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Many people enjoy travelling, but short visits to a country are rarely enough to get a real feel for the culture and people.  Travellers often want to spend more time in one place, but their budget prevents them from doing this. Living and working in a country is probably the best way to get to know a place authentically. If you have ever been interested in visiting Turkey, or returning to Turkey, there is a very easy way of making a living for any English speaking tourist. The Turkish middle classes are very keen to learn English, and they really want to learn it from a native speaker of the language. If you speak English as your first language, you are almost guaranteed a job teaching English in Turkey. The number of students wanting to learn English far outweighs the number of English teachers, which means that many schools will hire someone without the proper qualifications.  Having a teaching degree or English degree certainly helps, but it is not necessary. The only basic requirement of some schools is that you are a native speaker of English. I spent a year teaching at a private primary school, and although I do have a degree in Education, not everyone did. In fact, one of the teachers hadn’t even gone to university at all. A TEFL certificate will certainly boost your chances of getting a job, but again, it’s not necessary. Just about all schools provide a training period before you are actually put in front of a class.

Mosque in Istanbul.

Don’t go to Turkey to teach English expecting to make a lot of money. The salaries are reasonable, and the cost of living is very low, but you aren’t likely to leave with a huge savings account. Any extra money is usually spent on exploring Istanbul, trips around the country, or maybe on a Turkish carpet!
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The stone dwellings of Kapadokya.

Most schools want you to stay for one year, but few schools are willing to pay work permit fees, or do the required paperwork. This means that you must leave the country every 3 months to renew your tourist visa. This is crucial, if you try to leave the country with an expired visa; you will be charged a hefty fine. But without a proper work permit, your contract is not valid and you can leave at any time. It sounds naughty, but it happens all the time. Some of the more reputable adult language schools in Istanbul include English Time, Active English, Istanbul Language Center, Best English and Dilko English. A useful website is Dave’s ESL café. www.daveseslcafe.com It gives job listings from all over the world, useful tips, and warnings about schools where other teachers have had bad experiences. A lot of people arrange a job before they go, but many people I know have just shown up in Istanbul, and within days have been hired.  So, if you love Turkey like I do, or want to get to know and love it, if you can speak English and have ambitions to live abroad, what are you waiting for? Get thee to Turkey! High On Turkey Turkey is a country with a rich history, geography and culture. One of the most ignored treasures are its geographical wonders. Not only can you see things you would never see anywhere else, but here you have the opportunity to see them in a unique and extraordinary way.  Kapadokya Until I moved to Turkey one year ago, I had never heard of this part of the country. It is one of those places that make you think – how is it that the rest of the world doesn’t know about this? And then you are grateful that they don’t, because if they did, it wouldn’t be the same.

Kapadokya has often been compared to a fairyland, and it is sometimes hard to believe, even when seeing it with your own eyes. Although few people still actually live in the cave homes, restaurants, shops and hotels are often carved out of the stone which provides a constant temperature of 14 degrees Celsius year round.
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A hot air balloon ride at sunrise provides an exceptional and fascinating view of the entire area. Although it doesn’t come cheap, and it means getting up at 5 a.m., there is truly no better way to see Kapadokya. The hour long ride gives you a bird’s eye view of all of the strange rock formations. You can see one of the volcanoes in the distance, the extent of the tuff stretching out for miles, as well as the sunrise itself. The red sun sheds a new light on the stone, bringing out its natural colours. A little scared of heights, I was nervous about the whole experience. But I didn’t even know when we had lifted off, the ride was that smooth. The highest we went was one kilometre, but at times we were close enough to the ground to pick apricots off nearby trees. You could never get a sense of how big the area is and the diversity of these rock formations from the ground.  Ölüdeniz Ölüdeniz, meaning dead or calm sea in Turkish, is not much more than a beach resort. However, it is a beach resort set amid spectacular nature and is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to. I was worried that I would be disappointed when I arrived, after seeing postcard upon postcard of beautiful blue water and white sand. But this is one of those rare places that exactly resemble the advertisements.  A beach is a beach is a beach. You swim, you relax, and you soak up the sun. But Ölüdeniz offers much more than just these normal beach activities. Paragliding companies are as common as restaurants here. More often than not, I would look up from my lounge chair to see the air filled with tandem paragliders. I had to go. Again, I was nervous. Who wouldn’t be? In fact, at one point I thought I might not be able to go through with it. But after I survived the terrifying 45 minute drive up the winding mountain road, I was much keener to jump off a cliff than get back in that jeep.

Ölüdeniz from the sky.

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The safety record is very good, and most pilots have made around 5000 jumps. A 6,700 foot area on the top of the mountain was our take off point. Once we were strapped in, we waited for the wind and only had to run a few steps before we were lifted into the air.

Once afloat, the view dissolved any nerves that were left. The sea was still quite far away, but even from up there the water was breathtaking. The colours were strangely magnified as we descended toward the beach. I could see the mountains behind me, the hotels, the water and the beach. As we got closer I could see how the blues of the water intensified from aquamarine to dark blue according to the depth of the sea. It was simply beautiful. I was high on Turkey and all it had to offer; plus, I had a new perspective of this beach, and the beauty and power of the sea.

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