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Having been raised in both Turkey and England, it never ceases to amaze me how lax Turks are when it comes to laws, rules, regulations.
In England, I have seen people freak out to the point of tears over one parking ticket, whereas in Turkey, I've seen someone get pulled over for speeding, but instead of getting ticketed, offering the cop 20 lira and telling him to "go take the rest of the day off, get yourself some soup..." (it worked)
In many ways I love the Turkish attitude to rules and genuinely not sticking to them. It leads to a much calmer life! In England, everyone is incredibly anxious about everything... if you don't do your homework, then OH MY GOD, you're gonna fail the entire course (not as far as I've experienced!).. if you try to debate with a police officer then OH MY GOD you'll end up in the cells overnight and fined £150 (I just about managed to escape getting arrested ;) haha, KIDDING!).. it just goes on and on.
In Turkey no one thinks like that. The common approach to disregarding rules seems to be "Meh".
And I love that.
What I don't love, however, is when I end up getting fined over it!
Last summer, when I went to stay in Turkey for six months, I was only granted a 1 month visa when I went through Istanbul Ataturk customs. I tried to explain that I was going to be living in Turkey again and that I was staying at least until Christmas, but to no avail. I was told that I'd have to come back in 1 month's time and renew my Visa. Ugh.
So, fastforward to one month and I'm no longer in Istanbul; I'm in Ankara. I tell my uncle that my Visa is gonna run out tomorrow and I need to get it renewed. His response? "Don't worry, it'll be fine."
Confused, I said "But.. won't I need that Visa to stay in the country?"
He replied "It'll be fine, stop worrying about it!"
And so I did.
Two months later, I'm in Istanbul and I still have not got a Visa renewel. I tell my cousin about this, but he just says "Whatever, just leave it".
Three months later, I'm leaving Istanbul early and when I get to the gate, I hug my cousin goodbye and go stand in the line. When I get to the window, the official there says there's a problem.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
And he tells me, but his accent is really strong so I don't know what he's saying to me.
Then he switches into English. "Tomorrow," he says. "Tomorrow."
I'm like "Tomorrow?? Wtf..."
So I thought I'd got my flight date wrong but I checked it and sure enough, nope, it was on the right day.
He kept trying to explain it to me but I just wasn't getting it. Eventually he called over someone who spoke English and this guy took me into the back room (AAAARGH scariest moment ever!) and told me to wait. On the way to this custody office, he looks at my passport and starts to chat to me in Turkish.
"Ah, your last name is Turkish," he notes. "Are you Turkish?"
"Yeah," I reply, thoroughly distracted.
"Is it your mother or father who's Turkish?"
I'm barely listening to him but I mumble "My father" as he takes me by the arm and leads me into a small, dingy office where another official is waiting,.
At that point I was actually worried, just like the typical Brit I am. I wanted to call my cousin and tell him to come back because there was a problem, but I didn't...
So it transpired that my Visa was, yes, 2 months overdue and I'd basically been in Turkey illegally. So they said, you need to pay a fine. I'm like, How much?
200 lira, WHAT?
Ugh. So I say that I don't have cash on me. He points at my cash card. He takes me to an ATM and I withdraw $150 and pay the rest off in lira.
Then everything was cool. I went back to the gate and they let me through, along with a receipt of my fine.. and the guy who does the luggage checks was chatting to me.
As he passes me my bag, he asks: "Can I have your phone number?"
I just let out this nervous giggle and run off. I look about 5 years older than my actual age!
The flight out was good, but of course, when I told my (English) mum about being fined... she freaked out.
There's a lesson in all this, for me, at least: don't listen when your overly-casual cousin tells you not to worry about living in Turkey illegally.
In England, I have seen people freak out to the point of tears over one parking ticket, whereas in Turkey, I've seen someone get pulled over for speeding, but instead of getting ticketed, offering the cop 20 lira and telling him to "go take the rest of the day off, get yourself some soup..." (it worked)
In many ways I love the Turkish attitude to rules and genuinely not sticking to them. It leads to a much calmer life! In England, everyone is incredibly anxious about everything... if you don't do your homework, then OH MY GOD, you're gonna fail the entire course (not as far as I've experienced!).. if you try to debate with a police officer then OH MY GOD you'll end up in the cells overnight and fined £150 (I just about managed to escape getting arrested ;) haha, KIDDING!).. it just goes on and on.
In Turkey no one thinks like that. The common approach to disregarding rules seems to be "Meh".
And I love that.
What I don't love, however, is when I end up getting fined over it!
Last summer, when I went to stay in Turkey for six months, I was only granted a 1 month visa when I went through Istanbul Ataturk customs. I tried to explain that I was going to be living in Turkey again and that I was staying at least until Christmas, but to no avail. I was told that I'd have to come back in 1 month's time and renew my Visa. Ugh.
So, fastforward to one month and I'm no longer in Istanbul; I'm in Ankara. I tell my uncle that my Visa is gonna run out tomorrow and I need to get it renewed. His response? "Don't worry, it'll be fine."
Confused, I said "But.. won't I need that Visa to stay in the country?"
He replied "It'll be fine, stop worrying about it!"
And so I did.
Two months later, I'm in Istanbul and I still have not got a Visa renewel. I tell my cousin about this, but he just says "Whatever, just leave it".
Three months later, I'm leaving Istanbul early and when I get to the gate, I hug my cousin goodbye and go stand in the line. When I get to the window, the official there says there's a problem.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
And he tells me, but his accent is really strong so I don't know what he's saying to me.
Then he switches into English. "Tomorrow," he says. "Tomorrow."
I'm like "Tomorrow?? Wtf..."
So I thought I'd got my flight date wrong but I checked it and sure enough, nope, it was on the right day.
He kept trying to explain it to me but I just wasn't getting it. Eventually he called over someone who spoke English and this guy took me into the back room (AAAARGH scariest moment ever!) and told me to wait. On the way to this custody office, he looks at my passport and starts to chat to me in Turkish.
"Ah, your last name is Turkish," he notes. "Are you Turkish?"
"Yeah," I reply, thoroughly distracted.
"Is it your mother or father who's Turkish?"
I'm barely listening to him but I mumble "My father" as he takes me by the arm and leads me into a small, dingy office where another official is waiting,.
At that point I was actually worried, just like the typical Brit I am. I wanted to call my cousin and tell him to come back because there was a problem, but I didn't...
So it transpired that my Visa was, yes, 2 months overdue and I'd basically been in Turkey illegally. So they said, you need to pay a fine. I'm like, How much?
200 lira, WHAT?
Ugh. So I say that I don't have cash on me. He points at my cash card. He takes me to an ATM and I withdraw $150 and pay the rest off in lira.
Then everything was cool. I went back to the gate and they let me through, along with a receipt of my fine.. and the guy who does the luggage checks was chatting to me.
As he passes me my bag, he asks: "Can I have your phone number?"
I just let out this nervous giggle and run off. I look about 5 years older than my actual age!
The flight out was good, but of course, when I told my (English) mum about being fined... she freaked out.
There's a lesson in all this, for me, at least: don't listen when your overly-casual cousin tells you not to worry about living in Turkey illegally.
