more on the weather...

Well, I know it’s very British to go on about the weather but really at the moment it is putting on a display of all it’s got. One day it’s 15 degrees and the next it’s 5 and it’s impossible to know what to wear until you open the door: for a week I didn’t wear a coat (and I am usually pretty weedy and have been known to feel cold in August!), then yesterday I had 4 layers, plus a coat, 2 pairs of socks, a hat and gloves!

We’ve also had quite a lot of rain since the weekend and the mountains, which had very little snow compared to normal, now have a very pretty covering – including Babadag (where the paragliders jump from) and Mendos (the one next to it).

Babadag from the sea front

On Sunday and Monday there was a Lodos wind which is notoriously dangerous for sailors and also caused all flights to Istanbul to be cancelled–over 100 flights over 3 days.

There is snow forecast over most of central Anatolia for Wednesday when we are supposed to be driving up to Ankara.  The road to Ankara goes through Afyon where it once took Cem 11 hours to do 5km as a result of a heavy snowfall.  There were other causes: it was Ramazan and everyone stopped to break fast at sundown, then set off again at the same time and as most of the busy routes in Turkey seem to go through Afyon that was a lot of traffic!  There were 5 or 6 of them in the car–he was bringing his cousins down to Fethiye for Christmas/New Year/end of Ramazan, but Cem was the only driver.  All the small shops ran out of snacks and drinks and Cem knocked on the door of one of the long-distance buses and lied that his pregnant wife in the car was dying for a coffee – to get himself a cup (the intercity buses give drinks and snacks to passengers).  Eventually, after being stationary for a while they all dozed off and woke to find that the traffic jam had cleared and they were parked in the middle of a dual carriageway! 

check out the snow in the distance!

I do NOT want to end up stuck in a jam like that.  These days the police can actually refuse to allow you to proceed when the road is bad if you don’t have either chains or snow tyres.  We have chains but they are a pain as someone has to get out of the car and fiddle around to get them on.

Another thing that the police are hotter on is driving licences.  When you arrive from the UK you are allowed to drive on your UK licence for 6 months, after which you are supposed to apply for a Turkish licence.  This makes me about 22 years out of date!  I have been asked a couple of times when I have been stopped for other things and I always say that I come and go a lot but now they are actually checking and fining people.  I have been meaning to get it done for a few years, what actually put me off was that I thought it would make sense to change my UK licence to the ‘new’ style (old new – the small one as opposed to the folded-up sheet I still have), then apply for a Turkish one.  However I kept being put off from doing that by the bit at the bottom of the form that says “It is illegal to apply for a UK driving licence if you are resident abroad – and punishable by prison sentence, fine blahblah”!

Also, being honest, I hate anything official in Turkey as it always involves running round to numerous offices, getting 10 different stamps and signatures and providing 8 photographs, so imagine my delight that Cem’s partner Mustafa – retired police chief – is sorting out licences as well as visa applications (and any other official business – and who better to do it than a man who used to be involved! Check him, and his good reviews, out on Calis Beach Forum as the Inspector)

I have handed him a copy of my licence, 3 photos and my ID card and though I will probably have to turn up at the doctors so he can sign the medical paper, I am hopeful that I might soon, FINALLY, have a Turkish licence!

Teaching Turkish

I’ve had a fairly easy couple of weeks as some of my students have been away for Christmas.  This week almost all are back, plus I have a couple of extra lessons so I am ‘full’ again!

The material I use in lessons is mostly things I have prepared myself.  I have many books for learning and teaching Turkish but I rarely use any of them.  Some are much too grammar-based – one has sections with headings like ‘verbal voice, compound tenses, substantive verb verbalia and auxiliary verb’–yes really! Some are too repetitive, drilling a piece like ‘I have got…’ with twenty different things in the gap, including nonsense like ‘I have got two bridges’–again, yes really!  One set of books and CDs uses dialogues and paragraphs about UFOs, an extra-terrestrial and an invisible men‒hard for anyone to take seriously.

So I started writing my own worksheets and now I have a collection that do everything from explaining structures, to giving practice of reading and translating. I also have a preferred order I teach them in, though I am flexible and quite often go back to revise things again. Several years ago, I even got as far as putting some of these together to form a book, with lots of practice exercises, vocabulary and reading sections.  I planned it as 6 books, each with 12 units or lessons, so that students could easily take a break between books and practise what they had learned.

I prepared the first two books but have never done any more.  I always meant to see if I could get it published, or sell it on the internet, but I have never quite got that far. Recently, though, one of my students told me about Smashwords which is a system to simplify self-publishing and distributing an e-book.  It means I could publish my set of books and have them listed on all the major e-book retailers (except Amazon which currently doesn’t have a deal with Smashwords) so people can buy and download them. As the Smashwords publishing system costs nothing (though they do recommend paying for things like a well-designed cover), I have nothing to lose.  I just need to find the time….!

Kaan at about 2 months - and 2 kilos!

It was Kaan's birthday on Saturday.  16 years old - hardly seems possible.  He is a bit snappy sometimes but isn't committed enough for the full teenager attitude!  He had THREE cakes - one I made, one his girlfriend made and one that our friends got for him - all chocolate!  We went to dinner at Karnaval Restaurant - on the sea-front in Fethiye.  It was, surprisingly, very quiet, but the food was still good and the bill very reasonable. What more can you ask for?!

Kaan at 16

Christmas and New Year at Poppy

Serves me right for shouting about the gorgeous weather… it’s now so cold that there was ice on the dogs’ water bowl this morning and half the plants in the garden are wilting.  There was snow in Istanbul on New Year’s Eve and Sarikamis–where we are going skiing at the end of this month– is currently minus 30°C with the wind chill factor IN THE DAYTIME! I hope it warms up before we go or all the thermals in the world are not going to get me out on the slopes.

The boys got new ski clothes for Christmas, those being one of the things that made my suitcase overweight coming back from Canada.  I had thought they were bulky but not heavy, but actually they are quite heavy too.  They were still a bargain compared to what I would have paid over here and should last them a long time.  Kaan is so excited about skiing that he keeps walking round the house with all his gear on.

After opening our presents on Christmas Day, we went to the hotel and were joined by almost 20 family and friends (and a small dog– see picture).  Most of these were Turkish and some were very excited to be celebrating Christmas for the first time!  Even the crackers–which last year we forgot to pull–were a source of amazement.

The food was, as usual, an eclectic mix of British Christmas dinner and Turkish side dishes–Russian salad and haydari (minty yogurt) among the turkey and roast potatoes. The turkey was a little too free-range for my liking, as in it was actually free-ranging round a neighbour’s garden until a few days before Christmas.  Still, it was plucked and prepared by the time it came to me (though I did have to get Kaan to take the neck off) and it cooked alright though maybe a little tougher than usual.

Everyone ate plenty and later I cut and dished out Christmas cake which also has a mixed reception, being so unlike any cake or dessert here.  And after that, the music was cranked up and the assembled company started dancing, as Turkish people love to do at any excuse!

Emre went back to Ankara on Monday (28^th) and I didn’t think he would be down for New Year but Cem called his friend Fikret who lives in Ankara and persuaded him to drive down and bring Emre with him.  They arrived on Thursday morning, having driven through the night (a bit over 600km–a distance people think nothing of driving at the drop of a hat over here) and it was a nice surprise to see them.  We were back in the hotel for New Year’s Eve, but with less running up and down stairs to check on food for me as Cem’s mum and one of our friends had prepared most of the food.

So here is January–Ocak in Turkish which means stove or hearth and boy do we need one now!  I miss my wood-burning stove which I have refused to put up this year because it smokes a lot and makes the walls sooty.  I think the weather is warming up a bit tomorrow and rain is also due.  Emre and Fikret left at midday today to drive back to Ankara; Emre has 3 days more of exams and then starts the mid-term holiday and Kaan has 3 weeks of school beofe.

I hope you are all flood-free and have not been suffering too much from Storm Frank – and all the other inclement weather over there.  HAPPY NEW YEAR and let’s all hope that the news this year contains fewer horrors and more joy!

Breakfast on New Year's Day

A time to slap

Here comes Christmas, sneaking up on us again.  I thought I was so well-prepared this year.  I bought some new Christmas decorations last January when we went to Budapest – the capital of Christmas decorations.  I bought the main presents for the boys in Canada, as well as lots of little stocking fillers, and advent calendars in London on the way back.  I even had crackers and things left from last year.  But suddenly there are only 2 days left and I have to do wrapping, marzipan and ice two cakes, make stock for gravy (Jamie Oliver has a lot to answer for)…..and I just had a message from Kaan’s school to say they have picked tomorrow for a parents meeting.  They always do this – tell you the day before, as though none of the mothers have jobs or anything else to do – and then they really shame you if you don’t go to them.

I do notice that most of this running round, stressing and icing cakes at 3am is done by mums.  Most of the men I know look very smug and say they are nearly ready – when all they’ve actually done is buy three presents, helped fix the Christmas tree lights and got through the firm’s Christmas drinks!

baubles from Budapest - the one on the left is a blown egg-shell

The other evening, for the first time EVER, I watched ‘It’s a wonderful life’.  It is always listed as the best Christmas film ever – and though it’s pretty corny I did like the discussion going on in heaven and Clarence the (rather bumbling) angel, and I love those wobbly old movie sets!  The boys just couldn’t believe I wanted to watch a film that was SO old.

Here is another story that amused me when I read it this week.  It is quite seasonal as it concerns St Nicholas, aka Santa Claus, who was born at Patara and became Bishop of Myra, not very far from here.  By the way, Cem once rued the fact that while Finland makes a lot of money from the Santa business, his real home was virtually unknown.  Since then, Myra has become a popular place for ‘pilgrimages’, mainly with Russians (St Nicholas is apparently ‘big’ in the Orthodox church); last summer when I drove through Demre (the modern town on the site) I hardly recognized it.

Holly getting ready for Christmas

Anyway, this story concerns Nicholas’ supposed attendance at the First Nicean Ecumenical Council in 325AD.  This was a sort of conference, organized by the Emperor Constantine in Iznik near Constantinople.  Over 300 bishops attended from all over the Christian world to discuss some of the finer points of Christian belief, particularly whether Jesus was equal in status to God.  Nicholas, who believed he was, got so angry with Arius, who believed he wasn’t, that he is said to have slapped him!

For this very unbishoply behaviour, Nicholas had his bishop’s clothes taken from him and was put in jail pending a decision as to his fate.  However, in the night Jesus and Mary came and gave him a copy of the Gospel and a stole so that in the morning he was found to be dressed once more as a bishop.  When Constantine heard, he was so impressed by the miracle that Nicholas was released.

By the way, though his bones were taken from the church in Myra to Italy, his FIRST tomb is thought to have been on Gemiler Island – the small island between Fethiye and Oludeniz.  There was a monastery on this island so maybe he died while visiting there?  Not sure of the details (Japanese archaeologists were excavating there for a few years but I haven’t seen much sign recently) but that is why it is often called St Nicholas Island.

Hope he brings you what you want – and not a slap – this Christmas!

Two very cute Santas - who will kill me for putting this on!

Changes to Calis

As there is a ban on most building work here in the summer, as soon as the season ends work starts everywhere.  Some of it is small-scale – people having their rooves fixed, hotels doing repairs and renovations – but there is also new building going on.  I have noticed several plots where new villa or apartment complexes have been started.

Barut Sensatori 'swim-up'

But there is a bigger change going on in Calis.  This summer saw the opening of our first five-star hotel, Barut Sensatori.  I stayed at a Barut Hotel in Antalya a couple of years ago and it was beautiful and stylish and though not as large, I’m sure the Barut in Calis is equally impressive. However, as it is situated in ‘Koca Calis’ (way along the beach), it isn’t visible from the main beach and its guests do not really visit the centre of the resort.  The hotel provides a boat service so they can go to Fethiye to shop or have lunch (though as they all stay ‘all-inclusive’ many won’t even do this) but they are unlikely to walk 3km or so along the dusty track back to Calis centre.

The hotel that is being built this winter will have a much greater effect on the resort.  A rapidly-expanding, local company called Liberty Hotels bought the old Seketur Hotel and the empty plot behind it.  These are situated mid-way along the sea-front and now that they have demolished the hotel and cleared most of the plot it is obvious what an enormous project it is.

part of the plot of the new Liberty Hotel

Thanks to new building restrictions the hotel can be only two stories high (so I am told).  But they will still have by far the biggest property in the resort, with several hundred beds.  Their guests will use the main beach and will be able to visit the shops and restaurants right outside the gate.  Liberty Hotels has also bought Letoon Hotel (at the end of the beach, close to the minibus stop) and have a third project planned for Koca Calis.  That is a lot of new five-star, all-inclusive beds! 

I know we can’t stop change and I always assure people that most of the changes I have seen here in 23 years have been positive.  I know too that there are benefits to this development:  I am sure the Liberty Group will keep the beach clean - at least the part of the beach immediately in front of the hotel; their guests are bound to spend some money in local businesses – we might even get more stylish souvenir and clothes shops like those in Paspatur (the Old Town in Fethiye).

However I hope that the character of Calis is not affected.  It has always been a laid-back place, where most of the hotels are small, family-run affairs and to which people return year-after-year for the warm welcome and relaxed atmosphere.  It is not a party resort (like Marmaris and Hisaronu), it is not a showy resort (like Bodrum and Oludeniz).  There is nothing wrong with these, if that is what you aim to be, but it has never been what Calis is about.  As a large proportion of our guests are Calis regulars who like it as it is, I hope that these developments do not destroy what people have always appreciated about it.

Here are some definitely positive developments…..

1.       The sea front between Fethiye and Calis, the last part of which should be completed this winter;  coming home one last afternoon I was amazed at the number of people out walking, running, fishing, taking selfies and generally enjoying the promenade (and the lovely weather)

2.      (for those of us who live here) the Christmas Fair – last Sunday – was as good as ever with over 100 stalls selling crafts, food and everything Christmas….

I finally bought a new angel – hand-made felt – though I still cannot bear to retire my 50+ year old angel so they are doing a joint job; you can never have too many angels!

Agencies - again!!

Here is an example of the way the travel companies treat small hotels.  We made a contract for next summer with AGENCY no. 1 (let’s not mention names) in the middle of October.  For the past few years they have ‘summoned’ us to their office to do the deed; this year they asked us to e-mail prices for next summer.  I sent through the prices we had already signed with another company, higher in every month than last year’s prices but with a peak rate (for just 6 weeks from mid-July through to the end of August) of only £30 for an apartment.  Probably because for the last few years we have agreed to very small increases in mid-summer and kept rates the same for low season, he was surprised and rang Cem to ask if we were making improvements to the hotel. Cem pointed out that we have already done quite a lot over the last two years WITHOUT noticeably increasing prices and eventually he sent the contract through for us to sign.

So imagine my surprise when I went to check their site the other day and read “We are no longer selling under this name” – or words to that effect.  Nobody had told us and when we called the agency who represent them here, they acted as though nobody had told them either.  They promised they would look into it and call back.  As they didn’t, I e-mailed asking whether we are still working together or not and have been sent a mail saying they will be in touch ‘shortly’ – which in Turkey could mean anything really.  So, after 6 years of working together, that’s how much they value our association.

very unusual - fog in Fethiye!

Meanwhile the Agency no. 2 – a new one for us – are not exactly excelling themselves.  The sales manager said he was choosing a small group of hotels from Calis and we would be the only apartment in our category.  However, when I went on to check their site, I found more than 30 hotels listed for Calis, some of which I know they can’t possibly be working with because they have been closed for more than a year (one was even knocked down last month; it has – after I pointed this out – been taken off the site!)  Amongst those 30 hotels was Poppy featured?..No!  I e-mailed to ask what was going on and was told that they had only got our contract late in October – despite the fact that we signed it in the middle of September.  Then someone e-mailed me to say we were now on the system.  I went on to see and found that you could indeed find Poppy apartments – if you did a search for Poppy apartments.  We still do not appear on the list of hotels for Calis, meaning basically that people who already know about us can find us on the site – but nobody else!

another amazing Calis sunset

Finally, we Agency no. 3 are once again behind with payments.  They have so far only paid for  May and June’s guests.  When I e-mailed last week asking for a date for the next payment I got the standard response saying they are checking my invoice – presumable July’s invoice which they have now had for 4 months.  I am actually beginning to worry that we might not get this money.  We took two hits a few years ago when first Vision Holidays and then Goldtrail went bankrupt and we really struggled for a bit.

At the end of the season I was feeling hopeful for next year, with the new contract and the number of happy guests we had this summer who said they will be back.  Now with these problems, combined with the political situation all over Europe and the Middle East, I could get quite depressed.  However I am trying to stay positive!  In that spirit, please check out our new web site at www.poppyapartments.com and here is a gorgeous video promoting Turkey.  It starts and finishes at the top of Babadag Mountain.  It would have been nice to have a few shots of Fethiye – maybe Paspator (the Old Town) or the harbour front – but you will see Oludeniz, Saklikent, Patara beach and Kas, as well as some beautiful bays that could be anywhere along the coast…

STOP PRESS:  OMG!  The Thomas Cook site has ‘morphed’ into Booking.com.  I have no idea what is going on and can’t decide if it is a good thing or not.  We are on there as we were already working with Booking.com  Watch this space….!

Back to reality

So - had a great time in Canada (even though Fran did make me go to the gym nearly every day!)  While there, we did a lot of searching to try to find a moose for a friend who loves them.  Now, you would think that finding a moose in Canada was easy – not a real one, I don’t know how easy that is, but a soft toy or an ornament or something - but amazingly we spent a week looking every time we went anywhere and couldn’t find a moose; you could say we went on a wild moose chase!  Beavers there were plenty of (joking aside – it’s their national animal) and bears and deer but NO MOOSE – or rather the few that we saw were the size of a small child and would never have fitted in the case.  Finally, a friend of Fran’s kindly joined in the search and came up with this hockey-playing moose. 

After that, of course, there were moose everywhere.  But the cutest thing – a real animal this time – were the chipmunks which raced around everywhere so fast that I couldn’t get a picture of them...so here’s one I downloaded!

(By the way, Wikipedia lists the UK's national animals as: British bulldogs, Barbary lions, Mute swans, Red kites, Unicorns and Dragons - so 2 birds, 2 mythical animals and one that doesn't live in the country?!)

I arrived back from Canada last Tuesday after a journey of almost 24 hours door-to-door (not counting the 7 hours’ time difference).  I was prepared for stricter security after the awful events in Paris but there wasn’t an obvious increase. 

My biggest difficulty was packing my case.  Usually it is me laughing at guests who have bought too many things and are trying to squeeze them into a bulging case – and worrying about the excess baggage duties; this time it was me!  I borrowed a larger suitcase from Fran – but then I went shopping again and had more to squeeze in.  Having just about managed to close it by a joint effort, I then managed to drop it on my foot which is only just recovering – not surprising as when I weighed it at the airport I found it was 30kg!  We did a quick rearranging and put a few bits into my cabin bag but the heaviest items were several bottles of maple syrup which I couldn’t move as it would have been confiscated.  In the end, I just sucked it up and paid the excess baggage, telling myself I have still saved money on some of the things AND I have done most of my Christmas shopping!

Since I got back, the weather has been amazing.  You could have got a suntan – you could have got sunBURNT – the last few days.  Friends in the UK have not appreciated me sharing this news with them (Grant especially) as I gather it has been pretty miserable over there.  Don’t worry - it is due to change here this week but you can’t blame us for making the most of it!

I have started giving Turkish lessons again.  It’s been a longer break than usual this summer – almost 6 months – which makes it hard not just for the students to get back into it but for the teacher too!  Still once I do, I enjoy it.  I have several new groups starting and I am also hoping to set up some conversation classes as the hardest thing is often getting people to actually use what they learn outside of lessons.  While this will still be a lesson situation it will give people a chance to practice and hopefully give them more confidence to do the same outside.

Sunset yesterday