Almost expat

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wedding

August 11, 2018

This week I attended a wedding. MHTTB's niece got the first part over with at the civic centre, although they are legally married they will stay living with their families until the main wedding celebration on the 15th of September, where all the extended family will arrive from afar. It was a lovely little ceremony and the dress was so pretty. Before the big wedding party there will be a henna party for the ladies, my niece and daughter will be over when these take place and they have been invited to come along too. At the legal ceremony, the couple are handed a red book which is also used to record the birth of any children I went out on the boat this week. A British family had rented the boat privately but had booked it via an agent in Olu Deniz. They were a nice family of Goan decent, and had specifically asked to be taken to a sandy beach so the children could play on the beach, but there are no sandy beaches along the coast here, only private beaches with imported sa

long time no see

July 30, 2018

It's about time I blogged, I cannot believe the last time was in April. I have been doing 'stuff' To start off, at the beginning of April, MHTTB and myself went off to Alacate, which is close to Cesme, just past Izmir and a good 5 hour drive away. Aunties Fatma and Sedika live there and aunty Gonul was visiting. Alacate is a beautiful place set in 2 halves. Alacate old town and the new part. aunty Sedika lives in the old part, which is narrow lanes and fabulous old houses with square fronted bay windows upstairs. It is very Greek looking and a lot of the properties have been renovated by wealthy Izmiri residents. We spent 4 days there and travelled into Cesme which has a beautiful castle. To be honest, as a tourist destination we found it quite expensive, we spend 80tl on 2 cokes, a beer, a plate of chips and a toastie but it was well worth the visit. It was 4 days of barbeques and sitting around tables not being able to understand a word, but it gave me the chance to mee

catching up

April 08, 2018

Well it's been a while since my last blog, just after the last one, I celebrated a birthday. It was a lovely day, MHTTB and I went and chilled in a bar in Fethiye and was joined later by his sister and niece, who presented me with a beautiful small but perfectly formed cake. It was delicious and because it was just the right size, 4 of us tucked into it without it being too sickly. Later we went for dinner at a restaurant near to us in Calis, I always refer to it as the Turkish tent, because it is a tent, a very very very big tent. The food is always spot on, I love their Garlic chicken, as the evening wears on they usually have musicians there playing traditional Turkish music. Friday nights are usually rocking and we have had many a good night there, especially when MHTTB has consumed more raki than is good for you, and starts dancing his version of traditional Turkish dancing. This weekend, we went away to Antalya to stay in a hotel with friends who were over from the U.

Trials and tribulations

March 24, 2018

I am worried about one of the street cats we feed. He is the smallest of the litter and has always been a bit fearful. When we captured them to get them neutered, he was the one who needed the most coaxing and it took him a good week to trust us again. Last week, he disappeared for 2 days. This was unusual as he seemed to need his big brothers to sooth his nerves. He's always rubbing against them for reassurance and wouldn't come too close until they did. The other 2 venture into the apartment, but he took his time and would only come in if they were with him. Anyway last Saturday, he showed up, he was terrified and wouldn't come near us, he attempted to eat and it was then that I noticed that he was dribbling from one side of his mouth. He has been every day but he wasn't eating and starting to look thin, then Wednesday he walked into the apartment and was mewing around me. I offered him food and as he attempted to eat it he let out a very loud yowl. Thursday MHTTB man

This and that

March 18, 2018

So I am into week 5 of my Turkish lessons and for the last 3 weeks have been given homework. The past 2 weeks we have been leaning ordinal numbers and cardinal numbers. To get me used to numbers and to learn them, he gave me Turkish telephone numbers. The British tend to say the number individually, not so the Turks. A number like 0539 744 50 05 is given out as zero five hundred and thirty nine, seven hundred and forty four, fifty zero five. I really had to think about how to write it down or how to translate it from the spelling, but I tell you what, I now have no problem at all with counting anymore. I also think I finally have got my head around the vowel harmony, we have moved onto the endings of words for from at and in. I still can't hold a conversation but give it time and I'm sure I will. This weekend, MHTTB and I drove to Finike, which is in between here and Antalya, the drive was beautiful, going via the coast road through Kas, Kalkan Demre and finally into Finike

March already

March 01, 2018

I can't believe we are in March already. The time just fly's by, and if I think about what I have been doing it all jumbles into one!! They say time fly's when you are having fun, so I must be having fun. Tuesday saw Fethi Bey day. Fethi Bey, aka Tayyareci Fethi Bey was a famous Turkish aircraft pilot who was killed in Al-Samra in 1914. My Turkish teacher tells me he was the 1st Turkish pilot to be trained by the RAF, but I have no idea if this is correct or not. Fethiye was named after him. Anyway, on Monday we saw the Turkish airforce practise flight, in their F16's for a fly past on Tuesday. We missed seeing the flypast in Fethiye itself, but we got a cracking view of them flying past our windscreen while we waited at traffic lights!! The noise was tremendous, and it reminded me of being in Wales where the RAF practise low flying, sometimes as low as 50ft. Usually by the time you have heard them, they have gone. Below, is a photo I managed to capture of the more

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