One Year Anniversary Post

Right ok so we've been here a year today and boy what a year it's been! Crazy, chaotic, different sums it up quite nicely!

So one year ago today we left the UK not knowing what we were coming to, ok Paul had some idea but the rest of us didn't. Paul and the kids were excited, I was hmmmmmmm let's just say anxious. We came out of Ataturk Airport and met our taxi driver who drove us to the hotel. I looked at the surroundings, first impressions were not good, the buildings looked like somebody had been playing Jenga, concrete slab buildings that were half falling down with bits poking out, air conditioning units placed ever so not securely on the side. I said to Paul "what have you brought us to, I cannot live here it's like some run down council estate in the UK. His reply was "well it does get better".

Yes ok it did get better but only slightly! First impressions of the Turks were also not good, they seemed agressive, rude, always pushing and shoving. They were driving like maniacs jumping on their horns every two seconds - what was this crazy place we had landed in....

Another thing I did not realise was how hard it was to get things done when you can't communicate, our Turkish at that point wasn't even beginners level, we did a one week intensive course in the UK but really it was useless we didn't know any Turkish and these people didn't speak English, the language barrier was a huge challenge.

The kids adjusted well, life in a hotel for them was like a holiday. Food when they wanted, TV, swimming pool downstairs and friendly waiters. They also adjusted to school life well, they came home on the Monday already having made loads of friends so life for them was grand!

Those first few weeks were challenging to say the least, we finally got out of the hotel and into our own apartment, took another 2 weeks for our furniture and items to arrive ARGH. Life was getting better or at least I thought....

In fact life was about to get a hell of a lot worse, everything was frustrating, just going out to the shop became a huge challenge, Turks were frustrating. Things came to a head in November when I decided enough was enough and I HAD to go home - only something kept me here....

Experimenting with the public transport system opened my eyes to how the "real" Turks are. If you at least try to speak Turkish they love it, one of the phrases I used a lot here when travelling on buses is "pencereyi acar misiniz? (open the window) only when I used it the first couple of times I actually said "pencereyi acik misiniz, which translates as hungry the window please, got a few strange looks on those occasions but they did get the gist of what I was trying to say! If you ask them to open a window on a bus they do oblige but you can tell they aren't too keen, the way they start buttoning their coat back up or putting their scarves back on is usually the give away that they just don't like fresh air even when it's not cold whereas the Brits quite like being cooler well let's face it with the weather we are used to it is really no surprise!

I remember getting into taxis and saying where I wanted to go and they just didn't understand, it took me a couple of weeks to realise that if I actually wrote it down it would make life easier! I remember trying to take the kids to Emirgan Park last October and was pronouncing it as we would in English which is nothing like it actually sounds I decided to write it so they would know where I wanted to go. Funny that after a while and certainly after doing Turkish lessons you automatically start pronouncing things properly and then hear others trying to say it and thinking yeah that was me last year!

Right so what has changed in a year - well the weather for one thing, Turkish lessons are another, having come through all the frustrations I would totally recommend to anyone moving to a foreign country to learn the language, it opened a lot of doors for us and made life so much more bearable.

When I look back over the past year I can't believe how far I have come, this time last year I felt out of place and quite disorientated, I couldn't function normally I had to think about every little thing. Sometimes getting things done was successful and other times the frustration would make you want to scream.

Something else has changed now - I finally have a car YAY! I can finally just go where I want when I want I feel like a weight has been lifted. I can go up to school without having to wait around for taxis or buses - life is just getting better and better!

It was interesting though driving on the other side of the road and having everything in the car on the "wrong" side, for the first few days I kept faffing around on the wrong side for the gearstick and trying to take my seatbelt off on the wrong side. On one occasion I actually got in the passenger side and sat and thought hang on there's no steering wheel here - ah it's on the other side hmmmmmm.

Good News!!

Paul has been promoted to................

Director of NSK Bearings Middle East Trading Company. Basically he is now the Director of NSK Turkey and the Middle East.

PROUD!!

Our future is now totally secure as he can't be sacked haha!

Photography

I sooooooo want to do the photography course run here by the IWI (International Women of Istanbul) NOT the WI where you bake cakes, make calendars, have knitting competitions etc.......

I have been trying to improve it myself but everytime I think my photos are getting better I find my focus is not great or I haven't quite got the subject in the right place grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Anyway here are some of my "better" photos!!



My beautiful daughter




My handsome son


Together....

Dolmuş

Went out on the Dolmuş today to Istinye Park shopping mall. The first time I did this I got lost haha but now I've got it down to a fine art! Anyway on with todays news, got to the shopping centre no problem so we come out and get on the Dolmuş to come home, paid for 3 people "Uç tane lütfen" it was absolutely packed to the rafters on the way home armpit to armpit - get the picture? Anyway people start to get off and I find we are the only ones left on. The driver turned round and blurbed some Turkish at me of which I only understood a couple of words so I said I didn't understand. He then reached into his money pot and gave me 1 lira back and said "iki tane, çocuklar something something something!!" I think he meant that children were cheaper or half or something I don't know. Anyway I was amazed that on a packed bus he'd remembered exactly how much I'd paid and how many I'd paid for and then decided to refund the extra, WOW!!!

On a guinea pig hunt!

I have decided to get the kids a guinea pig, we always had cats in the UK but a cat here isn't practical because we couldn't let it outside and that is unfair. So we go into a petshop and ask (in Turkish) if they had any, unfortunately he didn't but he told us to go into the vets down the road and ask there.

Went into said vet and asked there, the guy on the reception beckoned for another member of staff who spoke english (thank god) so I asked her and she then 'phoned round 4 different pet shops for us trying to find one for us!!! Success we have found a shop which sells them, unfortunately they don't have one at the moment but should have more next week YEAH!!!

Alex Swimming

Alex's swimming is getting better by the day! He learned to put his head under today, something I never thought I'd ever see him do! He is also becoming more confident at swimming in the deeper end where he can't touch the floor. YEAH!

Feeling more positive!

YAY back to feeling positive again, had to drag myself out of negative mode because I cannot go back to feeling how I did last November as it was not a nice place to be.....

I have to focus on the positives of being here. The weather for one, where's the rain??? We went to the beach today, I can't tell you how wonderful that was, the kids happy all day in and out the sea now we couldn't do that in the UK, well of course we could but the beach was not 20mins up the road lol!!

The swimming pool just downstairs hmmmmmmmm do we have one in the UK NOOOOOOOOO! The lovely Turkish bread picked up warm from the shop, the lovely sea view we get from our apartment, the fact that I WILL have a car very soon YEAH!!

Beach pics!




Summer fun by the pool!

Rough couple of days

Had a rough couple of days, seriously wanted to be on the next plane back to the UK and decided I cannot live here in this "dump" for the next 2 or 4 years. I think a few things have contributed to this a) seeing friends/family b) having the freedom of a car c) bacon d) roast dinners. There are loads more reasons I can think of but I'd literally be here for hours.....

Back "home"

Here we are back in Istanbul after a 3 week holiday in the UK. As we touched down in England I immediately felt "home" however with this feeling came sudden concern - how would we feel about going back would we be ok? Walking through Birmingham airport and the first person I see is Mum I've never been so pleased to see someone in my life!

The next couple of days I spent in Coventry I went to Asda to pick up a few bits for our holiday in Yorkshire, it felt wonderful to be walking round an english supermarket mmmmmmm Cadburys mmmmmmmm bacon mmmmmmmmm Walkers crisps ooooooo I could go on......I got so excited shopping I even thanked the girl on the till in Turkish hmmmm.

Seeing people I haven't seen since last summer was lovely, catching up with friends, family, the kids teachers at their old schools it felt wonderful.

We had a fantastic 3 weeks the only thing which spoilt it was the bloody weather it was awful, rain rain rain rain rain rain etc you know the score! It was that that helped me to come back here otherwise I think it would have been so much harder to leave.

Fantastic Stuff!!!

Alex learnt to swim today YAY!!! He's been close for such a long time now and today it just clicked!

So chuffed!

I've been a bad blogger!

I've been a bad blogger lately, keep thinking of things that I must blog but then forgetting about it.........

Kids school has finished now, they have 9 weeks off wow, of course 3 of those weeks will be spent in the UK with family and friends - so exciting!!!!

Kids now spend everyday in the pool, I can't keep them out of it, apparently on talking to others the novelty eventually wears off, I can't imagine that happening at the moment they love it!!

This afternoon Alex is going to a friends house to play and the rest of us are going to a fish restaurant for some lunch yummy!

Oh and I finished Turkish T2 and passed YAY!!

WOW

Still can't get my head around this weather. Everyday I wake up in the morning with the sun streaming into the room!!! Yesterday the kids spent practically all day in the pool!!

Looking forward to going home for 3 weeks, not looking forward to going back to crap weather though...........

More Sad News

Just heard today that Becky has a grade 4 glioma which is incurable but can be treated and kept under control. Will start radio and chemo during next couple of weeks.

Can't stop thinking about her and her family, what does the future hold for them? Why her, she is such a lovely kind person and really does not deserve any of this. Cannot believe it.

Mum & Lin gone home

Mum and Lin went home today so am once again feeling a bit down. I know come tomorrow I'll be fine again it's just that it reminds you of what you miss most.

WOW hot hot hot!!!!!!!!

Weather has gone really hot now at least 29-30oC! Hannah got in the pool today and was told to get out again because it has not yet been chlorinated oops!!!

Hopefully they will do it in the next couple of days, can't wait until they can go in - well it saves baths doesn't it??? ;-)

Starting to love life out here now the weather has changed - never thought I'd say that lol!!

Bad News :(

Had some awful news today about one of my good friends in Nottingham. She has been unwell for a few weeks apparently with headaches and collapsed at home at the weekend. She has been diagnosed with a brain tumour and has to have an operation on Wednesday so they can do a biopsy.

How awful.

School Sports Day

Went up to school today as it was the kids sports day. Very enjoyable because the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I've not been to a school sports day where the temperature was 29oC before hahaha usually it's been raining or at least cloudy!

Kids enjoyed themselves, Alex did especially well with the high jump must be those long skinny legs tee hee!!

Blue Mosque & Cisterns!

Kids are sooooo happy that M&L are here, poor things didn't seem very enthusiastic about going to bed last night! They really loved playing games with Mum again and having stories read they have missed each other so much!

YAY Mum & Lin are here!!!!

Well Mum and Lin are here at last, weather is good but not too hot thankfully so we should get touring around tomorrow!!

Weather WOW WOW WOW

The weather here has been fantastic over the past week, temperatures up to 24oC at times, unbelievable!!

Been to Belgrade Forest a couple of times, have managed dust down and get my camera out a few times now, I need to get back into photography!! Hannah has been surprisingly cooperative lately and willing to have her photo taken WOW!!!

The maintenance guys on the compound are starting to clean the pools out so hopefully we can be back in them soon!!

Hannah

Hannah is really worrying me at the moment. Went to parents evening and her teacher said she's not trying hard, saying "I can't do it" all the time when both her teacher and I know she is more than capable of doing the work set it's not too hard for her it seems like she can't be bothered. We went to watch the Egyptian Play and she did marvellously she was fantastic. Her teacher remarked on this at parents evening saying "she is quite the little actress" - yeah I thought you haven't seen her drama behaviour at home lol!! I don't know what has caused this sudden set back, whether it is her turn to show a bit of culture shock, I know this move has been hard on all of us and maybe I didn't realise just how much it could affect the kids, everyone says "oh yes the kids will adapt, nothing affects kids" well I think we're just seeing the effect now.

Her confidence in her ability seems to have dropped but not her inner self confidence, so odd!

Her teacher commented on her lack of initiative to sort herself out with the relevant equipment, she will sit at her desk and wait for her teacher to give her things like pencils, rubber etc. I really need to encourage her to get her own things at home so maybe that's my fault? I don't know sometimes it's just easier when you're trying to do 50 things at once to hand them the things they are hunting for instead of them emptying out drawers, cupboards etc when the things they are looking for are right under their noses!!!

She is still happy enough to go to school so I know it can't be that bad, whoa try to keep her off if she is a bit poorly ends up in a drama of it's own!!

I'll see how she is when she goes back after the holiday, Mum and Lin are coming out next month so we're all really excited about that and it gives her something to really focus on and look forward to.

Signs of summer????

The weather today is so gorgeous, really warm and sunny it makes living here worthwhile. Travelling on the bus I get such a stunning view of the Bosphorus as the sun reflects off the sea. I can't wait for summer to get here, our first summer in Istanbul, I can see it now - kids playing in the pool, walks along the harbour at night in warm evenings. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh come on summer!!!!

Unbelievable

Went to the local shop yesterday to get my fruit and veg and other things. Got to the till, had my handbag and rummaged through it - oh my god forgot my purse. Oh no what to do???

I said "Ben param yok" (I have no money) - I couldn't remember the word for purse/wallet for the life of me!!

She then said "Bu Akşam veya sonra, something something something" she was saying "this evening or next time" she then helped me pack my shopping and let me go with it!??!?!?! It was 30tl worth of shopping too, unbelievable how much trust these people have.......................

I then thanked her (in Turkish obviously) and walked away with my shopping. I sent Alex round with the money when he came home!!

Home............................

We were talking after our Turkish exam on Thursday about the UK and how different it is to here.

One of the girls is from Peru and visited the UK, London I think, and mentioned how she didn't feel safe walking around at night. I feel sad when people say things like this because it makes me realise how bad things are there. The hoodies and gangs make it this way and not much seems to stop them. What concerns me most is the fact that when we go back Alex will be 14 and Hannah 12 just the right time to become hooligans. I really hope we are able to instill some respect into them while we are here. We are also seriously considering private school in the UK for both of them because of our experiences with the school here. I've always been against private school thinking there is no need and kids, if given the right support at home, will do well wherever but hmmmmmmm seeing the difference in the standard of education has changed me!!!!

It is very sad that it is this way because generally I love my home country it has some really beautiful parts, Peak District, Yorkshire - I love Yorkshire, Dorset, Lake District, Scotland and more! Sigh, I guess I miss walking in the English countryside the most...............

There doesn't seem to be a 'gang' culture here at all I feel perfectly safe walking around at night here at 9pm in the dark. There also seems to be a lot of respect for the 'older' generation maybe too much respect in some ways.................

Still, better than no respect at all I guess!

I passed my Turkish Level 1!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY I passed T1, I start T2 in April!!

I need to study now for the next four weeks to keep it lodged in my brain lol!!

Long time no see!!

Ok I know I haven't updated for ages now but I've been so busy with my Turkish, sorting out the house and other things going on!

I have been wanting to blog about how different things are here to the UK, everyday as I get my bus I see things that I must write down but then get distracted.......

As I walk down the subway in the mornings I see small children selling tissues, what are they doing there why are they not at school? They must be about Hannah's age and the thought of her sitting at the bottom of an escalator selling tissues fills me with fear and sadness. Obviously they are from very poor backgrounds, they are very dirty looking and everytime I walk past them I feel guilt, I mean should I give them money? At times I've been tempted to just slip them 10 lira but I, like everyone else, just walk past and carry on with day to day living.

Alex is home

Well Alex came home tonight absolutely shattered!!! He enjoyed himself so much though and wants to go again next year!!! That means we'll have to take out a small mortgage as next year they'll both be going eep!!

He came home with a certificate which is in Turkish ha ha.....................

Alex gone skiing

Alex has gone on his school trip - skiing for three days! He was so excited last night he didn't complain when I told him he had to be in bed at 7pm!! He needed to be up at 5am to catch the bus, far too early in my opinion but they have to travel quite a long way to get there! I bet he'll come back like a zombie.

I miss him when he goes away I don't really worry about him because I know he'll be fine but it feels strange not having him here................

OK I take it back, Turkish is HARD

Yeah Turkish got easier for a couple of weeks but now it's HARD again, past tense has totally screwed me up!!!!!

I seriously need to study harder if I'm going to get through Level 1..................

Sad

Just learnt today that one of the girls from the Turkish class has gone back home, she came here to be a nanny for a Turkish family. I don't think they made her life very easy and I know she found the kids diffcult as they were so spoilt.

I will miss her greatly, she was a very lively girl and brought a lot of fun to the lessons, I hope she finds happiness elsewhere.........

Snow gone..........

Snow has gone again, it lasted all night and was still there this morning but not enough to warrant a snow day darn it!

Hannah has gone off to school with hat, 2 coats, scarf and gloves - dressed like a Turk!!

ETA: Hannah back home bouncing off the walls because there was more snow up in Zek so the kids had fun building snowmen and throwing snowballs ha ha.

It snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's snowing, just looked outside and there's two inches so far and it's still coming. I hope it's there in the morning and we get to do a snow day!!

Alex ill

Alex is not well, he started with a cough on Friday but went into school. Went to bed but in the morning woke with a high temperature. Couldn't get his temperature down, stripped him, gave him calpol opened his window still couldn't get it down scary stuff as it was 40.2 at one point.............

Went out to get nurofen gave him that but it still wouldn't shift, eventually it came down in the evening and he perked up a bit. Paul took Hannah out for a bit to the shops to give Alex some space, seems that when Alex is ill she likes to practically jump on him.......................

Turkish is easy...........................

So got to the point now where Turkish is getting so much easier to learn, I'm sure it's going to get harder again once we start doing past tense but present tense has well and truly sunk in!

Here is todays effort:-

I managed to ask questions:-

"Hangi tren Atatürk Istasyon gidiyor mu?" = which train goes to Ataturk Station?

I got the answer in English lol! Then the lady said are you English so I said "evet"! lol! She then pointed out the correct train got on with me and then told me where to get off!!!!


Then I asked this later on:-
"Hangi tren bekliyor musun?" = which train are you waiting for?
This time the answer was in Turkish and I understood most of it!

I figured out that the Turks can't do enough for you if you try to speak their language!!

I am on such a high today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Busy busy busy

So here I am again a lot has happened recently I am speaking more Turkish to people by the day, have experimented with the new metro system, life is good!!

Booked a holiday in Yorkshire for when we go back to the UK in the summer, we are going to Yorkshire with Mum & Lin it should be a really enjoyable 5 days and of course the kids are so looking forward to it! I just hope the sun shines............................

Odd!!!!!!!!!

Went to a meeting in Levent today about the school fees and bus.

On the way back, had a lift from Debra, we passed a Turkish hearse. Wow not seen anything so odd looking it was a bit like a pick-up truck painted green so all open at the back apart from a roof over the top and NO coffin the body was covered but ewwwwwwwwwwwwww....................how bizarre! We got away quick in case we/he crashed, wouldn't have fancied a pair of dead feet in my face while waiting for the police...............

Something Different

Thought I'd do something different today and experiment with the dolmus buses outside our apartments. I've never been on one from our home before only from the sea front. I've been wondering where these ones go to for a long time so as I've got a free day I though I may as well try it out.

The dolmus buses outside our apartments have "Istinye Üstü" on the front and not Istinye Park which is where I was heading for...................anyhow I thought if I get lost I'll just get in a taxi! Got on the dolmus said to the driver "Istinye Park gidiyor musun?" which I "think" is correct for "Do you go to Istinye Park" or it would be similar ha ha!! He said "Hayır blurb blurb Istinye Üstü, ama blurb blurb blurb Istinye Park"..............I think he meant he doesn't go directly to Istinye Park but near it or something.......................

Right off we go heading in the correct direction until...............we turn off the wrong way, bugger, where are we going????? After about 20mins starting to get slight panic, he stops, turns round looks at me and says "Istinye Park ötöbus something something". Everybody gets off and then stands at an IETT bus stop, hmmmmmmmm now I don't know where I'm going to end up! I decide to ask someone "Hangi ötöbus için Istinye Park Lütfen" (which bus for Istinye Park please) she looked at me slightly odd I don't know why, I may have said it wrong anyway she understood what I was attempting to say and replied "yirmi docuz (29) Şişli" and then proceeded to point out the correct bus and informed the driver of where I wanted to get off...........amazing!!!!!!!!!! So one successful trip to Istinye Park shopping mall by bus!

YAY Turkish lessons are certainly starting to pay off!!

Trying out Turkish

Ok so yesterday I decided to try my new language skills on my neighbour as he was coming out the lift and I was putting my rubbish out.

So here's how it went:-

Me: Merhaha (hello)
Him: Merhaba
Me: Nasilsin? (how are you)
Him: iyiyim teşekkür ederım (I am now thinking hey this is going quite well)
Him: blurb blurb blurb blurb çocuklar (something something something children)
Me: Evet, iyi akşamlar (yes, good evening)(having no understanding of what he just said!!!)

Ah darn it he wasn't supposed to say that, it's not in the textbook!

Still reading!!!

So I'm still reading a book about living abroad. Read a true piece in it which is more about kids abroad and it says that your children may ask certain questions like "Dad, why is Mum calling everyone idiots?". I cringed at this because Alex asked Paul this very question about 2 weeks after we arrived here..................

OOPS!!!! Thankfully Alex hasn't started calling everyone idiots too..........

Could've been worse, I might have been using other words..................

Reading............

I am currently reading a 'culture shock' book, it is a parent's guide so it's more about settling your children abroad sort of thing. However in it is a piece about 'reverse culture shock'. I never really thought about this until I read about it but today I find myself wondering what it will be like to go home (obviously not for a long time) and live in the UK again.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm no more walking just outside the front door to a shop or street market full of every single fruit or vegetable you could want, no more popping into the bread shop for that delicious 'just baked' bread, no more 18oC temperatures in December/January, I could go on.....................

Of course there are the positives of being with family and friends again and our lovely home in Nottingham which I miss but there's just this feeling that we might not settle there at all after this life............................

Not Feeling Good

OK so today not feeling quite so good. Don't know why really, I think it's because on my kids birthdays there's usually a family get together so of course that hasn't happened because we are here :(

I felt the same over Christmas because there wasn't the usual family party thing then either. I'm sure this will get better in time, it's just that they're there and we're here.........

As I said I'm sure it will get better in time, sometimes it's just so damn hard being so far away :(

Alex is 10!!!!!!!!!!!

How did this happen, can someone please explain how my baby is a whole decade old?????? Time has gone too fast ::sigh::

Felt bad that I couldn't get the lego kit he wanted but he's quite happy to have something else. Bless him, he's so easily pleased!

Having a party for him on Sunday, few friends over for a play he's looking forward to that!

Overwhelmed AGAIN!

Today I felt totally overwhelmed again, after feeling settled for a few weeks, worrying about nothing, carrying on with life. Suddenly the panic of sorting out a birthday party arises - where to have it, there are places here who organise kids parties but how to organise it when you don't yet speak enough Turkish - PANIC!!!!!

Anyway decided in the end to let Alex have a playdate/party and invite 3 friends over for play and pizza, this idea went down well so invites were sent out today for a party on Sunday! I just hope people manage to find us ok ::eek::

Now just to sort out the birthday cake...........................

Driving..............................

Went to Zekeriyakoy today to drop Hannah off at a party. Thought it might be a good opportunity to get behind the wheel again as I haven't driven since September!!

What made it even harder is that Paul's company car is an automatic, great........

Anyway started off well, had Alex in the back telling me how well I was doing tee hee! The strangest thing was driving on the other side of the road, I kept wanting to get over to the left, it just felt so unnatural!! Drove for about 20 minutes until we came to a place called Bachekoy, I pulled in and let Paul take over, I'm so not ready to drive in traffic yet! However I think we'll try and take the car up there every weekend so I can have a go!

On the Buses!!!!!!

Haven't updated my blog since last Sunday gasp shock horror!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway went to my Turkish lesson as usual, went to get on the bus and it was already at the stop BUT there was no driver. The doors were open, people were sat on it and the engine was running - what do I do? Do I press my akbil onto the payment machine and just get on like I normally do or what?????? So I hovered for a while thinking no I'd better not just get on. Anyway a man came up and got on and put his Akbil onto the machine and sat down, so I followed suit..............

On thinking about this, that would never happen in the UK, a bus, engine running, no driver, people just allowed to get on?????? There is so much trust in this country that people will actually do this kind of thing. Unbelievable as in the UK there is no trust because I'm sure some people would take advantage of such a situation and just not pay, I'm not saying that there aren't people over here that wouldn't have paid but I've not seen any crime here as such, it feels so safe here.

Also people are so honest here, take for example our local breadshop. When I first went in there shortly after we arrived I asked for bread "Ekmek lutfen" and he said "bir veya iki" so I said "bir" (one). He gave me two so I gave him two lira (one lira for each loaf) and he gave me one lira back so I was confused. He then said "problem yok", so I took this as he'd given me a free loaf as he had not seen me before!!!! Since then I have never had a problem giving him too much money when I'm not sure of the cost because I know he won't take advantage!!! They seem to say that phrase a lot here "problem yok" goes for everything!!

Quiet Day in

Had a nice quiet family day today at home with the kids. Paul was building lego with Alex and I was playing games with Hannah!

However I did make a visit to the local shop to get some veg for tea, I love it here how you can just walk out your home/apartment 100 yards or so and get fresh fruit and veg which was probably delivered to the shop that day and probably picked the day before so it's always so fresh. Fruit here tastes so good I've never tasted anything like it, the kids love it too so that's a big bonus!! I get my bread from the local bread shop every day, it's baked in wood fired ovens and is still warm when I buy it, absolutely beautiful! Nothing here is pre-packed, processed or frozen everybody cooks everything from scratch, it's a good job I was used to doing that in the UK otherwise god knows what we would be eating!!

Another thing which still surprises me is how cheap food is to buy, I no longer shop in the supermarkets because they are so overpriced. I buy all my food from our local mega-market - kind of like the size of a Sainsburys Local store if you like but with a lot more variety of fruit and veg, fresher food and one very jolly Turk behind the meat counter ha ha bless him he always speaks to me in Turkish and if I don't understand he speaks very broken English and then I answer in very broken Turkish!!!!!

Different Side.............................

I can honestly say that just lately I have seen a different side to the Turks. When I first came they appeared ignorant, unfriendly, downright rude................

However when sitting on the bus on Thursday on the way to my Turkish lesson I was doing a bit of revision, obviously the book I was reading had EF written on it which is the language centre I attend for my lessons. A Turkish lady sitting next to me said something, I didn't pick it all up but recognised the word "Oğrencı" which means student so I said "evet"!! She then said "Nerelisin"? So I said Ben Inglizim which means I am English! Then she proceed to shake my hand and muttered something else of which I had no understanding but I took it that she was impressed that I was bothering to learn their language! First time that has happened!

It snowed, it snowed, it snowed!!!!!!!!!

It snowed last night, woke up to a lovely scene of white roofs everywhere, very pretty!

Kids are disappointed though, they thought it would be a snow day. Actually secretly so was I :( School was open as usual and I'm off to my Turkish conversation class later!

Second Turkish Lesson

Went to the second Turkish lesson today, it's starting to get so much harder as we started bits of grammar (groan) it's the grammar that always confused me on the course in the UK I just couldn't get my head around it - words sink in easily but grammar is something else............................

Turkish Lesson

Went to the first Turkish lesson today, it was sooooooooooooo easy!!!! Probably because we did a crash course in the UK so I knew most of what was being taught today. Kept quiet though, I didn't want to come across as the "class smart arse", but still my gave a fair share of responses! It's good to know though that there are people out there who have the same problems with pronounciation as me!

Weather was awful today, heavy rain ALL day, apparently this is normal for January along with the odd bit of snow, urgh come back sun!

Quiet Day

Not done much today, cleaned house all through, going round shops in a minute to get food for later.

Starting Turkish lessons tomorrow YAY!

Kids gone back to school

Kids have gone back to school today, house feels too empty :(

Tess going home

Tess is going home tomorrow. We enjoyed her time here with us, the kids are sorry to see her go home but we will hopefully see her in April!

New Year

It's New Year!!! I can honestly say that I feel this will be a good year for all of us!