Almost expat

Well at the weekend, myself and MHTTB had our first major domestic, and yes it's all cool now, but it got me thinking. In my British life I have always been independent but since I have been over here I have had to rely on MHTTB to drive me around, speak for me and generally hold my hand. This is just not me at all. I decided on Tuesday, as it will be a while until I can purchase a car, I would hire one for 2 months and get myself out there alone and driving. As I may or may not have mentioned, a lot (but not all) Turkish drivers are down right dangerous. Red light? Pah check the coast is clear and ignore it! The driver in front dared to hesitate a nano second after the light changed green? Ha TOOT TOOT TOOT, indicators? What are indicators? quite literally you need eyes up your arse  bottom. So with that in mind, it was tempting to carry on being needy, but I contacted a car hire company instead. I got a good deal on a Fiat Albea at £550 for 2 months, the morning of delivery, they

It's been a crazy few days, MHTTB's Auntie came to visit from Izmir. There are different words for Aunt in Turkish, if she is your mothers sister she is Teyze if she is your fathers sister she is Hala, same for uncle, on your mothers side he is Dayi on your fathers side he is Amca. In this case, Fatma was Teyze. We went over Ozlems to see them and found the whole family there. The second day we went and picked them up and spent a nice afternoon at Calis beach and decided on the spur of the moment to come back to the apartment for a barby. Now my Turkish is almost non existant but some of the other family came over and they started playing a game called vampires. Everyone picks a piece of paper and you are either a peasant or a vampire. There are 2 vampires and everyone closes their eyes then the two vampires open them and then the others, after opening their eyes have to guess who the vampires are. A simple enough game, but it turned into raucous laughter. I didn't have a c

I went off to the PTT on Thursday to collect my parcel. I wasn't confident, I have heard horror stories about how chaotic the sorting office is, but when I got there, there was a nice man calling people with calling cards into a back room where he found my parcel. It came from my oldest friend and I was delighted, when I got outside and opened it to discover these!! Thank you Sue, you know just how to make a girl happy Also this week, I found a really nice garden centre. A few months ago, I bought some pots but as it was winter there wasn't much to plant, then a week ago we happened upon a big garden centre that had a selection of spring plants which is where I went back to this week. I got a nice selection of Pansies and Primulas, I need to go back as I noticed she had a good selection of Tulip and Hyacinth  bulbs. I love Hyacinths, the pungent fragrance they give off will be nice on the  balcony. MHTTB's friend is coming today to extend the balcony out by a foot or