I
wake up every day knowing that I live in one of the loveliest places in
the world. That, in spite of the invasion of thousands of people who have
arrived these past few years to buy into our quality of life. Fortunately,
I arrived in Bodrum, Turkey in the late eighties. Little did I realize
then that I would still be here 20 years later. I am not the first foreigner
to have been lulled into the Lotus Eating syndrome in Bodrum, Turkey. Hundreds
of foreigners arrived before I.
It was 1983
when I first arrived in Bodrum for a sailing holiday. I had been
working in London for a non-profit with teenagers from the inner city.
We flew into
to Izmir, a military airport, where we were thoroughly searched before
climbing aboard a rickety bus and traveling south for an endless five hours
without air-conditioning in high summer. It used to be work to get
here. Foreigners who came to Turkey then were highly motivated travelers,
in search of eastern culture, atmosphere, food, and music.
Three
years later, I heard there was a summer job as a holiday representative
available. I jumped at it. Everything
then was exotic and charming - even if the power did get cut off on a regular
basis.
And there was
the attention factor. As a blonde, I stood out. I returned to London when
my summer job ended, but I was back the following year. I fell in love
and married a Turk.
It didn’t take
long to learn that values about marital commitment are different here.
Don’t get me wrong. Turkish men have charm by the gallon. However,
women outnumber men seven to one, not including foreign females like me
who have moved here to live on the edge of the Aegean Sea.
When my Turkish
marriage ended, my ex-husband tried to convince me that I should leave
the country. I was hell bent on staying and did.
Twenty years
later, there have been major changes in Bodrum. A
local airport opened nine years ago, and that more than anything opened
the floodgates for a foreign invasion of holiday makers. Like me,
many of those tourists decided to purchase homes here. Today there are
700 more real estate agents in Bodrum than there were fifteen years ago.
Bodrum residents
used to be fond of saying that they would never become another South of
Spain – overbuilt, and a charm less package tourist destination.
Today the white
box houses creep ever higher up the hillsides like so many Lego blocks,
replacing olive groves, wild oleander bushes, and wild oregano.
Red tape and
bureaucracy loom large in our lives -Turks seem to take it for granted
that time is consumed by endless paperwork for everything, including applying
for residency.
There
are of course, positive aspects that come with growth and change. For
instance, it is far more convenient today to find the things we need and
want to buy. The days of loading up baggage in London with booty to bring
back to Turkey are long gone. Bathroom shops line our streets
alongside home improvement outlets... two Marks and Spencers make
there home here now. Even the British supermarket chain, Tesco has claimed
a place in this Turkish resort town.
You can’t argue
with excellent health care. Two private hospitals compete to offer the
utmost in European style health care.
And so, in
spite of the throngs of tourists that flock to our seaside town each summer,
the sun and the Aegean Sea continue to mesmerize. My neighbours,
landlady, and her family are simple and honest, and genuinely concerned
for my welfare. And so I think I’ll stay.
This morning:
Lush almond blossoms weigh down the boughs outside my bedroom window, evidence
that spring is around the corner. Summer will follow with its hot breezes,
the classic Turkish gullets sailing majestically in and out of our harbor.
And the tourists will arrive.
No matter.
Because I have a garden, my haven, where I go to count my blessings.
