Not that I minded though. With the hot summer slowly turning up the sticky heat, my old apartment was quickly becoming unbearable. Because it was a basement apartment, it was near impossible to have a breeze come through. The heat and thick, palpable humidity hung like a steely mass in the air - the walls, floors, and even the bedsheets sweated.
Naturally, insects found this environment a cozy home. The flies procreated proliferately, and the cockroaches began to make a return: ''OK ağa bey, if you find a new place that is better, we can move. I can't be bothered to look right now, I'm too tired and busy."
A few weeks later he called me to come have a look at a new place. It was very near the old sweaty pen I was still living in, around the corner in Fındıkzade, right off the main street. Glossy-eyed, he waxed praise upon the new place, "Like a sultan's house!!!"
And with good reason too. Set off the main road on a quiet and tree lined street, I was delighted that it was on the 3rd floor of a nice building. Although it was devoid of furniture and appliances, it was pleasantly open, spacey, and sunny. The walls were painted a happy yellow and the floors were tiled and hardwood in the living room. There was even a decent sized balcony. It felt....well, homey.
But it was the bathroom that sold me. It had a normal toilet, and once I saw that I said, "OK, sold, let's move in." The rent was still cheap for such a big place, and because one of his friends came from Kayseri to settle with us in Istanbul, the rent would be delightfully affordable for such a place, split three ways.
So a two weeks later I cleaned my old doghouse, got my deposit, and moved my stuff to the new place (easily and leisurely, because the new apartment was only a 5 minute walk from the old one).
We bought some good secondhand furniture for a steal of a price, some new beds, and various other household necessities. Slowly but surely, the place is still coming together, although the kitchen is still lacking a fridge and washing machine, much to my irritation I might add, because I have been dying to cook a decent meal for about 8 months now. My roommates are squabbling over who will buy what, because we agreed when we moved in that I should only buy my bed and nothing else because I wouldn't always be living in the house, so I shuldn't unnecessarily buy furniture. To my utter consternation, the two of them seem to be more worried about buying curtains than appliances, because "Turkish people feel naked if people can see in." Yeah.
Anyway, I got my first visitor to the apartment last night. During Ramadan, like I mentioned, a man walks around banging a loud drum to wake everyone to eat before sunrise. Last night the doorbell rang and, thinking it to be my roommate, I buzzed him in. I opened the door to find this man who bangs the drum at night - he was obliged to ask for money for the good service he had been providing throughout Ramadan. Let's just say I'm glad I know how to tell someone else off in Turkish.
So the new place is great - breezy, roomy, sunny, comfortable...I feel for the first time in a long time like I am home when I am at home. The only thing that bothers me is the mosque right across the street; being level with this mosque, the azan is incredibly loud.
But, then again, we can't always have ice cream with our pasta.
The aforementioned mosque
Balcony view
Other direction
Living room still needs a few things....
...but it's sunny, cozy, and spacious nonetheless
My tiny room with a brand new bed
Hallway
Kitchen window view
My applianceless kitchen
