Thank you so much, Karina! Just catching up on all the messages, and this really brightened up my tough day, haha. I truly appreciate your kind words. It’s great to meet you 🥰
I would like to say thank you for your welcome post. In this time of now now now, I find myself ever more reticent to respond to things, unless it's urgent.
Rushing is not - and has never been - a part of me. My ancestry is Greek Cypriot and English, and I very much fall into the slowly, slowly camp of half my heritage.
Sit, have a cup of tea, eat a biscuit and watch the world go by.
Oh, hello, fellow Greek friend! I’ve actually never been to Cyprus, but I do wonder about the dynamic between Turks and Greeks there. Have you read The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak? Such a beautiful book—I loved it so much, and I think you would too!
Do you still travel back often? Where do you live now? Sorry for all the questions, but I get so excited when I cross paths with people from my heritage countries! Thank you so much for reading 😊
I try to go back every year as my Mum lives there.
I was born in England (mum's English) in 1970, but when the 1974 divide happened, my Dad never went back to visit his village. I don't know why, though I suspect it was painful for him.
I'm in the UK, in London.
The dynamic in Cyprus is very weird and hard to navigate. The Greek authorities actively discriminate against anyone from the North side of the island, even people from other countries who have settled there. It's so frustrating as the two 'halves' would be fine if only the authorities stopped being so antagonistic!
There's a lot of propaganda that's been used to push Them vs Us, and sadly a lot of it simply isn't true, but that's a whole other book to write.
Thank you for telling me about that book, I have just gone and bought it.
Honestly, the politicians are the ones fueling everything—even the relationships between Turkey and Greece. But the people themselves are much more relaxed; they see things as part of the past and just want to get along. I spent two months in Athens last year (I’m learning Greek), and I noticed how many Greeks love Turkey. And vice versa—when I’m in Turkey, so many Turks love Greece and enjoy traveling to the islands.
Ohh, I lived in London for six years, and one of my very good friends is Turkish Cypriot—your story sounds very similar to his! Do you speak Greek? My friend, unfortunately, doesn’t speak Turkish, just a few words, but he still visits every year.
Omg, I’m so excited that you’re going to read the book! You’re going to love it. It’s such a sad yet beautiful story, and Elif Shafak did an incredible job bringing the history of Cyprus to life through a novel. I cried a few times while reading it. Please let me know once you’ve finished—I’d love to hear your thoughts!
I feel like I understand quite a lot now, but I’m still a bit shy about actually giving it a try. My parents are renting a summer house in Halkidiki in August, and I think I’ll do another week of language school in Thessaloniki. I wish I could spend a whole year living in Greece, but it’s just not possible right now.
I just watched one of your videos haha the clickbait evening ramble. Loved it! More ramble videos plzzz.
I’ll be in London for a month in July—I organized a flat swap. If you’re around, I’d love to meet! I’m thinking about putting together a meet-up, maybe with some other Substack writers in London. I organise the Substack meet-ups in Berlin, and they’re always so much fun. Yesterday, I even had my first reader meet-up in Singapore—three people came, and it was amazing. Just getting to put faces to the people who support my work was such a great experience!
“I steer clear of rigid publishing schedules because I want each piece to feel deliberate, not like a hurried obligation. That way, when a new post arrives in your inbox, you can be assured that it is not just empty filler.”
Bravo! I want to embrace this. You’ve inspired me.
Thank you so much, Tim! Aww, I’m so happy. I keep reminding myself that this is my little creative playground, and I get to set the rules. I don’t want to follow anyone else’s rigid schedules—what works for others doesn’t always work for me. Have a wonderful week!
Love this r(e)introduction and the portraits and the intention behind your newsletter and love love love hearing your voice at the end. I didn't realize how soft the ğ sound is in your name, but now I know! "The child of peace" - how wonderful!
🫶🏼 Just catching up on old messages, haha! Thank you so much. Yes, it’s a bit like the instrument, but even though the "g" is soft, there’s still a difference between Tuba and Tuğba. If we meet one day (hopefulllyyyy), I will tell you hehe Hope you have a wonderful week!
I am so happy that we found each other in this space, and I am very much looking forward to your content this year. I am a big fan of "slow" and all the ideas you write about resonate a lot with me. It's so nice to read a little bit more about you.
Aww, Manuela! Just catching up on all my messages. I'm also so grateful that our paths crossed here. Even though it’s the online world, I truly believe Substack has created meaningful and amazing connections with people—even in the digital space. I honestly didn’t think this was possible.
Thank you so much for reading and supporting my work, and for always cheering me on—I really appreciate it all. I’m getting all teary right now 🥹💕
Hi Stephan! I saw this in another writer's newsletter, and I thought it was time to do a proper introduction since I hadn't done one yet, but I think generally a re-introcution is good. I will do it more often. I also pinned this post on my homepage so that it's the first post people see. Thank you for your support over the past few months. I'm very grateful that we connected here, and I hope we get to meet for coffee in person sometime soon.
Hi Tugba, my second attempt tonight, and try and hope I remember well what I said.
Have read a few of you posts now. And like.
Writing from Brisbane Australia. It is still warm and Subtropical tonight.
In my youth (70 and 80s, known as Brizvegas due to Political Corruption and what was said as a "nice " gambling and prostitution scene. As if. Police Commissioner sent to gaol and stripped of knighthood and Premier charged but died before.
We are to host the Olympics soon . Expect it to be different and sort of maybe low key but not entirely, but fun for the athletes v much. We are not building any new stadiums, but upgrading some. Have got involved a bit.
So Greek, Turkyie (? Cyprus or not) and now German/UK. Friends of various ages from all these places. The respell of old spell Turkey is what got me before and as you leave this comment box to check, it all goes.
Like your attitude a lot and may comment back quite soon.
My other not well known name is Br Bok, just in case i sign off that way.
Hello Cristoffa, it's great to have you here! Thank you for taking the time to read my work. No, my parents aren't from Cyprus haha that would be quite funny. My mother is from northern Greece, and my father is from Edirne, which is in the European part of Turkey. They met in Germany. My grandparents came to Germany as guest workers.
I've never been to Brisbane, but I did travel for a month in Australia and really loved it!
Thanks for the reply and personal detail; gives me a sense of the richness of your personal and family heritage and journey. i have a great interest in diasporic communities. It is with a wry smile that I listen to a lot of White Anglos here talk about "immigrants.."
Totally unaware that they themselves are also to the tune of 97% of current population of 26 million. Our First nations families have bounced back in numbers to create the other 3%. We almost annihilated them as a people by turn of 19th century to about a population of 100,000 ( from a pre Invasion number estimated to be between 600 - 900,000, or maybe more.
And even today, 30% of current Australians were born in another country
Am a bit familiar with the story of Guest Workers in Germany from a lovely couple whose family ran a very Turkish Turkish restaurant in Brunswick in Melbourne (Naarm) when I lived there in the 80s
Certainly will look forward to reading more of your work, and if ypou have any Aus (or OZ) questions, please ask away.
Cristoffa, just catching up on all my messages. Thank you so much for your message—I learned so many new things! I really appreciate you sharing.
Yes, I believe the guest worker system is maybe unique to Germany. I’m not sure if any other country had a similar system in place. Of course, in theory, we are all immigrants, but the whole guest worker process in Germany was a bit more complex. When I first moved here, there was a really great exhibition about it, and I truly hope more people continue to share their experiences.
I visited Australia before moving to Berlin, and I absolutely loved it! I even considered moving there, but I’m not sure at the moment—I also love being in Europe, close to everything. That said, a move is definitely on the horizon soon!
And see my ref to the very Turkish Turkish restaurant. Not a miss spell.
We were often the only Anglos late on in the evening (except I am not, I am Celtic, Catholic Irish and there is a big difference).
A lot of tobacco via hookahs and maybe some other green stuff. And glamorous Belly Dancers. This seemed OK. I hope.
We were well fed always and included and looked after.
One sort of unusual sharing experience though, when one elder pulled out an WW1 Mauser rifle from a lovely leather case to continue a conversation about battlefield rifles. It had been his father's or grandfather's and used at Gallipoll he said. A moment of silence.
Extremely well cared for, as I found as he asked me to strip it and put it back together, as a test.
Impressed him as I could do quite well, but still think the SMLE 303 (the opposing gun which we made here in Oz, called the 303) was a better and more robust weapon.
The Guest Worker story has a bit of WW1 in it as well, that a lot of modern German people don't know or recall.
Enjoy Europe, bot OZ while not perfect is not bad too.
Aww, what a beautiful storytelling session right here, Cristoffa! Thank you so much for sharing. Wishing you a great rest of the week—looking forward to connecting with you again in the comments 😊 Hugg to you 🫶🏼
What a beautiful intro, Tuğba! I feel we have so many things in common reading this. 💜 And also, the slowing down and the in-between places and moments...! So important and quite hard to achieve in this speedy world.
To my shock, I realized I wasn't subscribed already?! How did I miss that? Probably my speedy scrollings... 😇
Hi Monica, I really enjoy our conversations in the comments. Thank you so much for supporting my work. I also appreciate that you took the time to spell my name correctly. It makes me happy when people put in the extra effort with names 🫶🏼
I also find it a courtesy, a little sign of hey!, I care about the small details that might not be small to you. I did look for and find the character on my phone keyboard, but not on the laptop one... 💛
Yes, I have to copy and paste it from Google whenever I want to write my name on my laptop, haha—so annoying! I wish there were a way to set a custom key for everyone with a unique lettered name. That would make things so much easier!
I wish! It’s easy on my phone since I have different keyboards installed, but unfortunately, it’s not possible on a Mac keyboard—or at least I don’t think so. Maybe I should look into it; there might be a way. It’s pretty annoying!
Lately, I’ve been making an effort to type my name with the correct "g" wherever I can.
Hi Tuğba👋🏻! I found your post on moving abroad highly relatable, it really does change you forever🤍. This is my second chance at writing, too, as I used to run a travel blog for about 3 years🙌🏻
I had my own domain on WordPress until covid put a halt to my (travel) plans. But in all honesty, I also found out I hate writing within the constraints of SEO. Now I write whatever the heck I want😂🙌🏻!
I'm not very familiar with WordPress, but yeah, I wouldn’t like that. I don’t even enjoy figuring out what performs well and what doesn’t because I’m not going to change the topics I want to write about just for more likes. I want to write what I want to write, not what will go viral.
Ugh, I don't even want to think about that! After having been bullied by the IG algorithm for years, writing whatever I like, for whomever might enjoy it, feels like a breath of fresh air 🌬
Hahaha, I love the bullied by the IG algorithm—that’s exactly how I feel too 😂 It’s such a deep wound for so many of us, even though I never used Instagram to grow a business or anything. But I still feel burned by it. It really messed with our creativity in so many ways.
I'm happy to hear that! I feel you haha it is so hard to be cheerful in this gloomy German weather at the moment 🥲 Diana, thank you so much for your support and your kind words. It truly means a lot to me that we've connected here. I sincerely hope to meet you in person someday! It would be absolutely wonderful. Have a wonderful Friday!
Robyn, thank you so much! I appreciate you taking the time to read my work. I'm looking forward to seeing you again at one of the meetups soon. Happy Friday 🫶🏼
We have the same motto so I can't help but subcribe and read everything you post.
Thank you so much, Karina! Just catching up on all the messages, and this really brightened up my tough day, haha. I truly appreciate your kind words. It’s great to meet you 🥰
I would like to say thank you for your welcome post. In this time of now now now, I find myself ever more reticent to respond to things, unless it's urgent.
Rushing is not - and has never been - a part of me. My ancestry is Greek Cypriot and English, and I very much fall into the slowly, slowly camp of half my heritage.
Sit, have a cup of tea, eat a biscuit and watch the world go by.
Oh, hello, fellow Greek friend! I’ve actually never been to Cyprus, but I do wonder about the dynamic between Turks and Greeks there. Have you read The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak? Such a beautiful book—I loved it so much, and I think you would too!
Do you still travel back often? Where do you live now? Sorry for all the questions, but I get so excited when I cross paths with people from my heritage countries! Thank you so much for reading 😊
Hi!
Questions first:
I try to go back every year as my Mum lives there.
I was born in England (mum's English) in 1970, but when the 1974 divide happened, my Dad never went back to visit his village. I don't know why, though I suspect it was painful for him.
I'm in the UK, in London.
The dynamic in Cyprus is very weird and hard to navigate. The Greek authorities actively discriminate against anyone from the North side of the island, even people from other countries who have settled there. It's so frustrating as the two 'halves' would be fine if only the authorities stopped being so antagonistic!
There's a lot of propaganda that's been used to push Them vs Us, and sadly a lot of it simply isn't true, but that's a whole other book to write.
Thank you for telling me about that book, I have just gone and bought it.
Honestly, the politicians are the ones fueling everything—even the relationships between Turkey and Greece. But the people themselves are much more relaxed; they see things as part of the past and just want to get along. I spent two months in Athens last year (I’m learning Greek), and I noticed how many Greeks love Turkey. And vice versa—when I’m in Turkey, so many Turks love Greece and enjoy traveling to the islands.
Ohh, I lived in London for six years, and one of my very good friends is Turkish Cypriot—your story sounds very similar to his! Do you speak Greek? My friend, unfortunately, doesn’t speak Turkish, just a few words, but he still visits every year.
Omg, I’m so excited that you’re going to read the book! You’re going to love it. It’s such a sad yet beautiful story, and Elif Shafak did an incredible job bringing the history of Cyprus to life through a novel. I cried a few times while reading it. Please let me know once you’ve finished—I’d love to hear your thoughts!
I have a smattering of Greek, Dad never taught me. I just need to live there for a while, I'm sure I'd pick some up!
I feel like I understand quite a lot now, but I’m still a bit shy about actually giving it a try. My parents are renting a summer house in Halkidiki in August, and I think I’ll do another week of language school in Thessaloniki. I wish I could spend a whole year living in Greece, but it’s just not possible right now.
I just watched one of your videos haha the clickbait evening ramble. Loved it! More ramble videos plzzz.
I’ll be in London for a month in July—I organized a flat swap. If you’re around, I’d love to meet! I’m thinking about putting together a meet-up, maybe with some other Substack writers in London. I organise the Substack meet-ups in Berlin, and they’re always so much fun. Yesterday, I even had my first reader meet-up in Singapore—three people came, and it was amazing. Just getting to put faces to the people who support my work was such a great experience!
Oh my...it's been so long since I did a video. It's difficult when there are other people in the house. I need a soundproof box!
I'll be around in July, so yes, I'm up for that!
“I steer clear of rigid publishing schedules because I want each piece to feel deliberate, not like a hurried obligation. That way, when a new post arrives in your inbox, you can be assured that it is not just empty filler.”
Bravo! I want to embrace this. You’ve inspired me.
Thank you so much, Tim! Aww, I’m so happy. I keep reminding myself that this is my little creative playground, and I get to set the rules. I don’t want to follow anyone else’s rigid schedules—what works for others doesn’t always work for me. Have a wonderful week!
Great introduction! I just made one and almost immediately saw things I coukd’ve done differently. Taking notes, nice job!
Thank you so much for reading and supporting my work, Tim. I also loved your intro 🥰 Have a wonderful week!
Love this r(e)introduction and the portraits and the intention behind your newsletter and love love love hearing your voice at the end. I didn't realize how soft the ğ sound is in your name, but now I know! "The child of peace" - how wonderful!
🫶🏼 Just catching up on old messages, haha! Thank you so much. Yes, it’s a bit like the instrument, but even though the "g" is soft, there’s still a difference between Tuba and Tuğba. If we meet one day (hopefulllyyyy), I will tell you hehe Hope you have a wonderful week!
I love the idea of a place for slower, thoughtful contemplation!
In an effort to be slow, haha, I’m only replying now—but thank you so much, Sandra! Have a wonderful week 🫶🏼
I am so happy that we found each other in this space, and I am very much looking forward to your content this year. I am a big fan of "slow" and all the ideas you write about resonate a lot with me. It's so nice to read a little bit more about you.
Aww, Manuela! Just catching up on all my messages. I'm also so grateful that our paths crossed here. Even though it’s the online world, I truly believe Substack has created meaningful and amazing connections with people—even in the digital space. I honestly didn’t think this was possible.
Thank you so much for reading and supporting my work, and for always cheering me on—I really appreciate it all. I’m getting all teary right now 🥹💕
Totally loved that idea of a reintroduction post and totally going to rip that off for my own newsletter, haha.
I felt like I knew you a bit from your posts, but I got to know you a bit better.
Makes me look forward to future posts even more.
Hi Stephan! I saw this in another writer's newsletter, and I thought it was time to do a proper introduction since I hadn't done one yet, but I think generally a re-introcution is good. I will do it more often. I also pinned this post on my homepage so that it's the first post people see. Thank you for your support over the past few months. I'm very grateful that we connected here, and I hope we get to meet for coffee in person sometime soon.
Hi Tugba, my second attempt tonight, and try and hope I remember well what I said.
Have read a few of you posts now. And like.
Writing from Brisbane Australia. It is still warm and Subtropical tonight.
In my youth (70 and 80s, known as Brizvegas due to Political Corruption and what was said as a "nice " gambling and prostitution scene. As if. Police Commissioner sent to gaol and stripped of knighthood and Premier charged but died before.
We are to host the Olympics soon . Expect it to be different and sort of maybe low key but not entirely, but fun for the athletes v much. We are not building any new stadiums, but upgrading some. Have got involved a bit.
So Greek, Turkyie (? Cyprus or not) and now German/UK. Friends of various ages from all these places. The respell of old spell Turkey is what got me before and as you leave this comment box to check, it all goes.
Like your attitude a lot and may comment back quite soon.
My other not well known name is Br Bok, just in case i sign off that way.
Hello Cristoffa, it's great to have you here! Thank you for taking the time to read my work. No, my parents aren't from Cyprus haha that would be quite funny. My mother is from northern Greece, and my father is from Edirne, which is in the European part of Turkey. They met in Germany. My grandparents came to Germany as guest workers.
I've never been to Brisbane, but I did travel for a month in Australia and really loved it!
Thanks for the reply and personal detail; gives me a sense of the richness of your personal and family heritage and journey. i have a great interest in diasporic communities. It is with a wry smile that I listen to a lot of White Anglos here talk about "immigrants.."
Totally unaware that they themselves are also to the tune of 97% of current population of 26 million. Our First nations families have bounced back in numbers to create the other 3%. We almost annihilated them as a people by turn of 19th century to about a population of 100,000 ( from a pre Invasion number estimated to be between 600 - 900,000, or maybe more.
And even today, 30% of current Australians were born in another country
Am a bit familiar with the story of Guest Workers in Germany from a lovely couple whose family ran a very Turkish Turkish restaurant in Brunswick in Melbourne (Naarm) when I lived there in the 80s
Certainly will look forward to reading more of your work, and if ypou have any Aus (or OZ) questions, please ask away.
Cristoffa, just catching up on all my messages. Thank you so much for your message—I learned so many new things! I really appreciate you sharing.
Yes, I believe the guest worker system is maybe unique to Germany. I’m not sure if any other country had a similar system in place. Of course, in theory, we are all immigrants, but the whole guest worker process in Germany was a bit more complex. When I first moved here, there was a really great exhibition about it, and I truly hope more people continue to share their experiences.
I visited Australia before moving to Berlin, and I absolutely loved it! I even considered moving there, but I’m not sure at the moment—I also love being in Europe, close to everything. That said, a move is definitely on the horizon soon!
Your site is v Cool, if you don't know.
And see my ref to the very Turkish Turkish restaurant. Not a miss spell.
We were often the only Anglos late on in the evening (except I am not, I am Celtic, Catholic Irish and there is a big difference).
A lot of tobacco via hookahs and maybe some other green stuff. And glamorous Belly Dancers. This seemed OK. I hope.
We were well fed always and included and looked after.
One sort of unusual sharing experience though, when one elder pulled out an WW1 Mauser rifle from a lovely leather case to continue a conversation about battlefield rifles. It had been his father's or grandfather's and used at Gallipoll he said. A moment of silence.
Extremely well cared for, as I found as he asked me to strip it and put it back together, as a test.
Impressed him as I could do quite well, but still think the SMLE 303 (the opposing gun which we made here in Oz, called the 303) was a better and more robust weapon.
The Guest Worker story has a bit of WW1 in it as well, that a lot of modern German people don't know or recall.
Enjoy Europe, bot OZ while not perfect is not bad too.
Look forward to more dialogue
Aww, what a beautiful storytelling session right here, Cristoffa! Thank you so much for sharing. Wishing you a great rest of the week—looking forward to connecting with you again in the comments 😊 Hugg to you 🫶🏼
What a beautiful intro, Tuğba! I feel we have so many things in common reading this. 💜 And also, the slowing down and the in-between places and moments...! So important and quite hard to achieve in this speedy world.
To my shock, I realized I wasn't subscribed already?! How did I miss that? Probably my speedy scrollings... 😇
Hi Monica, I really enjoy our conversations in the comments. Thank you so much for supporting my work. I also appreciate that you took the time to spell my name correctly. It makes me happy when people put in the extra effort with names 🫶🏼
I also find it a courtesy, a little sign of hey!, I care about the small details that might not be small to you. I did look for and find the character on my phone keyboard, but not on the laptop one... 💛
Yes, I have to copy and paste it from Google whenever I want to write my name on my laptop, haha—so annoying! I wish there were a way to set a custom key for everyone with a unique lettered name. That would make things so much easier!
Unless you have a Turkish keyboard setting or something similar... :)
I wish! It’s easy on my phone since I have different keyboards installed, but unfortunately, it’s not possible on a Mac keyboard—or at least I don’t think so. Maybe I should look into it; there might be a way. It’s pretty annoying!
Lately, I’ve been making an effort to type my name with the correct "g" wherever I can.
Hi Tuğba👋🏻! I found your post on moving abroad highly relatable, it really does change you forever🤍. This is my second chance at writing, too, as I used to run a travel blog for about 3 years🙌🏻
Oh, that's great 🫶🏼 Was your blog also hosted on Blogger.com? Why did you stop blogging? Were your reasons similar to mine?
I had my own domain on WordPress until covid put a halt to my (travel) plans. But in all honesty, I also found out I hate writing within the constraints of SEO. Now I write whatever the heck I want😂🙌🏻!
I'm not very familiar with WordPress, but yeah, I wouldn’t like that. I don’t even enjoy figuring out what performs well and what doesn’t because I’m not going to change the topics I want to write about just for more likes. I want to write what I want to write, not what will go viral.
Ugh, I don't even want to think about that! After having been bullied by the IG algorithm for years, writing whatever I like, for whomever might enjoy it, feels like a breath of fresh air 🌬
Hahaha, I love the bullied by the IG algorithm—that’s exactly how I feel too 😂 It’s such a deep wound for so many of us, even though I never used Instagram to grow a business or anything. But I still feel burned by it. It really messed with our creativity in so many ways.
Exactly!! Now I just want to build my own little corner of things I'm passionate about...and do it as slowly as possible :)
Loving the intro 💕
Thank you, Zim! I also want to thank you for supporting me. Your recommendation helped me reach many readers. I really appreciate that!
Happy to help 😀
I love this new intro! It made me smile on a grey German morning! ✨🥰
I'm happy to hear that! I feel you haha it is so hard to be cheerful in this gloomy German weather at the moment 🥲 Diana, thank you so much for your support and your kind words. It truly means a lot to me that we've connected here. I sincerely hope to meet you in person someday! It would be absolutely wonderful. Have a wonderful Friday!
That would be absolutely amazing. Big hugs await that meet up 🧡🧡🧡
Always a delight reading your writing! :)
Robyn, thank you so much! I appreciate you taking the time to read my work. I'm looking forward to seeing you again at one of the meetups soon. Happy Friday 🫶🏼