Hello beautiful people,
Think of a blonde, charming woman in her early 40s! While she is in the middle of a career and metropolitan life; after an unexpected, rapid divorce, she does not sit down and cry like most women. What does she do, you ask? She packs up her things and moves to South Africa!!!
I can almost hear you saying, “What is he doing? What is he doing?” 😊 Don’t be surprised. I smiled when I heard it. Why?
Sundus was the craziest girl in the academy, we hadn’t seen each other for years. When she came back into my life with a postcard, I received from Cape Town, a smile appeared on my face. We talked right away. With the 8-hour time difference between Boston and Cape Town, the distance between us had disappeared. I heard the story of her settling in Cape Town and believe me, I wasn’t surprised. Because she was the crazy girl of the academy with a festival spirit, her story is in the interview and you know what they say. 😊
A stranger comes to the city and that’s when the story begins…
Melda Sherman: Hi, can you tell us about yourself? What’s your name?
Sundus Ayav: Hello, I’m Sündüs, I’m in my early 40s. I’m a woman who always creates opportunities to socialize and improve herself, and tries to stay away from drama.
Melda Sherman: Where do you live? How long have you been living?
Sundus Ayav: About 6 months ago, I moved to Cape Town, South Africa.
Melda Sherman: Where did you live before?
Sundus Ayav: Istanbul.
Melda Sherman: What do you do?
Sundus Ayav: I am a Real Estate Broker, I have been helping people become homeowners all my life but look at the irony: Before I came to Cape Town, firstly I had a very quick divorce, and then I quickly sold my house and again with a quick decision, I moved my belongings into storage. Result: I live in Cape Town for now.
Melda Sherman: In this case, I’m not asking you if you’re married. 😊 I wonder what the Zodiac Sign of a woman who makes such quick decisions is… 😊 Are you Sagittarius or Aquarius?
Sundus Ayav: I am a Taurus.
Melda Sherman: Very interesting! More than a Taurus, you look like a Sagittarius or a Gemini. Okay… It’s very brave to move to another continent right after getting divorced… How did you adapt to living in another country? And how did it change you?
Sundus Ayav: Right after the divorce, I wanted to chart a new path for myself. I had to have a purpose! That’s why I decided to go to a language school. I searched Google and made almost all the plans in just a few hours. This is my first experience of living abroad. Let me explain it this way; You release a fish into the sea and it just swims. Because Water is natural for it. Life is like this for us, we can easily adapt to any place and any condition, I saw that. Fears, limits, and hesitations are always things we create ourselves. It’s just that, life is our natural habitat, if we can breathe, we can live anywhere.
Melda Sherman: Wow! So cool! I’m so impressed. 😊 Can you tell us a little about Cape Town and its lifestyle? What do they eat and drink? What are the clubs like? Is it cosmopolitan? Can a beautiful woman like you live comfortably? What is the average age? What are the living conditions like for a single woman?
Sundus Ayav: It wasn’t easy, I admit. 😊 But of course, I came to know this, first of all, the school-age range is 18-23, so they are half my age, and there are almost no Turks. But with the advantage of looking young and understanding them (spending 15 years with my ex-husband’s two sons has a lot to do with this), I managed to adapt at school without being involved in their lives – but without being the black sheep among them. The city is already very beautiful, I mean after Istanbul, the serenity and nature of this place, the elegance of the people say “come and belong to me”.
Cape Town remained under British colonial rule and was home to upper-class English and Europeans who wanted to live bohemian life. It is a modern city where people live. As far as I have observed, the local people are generally in the service sector.
Canan Ulugol – Sündüs Ayav – Nezihe Şenkaya
The city is a clean and tidy place. The shop windows best describe the general style of the town; sportive, comfortable clothes, flat shoes, generally outdoor and safari style. I prefer to dress stylishly and assertively. I like fashion and trends; I stay different in this sense. In Cape Town, everyone seems to be mixed up with dreams and completely different identities. I think this might be the most difficult thing for me here. To be able to wear my carefully selected dresses and high heels, I have to follow the jazz nights and stylish restaurants, and I do this with great pleasure.
I saw here how advanced Istanbul is in terms of nightlife, I can say that the soft lifestyle of the people (except for the teenage clubs where students go) is also reflected in the nightlife here, except for one or two quality clubs, their greatest pleasures are Sunday brunches, and quality, clean beaches open to the public.
European again in terms of food and drink apart from the presence of local people It has very stylish restaurants, rooftops and cafes. Their menus are similar to ours. However, I have tried dishes such as Zebra and Crocodile meat in local restaurants that I can only eat here. I can say that the average age is young-middle age. Everyone is quite modern and polite.
And I would like to answer this question; here, regardless of whether you are single, male or female, you can have a quality and fun time, and contrary to what everyone thinks, it is a truly European city.
Şefika Parlak – Canan Ulugöl – Sündüs Ayev – Neziha Şenkaya
Melda Sherman: What is Crocodile meat??? Zebra?? I guess I won’t ask for a recipe. 😊 Well, in that case, the future… What are your plans?
Sundus Ayav: After a while, when the upload of my new version is completed. 😁 I plan to go back to Istanbul, I want to somehow get out of this freestyle student-traveler mood and return to my business life stronger, continue to improve myself and catch up on anything I missed…
Melda Sherman: In many parts of the world, many people want to change their lives. They even want to settle in other countries. What would you like to say to them?
Sundus Ayav: Of course, it wasn’t easy for me to come to a country that I didn’t know at all, with zero language skills and all by myself, but for some unknown reason, I was ready for it. My advice to those who want to make radical decisions like this in their lives is; whatever decision you make; stand behind it until the end, but also know that the way back is always open. These two were enough for me, at least.
Melda Sherman: Finally, imagine sending a message to the Universe! What would you like to say?
Sundus Ayav: Ahh! These messages 😁 Dear Universe; please, let our worst day be like this 🥂
Melda Sherman: Ha! Ha! Ha! Even the message sent to the Universe is the Sundus Ayev style that I met years ago, thank you very much for this beautiful interview 🐦🔥
I am Melda Sherman from Boston, the author of the book Migratory Birds. My topics are generally about migration and I would like to thank my new guest, Sundus Ayev, for this wonderful interview in my series “People of Another World” in ARTTMODERNMIAMI NEWSPAPER.
Melda Sherman
