I still disagree with this. This might apply if you're retired and have an income in dollars, pounds or Euros. But my husband and I work here. (He's worked full time since February without a single paycheck). When we are paid at all, we are paid in Turkish liras. We have gone deeper into debt every month we've been here, yet have a 45 m2 apartment, no hobbies, almost never use our car, and have taken a single 48-hour tent-camping trip in the past year. I find prices here to be the same as in the Midwest of America... but our combined income (when we get paid) is less than half of what I made in a lowly laboratory job in a small Midwestern town. We don't have ANY disposable income here in Turkey. I used to spend thousands of dollars each year on traveling. On our Turkish wages, buying a paperback book is a burden that we have to discuss and budget for.

(If everybody here were like us, it would easily explain why nobody has hobbies. However, my students are generally very wealthy, and still have no hobbies.)

Hello,

I am living in Turkey and i am Turkish. Sorry i couldn't read all your replies but i understand that you are bored because you don't (can't ) have any hobbies in Turkey.

That's quite normal as you mention before that salaries are so low. Its almost impossible to have hobbies in Istanbul because its so crowd and also very expensive.

I don't know if your husband is Turkish or not. Well actually it doesnt change anything.

I think you shouldn't move to Korfez but you can move to the southern part of Turkey. There are many foreigners at the southern part and almost all the Turkish people can speak (not perfect ) English.

If you and your husband's job is suitable to move to another city, then better move to the southern part. I born in Istanbul and lived there 25 years, moved to Hong Kong and came back 3-4 months ago and now i am living in Didim-Aydin. Even now there are thousands of British people here also some people from other countries.

You can rent a house here ( all the southern part is almost the same) with a small garden for 400 TL. They are mostly fully furnished and they have a small garden that you can grow stuff. Also southern towns are not so crowd except summer so you can ride a bike. You can also swim everyday, go to fishing and spend time with other foreigners. Or go for a walk at sunset. And you wont have communication problem because almost everyone around here can speak English.

I am sure there are many other things that you can do here. These are the ones i am doing

I hope this will help you to solve your problem.

What are you going to do with a horse in the middle of the city even if you had one? This is a big city like New York where you cannot do horse riding. You need to go out of Istanbul a bit to find horse riding such as Omerli, as I heard there are places there. I it's not too far and you can do hiking as well. You came from a small town and this big city may not offer the same oportunities. You may find them in Izmit but you need to improve your Turkish to communicate with the people. Otherwise yo may be board. Good luck.

dear,
change your turkish community immediately! it seems that you are not in a good community for you and you should do something about it, and it is easy.
do you go out in the evenings? where do you go? what about weekends? what about horse riding, paint ball, bars, clubs, trekking, yachting, painting, cooking, etc???
drinking tea and chatting at home all the time type of turks are really rare and i think that you are just in the middle of them!
e.mail me and i'll do my best to get you out of drinking tea and cahtting all the time turks as best i can ;0)
take care.

Hi there,

As far as I got from your messages, you are little frustrated by now which is quiet the same story for many of the foreigners at some point of their time in a foreign country. I have been where you have been in an opposite way. I am Turkish and have been in USA, Albania, Sweden and France for some time... I lived in USA for almost 3 years yet I dont have any American friends. Even I went to college there most of my friends were other foreign students coming from latin American countries also I had some European friends. When I got back to Turkey, I realized that I was always expeting things from Americans there yet I was not the one who is approaching them at first. If you want to make local friends I think you should invite them to a dinner at your home or invite them to an outdoor activitiy. Do the first move and then you will see some will return the favour sooner or later.

Also don't see here as some country that you live for a short period then you will never be able to settle down here. If you always living with a dream of returning back to USA in your mind, you will never be happy here.

Also I can see you love animals why dont you get involved with some of the local animal shelter, I think they would love to get some vounteer there to help them. By that way you might make some local firends both in forms of human and animals


Those are all that I can think of for now. I hope that helps. Good luck!!!

Did you say you are living in Yarimca? That's where I live. I'm a college student who is on his senior year for enginering major.

By the way folks, it is true Turkish people have only simple hobies. We are a nation loves socialing, by that I mean chating! On the bus, strangers poke at me to start a conversation even 'though i had headphones Favorite pass time for a average Turks means chating about everything, sharing gossip while drinking tea and playing cards. Middle-aged women loves to invite their friends over and chat all day while eating all kind of stuff. And men goes out to play soccer game where loser team pays the rent of the field. Other than that, table pool is also popular among Turks. And for whole family, picnics with barbaque Yarimca has a beautiful shore where each weekend it is full of familes who enjoy sun and grilled food.

Anyway, let's get back to topic... How to help an American wife.

I can hook you up with some college girls, if you want. Since they are students, they also live on tight-budget. One of my lady friend used to ride horses (you know, the place behind the NCity shopping center) And other one enjoys tango dancing.

By the way, in my city there are lots of free classes on various subjects, some of them sounds really fun. And in there, you can meet many people who do more than drinking tea. Google KO-MEK, but you need learn Turkish girl

I'm paying 80 liras per month for pool (swimming) and you can also try your luck on ice-skating (i dont remember the price for that).

But seriously, learn Turkish. I believe i can find you some university students who can exchange Turksih with English tutoring.

My city has a few quality theater groups and during the year many groups from Istanbul have plays here. And it is usually cheap. But you gotta learn Turkish.

--------
And my hobbies... board games and tabletop roleplaying and of course chatting with my friends

hi,i am married to a turkish man and i did live over there before i had to move back to the uk,we will be moving back to turkey as we both miss it very much,you have to live the turkish life style or you will go under,my advice would be to live where you have tourism,good hospitals,kippa supermarket which is the tesco of turkey,i made many friends tourists and turkish,i learnt turkish by listening and mixing with different people,if you get a dog it wont be able to be inside the house if your husband is turkish,they love them but keep them outside,the weather allows for this anyway.i used to go to the plaza every week(market) and i would have a cay and the owner of the cafe on there became a good friend as he could speak broken english and he would help me with my turkish,my husband knows him so this was ok.i would go to same cafe on the beach which was owned and run by a turkish family and they to became my friends and it is a nice way of life,money is difficult in any country.

Hi,

In a month we will be moving there.
It's not easy moving from America to Turkey but I wish to meet more expats. I already met some people from Europe that are living not too far from there. (trying to build a social ''network'')

Email me if you want to.

I'm married to a turkish man and we're living in America.

Take care!
-I'm 27 years old and mother of a baby girl.-

I have lived in Turkey for the last 6 years and live in a tourist area you talk about. Although I am a qualified diving instructor I am not allowed to do the sport I love on my own because I am a Yabanci. As for other hobbies it is too much hassle because I have to use a Turkish company again because of restrictions on Yanaci's and finding a a trustworthy one that does not try to cheat you, especially in the resorts, is impossible. Turks in resorts see us as "Money" only and the authorities unfortunately process us in the same way. I take my son fishing with a his Turkish friend and his friend's Dad. I have to buy a tourist fishing license to do this every year yet my friend does not...why?....I am Yaabanci...despite the fact I live here. my kids go to school here and I pay my taxes here.
One final comment although Turkey is a very beautiful country it is "NOT" any more cheaper than the town I come from in the UK fr example with the exception of eggs, some vegetables and house tax. Everything else is more expensive here especially meat and fuel which is almost double and the fact it costs us £1480 per year for Ikamet Residency Permits.

Körfez has a sailing club
izmit is only 15minutes from your home
there are diving clubs, one is "kocaeli university diving club" which im a member and coming from istanbul
there are horse farms at sapanca you can ride there and ofcourse find a job
also at the fair in izmit there is a riding club which blongs to my friend...
kandıra is 45min, you can go to seaside, go swimming
kartepe 30min, for skiing
what else are you looking for?!
my advice, try to be a bit social...