Hah haa my friends! I am soo excited! This is my first blog, most likely less than 5 people will ever read this but yet I still feel like an aspiring writer waiting to be published :) I have the power to create (worthless material but hey this is my first blog ever...)!
OK OK, I am (as usual) getting ahead of myself... The reason I wanted to create this is simple: make all my friends move to Istanbul heh hee... Seriously. Here you will read about my wonderful (never a dull moment, I swear) experiences and you will, like, feel that you absolutely have to move to Istanbul no matter what your life situation is. You have no kids? Come on, Istanbul is THE party town! You have 10 kids? No problem, we are a city of 12+ million, few more heads won't hurt anyone... You have no job? Join half the population here - they seem to be doing just fine, thank you. You don't speak Turkish? Well OK that might be a problem, next?
So, here I am after spending 12 years in USA; Steve (Optimistic American husband from California) in one arm and three little sidekicks in tow. Everything is still pretty surreal to me. I feel like we are on our typical summer vacation and soon this will end too and we will get back on that plane for our 12 hour return trip torture. But then I am looking for rental apartments here... And then I realize this fact and have an instant small heart attack... OMG, we are here to stay, well at least for a year (duration of possible rent contract).
We arrived last Tuesday (July 29th, 2008 - the day our new life begins in Istanbul). Lost 10% of our luggage. But that did not stop us from enjoying that day (well I was slightly irritated as that specific bag held 90% of my shoes and my feet are size 11 which means I think 41.5 or even 42 in Turkey which also means I will never ever buy shoes off the racks in Nisantasi or any other shoe place in Istanbul for that matter) and we had our usual small lunch at home, rest in the afternoon and have a bigger dinner with family. So Murat, Mujde, Emre and Zeynep were there and also my Hala and Teyze as well as my cousin Rengin. Wednesday morning we started the daunting process of unpacking 10 suitcases and successfully (according to my standards which are not even considered standards by my mother apparently) finished unpacking by noon. Vigorous unpacking was followed by manti at Askana and some play time at Bebek Parki. We also got some coffee from Starbucks which also officially started our search for a coffee grinder. Apparently people use some unknown to us device to grind their coffee (or maybe they don't drink filter coffee at home would be the most likely answer). Anyway, Steve brought about 10 lbs (YEAH I am going to use the American system for a while...) of coffee with us...
We opened our bank account Wed afternoon as well. It is under my name heh hee. So for some reason foreigners can open bank accounts but they cannot invest in stocks, bonds and some other investment tools. We just want their money - we promise it will go nowhere (including its value) Odd...
After the visit to the bank (HSBC if anyone is wondering) we saw two apartments in my parents' neighborhood. We liked on of them because it was big, it had a working fireplace, somewhat newer kitchen and bathrooms, most appliances aaand a lot of storage in the rooms like built in closets with organizers in them. But it was too early to decide on the house we thought and left the place. That same evening it dawned on me that we should really get that apartment because it came with all appliances and storage etc because apparently there are only 3 apartments like that in Istanbul especially if you do not want to pay half your salary as rent. Also that same evening/night I was awake from midnight until 6AM in the morning which made me edgy and panicky about this whole moving to Istanbul deal...
Thursday we decided to go to one of the beaches at Black Sea so my mom joined us and we all went to Dahlia beach. The wind was blowing like 40mph, the water was on the dirty side but the kids had fun. This place has of course a full blown restaurant as well as a smaller "cafe" version where you can get drinks and toasts and such. We of course set at the restaurant and devoured kofte, coban salata and sigara boregi for lunch... That casual lunch with Steve, my mom and the kids completely assured me that this was indeed the right decision... Some fresh air, Efes and good food blows all worries away (including worries induced by Maya)
On the way back we called the agent and told him that we wanted to rent the apartment. Agent tells us to send him an e-mail with some background information about us. And our formal offer. Too funny how something like this would be completely illegal in US but totally normal here. There is no fall back plan in Turkey if you are dealing with non-law abiding people so most people take it to their hands to minimize their exposure to such people - thus the background letter, reference request, etc etc....
Friday morning: I went running :) So I left the house around 6.30AM and started running down to Ortakoy. I don't know if it was my imagination but I felt everyone was watching me as their morning freak show, this overweight and very out of shape again lady running in Esentepe... I ran successfully down to Ortakoy, made a U-turn and started WALKING back up as there was no way in hell I could have ran up... But all in all it felt like a really good exercise. Took me 40 min to this whole thing. Later in the morning I went to Darussafaka to register the kids at their summer camp. It is rather pathetic but I really have no other option. As I was waiting for the lady who is supposed to have all the information I watched these 8-9 yr old girls do their gym class. All they did was somersaults for the entire 15 minute I was watching them. Great! But really who wants to be Nadia here?? So cheerfully I signed the kids up without listening to the suggestions from the registration lady (Pinar Hanim). She thought I should maybe sign the kids up for one week and see how the younger ones (aka Cem and Maya) would fare... I acted like I was considering this option for a second then told her to sign all of them up for the remainder of summer session which is only 3 weeks anyway. 3 kids + 3 weeks * half days = $1,500!! Fact: Istanbul is an EXPENSIVE city now...
Rest of Friday: we looked at yet another apartment which totally confirmed our decision to rent the other place as this new one had also 4 rooms with NO storage whatsoever. The only advantage was a very large terrace but it was in a rather stinky part of Fulya and I just could not picture myself living there. Then we went to Cevahir to grab lunch and continued our search for a coffee grinder. Finally we purchased the last grinder at a BOSCH store. We paid a ridiculous amount of money for it of course do I have to say it??
The kids by the way... Up to this point I did not mention them much and here is the reason: they either whine and bitch at each other or at me or they play with their new Leapster toy. I purchased these toys for them before we left and all three (especially Mert) are glued to the little screens. It works great until I have one of my guilt trips and say heeeyy you guys have been playing electronically all day long stop that and enjoy the fact that you are in Istanbul. Well, that is such a vague recommendation of course and they all just end up unhappy little creatures kinda like fish out of water, gasping for air, with really no tools to get themselves out of that boredom situation. So they flip and flop and mop around the house, annoy each other, whine to me until I suggest maybe they should play with their Leapster toys. Note to self: this is just a phase that will pass (hopefully - don't tell me it is just the beginning)
OK OK, I am (as usual) getting ahead of myself... The reason I wanted to create this is simple: make all my friends move to Istanbul heh hee... Seriously. Here you will read about my wonderful (never a dull moment, I swear) experiences and you will, like, feel that you absolutely have to move to Istanbul no matter what your life situation is. You have no kids? Come on, Istanbul is THE party town! You have 10 kids? No problem, we are a city of 12+ million, few more heads won't hurt anyone... You have no job? Join half the population here - they seem to be doing just fine, thank you. You don't speak Turkish? Well OK that might be a problem, next?
So, here I am after spending 12 years in USA; Steve (Optimistic American husband from California) in one arm and three little sidekicks in tow. Everything is still pretty surreal to me. I feel like we are on our typical summer vacation and soon this will end too and we will get back on that plane for our 12 hour return trip torture. But then I am looking for rental apartments here... And then I realize this fact and have an instant small heart attack... OMG, we are here to stay, well at least for a year (duration of possible rent contract).
We arrived last Tuesday (July 29th, 2008 - the day our new life begins in Istanbul). Lost 10% of our luggage. But that did not stop us from enjoying that day (well I was slightly irritated as that specific bag held 90% of my shoes and my feet are size 11 which means I think 41.5 or even 42 in Turkey which also means I will never ever buy shoes off the racks in Nisantasi or any other shoe place in Istanbul for that matter) and we had our usual small lunch at home, rest in the afternoon and have a bigger dinner with family. So Murat, Mujde, Emre and Zeynep were there and also my Hala and Teyze as well as my cousin Rengin. Wednesday morning we started the daunting process of unpacking 10 suitcases and successfully (according to my standards which are not even considered standards by my mother apparently) finished unpacking by noon. Vigorous unpacking was followed by manti at Askana and some play time at Bebek Parki. We also got some coffee from Starbucks which also officially started our search for a coffee grinder. Apparently people use some unknown to us device to grind their coffee (or maybe they don't drink filter coffee at home would be the most likely answer). Anyway, Steve brought about 10 lbs (YEAH I am going to use the American system for a while...) of coffee with us...
We opened our bank account Wed afternoon as well. It is under my name heh hee. So for some reason foreigners can open bank accounts but they cannot invest in stocks, bonds and some other investment tools. We just want their money - we promise it will go nowhere (including its value) Odd...
After the visit to the bank (HSBC if anyone is wondering) we saw two apartments in my parents' neighborhood. We liked on of them because it was big, it had a working fireplace, somewhat newer kitchen and bathrooms, most appliances aaand a lot of storage in the rooms like built in closets with organizers in them. But it was too early to decide on the house we thought and left the place. That same evening it dawned on me that we should really get that apartment because it came with all appliances and storage etc because apparently there are only 3 apartments like that in Istanbul especially if you do not want to pay half your salary as rent. Also that same evening/night I was awake from midnight until 6AM in the morning which made me edgy and panicky about this whole moving to Istanbul deal...
Thursday we decided to go to one of the beaches at Black Sea so my mom joined us and we all went to Dahlia beach. The wind was blowing like 40mph, the water was on the dirty side but the kids had fun. This place has of course a full blown restaurant as well as a smaller "cafe" version where you can get drinks and toasts and such. We of course set at the restaurant and devoured kofte, coban salata and sigara boregi for lunch... That casual lunch with Steve, my mom and the kids completely assured me that this was indeed the right decision... Some fresh air, Efes and good food blows all worries away (including worries induced by Maya)
On the way back we called the agent and told him that we wanted to rent the apartment. Agent tells us to send him an e-mail with some background information about us. And our formal offer. Too funny how something like this would be completely illegal in US but totally normal here. There is no fall back plan in Turkey if you are dealing with non-law abiding people so most people take it to their hands to minimize their exposure to such people - thus the background letter, reference request, etc etc....
Friday morning: I went running :) So I left the house around 6.30AM and started running down to Ortakoy. I don't know if it was my imagination but I felt everyone was watching me as their morning freak show, this overweight and very out of shape again lady running in Esentepe... I ran successfully down to Ortakoy, made a U-turn and started WALKING back up as there was no way in hell I could have ran up... But all in all it felt like a really good exercise. Took me 40 min to this whole thing. Later in the morning I went to Darussafaka to register the kids at their summer camp. It is rather pathetic but I really have no other option. As I was waiting for the lady who is supposed to have all the information I watched these 8-9 yr old girls do their gym class. All they did was somersaults for the entire 15 minute I was watching them. Great! But really who wants to be Nadia here?? So cheerfully I signed the kids up without listening to the suggestions from the registration lady (Pinar Hanim). She thought I should maybe sign the kids up for one week and see how the younger ones (aka Cem and Maya) would fare... I acted like I was considering this option for a second then told her to sign all of them up for the remainder of summer session which is only 3 weeks anyway. 3 kids + 3 weeks * half days = $1,500!! Fact: Istanbul is an EXPENSIVE city now...
Rest of Friday: we looked at yet another apartment which totally confirmed our decision to rent the other place as this new one had also 4 rooms with NO storage whatsoever. The only advantage was a very large terrace but it was in a rather stinky part of Fulya and I just could not picture myself living there. Then we went to Cevahir to grab lunch and continued our search for a coffee grinder. Finally we purchased the last grinder at a BOSCH store. We paid a ridiculous amount of money for it of course do I have to say it??
The kids by the way... Up to this point I did not mention them much and here is the reason: they either whine and bitch at each other or at me or they play with their new Leapster toy. I purchased these toys for them before we left and all three (especially Mert) are glued to the little screens. It works great until I have one of my guilt trips and say heeeyy you guys have been playing electronically all day long stop that and enjoy the fact that you are in Istanbul. Well, that is such a vague recommendation of course and they all just end up unhappy little creatures kinda like fish out of water, gasping for air, with really no tools to get themselves out of that boredom situation. So they flip and flop and mop around the house, annoy each other, whine to me until I suggest maybe they should play with their Leapster toys. Note to self: this is just a phase that will pass (hopefully - don't tell me it is just the beginning)
But Friday afternoon was the afternoon for public transportation. We took the metro to Taksim, then the finicular thingie from Taksim to Kabatas, then the tram from Kabatas to Eminonu. Kids ride free so it is a rather cheap alternative for transportation as well as entertainment. In Eminonu we walked around and said no at periodical intervals to demands from the children for acquisition of puppies, chicks, pekin ducks, little baby turtles, twirling scary dolls and flipping cars. Cem got bit by a baby bunny and had to walk with his index finger in the air for the rest of the afternoon as if he had something to ask to his teacher. So cute things can hurt other cute things. By the way it did not even break his skin, I think he was just very surprised... We took a boat back to Besiktas and a cab to home and that concluded our day of trains, planes and automobiles... Well I mean trams, boats and subways...
Friday was also the day when my dad and Hala got hurt. So my mom, dad and Hala went to Profilo to shop for some stuff for Hala. After they finished their shopping they decided to have lunch and although Hala profusely refused to use the escalator my parents felt like they could hold her and help her up the escalator. Wrong call, as soon as Hala steps onto the escalator she falls backwards along with my dad (Disclosure: Hala is 84 yrs old, dad 70) and they had to go up in that horizontal position scraping their arms and backs the whole time. So no stitches or anything but my dad especially has a pretty battered arm that is all in bandages now.
This injury of course prevented my dad from joining us at the pool the next day and he merrily (OK he was a little weary) went to his saturday bridge party. The rest of us went to Koc University's pool - it was awesome. There was almost nobody, the kids had a blast and we had yet another lunch in open air. I ate tuna salad which is really a salad! Not a mayo goop... Yum! My brother and his clan, my mom and us were there. I saw a highschool friend of mine - this is again another thing that I have long forgotten: seeing people randomly... In US the number of all the people that I know is less than 100 most likely so I almost never see anyone when I go to places... It kinda started to change in Baltimore in recent years but you know what I mean.
Saturday we also started getting weird signals from our future landlords: they want to meet us in person (great), we need to meet them at 6PM sharp on Monday (really? Sharp like on time sharp? In Turkey?) and most likely they won't agree to start the contract on the 15th of August but we will have to pay the rent for all of August. Pretty much everybody that we talk to agrees with this demand and says we should cough up the money. Steve is irritated to say the least - I am just surprised again about how things are assumed and accepted here. what is normal here is crazy in US and vice versa... Nothing new about this of course.
Aaah Sunday finally... The day started with a run/walk with Steve (7.20AM to 9AM). We ran from our house to Ortakoy through Yildiz Parki, then from Ortakoy to Bebek to Hisar. I was exhausted at the end so peynirli and sucuklu menemen definitely hit the spot. OK we shared one so it did not totally ruined the benefit. Around 10AM we came home to the kids (who were peacefully playing with their Leapster toys of course) and took them to Bebek Parki to meet an elementary school friend of mine. (Thank you Facebook!!) We were there from 10.30 until 1PM. And let me also quickly describe the weather since we arrived in Istanbul: breezy, no humidity and temps around low 80s (high 20s for celcius people). Aaand evenings are cooler. It really feels like San Diego here these days!
Rest of Sunday went by with haircuts, lunch with little Usman family in Akmerkez (cool salad place in food court, forgot the name already), coffee with little Usman family at their Arnavutkoy residence (where the kids destroyed all order established by cleaning ladies - their work will be waiting for them). Then after 4.30PM Steve and Cem went home; Mert, Maya and I went to visit Turna and Clea. So we took a cab to Besiktas, took a boat to Uskudar and another cab to Kuzguncuk all of which took an astonishing 20 minutes. Which brings me to another amazing observation: there is no traffic in Istanbul these days. Maybe they are handing our free money somewhere else in Istanbul and that is where everyone went whatever the reason we are enjoying this lack of chaos, stress and pollution. Turna and Clea are doing very well, I am trying to contain my urge to bite Clea's thighs and squeeze her cheeks. What a cute and calm human being!!
And this was my first week in Istanbul, so what do you think??? Please excuse my writing obviuosly I was not meant to be a writer, and I will organize my thoughts and experiences a little better next time but I just wanted to get this started. Your comments will be much appreciated :)
I miss you all very much, start saving now for future "vaycay" in Istanbul or even better... Start planning for your move. I can help. Love to all!!
5 comments:
(2nd try.. sorry if you get this twice)
So im sooo excited that your doing this little blog, A) it soo cute and B) i feel like i can keep in touch with whats going on with your little crazys!!
i particularly liked the parts about Cem's finger ( :( poor baby) and about their leapster toys lol soo true!! and the bit about you running i actually laughed out loud because i had a very similar experience in Ireland when i was home... the weird looks. the "whats wrong with her??, and where's she going to in such a hurry?? look, :) i just ended up putting on a baseball cap, putting my head down and kept going, all be it my run didn't last half the time of yours because i'm not very good!
anyhow im glad to hear that you guys are getting sorted with an appartment and getting settled into the Istanbul lifestyle.
cant wait to hear about more of your adventures.
miss you all
Jo
Serra Abla,
This a great idea!!!! Maybe it will inspire me for a come back too!!!
Suna
Ah you see Serra, already
3 posts, that means that at least 300 people have read your blog so far :-)
Best wishes, wish we were there.
Serra, this is great fun to read! WE WANT MORE! And also photos! Welcome :)
Serra.. This is great. But I was exhausted reading the blog. :) Looks like you guys already began the adaptation process. I could only imagine the price of the coffee grinder. LOL.
I already missed you so much. Reading your blog made me homesick. Can't wait to be in Istanbul. Our trip is only a month away...
By the way, may I suggest that you keep your blog short. That way, you can keep up with it (a paragraph a day) and won't leave your fans here in the States in suspense.
We all are waiting for the next episode.
Love to all 5 of you!
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