My first days as a villager

Being in my area of Yenikoy is a bit like I imagine it is to be a Londoner in a small town in Yorkshire. It’s quiet and quaint, the hills are steep, the wind is cold and although people are very friendly you can’t understand a bloody word they are saying. And there are also more mosques than in Bradford.

Anyone who was a kid in Yorkshire in the 80’s will probably also remember the water shortages when the army came to deliever water in big trucks one very hot summer. I had been warned of the water outages here but had never experienced one until I turned down an invitation to dinner at a friends house tonight so I could get home, have a bath and go to bed early. My dastardly plan has been foiled. As there is no water, I have no choice but to drink wine. I fear for my supplies, and may have to brave the biting wind to get one more bottle if this continues. One has to keep hydrated in times of crisis. I have also rationed my cigarettes because one can never be too careful.

This is what you get for trying to be a sensible adult. Stuck in a village with depleting supplies and only a bloody microsoft windows word document and a ‘Learn Turkish’ CD for company. Oh how the mighty fall. It’s a shame because the dinner invitation came from quite a cute chap.

This morning it took me an hour to make a 15km journey to work. After working very late yesterday and being very tired, it was not what I needed. No matter what bus I took in which direction, I always seemed to end up in the same bus park in the middle of butt fuck nowhere surrounded by a half built muddy highway. As I arrived in the office this morning I surprised myself with my excellent knowledge of Czech by uttering every Slavic profanity known to man and smiling whilst I did it, so that all the Turks thought I was just being friendly – Central European style. If any of you Czechs ever come to VFT, please don’t be surprised by the unusual Czech salutations I have taught them. They mean it with the very best of intentions.

When the same thing happened on my way to the aforementioned chaps house this evening, I lost my temper, gave up and came back to yenikoy. On the bright side I did see a lovely example of Turkish helpfulness. When a lady dropped her hat on the minibus as she was getting off, a fellow passenger made the driver stop, reverse down the highway, and then proceeded to jump across 3 lanes of motorway traffic to make sure she got it back. The way they pay the bus drivers here is to tap the person in front of them on the shoulder, state where they are going and pass their money from hand to hand down the bus. And the change always comes back. How nice are these people?

Aside from my absolute inability to renavigate myself home, all seems to be well. I should drink more wine. I always manage to get home when I’ve had a few.

Hopefully the delivery of my household goods is in sight. Good because I am cold and the summary of my kitchen equipment is the forks and knives I stole from hotel room service and a plastic cup with the teletubbies on it.

At least now we are allowed to surf youtube again, which had previously been banned for publishing a less than flattering clip of the Turkish hero and former president Ataturk, Right now the government are trying to overturn his deeds and re-allow women who work in public buildings to wear headscarves again. Some people feel this is only one step away from allowing the fundamentalists to gain control. Perhaps there will be more demonstrations as there were early this year. I may have to invest in a better camera.

Anyway I am aware that I am waffling and so will sign off and go and hassle some people on skype.

gurusuruz.

mx