fawlty towers

It's great here it is. Last night I went to a great restaurant with ten turks and turkettes and a guy from Brazil. I'm having a little trouble remembering names. There is only one girl whose name I remembered. That's because her name is 'izigay', a question I have often had to ponder myself in the last few years. Hilariously her husband has a shaven head and wears very tight tops. The view from the restaurant rivaled any view from Prague, but throw in a sea and a few fishing boats. However walking around the streets is nowhere near as pretty as when you are downtown Prague. This city was built with a little less planning and vision. And did I mention the dangeous traffic? Also there are no dogs, so no dog presents on the pavements - can you imagine?

Then we went onto a fab club called Hall. Think of Radost, but with decent music and non snooty people who are friendly and smiley.

I have already learned some Turkish. Vodka Elmar (vodka and apple) and cok (which means many). At this rate I'll be fluent in, say, 15 years. Or at least too drunk to notice that I'm not.

I went home at 2 because I am still a little tired from xmas, new year, moving, stress, well everything.


Really the only downside is the hotel, which I hope I can change tomorrow. It's cramped, it's ugly, there are unidentifiable stains on the carpet, there is construction happening right now, and its nearly 9pm. It will start again at 6. There are heavy machines and floodlights. Oh and the vibrations of the trucks keep setting off car alarms. Oh hark there goes the second one since I have started typing. Today I ordered room service through no less than 6 people an hour before I had to leave for a meeting. I recieved nothing. Yesterday I went to the gym only to be stared at through the glass doors by a load of hairy half naked turk men on their way to the sauna. I'm not sure what the collective noun for a bunch of hairy turk men is - a hirsute of Turks perhaps? But at least men look at you here.

Last night I spoke to some Turkish girls, both of whom bemoaned the fact that they could not get boyfriends. My heart did sink a little.

I met a friend today for brunch, an irish girl who used to work at Oskar. We were ging to meet at Starbucks, I'm glad we didn't in the end as i hate that place on principle. But we went to a very swish breakfast place which looked out onto where the boats were a bobbin on the sea. We had a good giggle at the expense of the ridiculous canadians that used to populate the office. Ah to be an expat wife hire. It's the life indeed.

She loves it here and is full of praise for it. And she has lived in about 5 countries.

I am still not legal to work yet. I hope i am soon as I have no health insurance. And if you ever see the roads, the drivers, the chaos, the constant honking of horns, the running of red lights, you will understand that with me being the dozy tart I am, it is only a matter of time before I am in collision with a taxi. And I am pretty sure the taxi will not stop and they will be scraping bits of me off the road in Ankara hours later.

The expats here are different to Czech, They all speak Turkish, because you have to. I have already been recommended a teacher and i hope to start lessons next week or the week after.

Oh yeah and it's considered really impolite to blow your nose in public here. A bit of a bugger as I have a slight cold.

Anyway early night tonight as the office driver is picking me up at 7am and I have another busy day of form filling, immigration, and lord knows what.

This week I start looking for flat and am told I may even be able to get one with a sea view for my budget. I met the guy who runs the expat website here, in fact he is my reality agent. He seems pretty cool and has been really helpful. The flats are really expensive here. I'll be paying double what I did in Prague.

goodnight!