Captivating Cappadocia

Buying a Car in Turkey

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:35:55 +0000

This is part 1 of a 3 part series on buying a car in Turkey as a foreigner. Click to see part 2 and part 3.
This post is a bit different than the normal ones we usually feature at CaptivatingCappadocia.com. Instead of highlighting the incredible people and sites to visit, I want to share a comical event that may ring true with many other foreigners’ general experience who have lived in Turkey for any amount of time.

Let me just say this straight away: I love Turkey. If I didn’t, I would have left many years ago. Also, I need to say that instead of interpreting this post as a complaint, I encourage you to see this as an apology for why I love living in a land of the unpredictable. I laughed several times throughout the experience that I am setting before you. I merely want to see if I can turn the experience of a foreigner attempting to follow protocol into something that is “captivating”, peeling back the veneer of a two part process that we all have had to go through: the purchase and the selling of automobiles. My experience, however, was in another culture, carried out in another language, undergirded by another value system that at times still caught me by surprise even after 10 years of living in this great land.

PART 1: FOREIGNER BUYING A CAR IN TURKEY

We were in the market for a new (used) van for our family of 8. With an extensive European trip across 8 countries on the horizon, our 12 year old Hyundai passenger/cargo van with 300,000 km was giving me reason to doubt her dependability. I had received word about a 2008 Fiat Scudo minivan being sold by another foreigner in Istanbul. After contacting the seller, hearing of the vehicle’s history and seeing some detailed photos, my son Elijah and I booked a cheap one way ticket to Istanbul on a Friday, in hopes of driving home that same day with the vehicle. Whether these hopes were realistic or not, I was still optimistic!

NOTARY PUBLIC

When purchasing a vehicle in Turkey the first main transaction happens at the notary public, where the information for the title and registration of the car is documented on a piece of paper which is then submitted to the department of transportation in your local city, and then subsequent license plates and registration papers notating the change of ownership are issued. Wisdom and 10 years of experience living in Turkey both told me to expect some hang-ups, but since one of my “super powers” was Positivity (from the talent assessment profile StrengthsFinder), I was optimistic that the day would end with us driving off into the sunset with some new wheels…I should have known better.

SNAG

The first hang-up arose immediately as we entered the notary public. The computer, which houses the “system”, the repository of all permission-granting endeavors in Turkey, did not recognize the owner’s personal identification number. Several years ago Turkey assigned all foreigners with residence permits an identification number (TC Kimlik Nosu), similar to the identification system used for Turkish citizens. Apparently, when these numbers were distributed some things fell through the cracks, such as linking some people’s vehicle registrations to their identity number!

After a span of 5 hours that included two taxi rides, visits to three different government offices, a different notary public, an hour-long lunch break closure of all official offices, a bout of cold feet on whether I should buy the van or not, a friendly encounter with the security police and a fabulous meal of Finnish meatballs at the owner’s home, it seemed clear that my Positivity was not going to win the day. Every person we spoke with could clearly see what needed to be done, but nobody could do anything about it. Eventually, we were able to supply the necessary information to the right people in order to make the correct changes for the automobile to appear on the “Almighty” screen of the notary, but then we were told it would take a day for the changes to be cleared through the data bank. It was Friday, the end of the business week. The time was 16:00, one half-hour before the notary public closed, and we weren’t even close to “getting started”, and my house was 750 km away!

A return flight was out of the question as the flights were either full, or incredibly expensive. (My gracious host offered to pay my return ticket as he felt so bad about the situation.) The overnight buses were also crammed full of weekend adventurers. No car. No flight. No bus. My son Elijah and I were stuck in a city that was 25,757 times bigger than the village town of Steele, North Dakota, where I was born and raised.

A MIRACLE

With a heart-felt prayer and a last ditch effort we returned to the very first notary public we visited 6 hours earlier, just to see if a miracle had happened, and the updated information cleared the data bank and would appear on the computer screen. Nothing. We explained once again our situation, asking if we could do something via the post, or by some other way, and then, the miracle. The notary looked at us and said, “Is there anybody you can trust in Nevsehir where you live?” To which I replied, “Yes. Tons of people.” The gracious lady then said to the seller, “Just give someone the power of attorney to sell your vehicle next week down in Nevsehir, after the updated information is cleared in the system.” We looked at each other, smiled, thanked God and proceeded to draw up a power of attorney to give my wife, of all people, the authority to sell me the van after the weekend, down in Nevsehir.

The day was coming to a close but my son and I still had time for an all-out Nerf dart gun war with the seller and his sons: a battle royal that helped diffuse some of our frustrations. We still had an 8 hour drive ahead of us, but it was well worth the wait.

LESSON LEARNED

Don’t do official business that you are hoping to be finished in one day on a Friday, especially if you live 750 km away.

What you need to purchase a vehicle as a foreigner in Turkey Check List:

1. TC Kimlik Numarası (Republic of Turkey Identification Number); if you are a foreigner and have received a residence permit (ikamet tezkeresi), you will have been issued this number. To learn your number, enter your year of birth and residence permit number on the first page of your blue booklet at
https://tckimlik.nvi.gov.tr/YabanciKimlikNo/DogumYiliveIkametTezkereNoSorguModul.aspx
and your TC Kimlik Nosu should appear. If your record is not found, proceed to the nearest Nüfus Müdürlüğü (Registration Office) and have them check their records for your number.
2. If you do not have number one above (TC Kimlik Nosu), you can purchase a vehicle with a Tax Number. This number can be obtained at the local vergi dairesi (tax office).
3. A current passport. If you have a translated copy, it doesn’t hurt to bring it just in case they want to inspect it closely.
4. Around 186 TL for notary fees (as of April 2013).
5. Patience.

Check out “Part Two: The Sale”, where you’ll read of my adventure in trying to sell my old Hyundai minivan to a brave Turkish soul who is willing to do business with a foreigner.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, here’s what you can do. Please share this post with your friends by clicking on one of the buttons to the left side. Also, you may want to subscribe to these posts. Click here and follow the instructions. One of my goals is to help people who will visit Cappadocia. This is your way to help me meet this goal. Thank you, I am grateful.

Aaron Moss has owned an exporting business, shipping pottery and rugs to America, and has been an outspoken advocate for bringing tour groups from North America over to Cappadocia for the past several years. Through his contribution to CaptivatingCappadocia.com he hopes that more people will come and visit the incredible land he has called “home” since 2004. He and his wife have 6 children, and he has yet to meet anyone who hasn’t thoroughly enjoyed their stay in Cappadocia. Click here to read more about Aaron.

Buying a Car in Turkey is a post from: Captivating Cappadocia

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Cappadocia Photo of the Week May 14: Hot-Air Balloons In Our Front Yard!

Tue, 14 May 2013 01:39:52 +0000

Wake up, stretch, yawn, rub eyes, is that Darth Vader outside? Look out the window, What the!?

Is this the normal view out your windows in the morning?
We have grown accustomed to the hot air balloons but we still watch, mouths agape, as they float by our house each morning.

If you are interested in a Cappadocia hot air balloon ride, start with our Hot-Air Balloon Ride Information Page.

To see all the Cappadocia Photos of the Week, click here.

Did you enjoy this photograph? If so, here’s what you can do. Please share it with your friends by clicking on one of the buttons below or to the side. Also, you may want to subscribe so you will receive every week’s photo and other Cappadocia posts directly in your inbox. Click here and follow the instructions. One of my goals is to help people who will visit Cappadocia. This is your way to help me meet this goal. Thank you, I am grateful.

Cappadocia Photo of the Week May 14: Hot-Air Balloons In Our Front Yard! is a post from: Captivating Cappadocia
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Altın Kepçe: The Golden Ladle of Avanos Serves Soup & a Story

Mon, 13 May 2013 01:08:30 +0000

SOUP FOR BREAKFAST!?”

“It’s not right or wrong, it’s not good or bad…it’s just different”

I remember that phrase from my preparations for cross cultural living.

The differences would be numerous but my judgments on those differences could be less so.

Of course, one of the most basic differences one experiences cross-culturally is food.

For example, when we first moved here, I went to a café for breakfast. Breakfast? Breakfast in my culture means Denny’s Grand Slam: two pancakes, two eggs, two bacon, two sausage (although of course there would be no bacon or sausage in this Muslim country). At the very least, it would be an omelet with hashbrowns and a fruit cup. You get the point. The word breakfast paints a picture.

And that picture certainly did not include soup!

So imagine my surprise when the waiter asks me what I would like for breakfast and says they have soup. Soup? “It’s just different, it’s just different, it’s just different,” I try to remind myself when everything in me is screaming “It’s WRONG. It’s BAD! You can’t eat soup for breakfast. STOP IT!”

After visiting several more cafes with no success in finding the coveted Grand Slam, I had to succumb. Shortly thereafter I was able to imbibe my first bowl of breakfast soup.

That brings me to Altın Kepçe – The Golden Ladle – soup café in Avanos.

Owner, Haluk Kuşcu, unlike many of the people we have interviewed on this website, is not a Cappadocia native. He moved here in 2001 from Izmir through some pretty interesting circumstances.

Haluk is the son of an army officer. Growing up, he lived in eight different cities, from Lüleburgaz (near Bulgaria) in the West to Kars (near Armenia) in the East. He even lived in Kibris (Cyprus) in the Mediterranean. But the place he called “home” was always Izmir.

After doing his compulsory military duty he settled in Izmir. He was a swim instructor during his service to his country and parlayed his experience into a job in tourism as a hotel life guard. Young and single in the tourist town of Izmir, Haluk said his life was lay lay lom…the Turkish equivalent of “livin’ large.”

Haluk’s father had a good friend in the military with whom he had been friends since high school. The two spent their 25 year armed forces career in the same cities. This friend of Haluk’s father had a daughter named Mujgan. Six years junior to Haluk, she called him abi (Turkish for older brother) over their childhood years growing up. Of course, Haluk, being older and living the playboy life, didn’t give her the time of day.

That is until one day when the two went to a wedding. Haluk asked her to dance and forgot all about her being his “little sister.” He took a liking to Mujgan but she was no fool. She knew what kind of life he was living. He pursued her but she knew he had many girlfriends awaiting him poolside.

They dated like this for eight years! Mujgan wanting him to get serious, Haluk promising to quit his flirting. Finally, Haluk said he was ready to make Mujgan his only girlfriend. “If you want me to be yours you have to quit lifeguarding!” Mujgan asserted. Haluk determined that she was worth it, quit living la vida loca and found the path to the straight and narrow! He left the poolside for work at a tea garden by his father’s side.

“And the two lived happily ever after…” is how it’s supposed to end.

But not all stories have a fairy tale ending.

In 2001, Haluk lost his mother, and then his sister. If that weren’t hardship enough, a trusted friend asked Haluk to cosign on a loan for him, guaranteeing he would pay Haluk back. The friend ran off with the money, leaving Haluk to pay back the bank. Haluk had to sell everything they had.

Broke and dejected Haluk was at the end of his rope. He could no longer live in Izmir for fear that he would kill the man who ruined his life. But he didn’t want to leave Izmir either, his home for most of his adult life.

His wife, who knew Haluk needed a new start, suggested they move to Cappadocia. Mujgan’s mother and father were originally from here and had retired here after her father’s military career came to an end. Haluk knew his wife was right and consented to the change of scenery.

A NEW LEASE ON LIFE

With help from his father-in-law and a lot of hard work Haluk became a successful business man. For nine years he had a hole-in-the-wall soup kitchen in the center of Avanos. There he made a name for himself serving tasty soup using fresh ingredients for a fair price.

In 2010 he moved to his current location overlooking the Pazaar in Avanos. The business picks up at midnight on Thursday, he says, as all the produce trucks arrive for the Friday morning Pazaar. He gets a lot of business from tourists as well. His English isn’t great but you can rest assured he will get your order right and serve you with a smile.

Haluk is famous for his soup but that’s not all he serves. In addition to mercimek (lentil), beyin (sheep brain), işkembe (lamb intestine), and kelle paça (boiled sheep head and hoof) soup, you can get ciğer (liver), köfte (meatballs), yaprak sarma (stuffed grape leaves) and his favorite meal midye dolma, which is a special mussel rice pilaf that he learned to make while in Izmir. I have yet to try it but I am certainly looking forward to sampling this unique Aegean cuisine.

Haluk would love to see you if you are in Avanos. Especially if you are visiting the Pazaar, you could take a break and sit out on his patio and enjoy a bowl of soup.

Or if you are brave, you could venture out of your cultural comfort zone and join all the produce sellers after midnight for a steaming hot bowl of breakfast soup!

Altın Kepçe Çorba Salonu * Pazarın Yanı No. 4*Avanos*0554-935-4668*Haluk Kuşcu

Did you enjoy this post? If so, here’s what you can do. Please share this post with your friends by clicking on one of the buttons to the left side. Also, you may want to subscribe to these posts. Click here and follow the instructions. One of my goals is to help people who will visit Cappadocia. This is your way to help me meet this goal. Thank you, I am grateful.

Christian Dedrick, an English teacher living in Avanos. He has lived in Turkey since 2008 with his wife and three sons and is excited to be sharing stories from his life in Cappadocia. He began writing for CaptivatingCappadocia spring 2012. Click here to read more about Christian.

Altın Kepçe: The Golden Ladle of Avanos Serves Soup & a Story is a post from: Captivating Cappadocia

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Tales From the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey [VIDEO REVIEW]

Thu, 09 May 2013 01:45:49 +0000

Since I started reviewing books on this website, Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey edited by Jennifer Eaton Gökmen & Anastasia M. Ashman is the most recommended book my readers have encouraged me to read. Given that I am a good listener and quick responder I took over a year to get to it… Oops!

All kidding aside I put off reading this book because I thought it was a book for women, and I am a not a woman. However, after numerous readers told me I should read it, I finally got the hint and am now reviewing it for y’all.

With all that said I have mixed feelings about the book. I found the book to be at times fascinating, at times infuriating, at times disgusting, and at times melancholy-inducing. In the end I am glad I read it, but the lasting feeling is one of sadness mixed with frustration. Rather than explain that I will leave it for you to read and share your feelings in the comments section below. I expect at least some of you will understand what I mean.

TALES FROM THE EXPAT HAREM CONTENT

Tales consists of 29 personal stories divided into 9 sections. The expat women who tell the stories come from a wide mix of ages, nationalities, and contexts. Some of them are married to Turkish or Kurdish men, some are divorced, and some are single. Some have lived in Turkey for years and others barely visited the place. Some came to Turkey for love, some for adventure, some for work, and some to escape their homeland. Many lived in Istanbul, but every region of the country (except maybe the southeast) was represented.

Take a road trip with a woman and her mom through the Turkish countryside; weep with the gal who could not marry the man she loved due to his conservative family; sit in the hamam and get a glimpse of Turkish femininity; go bar hopping with an alcoholic and irresistible Kurdish man, lose your inhibitions as you dance the night away; figure out how to fit in with your village family and their lack of privacy; come to understand Turkish Islam and how it is practiced by normal people, and much more.

As a whole the book gives a good picture of Turkish culture- conservative and secular/liberal, city and village, Turks and Kurds, students and families, happy and sad, foreign loving and foreign suspicious, political and oblivious, mountains, valleys, and hamams. The kaleidoscopic nature of the range of personalities allows the reader to develop their own opinions (and then change and refine them as they read story after story).

The book definitely speaks more naturally to female readers but is valuable for men as well (I would not recommend it to every man).

For this reason I have asked three expat females to give their review of the book. Be sure to watch the video to see what Pat, Laurie, and Lynn have to say. I found their discussion riveting.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, here’s what you can do. Please share this post with your friends by clicking on one of the buttons below or to the side. Also, you may want to subscribe to these posts. Click here and follow the instructions. One of my goals is to help people who will visit Cappadocia. This is your way to help me meet this goal. Thank you, I am grateful.

Duke Dillard moved to Turkey with his wife and 6 children in 2007. He got an MBA at Bilkent University in Ankara, where they had their 7th child. After 4 years in Ankara the whole family moved to Cappadocia, and this blog was born. We love Cappadocia and Cappadocians and want to help visitors make the most of their time here. You can connect with Duke on Facebook, follow him on Twitter, and/or link circles on Google+. Click here to read more about Duke and his family.

Tales From the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey [VIDEO REVIEW] is a post from: Captivating Cappadocia

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Cappadocia Photo of the Week May 7: Hot-Air Balloons & Fairy Chimneys

Tue, 07 May 2013 02:57:27 +0000

This is Cappadocia!

If you are interested in a Cappadocia hot air balloon ride, start with our Hot-Air Balloon Ride Information Page.

To see all the Cappadocia Photos of the Week, click here.

Did you enjoy this photograph? If so, here’s what you can do. Please share it with your friends by clicking on one of the buttons below or to the side. Also, you may want to subscribe so you will receive every week’s photo and other Cappadocia posts directly in your inbox. Click here and follow the instructions. One of my goals is to help people who will visit Cappadocia. This is your way to help me meet this goal. Thank you, I am grateful.

Cappadocia Photo of the Week May 7: Hot-Air Balloons & Fairy Chimneys is a post from: Captivating Cappadocia
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