I grew up in rural New England and in my early twenties I moved to Turkey with my boyfriend. I spent six years learning Turkish, and absorbing the culture and country. In 2015 I repatriated and moved back the the US. My (now) husband and I relocated to Austin, Texas. Our son K joined us in 2017 and I am now on the journey of my life.
Far From The Sticks
Parent, Educator, Adventurer, Advocate and Ally.
Far From The Sticks 
I just found this blog because I typed Amasra into google… I love that you’re an expat in Ankara! I’m also from the states living with my Turkish fiance in Ankara… haven’t met too many people yet. We are going to Amasra for the w/e so thanks for the great recs. Would love to hear from you if you’re still around 🙂
Hi,
We found your blog. My daughter will be a Rotary Exchange student to Ankara coming from Hollis, NH. She will living with a Turkish family and going to Bilim Özel Koleji. She will be leaving in 3 weeks. If you are still in NH it would be wonderful to talk with you about your life there and things that she should bring.
Thank you.
Jennifer and Isabel Starr
Hollis, NH
603-465-7328
Hello, I was routed to your blog from caroline. I am a minnesotan but lived in San diego 6 years prior to coming to turkey(and that was 4.5 yrs ago-time flys) Anyways just wanted to say hello. We are down in Didim. Fun to read your blog though!
Thanks Emily! Glad you like it!
Hi! And welcome to Ankara. I was an expat overseas. Recently move to Ankara. I understand how you feel while trying to learn the language and culture at the same time. Yet, I am sure you will enjoy it.
Hi!
Just found your blog through Adventures in Ankara – I am also from New England, and am blogging on my cross-cultural road trip called a Turkish-American marriage. You can check it out at slowly-by-slowly.com. I am looking forward to seeing how another New England girl takes on Turkish ev yemek!
All the best…and happy double anniversary!
Merhaba! As am admirer or your work, I have nominated you for the One Lovely Blog award – pop on over to my page http://crazytraintotinkytown.com for details. Appreciate these awards involve some work, so please take your time or if you have received them before, my apologies but it’s still nice to know someone appreciates your blog. May your day be filled with sunshine
Hi Jules
I’m a Turkish person living in London. I need to cook some Turkish food for a group of British friends, but not sure what.. Can you name me a few dishes that you found both interesting and tasty, some that can be a good representation and introduction to the cuisine?
Cheers
Sure! One think I love about Turkish food is that it is so flexible, so don’t worry if not everything is available and you need to alter ingredients.
A nice intro might be mercimek kofte, yayla corbasi, havuc (or pancar) yogurt salatasi, zeytinyağlı taze fasulye, and hunkar begendi (you can use beef if they don’t like lamb). Alot of it you make make a day or two before, spreading out the work. None of those dishes are too complicated (the mercimek kofte is the most labor intensive.) They will look pretty and different, but do not have a very unusual flavor palate so will not scare anyone off! Good Luck! Let me know if you want recipes!
Hi there! My husband just asked me to start reading about Turkey, specifically about Ankara. We might have a chance to move there. We are originally from Colombia but with American citizenship and have been living in Australia for the last 16 months. We have moved quite some times and I’m looking forward to move #14. I’d like to ask you some input about cost of life, buying a car, renting a house, taxes, and most important taking our dog with us 🙂
Hope you can help me,
Thanks
Claudia
Sure, not a problem. Email me at jules (at) farfromthesticks.com
Dear Jules,
My name is Joyce and I work for ExpatFinder.com.
ExpatFinder.com is a free one stop website for people preparing to move or working and living overseas. We provide a myriad of services for expatriates and we have over 2,000 articles to help and support the people moving around the world and we are now creating an interview section to help the expats with real life experiences!
We quite enjoy your blog about living in Turkey, it is very interesting and informative. Would it be possible to interview you to further share some of your tips and feature some of your first hand experience as an Expat and your interview will be published on our Expat Interview section as a guide for our expat readers. The questions are mainly about the day to day lifestyle of an expat. If it would be possible, could you also send some photographs that we can use?
Of course, if you accept, we can add a link to your blog or some of your website.
The questions are enclosed, feel free to respond freely. You can return the doc with your answers if you accept this invitation.
Thanks in advance and do let me know if you prefer other means to conduct this interview and we would be happy to accommodate your terms.
Best regards,
Joyce
Hello, I am Ayse Sahin. I write for Daily Sabah, an English-language daily based in Turkey. I’m currently working on an article that will include comments of expats in Turkey who experienced the coup attempt on July 15. Would you be interested in sharing your thoughts about it? How you felt that night, and in the ensuing days. Did you ever consider leaving the country? I want to hear expats’ account of the incident and intend to publish it. Please e-mail me if you’re interested in contributing.
Hello Jules!
I’m Maha, I’m from Pakistan, where I live and work. My husband to be (we’re getting married in 4 months) has recently been promoted at his workplace, the promotion also includes a move to Istanbul! He’s been informed that his company intends to have him there by the end of 2017.
While I’m extremely excited about this, especially since I’ve lived in plenty of other countries, the entire process is really unexpected, and accelerated.
I came across your blog while researching the move to Turkey. I have so many questions! Hopefully, you’ll be able to answer at least a few of them?
I’d love to hear from you. Shoot me an email.
Thank you!