Step1 - Our UK house is on the market!

[Dutchie]

quote:Originally posted by Janice1971
[br What I said was that neither me or my hubby are academic and therefore i wouldnt push them in a direction that they didnt want to do!  

You seem to assume that your children wouldn't want to go to university but what if they would like to?
Unless you pay for private education and/or private dershane lessons, their chance of getting into a good university is almost non existent.

Please keep in mind that you are indeed entitled to getting Turkish citizenship but that it may take as long as a year before you actually receive it. In the meantime you won't be allowed to work legally unless you get a workpermit.

[yasemin3]

Your chances of being successful depend entirely on you both. There is no reason why you cannot have a good life here, your man is Turkish. if you have his family behind you, half the battle. As for schools, people are saying not as good as Britain - not in all cases surely, as many kids leave British schools with poor literacy skills, never mind being able to go to uni. it depends on the area in which you live, which is also something that applies in Turkey. Your kids are small enough to absorbe the change and if all does not suit them as they grow, they are still British nationals and always will be and would be eligible to return and join the education system there. Plus, you wont need to live off your interest, Turkish families survive here and so can you and they dont all have the security of a rental property in UK or a wad of cash in the bank, depending on what you do with your UK house. Life is too short but one thing to remember, lots of dummies get turned out of British schools and lots of smart kids out of Turkish schools and vice versa - you are not guaranteed success just because you live in UK.

[tracey1398]

Of course children can go on to university i have a few friends where there children have attended main stream school in fethiye and have gone on to university

[Janice1971]

What I said Ovacikpeedoff was that I dont care what they do as long as they are happy (you missed that bit off)!  Going by my own experience I had a brilliant job in sales earning loads of money, was I happy? NO I was on antidepressants and drank myself stupid most nights as I couldnt handle the pressure, I now work with people who have MS and brain injuries, I love this job and it is far more rewarding than my previous work!!!!!!!  Of course I want my kids to do well in what ever they those to do I just want them to have a childhood where they are happy and have the kind of life and freedom that I had when I was a child, as the other lady stated its not all about having loads of money, I have lost 10 people in the last year who I have cared for and having money didnt help them any, life is too short, I just wanted some friendly advice not to hear sarcastic comments!!!!!!

[Karennina]

Janice you just do what you and your hubby feel is right for you and your girls, weigh it all up and if you think you can make it work, go for it, worse case scenario you come back to Britain and the state will have to help you until you get on your feet again, loads of people come over here who have never lived here are not citizens and get given houses etc.
My neighbours in Turkey moved over and their granddaughter is loving her school in Turkey already speaking fluent Turkish, even if you only move to Turkey until your girls are of secondary school age you will hopefully have had a good few years of happy quality times in Turkey with lots of happy memories, at least you can say you tried it instead of wondering what if if you dont.
Wishing you lots of luck with whatever you decide, if you go for it I for one will be interested in seeing how it goes for you all once you are settled good luck  

[Janice1971]

Thanks Karennina, really nice comments xxx

[scareylady]

Hi Janice - Like a lot of others here, I have watched this thread with much interest and also started to comment and not posted as I am not sure if I can understand all of your situation as my circumstances are different, my husband isn't Turkish and we don't have small children.  All I can give you is my feelings and hope that just add a small bit to your decision.

Firstly we too had a business in Fethiye (Hobbs Sausages) and we had an absolute nightmare with the red tape and money, after which Steve had a very bad road accident which required hospital treatment and didn't go well at all.  We too just run out of money so ended up back in the UK. It has taken us 4 years of hard slog to recover both financialy and home wise - we only managed to buy our house last year after moving back in 2007.

All this being said - If we could work in Turkey I'd move back in a heartbeat!!!  The people, the lifestyle and the wonderful setting (More so for you as you have family there)  I am a salesperson too and I know EXACTLY what you mean about the stress, Steve is now working as a lorry driver and we are like ships that pass in the night!  So we have the house, the 2 cars and more money than we ever had in Calis but are we happier .... No No No.

I remember many times towards the end of our new life in Calis, when the bank account was depleated and we didn't know what to do, we would just walk and talk, down the back streets not the front, passing the locals that always said Merhaba, looking at the mountains, buying some fresh bread at the local shop where the man there always smiled annd asked us how we were & saying to Steve "I know where I would rather be poor"  
We hardly ever went out for dinner, the price of efes in the the bars didn't effect us so for you I would say if you want good old fashion family life, eating local produce like the rest of the family and picnics on the beach, Go for it. I don't know what your financial position is, if you have only bought your house in the past 5 years renting out is prob not an option? I would probably say don't buy again (for the first year at least) wait until you are absolutely sure that this is where you want your family to grow up.  Try to live away from the tourism as much as you can and only dip into your capital in emergancies.

I understand what you are saying about your children and money isn't everything to some people, what they will learn is that family matters, the children in Turkey have far more respect for parents and teachers than a lot of kids in the UK.  If your daughters were teenagers I would say don't go ( my daughter was 15 when we went there) but at your girls age the language will be no problem and they will just fit in.

As I said to start - Just my opinion - for what it's worth.  Good Luck with whatever you decide  

[Highlander]

It's my experience that the vast majority of kids in the UK are respectful of their parents and teachers.

Just wanted to express that opinion.

[Highlander]

quote:Originally posted by Karennina

worse case scenario you come back to Britain and the state will have to help you until you get on your feet again

I don't agree with that I'm afraid.

[Janice1971]

Hi Scareylady, many thanks for your response, I know exactly what you mean about the business, we had Ayse's Cakes in Gunlukbasi and we were completely legal and above board and the red tape was just ridiculous!  And Highlander what is your problem with that?  I have worked full time all my life, I have paid into the system and have never taken anything out, am I not as equally deserving as foreigners who come into the UK who havent paid a penny into the pot?