Journalist Fréderike Geerdink (b. 1970) dreamed of working abroad. Six years ago she moved to Ürgüp, in central Turkey. Today, she lives in the densely populated Üsküdar area in the Asian part of Istanbul. Fréderike writes about politics, how women live, minorities and human rights. She likes how helpful and polite people are in Turkey. They are friendly, although the country also has a rough and ready quality about it. When she visits Holland she is shocked by the lack of manners: ‘I suppose I must have been like that once’.