Curfews, carbs and corona - life in Turkey when nomadic is a no-no
“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry” - Robert Burns
Like everyone, we had plans for 2020.
After two months in China at the end of 2019 and a brief sojourn to the UK, 2020 was going to start with our usual three months house sitting in Turkey over winter.
Our plans were fairly basic. We would get work done, eat out at the local restaurants, walk along the sea, learn Turkish and make some friends. After our housesit, we would rent an apartment in Istanbul - something we have wanted to do since 2008.
Our life in Istanbul would mainly involve eating as many Turkish breakfasts as possible over three months; exploring Istanbul nightlife; hanging out in Kadikoy; catching up with family and friends who would visit; and earning a bit more money.
And then? Central and Eastern Turkey was calling: culinary and cultural adventures aplenty. Starting in Konya, the birthplace of Sufism and then moving east towards Antakya (a UNESCO city of gastronomy), Gaziantep (the home of pistachio baklava yums), Urfa, Mardin, Lake Van and beyond.
I was hoping to eat many more of these breakfasts.
We would then cross the border: heading into Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan and as many of the 'Stans we could get in before October. My sister and I sketched out a possible winter trip to Japan with our parents. Plans, plans, plans.
These plans also relied on us applying for and getting Turkish residency - we wanted a one-year tourist permit so that we could explore the country at our leisure.
And then Coronavirus happened.
“Stay at home Fethiye” posters around the Fethiye town area.
It all started off as normal. We got to Turkey and settled into village life here. This year's winter was mild compared to last year's flooding debacle and after constantly travelling for the last six months, we were glad to be staying in one place for a while.
Last year’s flooding ridiculousness - luckily that didn’t happen again this year.
We continued in our usual 'winter in Turkey' routine: shopping at the busy fresh produce market on Tuesdays, eating in restaurants once a week, (we even managed to fit in a meal and wine by the sea) and working from home. The word ‘Coronavirus’ wasn’t on anyone's lips just yet .
The wonderful Tuesday fresh produce market in Fethiye.
Around us, things were changing fast. In February, Turkey closed its borders with Iran and stopped flights from Italy, China, Iraq and South Korea.
We carried on, taking hope in the fact that the country hadn't yet announced any cases but knowing it was inevitable. We celebrated Vincent's birthday with a Turkish bath and dinner at Mozaik Bahce, our favourite restaurant in Fethiye.
Hatay-style hummus at Mozaik Bahçe restaurant - our last meal in Fethiye before the restaurants closed.
On 11th March, they announced the country's first case. Universities, schools, bars, and nightclubs were all shut quickly afterwards. Friday prayers were suspended. And a curfew was placed on people 65 or older.
We started to notice people wearing masks - an extremely uncommon sight here. Signs about coronavirus appeared out of nowhere. The local mall was closed - a normally bustling place was empty and deserted, save for the resident cat.
One of these things…
…is not like the other.
Hand sanitiser was installed outside supermarkets along with social distancing markers on the floors. Restaurants were open but only for delivery or takeaway.
Our local honey seller mentioned coronavirus when we stopped at his stall to buy our weekly supply of pine honey. Our nuts and spices guy packed up his stall and didn't come back. Things were changing.
On March 21st the government announced that flights to 46 other countries (including the UK) would be suspended. The curfew was extended to people 20 and under.
This week’s market looked very different - all the stalls were moved into a larger area to help with social distancing.
We made a decision not to go back to the UK and went ahead with our online residence applications. We booked appointments to submit the hard copies of our documents - they only had dates in mid-April. We visited the office to see if we could submit everything earlier in case Turkey went into complete lockdown and government offices closed but it wasn't possible.
Waiting for our appointment at the immigration office.
We prepared for lockdown circumstances and bought extra dry food items and twice the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables that we would usually eat, just so that we could stay in for two weeks at a time and practice social distancing as much as possible.
During these times I REALLY wish that I had a car.
A few weeks later and 48-hour weekend curfews have begun with a longer 96-hour curfew starting this week. The curfews mean that you cannot go out at all - if you do you will be arrested or fined. Spring is here and the Turkish government, like many others around the world, worries that this will encourage people to go outside and enjoy the glorious warmer weather.
The curfews have a special Turkish element to them: bakeries are deemed to be providing essential services and so must stay open. Bread is life here in Turkey. I couldn't agree more.
Our plans lie in the dust. We are in a weird sort of limbo, waiting for the outcome of our residence application and hoping against hope that it will be approved.
The new way to drink Turkish çay, in this time of social distancing.
The nomadic nature of our lives (a lifestyle that we fully chose, I’d like to add) means that we don't have anywhere to really call home right now and we are relying on the kindness of our housesitting host to let us stay on.
We don't want to go back to the UK and risk putting our families at risk, plus we have no home of our own in which to stay.
Acknowledge that some things are sh*t right now
Anxiety. Nervousness. Sadness. Uncertainty. Anger. Like everyone, we've felt all of these things over the last few weeks. We worry about our families and friends in the UK and when we will see them next. We watched press conferences and read endless news reports and despaired at the ever-increasing death tolls all around the world.
Current mood.
We analysed our own decisions and wondered whether we should have moved to Istanbul earlier. Or if we should have taken the repatriation flights back home. Were we right to stay put? Are we making things more stressful for our families by staying here?
Too many questions. Too many what ifs.
One thing we haven’t done is suppress what we feel or just ‘think positive’, as many self-help gurus out there are telling us to do right now. “Just think positive and the world will be full of fluffy bunnies and rainbows!” Errr...thanks but that hasn’t worked for us.
Sorry, but ‘think positive’ isn’t working for me right now.
We know we have a lot to be grateful for and that there are many people who are in a far worse situation than us. But thinking that you shouldn’t feel something because someone somewhere is worse off than you doesn’t actually make that feeling (sadness, anxiety, anger, whatever it is) go away.
Vincent’s mood in this photo wasn’t just going to go away.
It is still important to feel your feelings instead of shutting them down because that is the only way you can move on to a place where you start to accept what is happening and where you feel like you can regain a semblance of control over what is happening in your own life.
Give thanks for the good things
Whilst we face a lot of uncertainty, we know that we are extremely lucky. Our housesitting host is letting us stay on, which is great, because we can live here rent-free and it is a wonderful place to work from. We have a lot of outdoor and indoor space, a beautiful view and plenty of fresh air. There is a pine forest behind our house and we have started going for walks there.
The walk behind our house leads us to some stunning sights.
Our families and friends are healthy and staying isolated (well, mostly - my 78-year-old Dad still wants to go to the supermarket and had a few panicky moments over running out of lentils and rice. If there ever was an Asian stereotype, this would be it).
We submitted our residence application last Friday, which was good timing as the country has gone into a full lockdown for four days this week, so we were really lucky to have been able to get it in (just!).
My Dad: a man who wears sunglasses inside and poses with multivitamins. Also a man who can’t live without curry.
We are allowed to stay in Turkey while our application is being processed, so that gives us a bit more stability and we don’t have to go anywhere just yet. Turkey has also temporarily abolished the fines associated with overstaying on a tourist visa or residence permit due to flights out of the country being suspended.
After being broken for a month, our internet connection was fixed at the end of February which means we can keep in touch with family and friends, watch Netflix and reruns of old shows that we love (right now we are binge-watching The Good Wife).
I declared my love to our Huawei Superbox, much to Vincent’s dismay.
We are lucky that we are used to being isolated in this housesit, so in some ways, life hasn’t changed too drastically. The isolation has helped us to focus more on work and we put together a daily schedule that we (mostly) stick to. However, we don’t beat ourselves up if we have a non-productive day (more on this below).
We’ve also realised that the uncertain nature of our lives over the past three years is actually helping us in this situation: we are used to not planning too far ahead and taking each day as it comes. What will be, will be.
Vincent getting into work mode.
We are together and so we don’t ever feel really alone (although sometimes one of us is just so incredibly annoying that at that point we wish that we were alone).
My name is Vincent and I am particularly annoying.
And sometimes I am grateful for the smallest things e.g. after two months in China, Vincent now eats aubergine (it was the humble vegetable that got us through most days of being vegetarian in the Middle Kingdom). This has opened up a whole new range of meals that I can make and another vegetable added to our diet. Thank f@%k for that.
For those of you who read that last paragraph as ‘Sasha is grateful for aubergine’ - get your minds out of the gutter right now.
All of this is a lot more than we could ever ask for and also more than many people have right now.
Ignore the people who are telling you that they are living their best coronavirus life
Yep they are out there. The people who have completely mastered yoga in lockdown. The ones who are productive AF and have completed one months’ worth of work in 3 days. People who've followed 5 different courses already.
It’s gonna take longer than a coronavirus lockdown for me to be able to do this.
Those telling us how to stay "positive and grow" and asking us to use their affiliate links to learn a new language, become social media pros or finally master the pull-up. And the peeps who've got their abs poppin’ in six weeks because they've also become healthy vegan food experts and abs are made in the kitchen, don't you know?
This man’s muscles laugh in the face of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, those of us who just want to watch reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer over and over feel even more guilty that we aren't using this time to get ahead. That we aren’t living our best coronavirus life.
The truth is, most of us are going to experience ups and downs. There will be super productive days and days where you wonder why you bothered getting out of bed at all. There will also be days where, for some reason or another, everything just goes tits up and you are left feeling completely sh*t.
A case in point: last Monday I was going to make a cake and some pakoras - a good use of my time I thought, on one of my days off. Instead, we went into the village to buy water after a 48-hour curfew (which happened with very little notice so we had to do a bit of water rationing), came home and then had a massive argument.
“Which was entirely Sasha’s fault” - Vincent (I have included this under duress).
Afterwards, I sat seething for about 2 hours (I am an expert at this - if you want a course on how to do this properly, do let me know) and basically did nothing productive. Those my friends, are what influencers call: not relationship goals.
Sometimes, we just feel like this.
I then felt extremely guilty about wasting the whole day, when I felt I ‘should have been productive’, which fed into further inner guilt that I should be using this time to work harder than normal and that maybe I shouldn’t be having days off. Which is all completely ridiculous, when you think about it.
In the end we made up, had dinner and snuggled up together on the sofa. We resolved to make our Tuesday better and chalked this wreck of a day up to tiredness (him), and a huge Grumpster (aka mood swings - me). The next day ended up being more productive and I made the cake and the pakoras which both turned out great.
Homemade pakora yums.
Don't use this time to beat yourself up about all the stuff on the internet that people are telling you you should be doing but you aren't. Just because some people in the world are using this time to supposedly get ahead in life/school/university/work/exercise/cooking etc. doesn’t mean you have to.
I’ve felt like this a lot lately.
Plus on social media you don't know that any of this stuff is true anyway.
So if you want to do something productive - whatever it is - do it. And if you want to just chill, watch Netflix or stay in bed all day, that’s fine too.
The most important thing is to be kind to yourself - it is particularly important during this time, but also something we need to keep in mind for our mental health and well being in the future. We are often our harshest critics.
If you are struggling right now, I found this article on why it’s okay not to be productive during a pandemic really helpful.
Some things we have found helpful
Routine
As we've been working for ourselves the last three years we have had to form our own routine to make sure that we actually do get something done.
We try to get up at the same time each day and fit in exercise each morning. We take breaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner and do our laundry once a week. On our days off, we go for walks and generally spend a bit of time outside.
We are trying to get to bed earlier so that we have a bit more sleep as well (I’ve been having nightmares and anxiety dreams more regularly than usual so my sleep hasn’t been great) but we still seem to get sucked into a TV show every evening. Tiger King anyone?
Lockdown life is all about carbs and cooking
Step back salads. It’s time for comfort food. Since the start of social distancing/quarantine period, I have been making more comfort/carb-heavy dishes and from discussions with my friends and family, it seems like most people are doing the same.
Hello dhal my old friend, I keep cooking you again and again.
Jacket potatoes. Coconut dhal with crispy sweet potatoes. Sweet potato, feta and lentil fritters. Pasta bake. Ginger, cinnamon and honey homemade granola. Spicy Turkish lentil soup. Coconut rice.
A good breakfast ALWAYS makes me happy. (Actually, who am I kidding - ANY food makes me happy.)
These dishes have comforted us and made us feel sane and happy, even when we are watching yet another press conference featuring Matt Hancock’s oh-so-punchable face. (Plus with lentils, there’s protein too, so you know, it’s not all that bad).
I can’t visit any of my favourite Turkish restaurants and delivery isn’t an option (we really don’t think they’ll find us here) so discovering yummy dishes to cook is all I can do right now.
I’ve also used this period to try out new things - I made masala chai, chapatis (Nadiya Hussein has a good recipe on her Insta highlights) and pakoras for the first time in my life (yes I am Asian, but this isn’t my food).
All of these things turned out well, but getting chapatis to actually be round is another matter entirely and I am now convinced that this is some form of witchcraft. I’ve asked all my friends and none of them can make a perfectly round chapati. I might have to give my brown card back.
Trying my best to hide my chapati failings by putting my roundest chapati on top. Damn tasty though.
One of my friends also sent me a recipe for this apricot jam and coconut loaf cake which I tried out (substituting the jam for a bitter orange marmalade) and promptly fell in love with.
The owner of the recipe described it as a cake that “perfected her autumnal nest” (she’d basically made a nest on her sofa with duvets and pillows - what a f@%king legend).
I would describe it as a cake that feels like it is hugging you when you are eating it. We’ve had it every afternoon for the last few days with a cup of tea and I actually felt sad when it was finished. Yes, it’s that good.
Limiting the news
I am the kind of person who reads the news all the time, without fail. I usually catch up on what is going on throughout the day, scrolling from one news story to the next, until I’ve had my fill.
I am also the kind of person who goes down the rabbit hole on a news story, going on Twitter, seeing what different newspapers have said, reading the BTL commentary…Basically, I like to be informed.
However, in these times, my usual news-obsessed behaviour just made me feel more anxious.
News in a time of coronavirus feels different.
So I’ve limited my news intake drastically - a bit of BBC breakfast in the morning (which I usually accompany with a little scrolling of some news articles on my phone) and then that is it for the day. We used to watch the UK press conferences in the evening but they just made us feel stressed and depressed, so we stopped.
The news often feels like this.
We joined a group on Facebook that helps us keep updated on the developments in Turkey as the Health Minister holds a daily press conference here as well (he’s become something of a social media star as it happens). We usually check this once during the day.
Exercise
While we are all about the carb-life, we are still keeping up with our exercise routine. We’ve been doing at-home workouts for three years now and find Fitness Blender’s programmes affordable and motivating. (Even when we are swearing at them.)
We’ve also added in more yoga via the amazing Yoga with Adriene. We particularly like her 30-day yoga journeys as it helps us to practice yoga daily. She’s a practical and relaxed teacher and just makes us feel like we can do anything, both in yoga and in life.
Her YouTube videos are totally free and she has something for everyone from power yoga routines to yoga for social anxiety and stress and even yoga for bedtime.
All the small things
I find that it’s the littlest things that make the biggest difference to my mood and the way I feel during the whole day.
The view from our balcony.
So, having breakfast on our balcony and looking out at the view, putting a stick of cinnamon in my tea, taking time out to sit in the sun - all of these things help to keep me feeling positive.
Catching up with friends and family
WhatsApp group calls, FaceTime, Messenger calls - whatever the method, we are trying to keep in touch with people more than we usually would. Sometimes if I haven’t heard from someone in a while, I drop them a line, just to check that everything is okay.
Some of my friends and I have also taken to sharing pictures of things that we have baked or cooked for dinner, which is a simple thing that makes me happy.
These two mentalists always love a good Facetime catch up.
I’ve also started to send a few more voice notes (even though I don’t really like it, because I think my voice sounds weird), as sometimes it feels more personal than sending a message to someone. One of my good friends said that she likes sending voice notes because it makes her feel like she is on her own radio show - an idea that I love and makes me giggle.
Podcasts
I admit to being totally late to the game on this one, but now I am absolutely obsessed with podcasts.
I started this year by listening to Season 3 of Slow Burn, which investigates the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur and is a thrilling and addictive listen that explores the rise of gangsta rap, the US political climate of the 90s and much more. (And now I finally understand so much more about the lyrics to How Do You Want It?).
The whole Slow Burn series is brilliant - the first series focuses on the Watergate scandal whilst the second explores the Clinton impeachment. Real edge-of-your-seat stuff and as a bonus, I learnt a lot about these historical events that I didn’t know before.
I also finally listened to Serial, which my sister had originally asked me to check out in 2014. For those who don’t know (and I know that’s probably very few of you), season one focuses on the murder of Hae Min Lee, a high school student in Baltimore in 1999 and is absolutely gripping.
If all this talk of murder and politics makes you feel worse, then here are a few other podcasts that I enjoy (thanks to my fam and friends who got me listening to some of these):
How to Fail with Elizabeth Day - celebrating the things in life that haven’t gone right. Every week Day interviews someone about their failures and explores what this taught them about how to succeed.
My Dad Wrote a Porno - yes you read this correctly. Jamie Morton’s dad wrote a dirty book and instead of ignoring it and pretending it never happened, he decided to read it to the world in a podcast, with the help of his friends. Really makes me laugh and definitely a mood lifter.
Science(ish) - essentially this is two guys just f@%king about and exploring the science behind popular culture. The most recent series explores everything from why there aren’t more cannibals and whether we will ever be able to make ourselves invisible.
Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel - I am a nosey bugger and love reading problem pages, so this podcast is a delight for me. Where Should We Begin lets you listen in on real-life couples therapy sessions, where they cover everything from infidelity and betrayal to regret and loss.
Perel is incredibly wise and insightful and can somehow re-examine a really difficult problem and find a path out of it. There are some fantastic lessons in there for everybody, especially on how we communicate with each and deal with those difficult conversations in our lives.
Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell - each episode, Gladwell goes back and revisits something from the past: an event, a song, a person, an idea. In the process he unearths unusual facts and disturbing tales, leaving you questioning everything you think you know about anything.
All of these are available on Apple Podcasts.
Music
Music has always been a big part of my life and something that has a way of making me feel better when my mood is low. Recently we’ve discovered some ‘new’ (actually old) ‘choons on YouTube that I have been rinsing out, just because they make me feel so relaxed.
War on Drugs, Thinking of a Place gives me the most relaxing road trip vibes.
Kokoroko, Abusey Junction / We Out Here - This always me think of drinking cocktails on a beach somewhere (even if my reality is drinking a cup of tea on the sofa). It also just makes me pause and take a moment to just…breathe.
Nina Simon & Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Eunice Waymon: how the hell I missed this I don’t know, but this album mixtape is amazing! I also love the way the producer mixes in clips of both artists talking.
Khruangbin & Leon Bridges, Texas Sun: another song that gives me those American road trip vibes.
Phosphorescent, Song for Zula: sometimes this makes me a little teary-eyed, but I love it.
If however you prefer your music more coronavirus-related, checkout the Rolling Stones’ new offering Living in a Ghost Town. I think I’ve found my pandemic theme tune.
Feel good TV
I’ve been watching a range of things from Tiger King (car crash TV at its finest) to The Outsider, a fantastic slow-burning murder mystery with a supernatural element that is based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name.
However, when I want some escapism and lightness (especially when everything in the world just feels so heavy right now) I’ve found that Would I Lie to You? works a treat. David Mitchell’s wasp-killing story had us in stitches.
I also enjoy the Japanese cartoon version of Heidi - something about the way Heidi is so overjoyed by everything and everyone she meets just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Plus I love the music in the opening credits and have now learned the Japanese lyrics.
Now if that isn’t productivity, I don’t know what is.
Staying in Turkey has really worked for us and we are thinking about settling here for a while. What are you doing to get you through these unusual times?
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