Hello from Turkey

[New and lost]

Hi,
To all members of the forum. My name is Trevor and at present living in Turkey.
I am trying to build a website at present and will, no doubt, need a lot of help from all of you.
www.easybusinessfind.com

[DarrenC]

Re: Hello from Turkey

Hello from England! Good luck with your website

[ahimsa]

Re: Hello from Turkey

Welcome to Vodaland, Trevor.........where exactly in Turkey are you?

oh, and btw, Privacy with an 'a' :)

[DarrenC]

Re: Hello from Turkey

One of my best holidays was in Turkey - Stayed in Gumbet near Bodram. With Club 18-30....those were the days..lol

[New and lost]

Re: Hello from Turkey

Hi Ahimsa,
I am in Yalikavak near Bodrum.

[ahimsa]

Re: Hello from Turkey

Merebah Trevor!

What are you doing there?
I lived in a small village - Gökbel - just outside Dalyan for almost a year some time back & had the best time :)
Are you Turkish?
david

[gerrit]

Re: Hello from Turkey

I cannot read this topic without having to fight tears in the eyes :(

I used to live in Istanbul and adored it. The city, the culture, the friendliness of the local people, ... The only bad thing was the job, but that I cannot blame on the Turks neither because it was a foreign-owned company. Problems with them supplying a valid long term working permit forced me to return to Europe as I didn't want to stay illegal in Turkey. But I promised myself to return as soon as I could. Then the economical crisis came and it becomes harder and harder to find an employer in Turkey willing to sponsor your working permit.

I miss Turkey so much :( I wish I could go back to lovely Istanbul... Hopefully someday, Inch'Allah...

[ahimsa]

Re: Hello from Turkey

....did you ever get the chance to go down to the south coast at all?

[New and lost]

Re: Hello from Turkey

I have been living here since May 2009 but we miss the grandchildren and are going to return to Belfast as soon as we can get our house sold. In the present conditions this could take a while. Have only visited Istanbul on a 3 day trip but found it to be a lovely city.

[New and lost]

Re: Hello from Turkey

Ahimsa,

I have not been on the Med coast, but someday I will go to the south.

[gerrit]

Re: Hello from Turkey

I used to live in Belfast, had a good time there as well. I hated Dublin. Only nightlife, but hardly any culture. In Belfast I was part of the underground arts scene, all my friends were musicians or poets. It was in Belfast I started to write poetry myself, which I still do these days. Good memories about Northern Ireland, although nothing beats the Middle East to me. I hope to relocate to Israel or return to Turkey on permanent basis in the future, the one trouble is the working permit. Most companies in Israel don't wish to sponsor working permits because Jews can get a passport straight away and thus don't need a working permit (unlike non-jewish applicants like me) whereas in Turkey most companies needing multilingual people will go for Turks who grew up abroad and want to return home ; as they got citizenship they also need no working permit, and thus the foreign applicant is considered as too costly.

I would so much love to go back to the Middle East. I applied many times in Israel and Turkey, and a few times in Lebanon. Each time the vacancies were suitable, but the working permit was considered too expensive or too much hassle by the employer :( The country with most vacancies for expats in the Middle East is Saudi Arabia, and that unfortunately is the one country I don't want to go to. I want to be surrounded by historical oriental beauty, souks and mosques. Not in a compound next to a newly built city with more malls than mosques. So Dubai or Riyadh or so are no options for me. But fingers crossed that some day I can permanently settle in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Istanbul or Beirut. The Middle Eastern countries bordering the Mediterranean are the most interesting ones culturally, and that still is much more important to me than the money you can earn on the Arab peninsula!

[ahimsa]

Re: Hello from Turkey

Merebah.........

Gerrit....have you ever considered Egypt &/or Jordan? Nowhere is perfect & there are drawbacks of 1 kind or another in these countries but both have many, many good reasons to be there :)
I know what you mean about the work permit situation in Turkey....when I was there I was hopping over to Rhodos every 3 months to get a new entry stamp & my "work" was never officially recognised if you know what I mean :)

Trevor....if you get the opportunity to get down to the South coast I would highly recommend it!! Stay away from Marmaris & Antalya, though, - you may as well be in the UK or Germany LOL but check out Dalyan, Fetiye and the likes if you can - it's unlike any other part of Turkey. There is also Kapadokiya - hah! If you don't know about that place then you've really missed something ..........
david

[New and lost]

Re: Hello from Turkey

I have been on holiday in Marmaris & had day trips to Dalyan & Fetiye. Have not been to Kapadokiya but it is on my list to visit. Hopefully when I move back to UK I can go there on holiday and stay for a while on the Med Coast.

Trevor

[gerrit]

Re: Hello from Turkey

Ahimsa, I have considered both Egypt (mainly the Sinai peninsula, where I thought that it may be possible to find employment in the booming tourism industry) and Jordan. The problem with Egypt is mainly that those jobs that workers without a university degree can do (hospitality, call centers etc) are generally with employers that have plenty of applications from locals as well, and hence are not keen on paying a working permit for an adventurous European who loves the Middle East but does not have any specific degree which is rare amongst locals. Same problem as in Turkey really: enough vacancies, but for workers like me without specific rare skills the companies rather don't arrange working permits as plenty of locals are skilled for those jobs as well.

With Jordan it seems the number of vacancies open to foreigners is quite low. I searched but found only very few vacancies. Seems a hard country to get into when you're not a local. Which is a pity because Jordan is a liberal country with very friendly people and an excellent location as most other Middle Eastern countries are only a short travel away.

I considered human aid work for an NGO in Palestine. That could be a stepping stone into Israel and meanwhile you also do very noble work as you're helping the people that are really in need. The problem here is that most such NGOs post their vacancies online where a special skill is required: doctors, nurses, construction workers, ... I'm sure there is administrative work to be done as well, but for those jobs they probably have lot of candidates so it would require lot of luck for me to be the one selected/hired. Also I'm not too sure where to start searching. A glimpse at jobs.ps (the main Palestinian job portal) and at the Israeli embassy's site doesn't really list a lot of options. I'm sure the NGOs are there, just unsure where exactly to start looking.

I miss the Middle East :( If only a vacancy with working permit included would come up in Turkey, in Israel, Jordan, or Lebanon, .... I would jump on the first plane.

[ahimsa]

Re: Hello from Turkey

Hi Gerrit,
you may wish to give me your Email address by posting a private message to me.....I have a tip or 2 re Egypt & Jordan but not soooooo happy about posting them on this wonderful "open" forum :) :) if you know what I mean?
Good luck for 2011 by the way,
david