 | Beverly Çakmakçı and her husband Metin who met and got married ten years ago. From the onset, they knew they wanted to live in Turkey. |
1) WHY AND WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO LIVE IN ALTINKUM?
It was way back in September 1995 when my life changed. I was 32, working in a bank, paying my mortgage and had a nice little life going in S.E. London.
I was a regular visitor to Turkey and was on my fourth visit that I met Metin. He was 35, an accountant working for the Coal Board’s staff holiday camp and a kind, honest and very special person.
After a few visits during the winter and meeting his family we were sure that we wanted to be together. I moved out here in June 1996 and we married in the November.
There was never any question about where we would live. I loved Turkey, the sun, the whole way of life and couldn’t wait to get out of the ratrace. He had a good job here and no interest in moving to England.
2) WHAT WERE THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF ADAPTING TO LIFE HERE?
I didn’t have any major problems adapting to life here altho’ I found the first couple of winters hard. Back then the whole of Altınkum shut down completely in Oct so there was nothing to do and nowhere to go at all apart from Şehir Lokantası.
There wasn’t even a supermarket to have a mooch around.
I couldn’t speak the language and didn’t know anyone that spoke English except Metin so the first winter I didn’t speak to anyone apart from him for 6 months!
I think my 2nd winter and the build up to Xmas was the lowest point probably coz I knew what to expect! Half the planet were partying and having fun while I was watching Turkish TV! There was no Digiturk then either!
As happy as I was with Metin I felt that I’d made almost no progress. I still had no friends; my Turkish was improving but was still a long way from good. I had no life of my own and relied on him for everything.
Luckly in the February I made my first friend.Her name was Nilgün and she could speak a bit of English. We became great pals ( and still are ) and we’d get together during the day and take her kids out or go to the market.
Meeting her was like finding the last piece of the puzzle and since then I’ve never looked back.
3) HAVING BEEN HERE FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHANGES IN THE AREA YOU HAVE SEEN?
Now, everything’s very different. Whilst the town still isn’t rocking during the winter there are places to go and people about.
Before there was no one in Altınkum in winter just cats and dogs!!!
I can remember when the road along the seafront was a dirt track and there was no harbour.
You had to clamber over huge boulders to go on a boat trip.
There are also a lot more English-speaking people in Didim now. There was never an English-speaking shopkeeper when I needed one! The arrival of the supermarkets made a big difference too.
Before that there was only one shop that sold fat-free milk and there was no chance of buying brown bread or petfood anywhere.
Of course, the biggest changes have happened in the last couple years with the opening up of the housing market to foreign buyers and all the building that has resulted from that.
There used to be a mile or so of empty land between Didim and Altınkum. Now it’s one big town really.
4) WAS IT DIFFICULT TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE?
After my third summer I finally got my Turkish citizenship and my ID card and started to think about working again.
I worked for the next three seasons on reception at Club Tarhan and I can say that I’ve never done so much work for so little money in my life but it was a good way to learn the language.
The first year I worked with a helpful lad that spoke very good English, luckily for me, as I had no experience of hotel work ,the guests were 95% Turkish and I could just about put a sentence together!
5) WHAT ARE THE BEST THINGS ABOUT LIFE HERE?
These days I go to bed when I’m tired, I get up when I wake up, I eat when I’m hungry and I never wear a watch. Back in the UK life was so regimented- get up at this time, have lunch at that time, go home at this time. You lived by the clock and by rules all the time and you hardly had time to notice what went on around you or even the changes in the seasons.
Having that kind of freedom is one of the best things about living here, apart from the sun, sea and just the general feeling of wellbeing I get from being here. If I’d stayed in the UK I’d still be working 9-5 to pay the mortgage, being woken up by the alarm every morning and counting the years till I could retire.
| 6) WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT BRITAIN?
I don’t miss anything about the UK except my family and friends but I see them twice a year and keeping in touch has got so much easier. Now I can text, email and have a webcam so I can see and talk to my Mum for nothing.
7) HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR DAILY WAY OF LIFE HERE COMPARED TO BRITAIN?
Once or twice a month, myself and some friends go to Söke or Aydın market and we’re planning to take a trip into İzmir again. |  |
Metin and I see friends and eat out a couple of nights a week usually at Valentine’s or Anadolu Sofrası and we get together with all our friends once a month for dinner at the Kamacı Restaurant by the Temple.
8) CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK AND SOCIAL LIFESTYLE?
This winter, Metin and I have started teaching Turkish which I really enjoy – much more than teaching English.
 | Having ‘Been there, done it and bought the T-shirt’ so to speak, I know the stumbling blocks and remember how I got things clear in my own head and Metin has the ‘real’ Turkish accent so we make a good team. All my students are doing really well and I’m very proud of them. |
You know who you are!
The flexibility in hours means we have a great balance between work and social life!
9) WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE TURKISH
FOOD/ PLACE FOR DINING?
There are a variety of places to dine in the area and more being opened all the time. Apart from the places I’ve mentioned already, I also like to try each of the new places as they open. I have developed a natural taste for all Turkish food.
10) WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS/ HOPES?
Apart from continuing with the teaching, Metin has taken early retirement and bought himself a little yacht so this summer we’re planning to learn to sail properly. We’ve had lessons and he’s got his license. Now we just have to get out there and do it.
What can I say? Life just gets better and better…
