldest son explained that the 'dinner lady ' always said something to him and his brother at lunch time, but he couldnt remember it and didnt know what it meant. My ex told him to listen careful and then he would translate it for him.

Several nights later we were all watching Turkish TV which is a post all in itself, when my eldest son said.. see Dad thats what the dinner lady says. We all listened again and it was weird as it was an action film we were watching... The guy said Lanet Olsun several times and my eldest son again said 'thats it' thats what she says....every day to Kaan and me... I asked my husband to explain and he said rather sheepishly that it meant 'God damn it'.. I was horrified, why would the bloody dinner lady say that to my kids??? was she offended as they were part English, ufff Id be up at the school tomorrow to sort this out.. like all feisty Mums should... My husband could see I was getting hot under the collar and laughed which made me worse... Then he explained that Aslan my son must be confused as the dinner lady was probably saying affiyet olsun which means bon appetite or enjoy your food!!!

Boy am I glad I didnt go to shcool and complain ! I found I took far more interest in learning Turkish after that.

Turkish Evil Eye

2007-04-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

Wherever you go in Turkey you will be confronted with a vast array of the evil eyes...

The main will be glass, ceramics and gold. But they can also be seen on clothing, fabric, carpets, and in many shops selling 'aimed at tourist items'...If you look carefully you will also see ceramic eyes set into the floors and walls of new buildings. And they should be hung over doors if youre given one.

The evil eye is a protection against evil, and there are many ways that this is explained. The way I like to explain it to anyone who asked when I was a rep is that these eyes are really to ward off feelings of jealously.. If the evil or bad feeling is headed your way, then its reflected back to the sender from the eye you have pinned to you or that youre wearing, thereby protecting you.

New born babies are given the gold version of these as a gift and they are normally pinned on the back of their clothing with red ribbons, but eyes arent just for babies and children. You might have a small one pinned on you from a shopkeeper or if you attend a wedding.. sometimes just as a gift or a way of a Turk saying thankyou.

The gold ones in particular make wonderful gifts when you can explain the reason behind them and the shop you buy from will make a small package of your purchase.

TURKİSH PROPERTY FOR SALE

2007-04-24T15:26:00.000-07:00

65,000 Euros

This post stems from the previous post where I have explained how hard it is to work here at times. By current work is mainly with Irish people who bought apartments and are sitll buying apartments here in Alanya Oba and Mahmutlar.

I look after several and most of these customers are now firm freinds. Some ask me to help them out when they are selling or buying properties and I am happy to do so of course.

This apartment is owned by an Irish guy, he bought it a couple of years ago but was never able to use it so he is selling it..

Its ground floor and has two bedrooms, a living room with an open plan kitchen, and bathroom. Its on a very well laid out and maintained site near the by pass in Oba. Near Metro supermarket and the new Alanya Shopping centre recently opened. The site has its own swimming pool and the gardens and site in general are beautifully maintained.

Im not an estate agent. But I am honest, so if anyone is interested in this apartment. I will let you deal directly with the owner in Ireland. I wont tag on thousands of euros as my 'cut' but I will be honest and charge you 3% commission and the sellers 3%. commission.

If anyone is interested. You can mail me at tina_keles@hotmail.com and I will put you directly in contact with the owners, I will also be available to help with any query or advise that might be needed.

I have other ex customers who are now freinds who are selling their properties as well but I have no pics as yet. But if you are considering purchasing property in Turkey and want help finding one to suit your budget.. then mail me.. I can find properties starting from around 40,000 euros here for an older small apartment, up to brand new builds direct fromt he builders, or off plan... This isnt a commerical blog site.. But Im not one to not take advantage whereever I can !!

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/apartments-and-villa-for-sale.html

http://turkishhomesandhelp.blogspot.com/

Working here in Turkey.. The truth.......

2007-04-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hello... Ive thought long and hard about this post, and decided to be honest and truthful as a lot of girls may well read this blog who are considering moving here or who are already here adn I dont want to paint a rosy picture of life here in Turkey.

Sure I love it, been here almost nine years and I will never go back to the Uk to live. But its been hard, harder than hard at times.. on more than one occassion I have found myself looking through jacket pockets and handbags to find enough for bread money. and thats not a lie.

But my circumstances are different I was a single Mum here, by choice I guess. I kicked my ex out, which I am told took courage.. but I stayed here as I guess at the time I was kind of stuck. No money to move back with and no where to live if I did. so I stayed put and decided to make the best of it.

My advantage is that I have a Turkish ID card.. I took citizenship way back in 1991 when I got married as then it was much easier.

First job I did was a holiday transfer rep. Not a full time job but if youre here with a partner
who is working and you just need a further income then its not bad. Normally in the region of £20 to £25 per transfer ( a departure and an arrival) and all you do is make sure that the tourists are safely depositied at the airport or hotel.. It can be a fun job you get to meet nice people but it can also be a miserable horrible job if the weather is bad or you have drunks on board. In Alanya the bulk of transfers were Sundays but I guess in other resorts you can find more days to work. Most holiday companies will make sure you haev the appropraite work visas now. It was a good start for me but not enough cash however

So heres a brief rundown of the things I have done in an effort to pay the bills.

Spent five days a week, every week for two years knitting soft toys.. spent the other two days each week outsdie in all weather on a craft fayre selling them.

Worked in a restaurant where I was mainly employed to encourage tourists in as it was a typical turkish restaurant. worked 6 days a week 14 hour days and one the seventh day I cooked Sunday lunches as the chefs didnt know how to do it.. then I did an airport transfer.

Worked as a part time holiday rep and a part time guide which made me 7 days a week work.

Opened a tour street tour agency up along with a business partner, worked 14 hour days 7 days but went under as it was the year the Iraq war started and the resort was empty

Wrote and self printed a book about living and holidaying in Turkey

Worked with my business partner in an effort to export fruit to the UK. learnt the business from picking the fruit to packing the fruit and shipping etc. arguments meant the parnership finished...

Then a stroke of luck finally.... whilse I was doing airport transfers, many people were asking me where they opened bank accounts, where they bought furniture etc.. and this was about four years ago before the resorts were flooded with shops... so I had business cards printed and I gave them out. after about six months I had my first customers and I charged a daily rate and I would do with them whatever they needed. Purchasing furniture, opening bank accounts finding insurance, dealing with water and electric, whatever they wanted I would do with them.. saving them time and money and inconvenience. It also led to me looking after their properties while they were back home. and I charges a small fee for this service... This worked out well for two almost three years but the property boom has peaked and dipped now and my services arent in so much demand. I bought a car during this time and did airport transfer as well..

I also found a couple of apartments for people who were on low budgets. and I was paid commission but was honest from the outset. Thats my problem Im too honest I guess. Over the years ı could have ripped people off in so many ways, as when they first come here its complicated and so different.. But I never. I offered an honest days work for an honest days pay.. and Im glad I was able to resist the tempation to con anyone as many of my customers have now become real good freinds. and I still collect and take them to the airports but there is no work left for me as they are now sorted and established and thats something I encourage them to do.

Now my husband is in the Uk as he needs to learn English to proceed with this business plans and Im once again looking for work and wondering what this season has in store. Ive approached a few foreign companies as thats where the best wages are but there seems to be very little..

I will still continue with airport transfers.. I will still seek for properties when Im approached and asked to. and I might have a job as a cloer with a local estate agent but its all ifs and buts.

This is the aim of this post. To show you that as a foreigner, if you live here. Nothing but nothing is ever certain, you have to come to terms with the rtisks of no work. You have to think on your feet and try and fill the gaps in the job market. Learn the language this makes job prospects better. but remember most jobs especailly in resorts.. You work like a donkey all summer and then in the winter there is nothing.. so you have to earn enough in the summer to get you through the winter. and at the end of the winter you start all over again.

If youre considering moving here.. dont do it lightly. think it through.. ok the weather is great the people wonderful. but life is not so easy and it seems to be getting harder......

If anyone wants any help or advice post a comment with your e mails address and Ill help if I can.

And not one to miss an opportunity I have several of my customers wishing to sell their apartments so I will be putting an estate agency post on here shortly. and if you are considering buying property I can help you find it.. wherever in Turkey you want.. not just here in Alanya.

This is a long post... but trust me its been a long nine years! Theres no magic involved or luck that Im still here.. its sheer hard work. so be prepared....

Thanks for sticking it out to the end.

www.britishembassy.gov.uk/turkey
www.turkeytravelplanner.com/details/BorderFormalities/work_visa.html

http://www.mymerhaba.com/en/main/content.asp_Q_id_E_205

http://turkishhomesandhelp.blogspot.com/

http://tinasturkeytales.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-consultancy-service.html

Turkish Toilets and a good reason not to upset your holiday rep!!

2007-04-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

I know for anyone who has never been to Turkey that this will seem like a strange post.. But for anyone who has been and who has either tavelled here years ago or travelled to out of the way places... You will understand.

Original Turkish toilets are basically holes. You stand straddled over the hole.. do your thing then there is a tap at the side to rinse your thing away.... but there is almost never toilet paper and almost always a wet floor to drag yours trousers in and almost always a smell... sometimes in poorly looked after 'LAST STOP COS IM DESPERATE' toilets there is even a stench... an unbelievable undiscribable stench.

Now I have to tell you a tale here or my blog title is a lie... And there is a moral here as well.... never to upset your transfer rep on the way to the airport... but a few years ago when I was a holiday transfer rep for an Irish company, I had two really obnoxious girls on my coach. They pissed me off playing games smoking a cigarette before we even left the resort, they called me Fat Hitler when I finally threatened to leave them if they didnt board the bus.. Wouldnt have minded but they both had bums that looked like kids playing under a blanket when they walked!!

Anyways.. one of the 'twig' women plonked herself down next to me only a few minutes after leaving the resort saying and I quote here 'I need a piss'... she had actually sat on my bag and broken my sunglasses as well so I was well pleased. Then the other 'twig woman' moved to the front of the coach to explain that she needed a 'piss' as well..

So I explained to the driver in turkish of course that he was to pull into the P& O garage some way down the road so they could use the toilet... he was such a sweet guy who Id worked with for almost two seasons and started to explain that just a short way further on was the Shell garage which was clean and to european standards... I told him I knew.. but wanted to stop at the P&O garage...

Ok we pulled in.. I warned sorry asked respectfully that the other passengers remain seated and I left the coach with the two twigs!! Ha... they shouldnt have called me names....... As we walked towards the toilets.. I warned them in my sweet sickly reps voice that the toilets might not be up to european standards as this garage was used 24 hours a day by lorry drivers but it was the closest!

I stood about 2 metres from the door as we approached and left them to it... As they entered.. almost instantly I heard the pair of them start to retch, as the smell must have been just terrible. I heard them coughing, retching and generally swearing. especially the one that had tight jeans on that she clearly couldnt get over her fat bum quick enough !!!

They exited the toilet in total disarray, one had peed on her skirt in an effort to hold her nose at the same time as doing her thing!! the other had wet jeans at the bottom and had exited the toilet with her jeans still haif way up as she said she couldnt stand the smell anymore!

I apologised in my sweet reps voice again and said thats why I had asked everyone to make sure they had visited the toilet before we left the hotel as we had no scheduled stops on the way to the airport. They got on the coach and I never heard another word from them all the way to the airport....

As I sat down.. the driver smiled at me before pulling the coach out of the garage and said that I should remind him never to upset me.. He winked. we smiled knowingley and drove off.

I have added a great link to this post....

take a look for yourself http://www.turkishlanguage.co.uk/signstuvalet.htm

but its also a good site for lots of other information as well.. enjoy

And before anyone starts to jump on me... When these toilets are kept clean as they always are in peoples homes and lots of public places.. althought the trend is now for european style toilets.. They are supposed tobe more hygenic. Dont let my post put you off visiting Turkey...

English Girlfriends of Turkish Men

2007-04-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, I did an airport transfer for a lady who was travelling out here on her own to see her boyfreind. Who Im happy to say she has now married and who lives int he Uk with her.

Berni became a good friend of mine, although Im ashamed to say I have lost touch with her as Ive been in the dumps for a while.. But as I come out of them I will reconnect with her. Anyways Berni told me about a site that was all English girls who has become entangled with Turks... and they posted help and advice for each other and more important moral support during tough times. Maybe they were living apart, or trying to obtain visas... whatever the reason and whatever the help and advice needed it was there.

I joined and I check the site regularly, when my husband was trying to get his visa I found a great deal of up to date information and advice there and the girls are great.

So if you have been daft enough to hook up to a Turk.. check this site out
http://groups.msn.com/englishgirlfriendsofturkishmen

Theres also a similar site for women married to Turkish men

http://groups.msn.com/englishwomenmarriedtoturkishmen

there is something for everyone..

One more thing I would like to add.. I hear a lot of the bad reputation that Turkish men have and I hear a laot of published stories in Uk magazines. If anyone has a positive story to tell in a few sentences then I would love to post it on here to try and redress the balance and show that not all Turkish men are liars, two timers and cheats! Come of girls send me your stories so I can post them. A pic would also be nice to post as well..

tina_keles@hotmail.com

Girls drink when in Turkey ... but be careful

2007-04-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

This is a tale of a great friend of mine. Jeannine...I love this woman like shes my sister.. many years ago when I was a holiday rep for an english company based in Belek I met Jeannine, she came on holiday with her family. We hit it off instantly as she comes from South Kirby which is only a few miles from Campsall, Doncaster where I was born and bred.

We spend most of her holiday chatting as I was guiding as well and went out every day on trips and tours.

Later the same year Jeannine came on holiday again just with her Mum and every year since then which is about 6 years ago. She comes twice a year. On her own. She stays in the Papillion Belvil which is a really nice hotel in Belek, Antalya. Needless to say, this hotel is like Jeannines second home. She comes to chill, to get away from the stresses and strains of family and working life and I think shes great for having the nerve to do that. She works hard and saves for her holiday and brings gifts for staff and their familes. she knows whos wife has had a baby and whose just married.. They are her second family and they treat her as such. She is treated like a long lost freind when she turns up.. not a customer.

However this has given Jeannine the wrong impression to a degree about how she should behave and what is acceptable here in Turkey.

When shes in the hotel she hugs and kisses most of the animation team, she knows everyone from the Managers to the cleaners and all inbetween. For the past two years I have met Jeannine when she comes in March and I collect her from the airport, take her to the hotel and stay one or two nights with her. Ive seen this first hand and she is well loved and respected as guys know she is there solely to chill out and charge her batteries.

However things went very wrong this year... Jeannine has been to turkey many times, as many as 16 maybe 17 but has only ever seen the hotel, a small amount of Antalya when I took her into the city one day and Kadriye the nearest place to the hotel. We decided it would be nice for her to see the 'real' Turkey, to meet by Mum and boys again and see Alanya.

So on her last visit I collected her and brought her to stay at my home for a few days before she went to the hotel. We had a couple of nice days, showed her round got some great pics, then we decided to hit the town! This is where is all went wrong. Jeannine is great I love her dearly but she is a tactile person and this gives the wrong impression here. To cut a long story short.. by the end of the evening Jeaninne had lost her two bracelets, a chain and her camera.. all stolen from her while a guy tried to 'cuddle' her.

We went to the police station and only becuase Ive lived here a long time and knew the right police, did we manage to have a complaint filled out so she could claim from her insurance, otherwise it would have been even worse.

Im not going into details. but girls if youre coming here on holiday, be careful.. The charmers here arent always charming. Sometimes they are thieves liars and cheats.

I love this country and all about it, including the people, but sometimes when girls and women come on holiday and I have seen it many times in the years Ive lived here.... You do leave your brains and common sense on the aircraft seat as you leave the plane! And there are more posts there for me when I have the time to recount them.. trust me I have seen everything here..

Just be careful, especially if youve had a drink..

www.turkeytravelplanner.com/details/WomenTravelers/index.html