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 ...

There have been a few firsts this week. Ozlem came over on Saturday to teach me how to make borek, to cut a long story short, MHTTB and Ozlem ended up having 'words' and as MHTTB had had a few too many alcoholic beverages, it was left to me to take her home. MHTTB has a big Hyundai 6 seater van, it's a battered looking thing, but drives surprisingly well, in fact I have driven us to Dalyan and back in it. The thing is I don't like driving in Fethiye. Look at any dodgems at any fair ground and you get a rough idea of what driving in Fethiye is like, only worse. Luckily Ozlem decided to drive us to Fethiye. On the way home we got stopped by the police. The policeman's face was a picture when Ozlem wound down the window. She is a very attractive woman and he took one look and was smitten and quite surprised that this battered old van contained 3 women and no men. She asked Yagmur, her daughter to pass her over the driving license but the policeman just waved her on and...

Like most places here, the apartment, decor wise is quite bland. I brought my sofa's over, but they too were cream and it was all a bit..........boring. For quite some time I have been looking for carpets to put down. I have even bought a few carpets, but I like the kilim style, and they weren't really practical for a heavy traffic area and once again, they were beige. I needed new curtains so I got in touch with a lovely young woman, Grace. She came and measured and brought HUNDREDS of samples and as I wanted to inject some colour and as Ozlem had made me some rather nice cushions, I went for red!! This in turn gave me an idea of the colour carpet I wanted to tie it all in. Kilims tend to have traditional patterns, they usually have vibrant colour, but sometimes the pattern just doesn't appeal to me. For a number of weeks now, I have been passing a shop called Villa Home and had noticed some very nice carpets outside. They are all different pieces of Kilims made into patch...

20 Months ago, I had to have an MRI scan, I'd been experiencing sciatica and the doctor wanted to see what was going on. The scan revealed I had a bulging disc at the bottom of my spine, but as it wasn't causing too much trouble it was left to it's own devices. Fast forward a month and my back gave out completely. The pain going down my left leg was horrendous, I couldn't stand up, I couldn't sit down and I ended it up going to A and E. They filled me with co-codemol and sent me packing, 4 days later I ended up back there. This time they kept me in overnight, filled me with diazapam, got a physio to give me a crutch and sent me home. I ended up on my back for 2 weeks, my sister had to come down from Devon, it basically took me a long time to get back on my feet without the aid of crutches. It was a horrible experience and I have taken great pains not to repeat it, but 2 days ago my back went again. This time I could stand, but the pain was excruciating. MHTTB kept u...

I have noticed something about myself since arriving here, I seem to be a brand junky, and I honestly didn't realise I was. Obviously I knew I would have to find alternatives to certain products that I use. Some that, to me, were essential, I bought lots of and sent them over with my belongings in November, mostly toiletries and shampoos. The other day I happened to come across a pork shop nearby, there are a few dotted around, mainly to cater for the expats who like their bacon. Being a predominantly Muslim country, pork is not eaten. Anyway, I went in and you'd think I had never seen food for years. along with pork joints and bacon, there was an array of familiar brands like Heinz baked beans, HP sauce, Paxo stuffing, Lurpak butter. All of it is overpriced because it is imported, but I ended up spending almost 98 tl on branded items because they were familiar to me. I resisted the baked beans, because MHTTB makes his own and the taste is far better and sugar free. I could hav...