[Expat profile] Dispelling myths

No job, 3 kids and furniture in customs: would you stay?

After looking into moving abroad, Chantal decided on the destination: Turkey. She knew she would have trouble convincing her husband Daniel, so she arranged a holiday in Kemer as a surprise. He wasn’t convinced at first, but fell in love with the area, then relatively undeveloped, and realized he, too, would like to live in Turkey. Mission accomplished. Chantal had a two-year hotel and restaurant course under her belt, so they rented a hotel. Chantal explains what happened next: “We sold our printing business, advertised the hotel with holiday companies and had brochures printed. We were ready, or so we thought. When we returned to Kemer, we had a nasty surprise: the owners had sold the hotel. We had no Plan B, three children, and our furniture was stuck in customs. That was 10 years ago. We put the boys in a Turkish school, where they learned Turkish really quickly; I worked as a tourist guide, and Daniel became a stay-at-home dad. We eventually moved into Antalya to start a restaurant in the old city.”

So is Kaleiçi really as nice as it looks? “It’s a very special place, a village in the city with all that that entails,” Chantal underlines. “Inside the old city’s walls, there’s a real sense of community, and you can still count on your neighbors. There’s also history on every corner; history is my second skin, so it’s perfect for me. Even if we didn’t have the hotel, we’d still choose to live here.”

So has it all been worth it? “Personally, I enjoy life more now that I live here,” she tells us. “I used to be influenced by materialism, but now I appreciate the simple things in life. People who knew us when we lived in Belgium have also commented that all of us are no longer ‘Europeans.’ Our eldest son, Kevin, tried living in Belgium again, but he only lasted four months: he came back saying that the Belgians had difficulty accepting him as a Belgian and that it was much easier for him to spend time with Turks there who, above all, accepted him as one of them.  The downside is that both this region and the people here have changed a lot in the past 10 years, mainly due to tourism.

It’s a real pity, but people here seem unaware of how important it is to preserve  their rich culture. They have great traditions,  such as respect for elders, school uniforms and knowing how to dance folkdances; if someone asked me to do a traditional Belgian dance, I wouldn’t know how to. Unfortunately, they seem to be becoming more European in their outlook. Antalya is also losing its identity, and identity is what sets it apart from other places.”

Brainstorm “Belgium” with some friends, and you will probably end up talking about mussels and chips, beer, chocolate, reserved people and the European Union. Through her restaurant and hotel, Chantal is working on opening people’s eyes to the fact that there’s more to Belgium than meets the eye.

“We started the restaurant to introduce Belgian cuisine to Antalya,” she emphasizes. “It’s a bit of a challenge; everyone is familiar with French food, but they don’t realize that a lot of it is based on Belgian recipes. For example, even though most people associate ‘sauce béarnaise’ with French cuisine it is, in fact, Belgian. Belgian cuisine is also highly respected by the French; even Parisians take the trouble to book a table at Comme Chez Soi in Brussels months ahead. Added to offering typically Belgian food, we also make everything from scratch; there’s nothing from a packet here, including our béarnaise sauce. I enjoy cooking, and I’ve also adapted some recipes, such as adding cumin to trout in white wine sauce. Belgium is, of course, renowned for over 300 types of beer. Unfortunately, we don’t have any at the moment. There’s no direct trade agreement between Turkey and Belgium, so the customs duty and tax would make it too expensive to import. We’re now looking into importing beer via the Netherlands, so there’s hope! The restaurant is going well, and our customers include Belgians, other foreigners and Turks who’ve been to Belgium.”

It’s also a little-known fact that Belgians are warm and hospitable. Chantal and Daniel love people and have no regrets about taking over the Attici Hotel last year, despite all the renovation work it’s entailed. But what now makes it different from other small hotels in the Kaleiçi? “It’s the concept. We want everyone to feel that this is a home from home, not an impersonal hotel,” Chantal says. “We’ve made sure that each room feels like a bedroom, not a hotel room; there are no white sheets here. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that the hotel had a bad reputation. Now the majority of visitors are foreigners, with people staying from three days to a week. People find us from the net -- we’re on 30 travel websites -- or when they’re driving around. We’re lucky because the hotel is the first people see when they come into the Kaleiçi from Atatürk Caddesi and the Belgian flag outside attracts their attention. We also have guests here for medical tourism and we’re starting four-day culture and history breaks for people from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus [KKTC] when they come to renew their visas.”

Creating a sense of community

So how many Belgians do you know? You can meet more by joining the association started by Chantal and Daniel two years ago. “We started it so Belgians in Antalya could get together once a month to help and support each other; in short, to encourage a sense of community,” Chantal explains. “The Belgian consul in Ankara came to our first meeting. You don’t have to be Belgian to join in our activities as, depending on the event, sometimes Germans, Brits and Turks come, too. We organize social activities at the restaurant, such as barbecues and brunches or put up a big screen to watch Belgian football matches. At the moment, we’re working on a ,60s and ,70s music night. We’ve also done things like organize trips to Cappadocia -- a group of us went there for four days last year -- and organized a week’s trip to Fethiye, visiting historical sites along the way. Experts in their field also to come and give advice on matters related to living here, such as getting insured, pensions or health care. There’s also a beauty specialist who comes to give women advice about their skin for free.”

“Membership is free, and we just share the costs of the activities. When we went to see ‘Fire of Anatolia’ last year, we divided the cost of the coach amongst us,” Chantal explains. “We haven’t done anything to advertise the association, but we do have a mailing list for our monthly program.” As there’s more than one official language in Belgium -- French, Dutch and German, with just over half the population speaking Dutch -- what language do they use at their meetings? “We speak Dutch as, at the moment, most members are Dutch speakers. There are some French speakers, too. At first we had five members, but now we have 70-75; it depends on who’s around. Compared to other foreign communities in Antalya, such as the Russians or Germans, there are relatively few Belgians here; there are just 500 in Antalya, with around 150 permanently based here. That’s not that surprising though as there are just over 10.5 million people in Belgium compared to 13 million people in İstanbul alone. Unlike Turkey and many European countries, Belgium is quite small; Turkey is about 25 times bigger than Belgium!” And why do Belgians choose to spend so much time in Antalya? Chantal explains: “There are three main reasons: firstly, because of the good weather, it’s quite often cold and grey in Belgium; secondly, because it’s still cheaper for us to buy holiday homes here rather than in France or Spain; and last, but not least, because they have Turkish partners and have settled here.”

Chantal is enthusiastic about her future. “I’ll be in Turkey, inşallah,” she tells us. “We’ll continue with the hotel and the restaurant until we retire. Then the boys will take over, and Daniel and I will relax and enjoy life. Daniel and I would also like to visit places in Turkey we haven’t been yet. When I was a tour guide, I saw a lot of Turkey, but that also made me realize how much more there is to see; I’m not sure that one lifetime is enough, however!”