*THAT* Face & A Sharp Intake of Breath

[Scunner]

It's not just Turkey - it's also the people your connection with Turkey introduces you to. As I mentioned but didn't explain at the girl's 13th Birthday party at King's Garden it is awesome to have a restaurant full of friends, hundreds of miles away from where you are from - and had you never dicovered Turkey till that day we wouldn't have known a single person in that place.

Sometimes I know friends so well that I forget that without Turkey they wouldn't be in our lives at all - it's hard to explain perhaps. We met some right sad cases over there but we also met so many of the finest people we are ever likely to meet. And continue to meet.

[jacqtay]

while chatting to one of our neighbours a while back we mentioned we go to Turkey for our hols, his reply was " not another one " " your the fourth person this week that has told me they go to Turkey ".  I asked him if he had ever been to Turkey before and his reply was " Na, I cannae stand the Arabs " . I asked where he did go and his reply was "been going to Benidorm for years and we love it ". He then asked if I had been to Benidorm before and my reply was " no ,we like to get away from folk like you while on our holidays    " , the look on his face was priceless 

[Menthol]

My Dad cannot understand why we would buy in a 'third world country' and where 'you could be bombed because you'll stand out' (  )

My Mum on the other hand cannot wait to help me sort the house out and spend lots of time there.

[Scunner]

One thing I didn't do was stand out. I spent 5 years being assumed to be a Turk

[jacqtay]

my hubby has been assumed to be Turkish a few times while eating out when on our hols, mostly being asked for the bill or given drink orders  from other customers when on his way back from the loo  , this usually happens towards the end of our hols when he has his brown tan. Only once has he actually went away and got the bill for them  much to the amusement of the real Turkish waiters  .

[Scunner]

Hah I used to walk up to people i knew in the Sunday market and shout "Yes Please!!" or "Cheaper than Asda price!!" - they'd never look round fully or make full eye contact and their excuses were hilarious, till they saw it was me.

I also suffered from poor Turkish language disease - Turkish people would assume I was Turkish when I came into their shop/office/hotel - then if I managed a decent opening line in Turkish they would give me 200 words a minute in reply and blow my cover. Even worse was when I was with the kids - they assumed I was Turkish, find it strange that I made out I didn't speak Turkish, then one of the twins would go straight into fluent Turkish with them. You could see it in their faces...he looks Turkish, his kids speak fluent Turkish...does he think he's funny pretending he's English?

[desmartinson]

Ive been taken for Turkish, Cuban, Tunisian, Moroccan, but never English as I only speak Geordie and a bit of Turkish.      

[WordBird]

Friends of ours are also moving over to Fethiye next year and people often the husband is Turkish -  until his lack of language gives it away!

I'm half Italian though you'd never know it to look at me - I'm fair-skinned beyond belief. Though I do wave my arms around incessantly when I'm talking....... 

[angela]

what I hate is the,  'but how could you leave your family'   well I'm going to leave them for good one day!!  My daughters have already had me longer than I had my mum so they should think themselves lucky. I hope I have a lot of years yet to enjoy myself before I shuffle off, and I'm going to make the most of it (I should say we!!)     

[Menthol]

Everyone assumes we are Turkish, so no idea what my Dad means. It's good cos we don't get as much hassle from shops and restaurants until we open our mouths.

Bumped into someone I used to work with today. She old me her and her husband had just bought a holiday home in Mablethorpe and were hoping to retire there in a few years.

I mentioned we were doing the same in Turkey. Her response was, 'What, the foreign Turkey abroad?'

She then told me her and her husband had never holidayed abroad and never would. Apart from one trip many years ago to Cornwall, they had only ever holidayed on the East coast. And nothing could beat Mablethorpe. It was my turn to look incredulous.

This woman and her husband are at least 60. And to never have really travelled much more than 80 miles from your front door. Of course their lack of foreign travel was entirely down to xenophobia and I refrained from the usual 'travel broadens the mind' spiel. What's the point?