Move back to Turkey: Travel Report

Some of you might or might not know but in the beginning of July we moved back to Turkey. Although we liked our stay in Belgium with Corona we didn’t want to stay there. Before corona we could easily say we jump in the plane if there was a problem, but corona changed all that. So we decided that we should move back to Turkey a bit earlier then planned. I often get asked how the trip want etc. so I decided to do a late post on it. The trip went smooth. You can see the time that we spend on the road. We only experienced a traffic jam in Serbia. The roads were empty and so were the boarders. We really didn’t enjoy travelling through Serbia. The boarder control was terrible, people not friendly and we didn’t really feel safe. We only liked the Turkish resting stop where we took a break. We didn’t stay in any hotels and just took a break a few hours in Bulgaria. We tried resting in Hungary and Serbia but the weather was hot and without any shade it wasn’t possible. Upon entery in Turkey we got a temperature check and disinfection. My husband drove the whole way, but I really wouldn’t advice that. He smelled home and really wanted to continue. We did the whole trip (3185km) in little less then 48h and my husband slept for 3 days after that. So now we’re living in çivril -Denizli and how that is going I will post in a few days.

Drive to Turkey

• 20:00pm 5 july leave Londerzeel
• 20:35 1st stop eating Belgian Fries one last time
• 21:35 German Border
• 23:00 10min break
• 1:30 10min break
• 4:30 30min break
• 5:20 Austria border
• 7:00 1h break
• 9:15 45min break
• 10:20 Hungary
• 11:00 gas oil half make full (warnings on whats app group that in Serbia most gasstations are forbidden for transit which was true so happy we took)
• 12:30 budapest half hour break
• 15:00 serbistan
• 21:00 break
• 0:30 Bulgarije
• 1:15 3h break
• 7:30 leaving Bulgaria
• 8:00 Turkey
• 9:00 filling up car and having breakfast 1h break
• 14:00 burger king 1h break
• 16:00 stop before kuthaya enjoying the view refreshing at the water source 30
• 18:30 stop right before Çivril refreshing at the water source
• 19:00 arrival

2 new blogs

Just wanted to inform you guys I’ve started 2 new blogs:

http://teacherteachtheteacher.com

This one will contain information on teaching methods as well as lesson plans and in time my own worksheets

http;//duddudtoys.com

Here I review material that I use in class or for homeschooling to explain how to use these toys in a different way  so that they are TEFL orientated.

How is it going now

We’re here now for almost 2 weeks and a lot of people asked for an update, so here we go….

First and for all I also got some remarks about the fact that my shopping lists contained a lot of items and some had the mention 2 pieces 3 pieces. I was told that was impolite. I don’t ask anybody to bring me the list. The mention of several pieces was due to the fact that my friend gave me a budget and some items were cheaper when you get 3pieces so it matched the budget. Again I just copied the lists didn’t adjust anything.

Now back to business the trip to Çivril…. As we suspected the trip was hard on the kids. So hard that a bit after İzmit we decided to take a Burger King dinner break, play outside till evening prayers and continue our trip afterwards. It was a great decision since shortly after continuing both kids fell asleep. For me honestly it was hard leaving the house where I was so happy. I cried for about an hour after we left after that I said okay it is what it is. My husband prayed all the way here for a solution and at each crossroad he wanted to turn back.

We’re staying at his parents house, due to conflicts with his father we decided to return to Istanbul ASAP. We’ll finish the work we have to do here and hopefully find a decent job in Istanbul so we can return. It’s hard here. In the past few days temperatures went down fast and it’s cold very cold. The room where we’re staying is freezing cold at night. We have a little heater, but it doesn’t help a lot. Anyway thing will get better soon İnşallah.

Shopping lists

Sorry for the Dutch post, but I received a few messages from people who might be coming to Turkey and were wondering if they could bring me something to make me feel better. Yes of course…. A bag of Chocotof is always great… For my children I need some medicine named kaliptus which isn’t available here. A lot of other stuff comes in mind. I made a list a while ago for a Belgian friend who was going to visit me. She asked me to make a list for Colruyt and one for Albert Heijn. In the end she didn’t come since someone in her family got very ill, but the list still is on my telephone so why not share ite here. Who knows maybe I get lucky and someone who reads this blog brings me some goodies. I sure could do with even part of the list. I’m putting the lists on here.

Colruyt
NOORD HOLLANDER belegen blok ±475g
1 stuk

EVERYDAY gouda belegen sneetjes ±500g
1 stuk

PRÉSIDENT brie 10 porties
2 stuks

BONI SELECTION Pizza crackers
3 stuks

BONI SELECTION Gouda Cheese Snacks
3 stuks

BONI SELECTION koeken Bokkenpootjes
2 stuks

BONI SELECTION Carrés conf.abr.
3 stuks

LOTUS speculoos 4x250g
1 stuk

Albert Heijn

Kruidenmix koek en speculaas
1stuk

AH Kro­kan­te sten­gels kaas
1stuk

AH Kaas­koek­jes bla­der­deeg as­sor­ti
1stuk

AH Kaas­koek­jes bla­der­deeg
1stuk

AH Ya­ma­to mix
1stuk

AH To­kio mix
1stuk

Chee­tos Nibb-it sticks
1stuk

LU Bas­tog­ne bis­cuits ori­gi­nal
1stuk

Peij­nen­burg Pa­rel­kan­dij 5-pack
1stuk

AH Xtra gro­te ha­gel puur
1 stuk

AH Room­brie 60+
1 stuk

AH Goud­se ex­tra be­le­gen 48+
1 stuk

AH Goud­se jong be­le­gen 30+
1 stuk

AH Goud­se be­le­gen 30+
1 stuk

On our way

When you’re reading this we’re on our way to Çivril Denizli or at least we should be. As usual nothing goes smoothly, but then again moving never goes as planned. I’m trying to relax and go with the flow, but I’m afraid I’m not very good at that.

I’ve a hard time saying goodbye to this place. It has so many beautiful memories. It’s the place where our children were born. Where they did their first steps. But most of all it was the first place in Turkey that I really called home and that’s hard to find.

I’m hoping to be a bit more optimistic by the time we’ll be arriving. For me it feels a bit like mourning. I need to say goodbye and close this chapter decently before I can start the next one. I hope I can get that closure soon so I can move on with my life.

I’ve some ideas about what to do with my life and I hope that I can find the door that opened when this one closed.

Moving

It’s not easy moving from a place you love to a place where you have only bad experiences. I feel at home where I’m living now. I love our site and our area. I love how it’s developing with my favorite stores close-by. My daughter has a safe place to play and everything we need is at walking distance. It’s close to the seaside, fairly green and I have a few friends in the area.

For a few weeks we were doubting about going permanently, but in the end we will leave next week. This week is a week of lasts. Last time to the playground, to the seaside, hopefully visiting an aquarium and miniaturka. I wanted to visit the school to say goodbye to some teachers, but I think it would be hard on me and not good for the kids if they would see me. I met a few of their parents in the past week and they keep on saying how the children miss me.

I found myself crying on the bench next to the playground this afternoon. I didn’t even noticed I was crying until my daughter kissed me and said don’t cry don’t cry.

My husband is in charge of the packing and he does a great job, but I feel miserable seeing my life put into boxes to be moved to a place I don’t like where I don’t like the people closes to us and where the future is insecure.

Back to blogging

Selamın aleyküm

I’m back.  A lot has changed in my life. I got pregnant of our 2nd daughter and lost my job after her birth. We’re now getting ready to move to Çivril a village in Denizli. Our future is uncertain to say the least. I’m planning on doing a lot more blogging so that I don’t loose my mind.

I’m also thinking about starting crowdfunding to realise my big dream opening an English speaking club for kids full of games and fun activities. I will need some materials and room to start this. The level of English in the village is poorly very poorly. A lot of parents complain. So why not try to make a living for me and my family and resolve this problem at the same time?

What do you think?

I’m thinking about which direction I’m going to take my blog. For the moment I’m not sure. I will update my teaching in Turkey blog, so  that part stays separate. 

Although it might surprise my husband, I do love cooking. I’m not very good at it and I prefer baking, but I will try to post the occasional recipe. Another thing I would like to write about is life in Turkey, but I’m not sure if I want to include my political opinion. Writing about Ayşe Nur is something I could do but won’t be doing a lot just to avoid nazar. Islam will be just superficial information since I don’t want to risk giving wrong information. Of you have got any other ideas or things you would like to know let me know 

Starting to blog yet again

I really feel the need to start blogging again. I’m full of ideas, but finding the time to write isn’t always easy. I have installed the WordPress app on my phone so I hope that I will be able to blog a bit more. I’m also planning to reactivate my teaching in Turkey WordPress site again and actively use it for teaching tips and tricks. 

4 months

Today my maşallah sweet daughter is 4 months old. She starts to become a human with a mind and a will of her own. She’s now 17 weeks old. I calculated that I have changed almost 850 diapers (yes me because my husband took one look and said that’s not my job).   That’s around and about 15 packages. Which means we must have used around and about 1600 wet wipes 16 packages of those. If you look at the numbers like that it sure is a lot.
She can roll from her tummy to her back.  The other way around is still too hard. I often put her on her tummy. She loves that.  She tries to move to the front and she sometimes even manages to do so although it’s mostly by making a caterpillar movement. Most of the times she makes circles. She gets frustrated a lot, but she keeps on trying (just like her mom).
She likes sitting up on my of her daddies tummy discovering her hands and feet.   Talking of her daddy, she absolutely loves him. He throws her high into the sky (well that’s my perspective in reality she hardly leaves his hands) and does more acrobatic tricks with her.
She loves to talk to us goegoegaga all day long. Sleeping is not something she likes to do.
I got a lot of messages on the big language issue. So in short when I’m alone with her I talk Dutch.  I also  read Dutch stories and sing Dutch songs to her. When I’m together with my husband I do all that in English, while he speaks Turkish to her. I hardly ever speak Turkish.
So in short she’s doing great. We love her to pieces.