TURKEY - Expat Contests

Here are the contest entries filed under TURKEY.

A Collie and Her Herd of Sheep

For someone that has come back to their native land as an Expat, breaks all kinds of Expat rules. You sort of bounce between native and Expat cliché’s all the time. I was born here in Istanbul and moved to London at the tender of three, so in theory I talk the talk, I walk the walk but I am very far from being a native. A dilemma maybe...

Writing Contest March 2013

Bodrum’s top 8 famous residents help you plan your visit

Herodotus wouldn’t recognise Bodrum as his birthplace Halicarnassus, but I’m sure he’d send you off to the 8 Lelegian towns around the Bodrum peninsula, to savour what life was like in the 5th century BC. Make an easy start by visiting Pedasa above Konacik, a well signposted road now leads almost all the way to the site, or head out to...

Education and International Schools

First School in Turkey - A personal journey

I considered myself to be an exemplary ex-pat for the first 14 years I lived in Turkey. I learnt the language, embraced the customs and tried to see two sides to the story if ever there was any Turkey bashing going on. For a few years I was probably more Turkish than my Ankara educated husband but when my only daughter started school, I...

Education and International Schools

From Raptor to Bearcat

“Don’t worry, we don’t drug test new students until three months into the school year.” This was the reassurance my new guidance counselor provided me when I moved to the International School of Manila. Dressed in a khaki uniform with a strange school’s logo emblazoned on my left shoulder, I questioned how he arrived at this...

Writing Contest October 2012

How to do the Turkey Trot and Cavort in Catalunya: An Expat’s Tips on Living Abroad

While moving from Barcelona to Izmir this past summer with my excessive excess baggage, the cashier at the airport bookstore asked me for my city of residence. When I paused and looked up at the ceiling for the answer, he laughed at me, and then I at myself. Whenever someone asks where I’m from, I can’t immediately answer. I mull over...

Writing Contest October 2012

Learning New Byzantium

Last week, I was contacted by a woman from a Facebook page for expat women like me, muddling through Istanbul. She's been here for three months, has a small child, and is overwhelmed and depressed and pissed off in a way I totally get, but also can only imagine. I came here single and childless 10 years ago, more than happy to suck up the...

Writing Contest October 2012

My Life in Turkey

Moving to another country is a huge risk. But isn't that what life is all about? Taking risks? Life is short and I didn't want to spend the rest of mine wondering "what if?" I met my Turkish husband in Gocek. I was on a last-minute decision holiday for one week with two work colleagues. I was at the end of an unhappy marriage,...

Writing Contest March 2013

My Top İstanbul Things

Top Reason to Get Up in the Morning: Kahvaltı, that’s Turkish for breakfast. And what a breakfast it is! Olives! Tomatoes and cucumbers! Beyaz peynir! (a.k.a. feta cheese!) Eggs! – Most deliciously a scrambled-omlette combo known as menemen that mixes eggs, peppers, tomatoes and sometimes cheese and the sausage-like socuk with spices....

Writing Contest October 2012

The Perils of Shopping

Supermarkets are daunting. No matter where you live in the world, they are a necessary evil that all expats must battle through. Language barriers, lines, and missing brands are all part and parcel of the food shopping experience. Figuring out the routines of which days the new shipments of fresh produce arrive and making friends with the...